Flowers for Friday: Late Summer 2012

Tomorrow is Garden Blogger's Bloom Day (GBBD) but my flowers never seem to bloom on cue for GBBD.  For September, I've collected blooms from the last few weeks and put them all in one post.   It's late summer by the calendar, in San Antonio that means the beginning of our second gardening season of the year as our gardens wake up from their heat-induced summer dormancy and peak around the end of October.

Now for what's blooming in my garden in late summer 2012.

First up is Gomphrena 'Fireworks', a plant I intend to plant more of next year.  Gomphrena taunts our hot dry summers by sending up masses of stunning blooms.  Here it is against a background of Mexican Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia Pulcherrima).



Gomphrena 'Strawberry Fields' is also a beauty.  In full sun and reflected heat all day, it continues to bloom all summer.  Gomphrena 'Fireworks' is in the background.  Both plants grew from small 4" pots planted in June.



Duranta 'Sapphire Showers' is stunning against the stone wall of the garage.   The plant is almost six feet tall with striking sprays of tiny jewel-like flowers.

This aloe plant was handed to me as an "extra" at the end of a swap last fall.  It fits just right in a little cement pot and the pretty bloom is a nice surprise.

This is the first bloom on this blackberry lily (Belamconda chinensis) sent to me by an internet gardening friend two years ago and I love the delicate color and details.

My favorite canna put out this one last summer bloom, which was six feet tall.

The garden along the north side of the house provides the best blooms at the end of our hot summer.  I posted the story of this garden last fall shortly after I began blogging.

Red salvia with tall purple Ruellia in the background.  The red salvia was received in a trade so I don't have an ID, but it has been a prolific bloomer all through our hot summer.  Nepeta 'Walker's Low' is spilling over the rock edging onto the gravel path and a yellow brugmansia trumpet blooms to the right along the wall. 

       

 A closer look at the salvia to finish this last summer flower post.

The best blooming news for Fall 2012 is the gardens we began literally from scratch three years ago are beginning to establish and fulfill my vision.  And the rains and cooler weather arrived this week (almost 4 inches) after a six week dry spell.  Ahhhhh -- Fall is coming.

On a sad note:  Albert, a gardening friend who shared the Brugmansia shown here and a number of the plants mentioned in previous posts, passed away earlier today (09/15/12).  I will miss his delightful advice while fondly remembering him through the plants that still grow in my garden.