Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day—October 2007
‘Little John’ dwarf bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis ‘Little John’)
October Bloom Day in Austin should be quite lovely. But my garden peaked early this year, and I spent yesterday cutting back my salvias and roses to try to stimulate one more good bloom cycle this fall—completely forgetting about Bloom Day before I pulled an “off with its head.”
You’ll see plenty of flowers in my post today, however, and this is because the camera lies. Close-ups of many individual flowers can give the impression of a garden in full bloom. This is not the case in my garden right now. A few plants are flush with blossoms—fall aster, Mexican bush sage, ‘Belinda’s Dream’ rose, blue mistflower—but the rest hold maybe half a dozen small flowers, providing dots of bright color amid a mostly green, silver, and brown background. Not the brown of frost-bitten foliage, mind you (as if!), but the tans and wheats of ornamental grasses. Because I recently posted about my various grasses, I won’t repeat that today, except to show the Lindheimer muhly grass, which is finally in bloom.
Enough explanation. Let’s get down to the eye candy, organized this month by color.
Bat-face cuphea (Cuphea llavea ) and our native fall aster (Aster oblongifolius ). I just read one blogger’s apology (I can’t remember who) for an “old-ladyish” red-and-purple combo. The remark made me laugh (and reflect again on turning 40). But I make no apologies for enjoying the bold contrast of red and purple. I find it energizing, especially in a partly shady garden.
Texas betony (Stachys coccinea ). I seem to have lost some of this ground-hugging native under my cedar elm. Maybe it got shaded out? I really loved it there, playing against the red Turk’s cap and the purple heart. I think I’ll transplant a few sprigs and see if it’ll take again.
Chile pequin (Capsicum annuum ). I’m including ripe berries and fall fruits this Bloom Day because they provide much color in my garden at this time of year.
A Turk’s cap cherry with blue mistflower
Pigeonberry (Rivina humilis ), a native groundcover. In the background, you can see its pale-pink flower.
More fall aster (Aster oblongifolius), paired with the mystery pennisetum
Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’
The last flower on the Mexican snapdragon vine (Maurandya antirrhiniflora )
Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha ), beginning to fade after several weeks of glorious bloom
‘Katie’ dwarf ruellia, also known as Mexican petunia (Ruellia brittoniana )
Gregg’s mistflower (Conoclinium greggii, formerly called Eupatorium greggii ) swirls around the knees of the scrap-metal mariachis.
Across the patio, a very similar mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum ) mingles with purple heart and sparkler sedge (Carex phyllocephala ).
American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana ) hangs onto a few wands of berries, despite the mockingbirds’ best efforts.
‘Belinda’s Dream’, the only rose I didn’t cut back yesterday because it is still covered in big, fragrant blossoms.
Autumn sage (Salvia greggii ), just beginning to rebloom after a trim
The sole rose left on ‘Carefree Beauty’ after yesterday’s pruning
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea )—still a few of these here and there
Rock rose (Pavonia lasiopetala ) hangs onto a few blossoms.
Mexican oregano (Poliomintha longiflora ), still blooming well but winding down. Behind it lies white narrowleaf zinnia, which has flowered nonstop since early summer with no deadheading.
Pink ‘Katie’ dwarf ruellia
From left to right: a few red flowers of rock penstemon (Penstemon baccharifolius ), purple Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha ) in the background, white skullcap (Scutellaria ), white narrowleaf zinnia, and ‘Adagio’ miscanthus grass.
Sweet-scented ‘Marie Pavie’ rose
Gaura
A few flowers tip the branches of the kidneywood tree (Eysenhardtia texana ).
White shrubby boneset, or white mistflower (Eupatorium wrightii ), will soon be blooming.
Butterfly on a cigar plant (Cuphea ignea ), which is actually in full bloom, though this photo doesn’t convey it.
Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens )
Flame acanthus (Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii )
One patch of black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’) hangs on.
Yellow bells (Tecoma stans ) blooms aloft on 8-foot stalks or droops, like this one, into the mistflower.
Butterfly vine, or gallinita (Mascagnia macroptera )
Zexmenia (Wedelia texana ), recently sheared but starting to rebloom
Lindheimer’s muhly (Muhlenbergia lindheimeri ), my last ornamental grass to bloom
You know what this is. Poor mums have gotten a bad rap and taken a beating lately, but they have a few defenders, and as you see, I enjoy them in moderation.
