End of Month View: May 2014

I enjoy taking stock to see how much the garden has grown and the changes that have been made in the garden each month so I'm joining Helen at The Patient Gardener's Weblog in sharing views of the garden for May.

I usually begin with a view of the front garden where things don't seem to change much so we'll just skip to the driveway side where the yucca blooms have turned to skeleton forms.  I like the effect at least for a few more days.  The Texas Sage along the drive are just about to burst into bloom due to the recent rains.

Over by the garage the still tiny Damianita plants at the base of the Agave are beginning to show their bright gold blooms against the green foliage.

They are also blooming across the walk by the Yucca recurvifolia.  Damianita replaced struggling lantanas and should grow into sizable mounds by next summer.  The Gray Santolina is blooming on both sides of the island bed with tiny yellow buttons of blooms.

The silvery Artemisia behind the small agave bed is filling in nicely.  There are two Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue' in here which are growing fast, maybe too fast so I might have to move them sooner than I thought.  We've made some changes here which I will show in more detail in another post along with before photos to show just how improved this area is.

The final phase of refurbishing the buffalo grass lawn has begun with the planting of plugs harvested from widening the border beds.  I'm so glad to see it filling in and with the recent rains the lawn has greened up nicely.  There's a new fence back by the shed and a potting bench to help with storage of gardening things.

The circle garden is growing in and blooming just in time for summer.  A few queen butterflies have turned up on the Gregg's Mistflower which is just beginning to bloom.  Soon there will be hundreds of butterflies on the plants.

I've planted native grasses beside the courtyard pathway which I'll show even though it's hard to see in photos.  This photo was taken on one of our very rare rainy days and seems to show it best.  Look along the sides and you will see little green tufts.  Another project that's nice to have underway even though these grasses are slow to take hold and fill in.

Nearby the Monarda 'Peter's Purple' is blooming.  I hear it spreads quickly which is a good thing.  So pretty I might pick up a few more because this is the only Monarda which has survived my stingy watering practices.

A few different views for May and I'm pleased that most of our projects are coming together as summer begins.  No more transplanting because it gets too hot in the afternoon but I will still be planting new plants from the nursery for another week or two.

There are more blogger gardens you can tour for May by visiting Helen's blog.