U is for Ungnadia speciosa

Continuing my series on Plant ABCs with the Ungnadia speciosa or Mexican Buckeye.  The ABCs of plants in my garden is a series featuring a plant in my garden for each letter of the alphabet.  Once the alphabet is completed I will continue to add plant profiles with the goal of an alphabetized plant list for reference.

The letter "U" is somewhat rare in plant naming and often skipped on plant lists.  As rare as it is there are two plants native to my region of Texas with botanical names beginning with the letter "U" and one of them is the Ungnadia speciosa or Mexican Buckeye.

Plant ABCs: T is for Tecoma Stans

Plant ABCs is an ongoing series where I highlight a plant from my garden for each letter of the alphabet.  I'm currently going through the entire alphabet A - Z, then will continue updating and adding plants to the list over time.  My previous posts in this series are on the "Plant ABCs" tab under the header.  Today's letter is "T" and Tecoma stans is the choice.  It's also Texas Native Plant Week so featuring Texas native Tecoma stans or Esperanza fits right in with this week's theme.

Plant ABCs: S is for Sophora Secundiflora

Plant ABCs is an ongoing series in which I am highlighting a plant from my garden for each letter of the alphabet.  I'm currently going through the entire alphabet A - Z, then will continue updating and adding plants to the list over time.  My previous posts in the series are on the "Plant ABCs" tab under the header.  Today's letter is "S" and Sophora Secundiflora is the highlighted plant. 

The Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora Secundiflora) was one of the first plants I learned to name.  Of course I knew only its common name for many years.  Texas Mountain Laurel was my father's favorite and whenever I'm asked to name my favorite plant this is the one I choose.

Plant ABCs: R is for Rosemarinus

Plant ABCs is an ongoing series in which I am highlighting a plant from my garden for each letter of the alphabet.  I'm currently going through the entire alphabet A - Z, then will continue updating and adding plants to the list over time.  My previous posts in the series are on the "Plant ABCs" tab under the header.  Today's letter is "R" and Rosemary is the highlighted plant.  Rosemary plays a big role in my garden because it is easy to grow, very drought tolerant, and absolutely deer-proof.

Plant ABCs: Q is for Quercus fusiformis

Plant ABCs is an ongoing series in which I am highlighting a plant from my garden for each letter of the alphabet.  I'm currently going through the entire alphabet A - Z, then will continue updating and adding plants to the list over time.  My previous posts in the series are on the "Plant ABCs" tab under the header.

The first choice for the letter "Q" in the garden would have to be Quercus (oak) because the resident live oaks make such an important difference that I can't imagine the garden without them.

Plant ABCs: P is for Photinia fraseri

I'm continuing my ABCs of plants in my garden series with Photinia fraseri.  You can view the others in the series on my sidebar or on the Plant ABCs tab at the top.  Plant ABCs is a series to document the plants in my garden.  I'm going through the alphabet in order and when it is completed I will add and update entries.

Photinia fraseri or Red-tip Photinia is one of the most common plants in my neighborhood.  Almost everyone used it for screening along their fences when the houses were built.  This non-native plant originated in New Zealand and has more recently been replaced in newer developments with native shrubs.  The photinia in my yard have been here for 18 years and along the fence line for even longer so they aren't going anywhere soon.

Plant ABCs: O is for Opuntia

This post continues my "ABCs of Plants in my Garden" series and highlights the letter O for Opuntia or the cactus known as prickly pear.  The prickly pear cactus is so common here in Texas that until recently I wouldn't have imagined planting them in my yard much less writing an entire blog post on them.  But my attitude toward them has changed.

Most of the opuntia on the list are planted in the cactus patch along the creek in the back yard and were acquired from Jean "the cactus guy" we found on craigslist.

Plant ABCs: M is for Mimosa dysocarpa

Next in my series of The ABCs of Plants in My Garden is Velvetpod Mimosa or Mimosa Dysocarpa.

Mimosa?  Isn't mimosa invasive?  Mimosa Dysocarpa is a Texas native plant and is not considered invasive.  Invasive mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) is an asian native brought over in the 18th Century which has escaped cultivation.
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Native Mimosa dysocarpa is deciduous and extremely drought tolerant.  While it likes direct sun and reflected heat, it also does well in part shade.  The photo above is from Ragna's garden this past spring.  Mine is about 8" tall and in the gravel bed next to the garage where it gets mostly sun with late afternoon shade.

Ragna generously shared a rooted cutting from her plant about two years ago.  The gorgeous spring flowers are pink cylindrical brushes.
 

The bright pink flowers fade to pale pink and white.

Mimosa dysocarpa has a shrub-like form which matures at about six feet (1.8m) tall.  The native range is west Texas extending across New Mexico to Arizona and south into Mexico.  It's also called Catclaw or Gatuno for the thorns along the branches.



This special native plant when mature will be a bright spot in the front garden against the stone garage wall.

Plant ABCs: L is for Lupinus texensis

The obvious choice for the letter "L" in my series on the ABCs of Plants in My Garden is our Texas state flower Lupinus texensis or Texas Bluebonnet.

