Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: September 2012

It's Bloom Day over at May Dreams Gardens! Here's some of what's blooming on this cloudy, coolish day in my rain-quenched garden. Love the promise of fall after the long, hot summer...


In the front yard (above photos): gaura, Gregg's mist (bee and butterfly fave), pale yellow firecracker fern, and too tall zinnias in the veggie bed.

In the side and backyard: beach vitex, cigar plant, bougainvillea & cosmos, majestic salvia, Indian mallow, trumpet vine, potted thryallis, ever-present Mexican petunias, and a morning glory/moonflower combo.

Late summer floral fireworks

Zinnias in the veggie bed are still going strong
Red spider lily

Impending explosion of datura blooms (tonight or tomorrow)
Gomphrena and hibiscus at Shoal Creek Nursery (may have to borrow this idea for next year)

Mysteries in shades of pink

This flower survived the foundation work last summer and came up in the same spot.
The girlie pink frills are so unexpected in a survivor plant (probably helps that it's near the AC unit). I have no idea what it is. Double vinca?
When I got back into town a week and a half ago, one of the last two watermelons looked like this:
A couple of days later, it looked like this:
And the other one (raccoons?):
Less mysterious, Benary's Giant zinnias in pale pink:
And hot pink:

Who knew that pink would be the signature shade of a late summer garden in Austin? Or that we'd have rain and cooler weather in mid-August? I love surprises!

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!