Zanthan Gardens
Category: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

October 15, 2010

Second fall is firmly entrenched in Austin. As September rolls into October, usually a front will come in from the north and banish the humid Gulf air for a month or six weeks. Then Austin gets a lovely October of intense blue skies, dry air, and temperature ranging from lows in the 50s to highs in the 80s. This has been one of those perfect Octobers; my only complaint is that we didn’t get the prelude of a good long rain. We’ve had a few sprinkles but the last really good rain came with Tropical Storm Hermine at the beginning of September. Hermine dumped six inches of rain all at once and some Austinites got twelve inches or more. It would be nice to spread these rain events out a bit. These are lovely October days but dry, dry, dry. And it’s so cool I become negligent in my watering.

The garden has some fitting golden yellows for October. However it is mostly a jarring clash of reds and pinks at the moment. It was even worse at the beginning of the month before the oxblood lilies and the red spider lilies died down. (And people wonder why I don’t paint my gray cement wall purple.)

Turks cap clashes with coral vine

Ipomoea quamoclit, cypress vine

Dianthus ‘Fandago Crimson’

Ipomoea nil ‘Chocolate’

The package art and description led me to believe that this ‘Chocolate’ morning glory would be a gentle mauve or dainty buff. Not.

Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Dancing Petticoats

I planted some cosmos in the empty larkspur beds thinking I’d get some nice fall color. I always forget that it is too dark for annuals until the pecan tree loses its leaves. This was the only tiny pathetic flower from the entire packet of seeds. All the seeds sprouted but the plants quickly got leggy and died when they were about a foot tall.

The two ‘New Dawn’ roses are covered with flowers. And so is ‘Blush Noisette’. You probably would never guess it from the rest of the garden, but I really prefer these dainty pastel pinks.

Rose ‘New Dawn’

October 15, 2010

The list of all plants flowering today, October 15th 2009, at Zanthan Gardens.

• Abelia grandiflora (2010) full bloom
• Abutilon incanum (2010)
• Antigonon leptopus (2010) full bloom
• Antirrhinum majus (2010) rebloom, survived summer
• Commelina communis (2010)
• Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Dancing Petticoats’ (2010)
• Datura inoxia (2010)
• Dianthus ‘Fandango Crimson’ (2010)
• Duranta erecta (2010)
• Galphimia glauca (2010)
• Helianthus annuus (2010) wild
• Hibiscus syriacus (2010) fading
• Ipomoea nil ‘Chocolate’ (2010)
• Ipomoea quamoclit (2010)
• Lantana ‘New Gold’ (2010)
• Lycoris radiata (2010) last day
• Malvaviscus arboreus (2010)
• Nerium oleander (2010)
• Nierembergia gracilis ‘Starry Eyes’ (2010)
• Oxalis crassipes (2010)
• Oxalis triangularis (2010)
• Pandorea ricasalonia (2010)
• Parkinsonia aculeata, Retama (2010)
• Pavonia hastata (2010)
• Plumbago (2010)
• Polanisia dodecandra (2010) one flower left
• Rivina humilis (pigionberry) (2010)
• rose ‘Blush Noisette’ (2010)
• rose ‘New Dawn’ (2010)
• rose ‘Red Cascade’ (2010)
• rosemary (2010)
• Ruellia (all three) (2010)
• Salvia madrensis (2010)
• Senna lindheimeriana (2010) mostly gone to seed
• Setcresea (both purple and green) (2010)
• tomato (2010)
• Verbena canadensis (lavender wilding) (2010)
• Vitex agnus-castus (2010)
• waterlily ‘Helvola’ (2010)
• Zexmenia hispida (2010)

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

September 15, 2010

First fall is firmly entrenched in Austin. Given that it’s hot and humid, how do I know summer has surrendered? When I go outside, it doesn’t feel like I’ve stepped into an oven. When I walk down the street, the heat no longer radiates off the sidewalks and buildings. If I’m unable to water the potted plants one day, they don’t immediately die. The plants don’t wilt after ten minutes of direct sunlight. I’m pretty confident if a plant has made it this far it’s survived summer. (I did lose a couple of things the week before the rain: my potted sweet bay and my second ‘Ducher’ rose.)

I’m surprised by people who can’t feel the 15-degree difference between 107° and 92. I’m not going to say it’s pleasant outside but it is bearable. The air is thick with humidity and mosquitoes the result of Tropical Storm Hermine. After an August with only a trace of rain, Hermine answered our prayers with a vengeance. Zanthan Gardens got about 6 inches of rain in one day; other places in Austin got twice that. Flooding ensued. Eight people died (not all in Central Texas).

The oxblood lilies had their day living up to one of their other common names, hurricane lilies. Their fleeting beauty is all but faded today. So the prize for most striking display for GBBD is a toss-up between the Datura inoxia and the Lindheirmer senna. Some of the latter is over six feet tall. I’ve never seen it so tall. It grew a lot during the wet early summer months.

