New flowers opening each day
Regular readers know that my shady, dry, deer-infested patch of dirt is not a flowerlicious garden. And yet even I have, oh, at least 6 or 7 flowers in bloom as spring kicks off here in Austin. Like this sweet, nodding Chinese ground orchid (Bletilla striata). I bought one several years ago to see how it would do. Answer? Not much…until this year. Maybe it liked all the rain?
Now I’m tempted to buy more. It looks especially nice paired with purple-leaved oxalis (Oxalis triangularis).
Let’s bring that oxalis into focus, shall we?
For more purple, one need only look out front, where my earliest iris (sold as ‘Amethyst Flame’ but lately I’m not so sure) is flowering.
A trio of ‘Burgundy Ice’ dyckias in a steel pipe planter echoes a hint of the purple. The middle plant is starting to bloom, although each day I look outside expecting the deer to have gotten it overnight.
It sure is pretty for now, like flowering candy corn! (One of the dyckias took a hit this winter, and I’m waiting to see if it’ll recover.)
Clambering along the back fence, ‘Tangerine Beauty’ crossvine (Bignonia capreolata ‘Tangerine Beauty’) is my showiest plant right now, with tubular, open-throated flowers seeming to sing a chorus of welcome to spring.
Delicately parachuting from slender stems along a shadier section of the fence is white potato vine (Solanum jasminoides).
They look so pretty backlit by the sun.
I can rarely bring myself to cut my (very few) flowers from the garden, so I’ve been buying bouquets at the grocery store. I’m enjoying this flowery time of year both outdoors and in.
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It is fun to stroll through the garden and find something new blooming.
Yes, and lots of fresh green foliage too. I’m trying to just enjoy and not always think about my to-do list for the garden. —Pam
Such lovely delicate spring flowers – it will be a few weeks yet until we see any around here.
But I bet when it starts it’s an avalanche of spring color! —Pam
Seeing the bignonia blossoms brought back some very happy memories. When I was a little girl, I used to pick them off a shed at my grandmother’s house in Virginia. She was not happy — but I was since I wore the blooms like long fingernails and felt quite grown-up!
I love that story, Pat. What a creative way to see those flowers. No wonder you became a gardener! —Pam
I love the Oxalis and the Bletilla, too. Very good pictures. My zone is a little colder than yours and very humid in summer, so I have been reluctant to plant many succulents that come from western areas. Your blog has inspired me to read more about them, and I have planted quite a few that should do well in the Southeast.
I love using succulents in pots, which allows me to give them the drainage they want and move them around as necessary to keep them from burning up in summer. They do require some babying in winter (except for the few that are hardy), but it’s also rather easy to take a few cuttings or divisions and let Mother Nature do what she will with the rest, and just replant as one would any other annual in spring. And they use a lot less water than annuals and are just as pretty, in my opinion! —Pam
I’m doing much the same here in Ohio. Only a few flowers peeking out after winter, but each one is greeted with joy!
Enjoy those first flowers of spring, Robin! —Pam
I love those purple blooms! I’m surprised that even deer would get close to Dyckias -surely, there’s no plant as vicious.
They have no respect for spines, I’m afraid, and the dyckia blooms are tall enough for a nibble. But they’re still there as of today! —Pam
Be patient with the orchids. They’ll bloom more as they spread (slowly). Mine (north of Dallas)are in dry shade with occasional irrigation and are a sea of purple (with a few white ones)right now. They’ve been really dependable, although I don’t have deer.
That’s great to hear, Jane. Thanks! —Pam
I have the Chinese ground orchid too, but mine hasn’t bloomed yet. Yours looks wonderful.
It’s the best it’s ever looked. Here’s hoping yours blooms soon too! —Pam