Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Morning, Glory

After visiting Chris Park I headed into town by way of the King William Historic District with no plans to stop...until I spotted a bright morning glory vine in full bloom on a corner fence.  I haven't seen many morning glories around San Antonio.


Two-hour free parking is easy to find during weekdays and guided walking tours are common so my taking photos attracts little if any attention in the neighborhood.


A few moments observing a busy solitary bee at work.


Intense color with blooms beginning to close as the sun arrived.


I'm inspired enough to try planting a few seeds on the east side of my garden next year.


What about the rest of the garden?  I knew you would ask so I took more photos.  Casual and fun with great plants were my impressions.  South of downtown and near the river provides an ideal growing environment for a garden.



Purple echoes morning glory colors.


"Tin Man" next to Strelitzia and I'm pretty sure that's a floor lamp way back in the patio area.


Papaya ripening on the tree.


The house looks like a small cottage from the front.  The front walk features a nice gate and a bit of lawn edged with tufts of flowers.  I'd enjoy visiting this garden if it were on tour.


Picking up the color theme is a curbside planting of Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida) in combination with one of our native tradescantia or spiderwort.  It's interesting to see this happens in gardens other than mine.  The purple heart plant is native to Mexico and usually planted intentionally while the latter (green leaves with blue flowers) just seems to show up wherever the purple is planted.


Intrigued, I continued walking and I'll have more photos in my next post.

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Pam Penick is set to speak at Festival of Flowers on Saturday, May 28th at 10:30 am.  She'll present "Hold the Hose", a presentation on saving water in our gardens.  After the talk Pam will have her latest book  The Water-Saving Garden and her first book Lawn Gone! available for purchase and signing.  Vendors from all over our region will be there so you get a lot of access for the low admission price of $6.00.  Look for me attending Pam's talk, volunteering at the SAWS butterfly garden display, shopping for plants on the vendor floor, and/or taking part in the City-Wide Plant Swap!

9 comments:

  1. Hi Shirley! This Morning Glory is a beauty! I love its intense blue color. I used to have one plant in my old garden; it grew so big and strong - it took down its support!

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    1. Good thing this one is on an iron fence! I'll have to make sure I put it in the right place.

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  2. Morning glory is so beautiful but not easy to control (as I learned from experience years ago). This gardener seems to have mastered that feat. I love the tine man too.

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    1. Hmm, it seems that beauty takes more work than I thought. There does seem to be a gardener in residence since the rest of the garden is well tended.

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  3. Nice finds! That cultivar, which is common around here, too, is such a unique shade of blue. Thanks for peeking over the fence and sharing that lovely garden!

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    1. I'm wondering if it is "Heavenly Blue", the color was very intense.

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  4. Love the intense colour of morning glory! And the purple and blue combo even if accidental looks good too.

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    1. I'm considering not pulling out the green tradescantia when it shows up in the purple from now on.

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  5. Makes me wonder why those morning glories are so seldom seen around here. May be that the invasive white ones have given even their good cousins a bad name.

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