Lindheimers senna

Gardens everywhere in Austin are brimming with Pride of Barbados this year. I’m seduced by the clear orange/yellow combination. Usually I’m not a fan of orange–it has to be the right flower. I’m glad I bought one. I also managed to grow a Pride of Barbados from seed which I planted a couple of years ago. It died back to the ground during the January 2010 freeze but now it is almost as big as the one I bought. It still hasn’t flowered.

Pride of Barbados

Both the golden thryallis plants are flowering as is the ‘Bangkok Yellow” canna which I had to rescue from pond-trashing raccoons. September is a very yellow month at Zanthan Gardens.

Golden thryallis

The garlic chives started flowering very early this year and are still flowering. I planted them to complement the oxblood lilies but they don’t always flower together.

Garlic chives

The vitex, the retama, and the desert willow have all surprised me with flowers today. Even the ‘Catawba’ crape myrtle is reblooming. The coral vine is also pretty happy, sprawling over twenty feet into my neighbor’s cedar elms. A couple of four o’clocks opened, too. The ‘Starry Eyes’ nierembergia has been a winner throughout the summer. I definitely want more.

Nierembergia gracilis ‘Starry Eyes’

After the rain the garden is really just a collection of moderately managed wildflowers. The ruellia (all three types) have taken over the back yard. It’s very obliging. I don’t water or feed it and it grows and grows and grows. Another native plant, scarlet spiderling has been very aggressive this year. I don’t mind it in small doses but this year the plants are huge. The flowers, although a very pretty color, are tiny.

scarlet spiderling

Another native plant that I try not to let get out of control but which has this year is this mallow (maybe Indian mallow, Abutilon incanum). This isn’t a very good photo…it makes it look like horseherb. The flower of the mallow is much larger than that of horseherb; it’s about the size of a penny. It’s also a pretty pale, flat buttery yellow. The mallow is an upright bushy plant; the horseherb is a sprawling ground cover.

mallow

Eventually I’ll get the garden all under control again. Or maybe not.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

July 15, 2010

Although Austin’s heat index hit triple digit temperatures this week, our actual highs have remained in the 90s. The humidity is smothering. Being in the garden is miserable, even at dawn. If the humidity doesn’t drive me indoors, the mosquitoes do. However, looking at the garden from inside an air-conditioned house, I’m astonished at how green it still is, how lovely it appears from a distance.

I find it interesting to look back at previous years’ GBBD posts. Last July as we kept racking up our triple digit days on the way to 68 (not quite breaking the 1925 record of 69), I couldn’t bring myself to face the garden or to inventory my disappointment. Of course, now I wish I’d made the effort just to see what could bloom in a summer like last year’s. (And yes, a voice in my head told me as much at the time but for once the heart won out.) In July 2008 we were still at the beginning of the drought, suffering but still believing that fall rains would bring relief. The summer of 2007, however, was very similar to this summer.

The rain has encouraged the roses to bloom. All, except ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’*, have bloomed this month. ‘Red Cascade’ has been the real surprise. It sat there for years doing nothing and this year it’s hasn’t stopped blooming. It wants to be a ground rose though. Long canes snake out hugging the ground. They aren’t happy when I try to tie them up to the fence. The small fig tree I planted last year has doubled in size.

In the losses column another surprise: the gingko tree. It’s never been particularly vibrant but it held on through drought and freeze. It attempted to leaf out this spring, put out a few wan leaves, and then gave up. The rain also killed off my new sotol plant (planted in well draining soil amended with decomposed granite) and my thyme (potted in a deep herb pot).

Rain or drought certain flowers are dependable July bloomers at Zanthan Gardens: Antigonon leptopus, Hibiscus syriacus, Lagerstroemia indica, and Malvaviscus arboreus. Carefree self-sown flowers are Polanisia dodecandra, Ruellia (various), and Rudbeckia hirta. Perversely, given that I always have them, I don’t really want more of them. What I really want this year a Pride of Barbados. I’m almost content to enjoy my neighbor’s as I sit looking out the window from my desk. I could plant my own but when our low temperatures barely drop out of the 80s at night, I’m not highly motivated to work in the garden.

Noticeably absent from the list of dependable summer bloomers are the duranta and the plumbago. Neither has recovered yet from the Great Freeze of January 2010. The oleander is also slowing making its way back and has managed to put out a couple of flowers. I used to it being a huge wall of champagne-colored flowers.

New for July

I’ve tried growing crocosmia several times. This is my first success thanks to passalong plants from AnnieinAustin. They just began blooming yesterday.

2010-07-15. Crocosmia. (Technically this won’t bloom until tomorrow.)

I first noticed the pigeonberry in Eleanor’s Garden of E on the 2009 Master Gardener’s tour. I liked it so much I bought a 4-inch pot of one on the spot. It died back to its roots during the January 2010 freeze and has remained quite small. It began blooming July 10th.