This past spring I wrote several times about this beautiful native wildflower so I won't repeat, but I'll add a few photos while linking back to previous posts.

The mild winter and rainy spring produced the best crop of bluebonnets in years.  So beautiful were these displays I devoted an entire post to bluebonnets for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day in March 2012 and another for Wordless Wednesday.

Bees were the subject of their own bluebonnet post also in March

A follow-up post detailed collecting and preparing bluebonnet seeds for planting.    The seeds we didn't pick up have already produced seedling rosettes in the garden.

This post has been a good opportunity to consolidate information on Texas bluebonnets and enjoy the memories of a beautiful spring 2012 during the current  mid-summer heat.

I have also added a tab at the top of my blog with the list of featured plants in my ABCs of Plants in My Garden series.

Plant ABCs: J is for Justicia

The selection for today's post on ABCs of plants in my garden is J for Justicia.  Both the Shrimp plant and Mexican honeysuckle are the common names of two very different types of Justicia in my garden.

I enjoy the special shapes of the flowers on my Shrimp plant or Justicia Brandegeana.  Though I have seen shrimp plants available in local garden centers, these plants were shared by generous gardening friends.

'Fruit Cocktail' with its pretty pink bloom

The shrimp shaped part of the bloom is actually a chain of bracts that continues to multiply until it falls off and the blooms are the little pink flowers.

Red, a nice deep color

A closer look at these shrimp-shaped bracts with the pale blooms

This red shrimp plant is a bit stunted here since the deer got to it in the spring.  I also have a yellow shrimp plant which is not currently blooming for the same reason.  Here's a bloom from last fall.

The deer usually ignore the shrimp plants, but this past spring they went after them.  Now that the plants are recovering I consider these somewhat deer resistant.  If I avoided all plants that deer nibble from time to time I would have very few plants to choose from.

In my garden these shrimp plants get sun early and late but are not in the full sun all day.  They are watered every few days along with all the other plants in the bed depending on the heat.  While the shrimp plants did not die completely back this past winter, the blooms did slow down and the plant dropped some leaves.

The next is Justicia spicigera or Mexican honeysuckle.  I planted this Mexican honeysuckle plant in the front yard last fall and it is doing well out there among the yucca and agaves with just a little water each week.  The Mexican honeysuckle has bright orange-red flowers.  It did not die back in our recent mild winter and bloomed right through the winter.  This one gets water about once a week in the summer and does not wilt so it is quite drought tolerant.

 
Mine is still small so here's a look at mature one in the blue adobe courtyard at The Antique Rose Emporium here in San Antonio.

All of these Justicia are native to Mexico and Central America but have adapted well to our climate.  These are great plants for our gardens here in south Texas.

Plant ABCs - I is for Ilex Vomitoria

My series the ABCs of plants in my garden continues with the letter I.  I is for Ilex Vomitoria or Yaupon Holly.

What a name!  Vomitoria?  Apparently early European settlers thought the native populations used the leaves as a tea to induce vomiting.  That turned out to be a misunderstanding since the active ingredient in the leaves is caffeine.  I found a few secondary references to the tea still being available in St. Augustine, Florida, but could not find the tea for sale.

While the yaupon holly is native to Texas, it is not native to San Antonio or the Texas Hill Country.  It is one of the few varieties of holly that will reliably grow in our hot, dry environment here.  There were other holly varieties planted years ago in the neighborhood, but many bit the dust in the recent drought.  Those varieties also prefer acidic soil, so they do not do as well as yaupons in our limestone soil. 

The dwarf yaupon (Ilex vomitoria 'nana') is in my yard as a hedge, and this row along the front was planted by the original owners' landscaper.

Yaupon holly is evergreen and very drought tolerant, we only watered this hedge a few times during the recent drought and never water the native ones.  These have reached their mature size at around 3' high and we keep them naturally shaped by only trimming a few rangy branches now and then.
This one dwarf yaupon in the driveway island intrigues me since it was not part of the original landscaping and must have been planted by renters.

I kept it when we reworked this bed because it adds a green counterpoint to the mostly silvery plants here.  Just for fun, I keep it trimmed in a softly rounded shape to fit better with the style of this section of the garden.

The yaupon holly is also available in a very attractive weeping form (Ilex vomitoria 'pendula') and I have just the place for two of those which I plan to add in the fall.  The Ilex vomitoria has been a great plant for my garden.

Plant ABC's - H is for Hesperaloe Parviflora

I'm continuing my ABCs of plants in my garden series with Hesperaloe parviflora.  You can view the others in the series on my sidebar.

This Texas native is one tough plant.  These hesperaloes were here when we purchased the house in 1995.  I wrote about reworking the original plants in this earlier post.  They have survived in direct sun for up to 10 hours a day in summer without supplemental water for most of the 20 years in this spot.  They are cold hardy in zone 8 and don't seem to mind our occasional torrential rains either.
 

Commonly called Red Yucca it is actually a member of the agave family.  Soft arching leaves resemble ornamental grasses and are not as pointed or sharp as most agaves.

