Flower Round-up for Friday

Autumn blooms have been going strong this year and I'm posting a collection of my favorites.  Yesterday I highlighted the wheel garden of grasses and flowers in the back yard and today is a round-up of flowers from other gardens.

Looking across the back yard from the gate we see Salvia madrensis and violet ruellia.  The wheel garden highlighted yesterday is in the background.

Salvia madrensis is a shade plant which produces bright yellow blooms in the fall.

I pair it with the violet blooms of ruellia which were set back by our one cold night early in November.

In the same bed along the house, Brugmansia 'Dr Seuss' had a flush of two dozen blooms at once.

Across the way the flowers of our native Snapdragon vine show how they got their name.

In yesterday's post I highlighted two types of Gomphrena in the wheel garden. There are more around the yard like these tiny native Gomphrena 'Little Grapes'.

Purple Gomphrena in a galvanized planter along the fence is blooming beautifully today.

Over by the garage, the Bat-faced cuphea managed a few blooms before the deer ate them.  They will be relocated behind the fence in the spring.

Salvia "Indigo Spires' loves the cooler weather

Along the creek, Cow's Tongue Opuntia is combining with the monster Lantana camara

Rusellia is a reliable bloomer most of the year

The Meyer Lemon bloomed even with a lemon ripening, these blooms all dropped off.

Out in the front yard our native Gulf muhly bloomed for the first time.  I've moved these three times in the last two years and have finally found a spot that works.

New Gold Lantana in the front yard was covered with blooms for weeks

Agave Ovatifolia isn't exactly a bloom but it's shaped like one so it counts.

That concludes the tour of Autumn blooms in my garden.  Thanks for reading this far!

Foliage Follow-Up: February 2012

Newly emerging spring foliage is the focus for this February 2012 Foliage Follow-Up post hosted by Pam at Digging on the 16th each month.  Join Pam and other bloggers from around the world as we show off the foliage in our gardens.

Spring arrives early here in south Texas.  While our winter was mild overall we had a freeze back in the late fall that knocked back many perennials.  With our recent warm weather, the foliage on those plants is emerging and perennials that didn't die back completely are showing new spring growth.

Salvia Madrensis is a shade loving favorite that blooms only in the fall.  I'm pleased to see all this new growth on a first-year plant meaning I can probably divide it this year.