2010-07-15. Pigeonberry (Rivina humilis).

When I bought a Mexican buckeye tree a few years back, there were second small plant in the container. I planted it and it’s stayed about a foot tall, smothered under weeds. In late spring when I was cleaning up around the raspberries, I uncovered it. It appreciated either the attention or the rain and has tripled in size in a couple of months. Today I noticed it was flowering, something it’s supposed to do in early spring.

2010-07-15. Mexican buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa).

Between GBBDs

Several flower bloomed and faded in my garden between GBBDs and so didn’t show up in the inventory for either June or July. Rainlilies: Zephyranthes grandiflora, Zephyranthes ‘Labuffarosea’ (another passalong from @AnnieinAustin), and the two different white ones. The Crinum bulbispermum rebloomed after the rain.

Update

* 2010-07-18. ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ produced one flower. That means every rose has produced at least one flower in July 2010…not all at the same time.

Complete List for July 2010

This is the list of all plants flowering today, July 15th 2010, at Zanthan Gardens. I’ve also noted if the plant was blooming on GBBD July 15th, 2007 or 2008. I have no notes for July 2009.

• Abelia grandiflora (2007, 2010)
• Antigonon leptopus (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Antirrhinum majus (2010)
• Aristolochia fimbriata (2010)
• Asparagus densiflorus (2010)
• Commelina communis/erecta (2007, 2010)
• Crocosmia (2010)
• Datura inoxia (2010)
• Engelmannia peristenia/pinnatifida (2008, 2010)
• Helianthus annuus (2010)
• Hesperaloe parviflora (2008, 2010)
• Hibiscus syriacus (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Lagerstroemia indica‘Catawba’ (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Lantana ‘New Gold’ (2007, 2010)
• Malvaviscus arboreus (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Mondo grass (2007, 2010)
• Nerium oleander ‘Turner’s Shari D.’ (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Nierembergia gracilis ‘Starry Eyes’ (2010)
• Oenothera speciosa (2007, 2010)
• Origanum vulgare (2010)
• Oxalis triangularis (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Parkinsonia aculeata (2010)
• Pavonia hastata (2010)
• Rivina humilis (2010)
• Polanisia dodecandra (2007, 2008, 2010)
• rose ‘Blush Noisette‘ (2007, 2010)
• rose ‘Ducher’ (2010)
• rose ‘New Dawn’ (2010)
• rose ‘Red Cascade’ (2010)
• rosemary (2007, 2010)
• Rudbeckia hirta (2007, 2010)
• Ruellia (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Setcresea (both purple and green) (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Thymophylla tenuiloba ‘Golden Fleece’ (2010)
• Ungnadia speciosa (2010)
• Verbena canadensis (2007, 2010)
• waterlily ‘Helvola’ (2008, 2010)
• Zexmenia hispida (2010)

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

June 15, 2010

Austin is in the glory of first summer now and its colors are like the chorus of that Pete Seeger ditty, Henry My Son, green and yeller. May, typically one of Austin’s wettest months, was unusually dry in 2010. However, June has made up for it with big storms bringing 2 inches of rain (June 2) and 4 inches of rain (June 9) to Zanthan Gardens. As a result, lot of fading spring flowers, like bluebonnets, larkspur, false dayflowers, nigella, and Confederate jasmine put out a few more flowers. And several of the roses are producing a second flush: ‘Blush Noisette’, ‘New Dawn’, and ‘Ducher’. ‘Red Cascade’ continues to have a few flowers from its first flush.

Fading bluebonnet. Two new flowers opened today but all the flowers are very pale in the heat.

New for June

My old faithfuls for first summer are in full flower: Rudbeckia hirta, Hibiscus syriacus, Antigonon leptopus, various Ruellia, and Polanisia dodecandra.

All over town Austin’s ubiquitous summer flower, the crape myrtle, is laden with bloom. I don’t think I’ve ever seen with such huge flowers before–just like our spring wildflowers. I credit the incredible rain from September to April. The lesson I’m learning is that while these flowers may tolerate our heat and drought, they really love twice the water we normally give them.

Lagerstroemia indica ‘Catawba.’

2010 was also the best year ever for my vitex (now fading). I have so much shade in my garden that both the crape myrtle and the vitex are pretty subdued compared to what you’ll see elsewhere in Austin

I’m still waiting for the oleander, duranto, and plumbago to flower. They are struggling back from their roots after Austin’s unusual big freeze in January 2010. I’m happily finding all sorts of plants I thought had died in the freeze springing back–the biggest surprise was new growth on the bottlebrush bush. And although I wasn’t surprised to discover a lot of self sown datura, I was to see new growth springing from the stump of one of last year’s plants.

I’ve had such good luck with the scraggly annual black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) that I thought I’d give the more impressive Rudbeckia maxima a try.

