White Trumpets

This datura is planted in a 5 gallon pot and hasn't been fertilized lately, but there were 20 blooms on it Sunday night. It must be in exactly the right spot! Hunter in the trumpet

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: July 2012

Got another good rain last night, so everything was a little weighed down by waterdrops this morning. But oh so happy! Here is the Natchez crape myrtle with firebush and Gregg's mist blooming in the background.

Gaura

Thryallis

Firecracker fern (love how some of the pale yellow blooms have a streak of red)
Long view of the crape myrtle and the top of the vegetable garden. The paler of the pink zinnias is now 4' tall.

Cigar plant with Black Knight butterfly bush in the background.
Mexican petunias don't need much, but they are loving this rain.
And pre-rain, the Aztec Sun tithonia (Mexican sunflowers) started blooming. It's pretty, but I wish I had planted the deep orange ones.

Cosmos are made for summer. The tithonia (right) has crowded out the colorful little zinnias with its big, soft foliage.

And this morning after the rain (I've been propping them back up with a chair, and they recover nicely)
This week has been the week of datura blooms.
The datura is potted but here is masquerading as a landscape plant. All ten of these bloomed on one night and the scent from my back steps was amazing.
These little yellow rain lilies have been popping up all week.
Moving on to fruits and veggies, my nephew was excited about the watermelon harvested last Sunday. And I was, too! This one had a really lovely, complex flavor and sweetness.
I've run through all my small tomato ideas...

For more gardens, visit May Dreams Gardens. Happy Bloom Day!

Jewel Colors in the Garden

Sunflowers from the Drop Dead Red seed collection

Burgundy hibiscus foliage

Coleus

Zinnia

Black Knight butterfly bush

Garden harvest

Native sunflower

The thryallis in front started blooming a few days after the drip line went in this bed. A good watering makes all the difference!

Crinum and other summer bloomers

A crinum bloom! The first sign of anything pretty from this large stand of foliage against the side of the house. I'd love to move these to give them more space in the fall, but I've read that they're really difficult to dig up.

Some sunflowers with rust tones

My sister's zinnia patch

Various purples at the park

Front Garden: Month Three

Hard to remember that my wild and woolly front landscape was a blank slate three months ago. It's fun to do the monthly photo and compare to week one (that may lose its appeal as we head into full summer). See below how everything has the appropriate growing and breathing room back in the first week of April:

Now: Oops! Burgundy hibiscus just keeps growing, crowding over the gulf muhly grasses. I suppose this is what can happen when you buy a plant with unknown size requirements. Thank goodness the foliage is gorgeous and it's an annual.
Behind the hibiscus, the fig's much more slow growing, but it's looking fuller. And the fireworks ferns are doing fine.

Here's the front garden on the other side of the path, back in early April (clockwise from top left: gaura, firebush, blackie sweet potato, gregg's mist, artemesia, rosemary, Mexican feathergrass)

Far corner of that area, also early April (note that the sweet potato vine is behind the gregg's mist):
Today: everything's filled out to the point that some plants probably need to be cut back. The sweet potato vine made its way through the gregg's mist on its way to the sidewalk.

Back view of that same area: watermelon vine has run amok!

The veggie garden is still productive (tomatoes, eggplants, watermelon, zinnias, occasional green bean), but not very pretty!

Next time, I will have a strategy for tomato sprawl...

And to end on a more lovely landscape note, yesterday's rain brought the butterflies out this morning. Here's one on the gaura (also called, I believe, "whirling butterflies").