Talk about a late comeback!

How long would you wait for a plant to recover after a harsh winter?  This year many of my plants have been slower than ever to bounce back.  None has been slower than the Anacacho Mexican Orchid tree in the front garden, shown below after we planted it last fall.

After seeing the Anacacho Mexican Orchid tree in a post from Pam at Digging and admiring it in gardens around town like this one along a sidewalk in our King William Historic District south of downtown I knew I had to find a place for one of these beautiful Texas native trees.

And I found just the right place.  This area under the oaks looks very shady and it does get dappled sun/shade much of the year.  That is it's shady until August when the afternoon sun comes over the house and nails this spot like a laser beam.  I lost several plants before getting a clue.  Abutilon turned to toast, what was I thinking?  The yucca shown here worked until it was shredded by a buck "antlering" it and I decided to move it to the back border.

It was time to plant a tough native.  I did my homework and found it grows well in both sun and shade.  Its pretty and airy form makes it perfect for viewing out the front windows.  Just imagine how it would look filling that blank spot in this view from the front door.

The delicate flowers stay in bloom most of the summer.  It's listed as a spring bloomer on most sites but the photo below was taken in October.

It's hardy in San Antonio and evergreen most winters.  Turns out that part about "most winters" is key to what happened this year.  I probably should have waited until spring to plant so it could get a better head start on winter cold.

Like most of the U.S. our winter was colder than normal, way colder in fact.  The little Anacacho Mexican Orchid lost all its leaves.  It showed no signs of life in early spring so I knew it would have to come back from the roots and I decided not to give up.  Not even after seeing a mature one in full bloom on a garden tour in Austin in early May nearly two months after our spring warm up began.  By then I was so bummed I managed only this quick shot of it while one of Master Gardeners consoled me with a reminder not to give up yet.

I even took some encouragement from Diana of Sharing Nature's Garden when she posted on Facebook several weeks ago about pulling up her Anacacho Orchid only to find that it was sprouting from the roots.  But I finally decided to throw in the trowel yesterday when I looked again and saw no sign of sprouting.  It's nearly summer and we've been warming up for three months!

I made a note to pick up a replacement on my next visit to the nursery.  This morning while watering some new plants nearby I glanced over, reminded that I needed to take it out to make way for the new one when....

Can it be?  Why yes, that sure looks like the root is sprouting in several places around the base.  Yay!

Might take a while before it blooms, but I'm so happy to see it survived the great winter of 2014 which means it can take whatever we throw at it in our crazy South Texas weather.

So the little orchid tree gets to stay and I can go back to protecting it from antlering.  Which means the silly tomato cage will return later this summer.

You talkin' about me?

Yes, you!

Note:  After Pam commented below I realized I must have a Mexican Orchid tree and not the Anacacho so I have made a few edits to my post above.