Rudbeckia maxima.

Between GBBDs

Several flower bloomed and faded in my garden between GBBDs and so didn’t show up in the inventory for either May or June: Gladiolus ‘Flevo Bambino’, globe artichoke, Opuntia ficus-indica, and Callirhoe involucrata.

Complete List for June

This is the list of all plants flowering today, June 15th 2010, at Zanthan Gardens.

• Abelia grandiflora (2010)
• Antigonon leptopus (2010)
• Antirrhinum majus (2010)
• Aristolochia fimbriata (2010)
• Asparagus densiflorus (2010)
• Chilopsis linearis (2010)
• Commelina communis (2010)
• Commelinantia anomala (2010)
• Consolida ambigua (2010)
• Engelmannia peristenia/pinnatifida (2010)
• Eschscholzia californica ‘Mikado’ (2010)
• garlic (2010)
• Helianthus annuus (2010)
• Hesperaloe parviflora (2010)
• Hibiscus syriacus (full bloom) (2010)
• Lantana ‘New Gold’ (2010)
• Lavandula heterophyla ‘Goodwin Creek Grey’ (2010)
• Lupinus texensis (a couple of fading flowers) (2010)
• Malvaviscus arboreus (2010)
• Mondo grass (2010)
• Nierembergia gracilis ‘Starry Eyes’ (2010)
• Nigella damascena (fading singles and doubles) (2010)
• Oenothera speciosa (2010)
• Origanum vulgare (2010)
• Oxalis triangularis (2010)
• Parkinsonia aculeata (2010)
• Pavonia hastata (2010)
• Polanisia dodecandra (2010)
• rose ‘Blush Noisette’ (2010)
• rose ‘Ducher’ (2010)
• rose ‘New Dawn’ (2010)
• rose ‘Red Cascade’ (2010)
• rosemary (2010)
• Rudbeckia hirta (2010)
• Rudbeckia maxima (2010)
• Ruellia (2010)
• Sedum album (2010)
• Setcresea (both purple and green) (2010)
• Thymophylla tenuiloba ‘Golden Fleece’ (2010)
• tomato (2010)
• Trachelospermum jasminoides (almost finished) (2010)
• Verbena canadensis (lavender wilding) (2010)
• Vitex agnus-castus (2010)
• waterlily ‘Helvola’ (2010)
• Zexmenia hispida (2010)
• unidentified white-flower (2010)

Unidentified white flower.

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

May 15, 2010

Spring wanes and May ushers in the early summer flowers as well as early summer temperatures which soared into the 90s a few times. Although we’ve had little rain until last night’s downpour of more than 2 inches, cloud cover has kept temperatures in the 80s. Unfortunately it’s also kept the humidity very high so May has made gardening uncomfortably sticky work.

The height of the flowering season at Zanthan Gardens is over. About half of what was flowering in April GBBD is gone but there are almost as many new flowers. The palette morphs from blues and purples into yellows, oranges and reds.The bluebonnets have completely gone to seed. The poppies and nigella last only a couple of weeks, a very short bloom season given that their growing season is almost as long as the bluebonnets and larkspur.

The big difference this year compared to earlier years is that some flowering bushes and small trees that usually flower dependably in May (such as duranta and oleander) were frozen to the ground in our uncharacteristic January freeze. They are alive but they haven’t started flowering yet.

Between GBBDs

A couple of flower bloomed and faded in my garden between GBBDs and so didn’t show up in the inventory for either April or May.

• Amaryllis ‘Black Pearl’.
• Lonicera japonica
• Louisiana iris ‘Full Eclipse’
• raspberries

Complete List for May

This is the list of all plants flowering today, May 15th 2010, at Zanthan Gardens. I’ve also noted if the plant was blooming this month in previous GBBD years, 2007, 2008, and 2009.

• Abelia grandiflora (2009, 2010)
• Antirrhinum majus (2010)
• Aristolochia fimbriata (2010)
• Commelinantia anomala (a few flowers revived by rain) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Consolida ambigua (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Crinum bulbispermum (2007, 2009, 2010)
• Engelmannia peristenia/pinnatifida (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Eschscholzia californica ‘Mikado’ (2008, 2009, 2010)
• garlic (2010)
• Gaura lindheimeri(2010)
• Hesperaloe parviflora (2008, 2009, 2010)
• Hibiscus syriacus (full bloom) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Lavandula heterophyla ‘Goodwin Creek Grey’ (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Lilium longiflorum, Easter lily (2010)
• Lupinus texensis (a couple of fading flowers) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Mirabilis jalapa pink (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Nandina domestica (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Nierembergia gracilis ‘Starry Eyes’ (2009, 2010)
• Nigella damascena (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Oenothera speciosa (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Oxalis triangularis (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Papaver rhoeas ‘Angel’s Choir’ (2010)
• Papaver somniferum (a couple of fading flowers) ‘Lauren’s Grape'(2010)
• Parkinsonia aculeata (2008, 2009, 2010)
• Phlomis lanata (2008, 2009, 2010)
• Polanisia dodecandra (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Portulaca grandiflora (2010)
• Pyrrhopappus multicaulis (2007, 2010)
• rose ‘Mermaid'(2007, 2010)
• rose ‘New Dawn’ (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• rose ‘Red Cascade’ (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• rose ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Rudbeckia hirta (2008, 2010)
• Sedum album (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Setcresea (both purple and green) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Thymophylla tenuiloba ‘Golden Fleece’ (2009, 2010)
• tomato (2007, 2009, 2010)
• Trachelospermum jasminoides (starting to fade) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Verbena canadensis (lavender wilding) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Viola cornuta (one selfsown plant) (2007, 2008, 2010)
• Zexmenia hispida (2007, 2008, 2010)

