National Wildflower Week 2020

National Wildflower Week is always the first full week in May and usually ends on Mother's Day.  The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center used to celebrate with a wonderful tour of Austin gardens which focused on native plants and wildflowers but they discontinued the tour a few years ago and I couldn't find much information out there.  I did find the following quote on a holiday calendar website.

"...commemorates the colorful blossoms that bring our landscapes to life. Whether they are on mountainsides, pastures or our own back yards, wildflowers create habitat, help conserve water and reduce erosion."

I'll celebrate with a tour of the colorful blossoms that bring my "own back yard" to life each spring.

We've had a bit of everything during our spring wildflower season in South Texas.

This week Greenthreads (Thelesperma filifolium) hit their peak so we'll start in the front garden.  Their seeds originally blew in on the wind or floated down the street on rainwater and I just let them grow.  We never water or cultivate them in any way.  A combination of annual and perennial, they will fade in the summer and return in the fall.

Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) are amazingly resilient even after they were hit by a light frost in late February.

They weren't slowed down a bit and bloomed beautifully on schedule.

I've been pulling their spent stems and spreading the last of the seeds this week.

While we're on the subject of blue flowers, Heartleaf Skullcap (Scutellaria ovata) are pretty blue flowers which only show up in the spring.  The gray foliage will soon die back and the roots bide their time underground until next spring.  If I accidentally dig them up when dormant I just tuck the roots back under the soil and no harm done.

A recent addition are Texas Bluebonnets in the front yard, mostly around the Yucca Rostrata.  We pull these as soon as they scatter most of their seeds.  Bluebonnets for all their blooming beauty are ugly seed setters.  Bright yellow Damianita is a native wildflower as well though this plant seeded over from a purchased plant so it is cultivated.

Our May wildflowers had a close call with a neighbor's lawn service.  I found this note on my door one recent afternoon.  He was obviously at the wrong house; actually, the wrong street entirely.  There has always been confusion over street names and numbers here because the street name changes on a curve which is not so obvious and the numbers start over.  You can see the curve in the Yucca photo above.   All the houses in the background are on a different street.  The intended recipient's house has the same number and is just up the hill about a block away.



When I called they advised me that he did not spray anything on my yard.  Our security video confirmed that he did not spray.  An App 3 mix has weed killer and fertilizer both of which could kill our native Buffalo Grass "lawn."   

Weeds?

Let's see what he saw that day.

Gaillardia pulchella or Blanket Flower

Monarda citriodora or Beebalm

On video the lawn guy was seen scratching his head and looking confused by this scene. 

We've had ongoing problems with burnout streaks in our Buffalo Grass and now we think it's possible weedkiller is flowing downhill through our yard to the creek during rains.

I mentioned Bluebonnets are ugly seeders and the brown spots in the photo below are Bluebonnets going to seed.  Not something we want to leave in the front landscape for weeks.

The cat prefers wildflowers to a perfect lawn too.

Happy Wildflower Week and Happy Mother's Day too.

End of Month View: Spring Garden Tour 2018

Those yucca blooms keep drawing me outside, even though I'm trying to blog more (by request).  But whenever I sit at my computer I see this view!

Silvery Yucca rupicola is blooming for the first time having been planted as a small pup about four years ago.  Sometimes yuccas go on the wane after blooming, fortunately it has produced a number of pups to keep going should the originals die out.

Gorgeous!

Since I'm already out here let's take a tour of the spring garden which I'm linking to End of Month View hosted by Helen at The Patient Gardener.  Helen and several other UK bloggers are making the trip to Austin for the annual Garden Blogger's Fling.  I look forward to meeting so many bloggers I know mainly from photos of their gardens.

It's been a good spring with cool to average temperatures featuring more than a few cloudy days.  Clouds are good because we will have endless sunny days all summer.  For now we can use the extended opportunity to get seedlings and transplants off to a good start without a pounding from hot sun.

Just enough sun breaking through momentarily to show off Mexican Feathergrass inflorescences with pink Salvia greggii.  This is the view we see most often when returning home and I love the way everything has worked out.  I'm pretty much done and any tweaks will be minor from now on.

More than one yucca bloom is on the way!  Yucca rostrata by the garage is happy enough to bloom during its first spring in the ground.

Straight on front view showing lots of green and silver.  Later in the year yellow and gold flowers fill in as the green of spring fades.

Experts advise against pruning up the Cycad.  But they don't have to get to the mailbox through all those prickles.  So prune we did.

Entering from the north end of the drive.  A little deer proofing to protect Agave cornelius planted to replace Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' which bloomed and died out.  The garden needs a spot of yellow and green color here and the agave fits the bill.

Pale yellow blooms on purple pads of Opuntia Santa-rita  creates a perfect complementary scheme.



The island bed in silver awaiting more gold flowers later in the summer.

