Bloom Day June 15, 2009

AAAAaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I’m so sick of this heat I feel like I’m losing my mind.  My plants look like HELL and the bugs are eating the scraggly leaves so fast I can’t keep up!!!!!!

Deep breath… ok I feel much better.  I just had to get that out of the way.  Howdy everybody and welcome to bloom day for June, 2009.  We’ve been having record heat with highs over 100 for about 2 months now here in Texas and my yard and garden are looking pretty tired at this point.  My water bill is thru the roof and all I’m able to do is keep things alive.  There isn’t enough water out there to make them thrive.  What we need is some rain, but the drought continues.  I believe I heard the other day that we are closing in on 3 feet behind in rainfall over the past 2 years.  The lakes are drying up and so are everybody’s yards.  Ah, summer in Austin.  I realized in taking photos for bloom day that I have far more blooms in the winter than I do at this point.  Maybe I need to rethink my gardening philosophy.

Welcome to Bloom Day for June 2009.  Bloom Day is the brainchild of Carol at May Dreams Gardens {http://maydreamsgardens.blogspot.com/) and is the day when gardeners around the world post photos of what’s blooming in their yards on the 15th of each month.

Plumeria rubra 'Edi Moragne'

Each time I travel to Hawaii I bring back some plumeria sticks.  This bloom is from one of my oldest and largest plants.  The fragrance of these blooms is intoxicating.

Tabernaemontana divaricata 'Flore Pleno'

When Cheryl and I traveled to Seguin on our nursery crawl last month, we stopped in at Green Gate nurseries and I purchased this Indian Carnation.   The blooms smell like jasmine.  Very nice.

Cordia boissieri

This is the bloom of the Texas Wild Olive tree.  It stays covered in these crepe like flowers all summer long.  I tried growing some of these from seeds this past spring with no luck.  Anyone have any ideas on how to germinate the seeds?

Ruellia tweediana

The dwarf ruellia is always in bloom throughout the summer.

Zinnia 'Profusion Orange'

The aptly named Zinnia Profusions are covered in flowers as usual.  They seem to love the heat.

Ruellia elegans

The delicate blooms of the Thai ruellia.  This is another one that thumbs it’s nose at the Texas heat and, unlike other ruellias, this one is non-invasive.

Petunia unknown cultivar

Another heat lover, the petunia, showing a little insect damage.

Duranta erecta

This normally fall-blooming duranta or sky flower has been covered in blooms all summer long.  I wonder what it has in store for the fall?

Aloysia virgata

This almond verbena is another purchase from Seguin.  My nose found this one.  It has a sweet almond scent that you can smell all over my back yard.  Very nice.

Ipomoea nil 'Scarlett O'Hara'

I managed to get a photo of this morning glory before the heat burned it to a crisp.

Canna indica

This canna sprouted up on my side of the fence from my neighbors yard.

Bignonia capreolata 'Tangerine Beauty'

The tangerine crossvine had a few blooms sprinkled around on it.

Campsis radicans

The trumpet vine is blooming well.

Ipomoea adenioides

The morning glory bush is covered in blooms and getting HUGE!  This shrub is a very fast-grower.  I love it.

Musella lasiocarpa

This is the unusual bloom of the Chinese Yellow Banana.  This banana is hardy to 5 degrees and is said to grow as far north as Ontario, Canada.

X Chitalpa tashkentensis 'Pink Dawn'

The chitalpa tree is always covered in blooms in the summer. This is a cross between a desert willow and a chitalpa tree.

Mandevilla splendens 'Scarlet Pimpernel'

The scarlet mandevilla vine is blooming nicely.

Datura metel 'Double Purple'

The devil’s trumpet is blooming well but not doing nearly as well this year as last year.  The insects are eating up this poisonous plant this summer.  I’ve been picking tomato cutworms off of it for over a month now.

Galphimia gracilis

The golden thryallis is another fool proof summer bloomer.  It just loves the heat.  This plant really should be used more often.

Conoclinium greggii

The West Texas Mistflower is still blooming nicely in spite of the oppressive heat.

Salvia farinacea 'Blue Bedder'

Mealy blue sage is in constant bloom throughout the summer.

Evolvulus glomeratus 'Blue Daze'

The blue daze doesn’t even start blooming til it stays above 80 degrees at night.

Cynara cardunculus

The neon blooms of the cardoon.  This amazing plant gets about 6 feet tall and wide and is covered in flowers.

Cuphea llavea

Gotta love these bat face cuphea blooms.

Portulaca grandiflora

I have various colors of moss rose in bloom.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

I also have yellow, red and salmon colored tropical hibiscus in bloom at the moment.

Passiflora incarnata

This passion flower vine has completely taken over one corner of my yard, but it’s smothering the hackberry trees along the fence line, so it’s fine with me.

Unidentified

I can’t remember what this flower is.  It could be a white buttercup. I purchased the plant this spring at Barton Springs Nursery.  It’s been blooming all summer and I wish I’d have purchased a dozen of em.  Any ideas anyone?

Well that brings to a close the blooms from the July bloom day for me.   Stay cool everybody and I’ll be seeing you next month!

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