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

April 15, 2010

Carol dreams of May but April is when it’s happening at Zanthan Gardens. More plants come into bloom and more plants are in bloom than any other month of the year. And this year more than any other my garden is just a mess of color with no apparent design at all. The feral cats apparently find it quite frustrating. They make their own paths through the flowers and sit right in the middle of particularly large bluebonnet plants.

Two thugs, cilantro and Engelmann daisy, fight it out for control in the meadow. Most of the larkspur is in the front yard this year.

April is the month that Zanthan Gardens makes the transition from blue and white to a full spectrum of color. This year because of all the rain, it was even more blue and white than usual. The cilantro has taken over everywhere and the bluebonnets are large and numerous. In most years the bluebonnets have already begun to fade by now. With this year’s cooler, wetter weather, they’re holding on to their flowers longer.

2010 is a banner year for bluebonnets. They are just beginning to go to seed as the pink evening primrose comes into view. False dayflowers peak through the fence with their funny little faces.

New for April

• Allium neapolitanum
• amaryllis ‘Amoretta’
• amaryllis ‘Dancing Queen’
• Antirrhinum majus
• Diospyros kaki ‘Eureka’ (Japanese persimmon)
• Diospyros texana (Texas persimmon)
• Engelmannia peristenia/pinnatifida
• Eschscholzia californica ‘Mikado’
• Hippeastrum x johnsonii
• Iris flavescens (?) yellow heirloom
• iris ‘Incantation’
• Meyer lemon
• Nierembergia gracilis ‘Starry Eyes’
• Nigella damascena
• Oenothera speciosa
• Papaver somniferum “Dorothy Cavanaugh”
• Phlomis lanata
• Pisum sativum ‘Progress #9’
• Pyrrhopappus multicaulis
• rose ‘Blush Noisette’
• rose ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’
• rose ‘Prosperity’
• rose ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’
• Solanum jasminoides
• Spiraea bridal wreath
• Thymophylla tenuiloba (Dahlberg daisy)
• tomatoes (all)
• Verbena canadensis
• Vicia sativa (common vetch)
• viola (self-sown)
• yaupon holly

The love-in-the-mist will fill in when the cilantro fades.

Pink evening primrose is considered a thug in other people’s gardens but it is very prim compared to my real thugs.

Bearded iris ‘Incantation’ among the flowering cilantro.

Yellow heirloom irises and white ‘Ducher’ rose in a field of cilantro and poppies.

I had high hopes that these would be Lauren’s Grape but they are the pale salmon “Dorothy Cavanaugh”. Salmon is the gardener’s name for “orange”. They don’t look very orange in this picture but they do in real life especially compared to the cherry red peony poppies behind them.

The artichoke is about to flower. The bluebonnets are giving way to the larkspur. I replaced the entire front yard with larkspur which I can see from my desk.

Some people call these bicolor larkspur “bunny ears”. See the little white bunny face?

2010 has been a great spring for roses in Austin, too. Last Sunday @good_n_evil had us Austin garden bloggers over to look at her roses. Her garden is certainly inspiration to me to work a little harder. In fact you might as well just head on over there virtually and gawk. There’s nothing left to this post but lists.

Rose ‘Prosperity’ is the only rose still struggling to recover from the drought.

Between GBBDs

Several flower bloomed and faded in my garden between GBBDs and so didn’t show up in the inventory for either March or April.

• Hyacinthoides hispanica
• Narcissus triandrus ‘Hawera’
• Prunus caroliniana
• rose ‘New Dawn’ (A couple of flowers early in the month but none today. Gearing up for a big show in about two weeks.)
• Tulipa clusiana
• Ungnadia speciosa

Complete List for April

The list of all plants flowering today, April 15th 2010, at Zanthan Gardens. In 2010, 45 different plants are flowering which is about the same as 2007 (41) and 2008 (43). However, it’s much lower than 2009 (70). Many plants flowered straight through the 2008/9 winter because it did not freeze here.