The plant spreads and is easy to divide and transplant, hardly missing a beat.   When we recently planted them in the new landscaping along the driveway we simply divided the existing ones for free plants.

It's hard to see them here along the driveway because the deer have snapped off the blooms even though they don't eat them.

Although they do best in sun, Hesperaloes can take a little shade but will flop over toward the sun and not bloom as well.

Though it does take on a nice violet hue in winter, the summer bloom season is when this plant really shines.  The coral flowers have a yellow edge and attract hummingbirds.

The flowers open in the sun and close in the evening

 
The green seedpods will turn to brown and are unattractive so I remove them by cutting the stalk.

 
The weather this year caused some of the dropped seeds to sprout along the edges of the bed.  I haven't seen seedlings here before and I will dig them out to transplant or share.

Self-cleaning like many xeric plants, the dead leaves eventually fall or can be easily pulled from the plant when they turn brown.

Hesperaloes are available in at least two other colors-- yellow, which looks great against a wall and the bright red 'Brakelights'.  Since we already had so many of the coral, I decided to stick with the same color across the front but might add the others in the back where I enjoy mixing it up a little more.

There's a Giant Hesperaloe available.  You need a lot of room for it as here at The Antique Rose Emporium.

Several years ago I considered replacing them.  That was before two years of drought changed my mind.  Hesperaloe parviflora is a great landscape plant for those hot, dry spots.

Plant ABC's - G is for Gaillardia

The ABC's of plants in my garden continues with Gaillardia 'Mesa Yellow'.  Cheerful and bright, the sunny yellow flowers have yellow centers to match.

It's a native prairie flower that blooms all summer, does well in full sun.  Also known commonly as Blanketflower, this low water-use plant adapts well to many different soil types.

 

Like many of the flowering plants in my garden this plant was planted in a temporary bed last fall.  It bloomed throughout the winter, but It's getting crowded in this spot and needs more sun so I'll move it to a sunnier spot soon and enjoy it so much I'll look for more when plant shopping this spring.

Plant ABC's - E is for Elaeagnus

The ABC's of plants in my garden continues with Elaeagnus.  Yes, that Elaeagnus, the one commonly known as Russian Olive and sometimes derisively referred to as "Ugly Agnes".  This plant not only serves an important function in my front yard, it does so beautifully.  Elaeagnus is the plant with the deep green leaves in the midst of the trees.

Plant ABC's - D is for Delphinium

Today's selection for the ABC's of plants in my garden is Delphinium or Larkspur as it its called here in Texas.   These Larkspur flowers are in my friend Kathy's garden where I took this photo when I visited her beautiful garden last spring.

   
Delphiniums are popular summer perennials in colder climates but here in Texas the Larkspur is grown as an annual from seed for spring flowering.  In addition to allowing some seed to fall naturally, Kathy collects and sows seeds by hand to ensure this wonderful explosion of blooms.

You might think I'm cheating just a bit because this series is supposed to be about plants in my yard.  I'm getting to that part.  Kathy generously shared her Larkspur seeds with me and I planted them last fall.  Here's how they look now....ta daaa!

Hmmm, well it will be a while until mine look like hers.  So you prefer seeing Kathy's flowers?  Thought so.

I've learned a lot about gardening in San Antonio from Kathy, most notably that you can grow lots of flowers here.  I plan to post more about Kathy's amazing garden transformation along the way too.

Plant ABC's - C is for Callicarpa Americana

The "ABC's of plants in my garden" series continues with Callicarpa americana which is commonly known as American Beautyberry.  That's certainly a good descriptive name for this native plant.

The bright purple berries are strikingly beautiful.  When it's blooming the  neighbors stop to ask about it.  In summer the leafy open pattern provides shade for part-sun plants.  They grow best under larger trees and are a lovely welcome along the walk to the shadier part of the garden.  These are 15 years old and are about six feet tall now with a few trims over the years.  They are very drought tolerant, although in last year's extreme drought they didn't look as good as in the past.

The berries form in late summer along the arching branches.  The photo below was taken before I began blogging so it isn't the best, but you can just see the berry laden branches in the center near the walk.



Callicarpa americana is deciduous and the branches are quite bare after the birds and deer have stripped all the berries so they work best against an evergreen background.

Just in case you think we forgot to rake the leaves, the leaves in this area intentionally remain where they fall as a natural plant mulch.

As soon as the berries begin to form, the birds, especially Cardinals and Mockingbirds, gather in the nearby shrubs and wait.  They test the the berries each day and devour the ripe ones until they are all gone.  The berries are safe for humans as well and are used to make jellies.  Herb tea is made from the root and the leaves are said to ward off mosquitoes and flies.

Beautyberry indeed.

Plant ABC's: B is for Brugmansia

The "ABC's of plants in my garden" series continues with Brugmansia.

There's something about those large beautiful trumpet blooms emerging from scrawny stems topped with average looking leaves that makes Brugmansia special.

That's Dr. Seuss (above) bathed in summer morning light.