That’s all, folks. Check out May Dreams for links to other gardens in bloom around the world.
Beautiful photos! I really like the bottlebrush and the Mexican oregano. I bet both are not hardy here.
Thanks, Phillip. I LOVE the bottlebrush too. I saw it on the Open Days Austin tour last October at Stone House Vineyard and had to have some. Native to Australia, it is one of my more cold-tender plants, but it survived temps down to 28 plus an ice storm last winter. However, it is planted in a protected courtyard against a south-facing wall, which helps. I’m not sure how tender the Mexican oregano is, but it grows so quickly (unlike the bottlebrush) that you could easily use it as a spring-to-fall annual, like Salvia leucantha. —Pam
All I can say is…WOW!
I’m glad you enjoyed the post, Kathleen. Happy digging! —Pam
Both the close-ups and the combinations are beautiful, Pam. It’s neat to see that you’re enjoying several of the same plants that are blooming and fruiting here in Pennsylvania right now. I envy you the clear, bright color of the yellow bells, though. (Your shot of that with the mist flower is simply lovely.) The “zexmenia” is cute, too–and what a great common name it has. Certainly not very common!
Thanks for stopping by, Nan. I like zexmenia’s name too. 🙂 You are the second northern gardener who’s commented on the yellow bells lately, which are so common as almost not to be noticed around here. In the same way, I long for your fall color. But isn’t it great to be able to enjoy them through each other’s blogs? —Pam
Hi there, Pam 🙂
What a fantastic display and variety in your blooms – great photos too 😀
I loved ‘Belinda’s Dream’ I’m glad you didn’t cut it back yesterday too! I also enjoyed seeing the cone flowers and grasses – was that an Agave with them? Does it stay outside during winter? It looks stunning 😀
Thanks, Shirl. I go on about agaves so often that I didn’t mention them today. In the wide shot of the front garden, near the ‘Adagio’ miscanthus, that’s a ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave. And next to the Lindheimer muhly grasses is a potted Parry’s agave. They are both hardy in our climate. It rarely gets below freezing, and around 28 F (-2 C) at the coldest, in my garden. —Pam
All things in moderation, right? Your garden, even in a lull, seems so full and lush with bloom!
Carol at May Dreams Gardens (where it has warmed up, so perhaps that killing frost is still a few weeks away)
Oh, I don’t know, Carol. I often say, More is more! Thanks again for organizing everyone, and I hope you enjoy another month without frost. —Pam
Plant diversity and native plants at their best! Great photos, Pam! Love your Bloom Day posts! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Layanee. —Pam
What a great post! I’m struck by some of the things that we both have blooming in our gardens (pennisetum, miscanthus) while yours is also so full of exotics that I will never really know and grow. Such fun.
(Did I ever tell you how cute I find those mariachis, btw?)
I’m glad you like the mariachis, Kim. I couldn’t resist them. Happy Bloom Day! —Pam
I nearly fell of my chair when I saw your callistemon growing in Austin, Texas. Alas it looks better than mine at the moment.
Incredible pics, Pam.
Australian plants are becoming quite popular here in Austin, Stuart. I’ve seen Australian acacias growing around town, as well as the bottlebrushes. Tough, heat-loving plants are what we need, although your conditions must be quite a bit more arid than ours. —Pam
It does seem like we have more blooming when we crop in close, but that is the beauty of garden photography. We get to show off our best. You still have so much blooming even with the closeups. I too, love that bottlebrush. I wish I had looked Saturday while at the nursery for the beautyberry, that one is on my wish list.
Would nurseries sell frost-tender bottlebrush in Indiana, Robin? I suppose you could overwinter it in a greenhouse. . . Thanks for visiting. —Pam
You and Amy sure have aroused my jealousy about salvia! They are beautiful. As you know, they are pretty much annual here and demand more sun than I can give. And the Mexican oregano–that is very fragrant, no?