• Allium neapolitanum (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• amaryllis ‘Amoretta’ (2010)
• amaryllis ‘Dancing Queen’ (2010)
• Antirrhinum majus (2010)
• Commelinantia anomala (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Consolida ambigua (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Coriandrum sativum (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Diospyros kaki ‘Eureka’ (Japanese persimmon) (2007, 2009, 2010)
• Diospyros texana (2010)
• Engelmannia peristenia/pinnatifida (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Eschscholzia californica ‘Mikado’ (2008, 2009, 2010)
• Hippeastrum x johnsonii (St. Joseph’s lily) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Iris flavescens (?) yellow heirloom (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• iris ‘Incantation’ (2010)
• Kalanchoe daigremontiana (Mother of Thousands) In pot this year. (2009, 2010)
• Lobularia maritima (2008, 2009, 2010)
• Lupinus texensis (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Meyer lemon (2010)
• Nemophila insignis (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Nierembergia gracilis ‘Starry Eyes’ (2009, 2010)
• Nigella damascena (2008, 2009, 2010)
• Oenothera speciosa (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Oxalis crassipis (hot pink) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Oxalis stricta (yellow flowering weed) (2010)
• Oxalis triangularis (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Papaver somniferum “Dorothy Cavanaugh” (2010)
• Phlomis lanata (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Pisum sativum ‘Progress #9’ (2010)
• Pisum sativum ‘Wando’ (2010)
• Pyrrhopappus multicaulis (2010)
• Rhaphiolepis indica (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• rose ‘Blush Noisette‘ (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• rose ‘Ducher’ (waning) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• rose ‘Madame Alfred Carriere‘ (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• rose ‘Prosperity’ (full bloom) (2008, 2009, 2010)
• rose ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Solanum jasminoides (potato vine) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Spiraea bridal wreath (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Thymophylla tenuiloba ‘Golden Fleece’ (Dahlberg daisy) (2009, 2010)
• tomatoes (all) (2007, 2009, 2010)
• Tradescantia (spiderwort) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Verbena canadensis (lavender wilding) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Vicia sativa (common vetch) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Viola cornuta (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• yaupon holly (2007, 2009, 2010)

And just for the record, these are the 45 plants which were blooming on April 15th in previous years that aren’t flowering today. Or should this be on a separate non-bloom day post? Some of them are dead and gone. Some of them froze to the ground this year but are slowly making a comeback.

• Aloe barbadensis (2008, 2009)
• Asclepias curassavica (overwintered) (2009)
• Asparagus densiflorus ‘Sprengeri’ (2008, 2009)
• Brugmansia (from Annie in Austin) (2009)
• Centaurea cyanus ‘Black Magic’ (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Crinum bulbispermum (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Datura (from Diana which overwintered) (2009)
• Duranta erecta (overwintered) (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Eupatorium wrightii (from Pam) (2009)
• Hesperaloe parviflora (2008, 2009)
• iris bearded ‘Strictly Ballroom (2009)
• Iris x fulvala ‘Full Eclipse’ (2009)
• jalapeno (2009)
• Lantana montevidensis (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Lantana x hybrida ‘New Gold’ (2008, 2009)
• Lathyrus odoratus ‘Knee-Hi Mix’ (2009)
• Lathyrus odoratus ‘Perfume Delight’ (2008)
• Lathyrus odoratus ‘Regal Robe’ (2007)
• Lavandula heterophyla ‘Goodwin Creek Grey‘ (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Lavandula stoechas (2009)
• Lonicera japonica (2009)
• Malvaviscus arboreus (2009)
• Mirabilis jalapa (2008, 2009)
• Narcissus jonquilla ‘Quail’ 2007
• Nerium oleander ‘Turner’s Shari D.’ (2008, 2009)
• Orchid (from Dawn) (2009)
• Oxalis pes-caprae ‘Scotty’s Surprise’ (fading) (2008, 2009)
• Polanisia dodecandra (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Retama (2008, 2009)
• rose white Lady Banksia (my neighbor’s but droops over the fence) (2009)
• rose ‘French Lace’ (2007, 2009)
• rose ‘Heritage‘ 2007
• rose ‘Mermaid’ (2009)
• rose ‘New Dawn’ (2007, 2008, 2009)
• rose ‘Penelope‘ 2007
• rose ‘Red Cascade’ (two small flowers) 2008
• ruellia (overwintered) (2009)
• Salvia farinacea ‘Indigo spires’ 2007
• Salvia greggii ‘Raspberry’ 2007
• Sedum album (2008, 2009)
• Setcreasea pallida (2008, 2009)
• tomatillo (2009)
• Trachelospermum jasminoides (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Tradescantia pallida (purple heart) 2007
• Zexmenia hispida (from Pam) (2009)

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

March 2010

The redbuds are Austin’s harbinger of spring but in 2010 it seemed they would never bloom. More than three weeks later than normal, on March 6th, I started seeing redbuds around town. After that, Spring cut loose. It was as if the other flowers had to wait for the diva to take center stage before making an entrance. Tazetta daffodils that are usually in flower in January bloomed alongside jonquils and large-flowering daffodils. The larkspur, which typically blooms a month after the bluebonnets, began blooming almost a week before.

