Sunday, July 28, 2013

Summer Showers bring Sage Flowers

The Silverado Sage along the driveway are in bloom again and even more gorgeous than last year now they have matured.  The Silverados have a deeper color than standard sages and are less leggy.



Cenizo or Leucophyllum frutescans is sometimes called "barometer bush" because gardening legend says it will predict rain, but there is no rain expected here in the foreseeable future.  So in my garden these blooms tell me we had a rain shower two weeks ago this Tuesday.  It typically takes about an hour of soaking rain to push them into bloom and I've been eagerly watching for the blooms since then.

These flowers are worth the wait.


It will sometimes bloom in the fall when low clouds gather daily.  Either way I'd say it's a pretty sage-y plant.


Gratuitous Agave Ovatifolia photo plus I think the colors look great against the background of my neighbor's Esperanza and Crape Myrtle.



That's the news from my garden this week.  Tomorrow I'll take a look back at the driveway landscaping project and the progress made over the past year.

21 comments:

  1. Yowza! I saw a bunch around here...clipped into &#*@! cubes, but with all this coolish, "humid" weather, they are flowering anyway. They are like late barometers, as you note flowering after real rain.

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    1. It's awful isn't it? The natural form is so pretty there seems to be no reason for it.

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  2. Beautiful sage blooms & that agave...sigh.

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    1. Yes, that agave is doing quite well there.

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  3. Very nice color! I've never seen such pretty flowers, Shirley!

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    1. I've seen some very pretty flowers on your blog Nadezda.

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    2. If your neighbors go to cruise to Saint Petersburg, they will be able to meet me!
      my e-mail:
      nsdou2008@gmail.com
      Thank you!

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    3. That is so very nice of you Nadezda. I will see if I can contact them.

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  4. Your Silverado Sage looks magnificent. What a lovely colour.

    I didn't mind the gratuitous Agave shot. It really does look terrific with the purple, yellow and crimson behind it.

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    1. It's fun to throw in something like that once in a while!

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  5. They look outstanding! As you saw in one of mine, my three are so much more showy than last year.Bees love them.

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    1. The bees love them so much that they literally fall to the ground inside the flower, it's a lot of fun to watch.

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  6. Thanks for the beautiful photos of your cenizo! It's funny how I don't notice that plant around town until it blooms and all of a sudden it's bursting into color. I always think back to when it last rained too!

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    1. They are often in neglected or easy to ignore rows along parking lots and it is the blooms which are amazing.

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  7. I am enjoying the blooms here too...and around the area. It sure becomes apparent who shears their plants and who doesn't.....or prunes them too late into spring. Yours look wonderful and it must be a delight pulling your car into the garage and seeing all that color!

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    1. It is quite a welcome home. The shearing of flowering shrubs is such a strange and awful practice.

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  8. Even we could use a bit of restorative rain. It sure is doing wonderful things for you!

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    1. It's very special to have that kind of rain in the summer and we never complain about it.

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  9. Ours are finally blooming. It seems all the other ones in the neighborhood bloom WAY before ours....and, more often.

    They are stunning. And, the 'perfume' is really nice.

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  10. That is a beautiful sage, such a prolific bloomer!

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  11. Loving the colorful sage too from this garden!!

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