The salvias are not only beautiful but fragrant and wonderful for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds. I’m sorry they don’t grow as perennials for you, but I’d think them well worth the trouble even as annuals. And you are right about the Mexican oregano—its leaves are very fragrant, and edible too. —Pam
I beg to differ! You have a ton of fabulous plants in bloom – and gorgeous ones, at that! Thanks for taking all those great close ups!
Thanks, Diana. I look forward to your Bloom Day post tomorrow. —Pam
All lovely, Pam – both in closeup and when you show a whole border. Putting the mariachis in the Gregg’s mistflower was genius – looks like they’re on a purple cloud!
Purple and red run through my garden, too, and I love them together… if the combination was good enough for Mother Nature when making Bat-faced Cuphea, who am I to argue?
As to the Tecoma stans/Esperanza…sigh…there would be three in my garden right now if any had survived the last two winters.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I like the way you think, Annie. If Mother Nature put red and purple together, who are we to say no? And I’m surprised to hear yet more evidence of how much colder your garden gets than mine. You’ll be growing lilacs next thing you know. —Pam
Beautiful pics. OH, that first one has me so excited now, as my bottlebrush tree, which I grew from a cutting, is now about 2/1/2 foot high and I so look forward to the bloom.I’m a bit surprised we have so many plants in common- cupea, ruellia, Butterfly vine ( this is wild, I want to try to cultivate one in the garden), yellow bells and of course agaves. I need to get a coral Coral honeysuckle, it looks so charming.
You must be very patient to grow a bottlebrush tree from a cutting. How long since you rooted it? My dwarf bottlebrushes have grown so slowly. Bought as small, 1-gallon plants a year ago, they stand about 1-1/2 feet tall now and are budding thickly. I saw a bottlebrush tree growing at the Antique Rose Emporium a year ago—gorgeous! —Pam
You may have chopped quite a few heads off but there is still a lot on show in your garden. Love all those berries! Mums! Who would have thought that you’d have mums. 😉
Oh, I have pretty prosaic tastes, YE. And I’m a sucker for plants that remind me of family holidays, like mums. 😉 —Pam
…the camera lies. Close-ups of many individual flowers can give the impression of a garden in full bloom.
True, so true. However, I drove by your garden today on the way to lunch to show Margaret the front and it looked pretty nice from the street. The asters were looking especially gorgeous. I think because you have such a good balance of plants and hardscaping and garden ornaments that it always looks like a garden even when it’s not in full bloom.
Thanks, MSS. I’m loving the asters too. Thanks for the compliment, and have a great time with Margaret while she’s in town. —Pam
Pam, I rooted the cutting sometime this late last year-maybe November. Things grow much faster in the tropics ( esp when there’s rain.) I actually have 4 foot palms I grew from seed two years ago. I want to get some more bottlebrush cuttings but unfortunately the friend whose tree I got it from fell ill and he and his wife are in the US for medical treatment. When they return, asking for cuttings when I visit won’t be the most sensitive thing to do!
I am growing many of my ornamental and shade trees from seeds and cuttings, and expect most to bloom in 2-3 years. With only one garden center the choice in trees is limited, and sometimes you only get really big (and thus expensive) specimens. The North Americans who build vacation houses here want “instant” landscaping, so the Garden center brings in mostly large trees ans palms. I have never seen a bottlebrush tree here for sale. On the more lush and populated islands-eg Trinidad, Dominica, St Lucia, Martinique, of course you can get almost any plant to buy.
Wow, that is a much faster rate of growth in the tropics. Nicole, I’m impressed by your resourcefulness in getting the plants you want, since you can’t find them in local nurseries. I bet passalongs and seed-swapping are really big down there. —Pam
You have many interesting things that I have not seen before. Austin must be sort of in between the tropical an temperate zones and even more so now with global warming. So very different from the Northeast…interesting place to grow plants.
Austin has a subtropical climate, which, as you note, allows us to push the envelope with more-temperate and with tropical plants. The occasional hard freeze will stunt or kill the tender tropicals, but most gardeners here are willing to take their chances. I don’t go for the tropical look too much, but I do like the West Texas/New Mexico look of the agaves, sotols, and salvias. My heavy clay soil makes these more of a challenge, but that’s part of the fun of gardening, isn’t it? —Pam
Wonderful photos of beautiful blooms!!
Thank you, Kerri! —Pam