Despite the devastations of record drought and freezes, the garden springs back.

Between GBBDs

Two stems of ‘Ice Follies’ daffodils came back after a couple of years of not blooming. I thought I’d lost them for good. I had divided them over the year and at one time had 8 groups.

Complete List for March 15, 2010

The list of all plants flowering today, March 15th 2010, at Zanthan Gardens. This is the fourth March I’ve participated in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Compare: March 2007, March 2008 (most floriferous), March 2009 (18 months into the drought).

• Commelinantia anomala
• Consolida ambigua
• Coriandrum sativum
• henbit
• Iris (unnamed blue)
• Iris albicans
• Kalanchoe daigremontiana (Mother of Thousands) in pot
• Leucojum aestivum
• Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’
• Lobularia maritima (white)
• Lupinus texensis (including a pink opening today)
• Muscari neglectum/racemosum
• Narcissus jonquilla ‘Trevithian’
• Narcissus tazetta ‘Grand Monarque’
• Narcissus tazetta ‘Grandiflora’
• Nemophila insignis
• Nothoscordum bivalve
• Pisum sativum ‘Progress #9’
• Pisum sativum ‘Wando’
• Prunus mexicana (big tree finished, 2 small trees at height)
• Rhaphiolepis indica
• Rose ‘Ducher’
• rosemary
• Sophora secundiflora
• Tradescantia

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

January 2010

Nothing to see here. Austin suffered through three days of our coldest temperatures in two decades and we’re still figuring out what died and what survived. My one new flower for the month, a single Narcissus italicus froze and fell over.

Now it’s raining. And raining and raining and raining. As the only two plants flowering in my garden have “insignificant” flowers (as the botanists say) and they’ve appeared in my GBBD posts before, I’m not going to get cold and wet to get a blurry photograph of them again.

If you want to see true grit and creativity in the face of disaster, hop on over to the The Transplantable Rose where @AnnieinAustin has made a great video of her Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, January 2010.

January 15, 2010

The list of all plants flowering today, January 15, 2010, at Zanthan Gardens.

• Lonicera fragrantissima
• rosemary

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

December 2009

The last couple of Decembers, I managed to sneak in a flowery GBBD before winter’s first hard freeze. This December the hard freeze came first to Austin and so there is very little blooming in the garden today.

New for December

Only two plants began flowering since November’s GBBD: one passalong blue bearded iris and the winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima. That’s a long name for an insignificant flower. It’s power is in its scent. Both began blooming yesterday (12/14).

Winter honeysuckle.

I also bought a tray of yellow snapdragons. They hardly seem like real flowers since I bought them in bloom and they look more or less the same weeks later. I usually buy violas but I couldn’t find a color I liked this year.

The white marigold ‘Kilimanjaro’ bloomed just days before the freeze and then died. The paperwhite narcissus, the first of all the narcissus to bloom, are usually flowering in my garden by now. They are flowering elsewhere in Austin but not here. Mine need dividing, I think.

Hanging on

Pacific chrysanthemum caught the fancy of several garden bloggers during our field trip to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. I picked up a plant at the Antique Rose Emporium that same trip. The flowers are a pretty gold but I’m more attracted to the foliage.

Pacific chrysanthemum.

Snow fell in Austin since November’s GBBD but it didn’t stick. The closest I have to a carpet of snow is a little clump of sweet alyssum which survived the heat of summer.

Sweet alyssum.

The roses ‘Ducher’ and ‘Red Cascade’ which were in full bloom before the freeze have survived. Some of the smallest buds froze and never opened but the larger flowers still look pretty from a distance. On closer inspection you can see they were nipped by the cold but unlike so many other flowers, they didn’t turn to much and go brown.

December 15, 2009

The list of all plants flowering today, December 15, 2009, at Zanthan Gardens.

• Ajania pacifica (2009)
• Antirrhinum majus (2009)
• Aster ericoides (2007, 2009)
• Commelinantia anomala (2009) a few flowers, most froze
• Galphimia gracilis, indoors (2009)
• iris, unidentified blue bearded (2009)
• Lobularia maritima ‘Tiny Tim’ (2007, 2009) survived the summer
• Lonicera fragrantissima (2009)
• parsnips (2009)
• rose ‘Ducher’ (2007, 2009)
• rose ‘Red Cascade’ (2009)
• rosemary (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Setcreasea (2007, 2009) green
• Tagetes lucida (2009)

November 15, 2009

This last month has been one of the most beautiful in memory, its perfection lulling us into a glowing sense of “God! Isn’t it wonderful to live here in central Texas.” Rain. Rain. Rain. And then a month of dew-kissed mornings when we never got the hose out once and only watered seedlings and new transplants with the bounty in our rain barrels.