Callistemon 'Little John' nearly froze to death in a rare snow fall last December.  I'm happy to see it has recovered well enough to bloom.

Down through the courtyard garden collection of vintage white clay pots which coordinate much better with Ilex vomitoria 'Grmicr" or "Micron Holly" instead of a random collection of plants.

Wildflowers have changed over from Bluebonnets to oranges and yellows of Greenthread, Firewheel, and Mexican Hats.

I've tidied up the "Flower Bed" and added Salvia guaranitica 'Amistad' in a pot to better watch hummingbirds from the porch.

The view from the porch where I spend a lot of evenings watching darkness cover the garden.

The beginnings of a wildflower meadow on a scruffy slope below the deck.  First task is to get native grasses going but Larkspur has other ideas.

And my tours always end with a peek over the south side fence where it seems that as soon as I clear out potted plants from under the trees, more take their place.

Now there you have it; a dual purpose spring tour of my gardens to both link up with The Patient Gardener and a place to point if someone at the Garden Blogger's Fling should ask how my garden is doing.  It is doing very well, and thank you for asking.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day April 2018

It's been a challenge to blog lately with near perfect gardening weather awaiting me.  We have a short planting window in spring to ensure plants are established before the summer heat sets in.   It's especially important this year since I've been moving a lot of plants to expanded areas of the garden.  While my blogger friends farther north are digging out from their second snow storm in as many days I'm joining Carol at May Dreams Gardens for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day and sharing blooms from April in my San Antonio garden.

Native Lace Cactus and Damianita make a nice bright combination.  This pretty cactus used to grow among the rocks in vacant areas around our neighborhood and I miss seeing it in the wild.

In the back garden Belinda's Dream and Mr. Moy roses are getting along well.

Belinda's Dream produced a dozen pink blooms at once.  Beautiful!  She's a good cutting rose and they last quite a while in a vase.



Grandma's Yellow is still blooming too.

John Fanick Phlox was discovered blooming in an old San Antonio neighborhood and is named for a local nurseryman.  Gardening Volunteers of South Texas will be holding our April Gardening Essentials Class at Fanick's beginning noon tomorrow and you're invited.   Learn more about gardening, and tour a 75-year multi-generation family business, and also get a nice discount.

Pomegranate blooms are a favorite.

Bright orange and a pretty shape that stands out in the trees.

A Pomegranate forming on the lower left.  We don't count on getting fruit since it is so variable with weather conditions.

Henry and Augusta Duelberg Salvias bloom with little to no care.  I tried the white Augusta in a separate bed but they look much better in combination with blue Henry.  I think they would have liked it that way.

My weeds really are wildflowers or many of them at least.  As I wait for woody perennials to bloom yellow Greenthread and Prairie Verbena fill in among Bluebonnets going to seed.   Looks like a great crop of Bluebonnets for next year.

All in all a great month in the garden.



That's the best of blooms from my garden for April.  Be sure to head over to GBBD at May Dreams Gardens to see what Carol and other bloggers are sharing from their gardens.  I look forward to meeting Carol and 90+ fellow bloggers at the Garden Bloggers Fling in May.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day February 2017

What blooms in South Texas in February?  Quite a few plants, especially this year with above average temperatures most days.  And this year one of my favorite plants that usually doesn't bloom until March is already in full bloom.  That's why I'm joining in with Garden Blogger's Bloom Day this month.

Texas Mountain Laurel (Sephora secundiflora) surprised with early blooms despite a couple of deep freezes and a long run of cloudy days.

Love those grape-scented blooms.

Still emerging

Cooler weather should help the blooms last for a while.  Some years the heat does them in.

Covered with bees ....

.....even though the camera could only get one at a time!

More blooms on this pretty February day

Blackfoot Daisy is a reliable survivor of hard freezes.  It barely slows down and begins blooming quickly again.  Even better is seeing this native plant shrug off our summer heat while blooming away through July and August.

 Ditto Four-Nerve Daisy

Golden buds on a red barrel cactus promise the first blooms on this plant since I planted it about three years ago.

Succulents kept under wraps during the coldest nights bloom early like this Echeveria.

Kalanchoe daigremontiana blooms on a stem so large it dwarfs the plant

Rosemary thrives in my garden and commonly blooms through the winter

Suprisingly similar to Rosemary are these Silver Germander blooms

Bougainvillea were stuck in the garage during the freeze.

Mexican Honeysuckle is another plant that seems to have powered through the freeze on the northeast corner of the garden.  Sparsely blooming, but still it counts.

Purple Oxalis hiding under stems of perennials

Meyer Lemon blooms forming fruit already.  I made a Lemon Cheesecake in December with last year's fruit.

The first wildflowers are Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida)

and Greenthread

Buds forming on the Texas Bluebonnets mean blooms will be here soon.  You might have to look way down in there to see it.

Turns out there are quite a few blooms this February.  Garden Blogger's Bloom Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.