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: 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 - 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 - A is for Agave

Recently I noticed the range of plants in my yard just might cover the alphabet.  I'm only missing one and plan to add it before we get there. Agave begins my A-Z plant alphabet series.

There are several Agaves in the garden and it was hard to pick just one.  We just planted this Agave Lophantha 'Splendida' over the weekend giving it plenty of space to offset and spread.  Note the two little pups to the left.

It was tough not to choose the Abutilon because it looks so spectacular right now.  So here's the honorable mention from the A-list.

I'll continue posting the alphabet of plants in my garden throughout the year.