The overwintering annuals have filled in making it look more like March than November. The false dayflower is already flowering.

Commelinantia anomala. The common solid blue false day flower has an endearing face, too.

Henbit, chickweed, and dandelions–the early winter weeds (or tonic herbs depending on your point of view)–are also getting a head start on sprouting and blooming. It’s odd to think that our first freeze is due within three weeks when the whole garden is insisting we’re already into spring.

Another March flowerer, cilantro, is about to bolt. I hope this counts as a bonus fall crop and that we get a second crop in spring. Even the spring-flowering Jerusalem sage threw out a few flowers on one bush.

The fall flowers, brilliant with fall yellows and oranges, are in full bloom. With the flowers, the butterflies returned.

Asclepias curassavica.

As did swarms of mosquitoes. The mosquitoes love to be in the garden in the late afternoon at the same time I otherwise find it most pleasant to work. Very discouraging. The garden is buzzing with bees, too. They especially like the coral vine, the basil, and the orange cosmos. The cosmos is in full bloom right now. Unfortunately it is a uniform orange, unlike previous years. It and the pink Port St. John’s Creeper account for almost all the color in the back yard.

Cosmos sulphureus.

All month the roses have been in full bloom. The ‘New Dawn’ rose by the front fence has flowered more and longer than ever before. So has ‘Red Cascade’ which looks like it has finally decided to do something (take over the world?) after years of lying sleepily along the ground. In the back yard, ‘Ducher’ collapsed under its own weight and then sent out a lot of additional new growth from the bent canes. In short, it pegged itself.

Rose ‘Ducher’. Linen white and lemon scented.

Rose ‘Red Cascade’. Tiny flowers on rambling rose that wants to be a groundcover.

Rose ‘Prosperty’. From bud, to faded flower on stem…like a timelapse photo of itself.

Rose ‘Blush Noisette’.

‘Mermaid’ has been blooming this last month, just not today. Only ‘Souvenir del Malmaison’ and ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’, which are still in the shade of a red oak, have not flowered.

The vines have set out to smother the yard, especially the kudzu-like Port St. John’s creeper which is following the coral vine’s leap into the trees. The cypress vine has grown into a flopsy mopsy tangle at the top of its trellis. One surviving morning glory puts out a unique striated flower every other day or so.

Pavonia hastata. A single pale pavonia flower struggles to open. I prefer it to its cousin the solid pink, Texas native, rock rose, Pavonia lasiopetala.

In the winter vegetable garden, the parsnips are flowering. The leaves are only just beginning to fall from the pecans today so the newly planted lettuce and other salad greens are struggling in the shade and getting leggy or eaten by pill bugs. The jalapeno is flowering and has peppers on it. One self-sown tomatillo is flowering but the other two which sprouted died so can’t cross-pollinate and set fruit.

Complete List for November

The list of all plants flowering today, November 15th 2009, at Zanthan Gardens.

• Ajania pacifica (2009)
• Antigonon leptopus (2009)
• Asclepias curassavica (2009)
• Aster ericoides (2009)
• basil (2009)
• Callisia repens (2009)
• Calytocarpus vialis (2009) hated horseherb
• Commelina communis (2009)
• Commelinantia anomala (2009)
• Cosmos sulphureus (2009)
• Datura inoxia (2009)
• Dolichos lablab (2009)
• Duranta erecta (2009): overwintered and bloomed all summer
• Eupatorium wrightii (2009): fading
• Galphimia gracilis (2009)
• henbit (2009)
• Ipomoea quamoclit (2009)
• jalapeno (2009)
• Lagerstroemia indica ‘Catawba’ (2009): one flower; leaves browning–not changing color
• Lavandula heterophylla ‘Goodwin Creek’ (2009)
• Lobularia maritima ‘Tiny Tim’ (2009) survived the summer
• Malvaviscus arboreus (2009)
• Mirabilis jalapa pink (2009)
• Nerium oleander ‘Turner’s Shari D.’ (2009): fading
• Oxalis crassipis (2009)
• Oxalis triangularis, purple (2009)
• parsnips (2009)
• Pavonia hastata (2009)
• Podranea ricasoliana (2009)
• Polanisia dodecandra (2009)
• rose ‘Blush Noisette’ (2009)
• rose ‘Ducher’ (2009): so heavy with new growth and flowers that it’s sprawling
• rose ‘New Dawn’ (2009): both plants
• rose ‘Prosperity’ (2009)
• rose ‘Red Cascade’ (2009)
• rosemary (2009)
• Setcreasea (2009) both purple and green
• Solanum jasminoides (2009)
• tomatillo (2009)
• Tagetes lucida (2009)
• Thymophylla tenuiloba (2009)
• Zexmenia hispida (2009)