Signs of Fall at Walnut Creek

White heath aster Partridge Pea Turk's cap fruit

Symphony in Yellow and Purple

In celebration of Texas Native Plant Week, I thought I'd share some photos from this week's walk out at Walnut Creek Park. A little color to balance this morning's rain. I've never seen the fall trails so thick with goldenrod and blazing star and penstemon...

End of the summer vegetable garden

Today's harvest:

The beginnings of fall are in the air (cool mornings, rain, less reliance on A/C throughout the day). And I love the fall vegetable garden: all that chard and broccoli and herbs. But just when I'm planning to put in the cool weather veggies, the eggplant and okra are producing better than ever due to rain and sun and milder temps. Vegetable bed space is at a premium, though, and their days are numbered...

Friday's harvest included the biggest Japanese eggplant I've ever seen.
I pulled up the light pink zinnias today (below is a before shot from 2 weeks ago) and tried to corral & stake the others (can't give up my weekly bouquets quite yet). One of the stems I pulled up was over 6 feet tall; it would get too tall, flop over, change direction of growth, flop over again and repeat. Next year I will have a strategy to keep giant zinnias pointed upward and stable.
Stopped by Barton Springs Nursery today, and the almond verbena was in full bloom and smelled amazing. Lots of good things in stock, too.

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!