GBBD list for October 2009

On the fifteenth of each month May Dreams Carol asks garden bloggers everywhere to post about what is blooming in our gardens. Most of the photos are in my Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post at the Transplantable Rose - here's where I keep complete lists with my best guesses at their proper botanical names.Abelia chinensis/Abelia, four white shrubs full bloom

Abelia chinensis two unnamed pink shrubs in light bloom

Abelia chinensis 'Edward Goucher' smaller pink shrub in light bloom

Ageratina havanense, Fragrant white mistflower, two plants just budding

Aster x frikartii 'Wonder of Staffa'. One plant in full bloom, one okay, one nearly died

Barleria cristata/Philippine violet, three blooming plants.

Brugmansia - unnamed variety Yellow Angels trumpet, many not-quite-open flowers

Buddleja lindleyana/ Weeping butterfly bush, a few flowers left on branch tips.

Bulbine frutescens 'Yellow'/ yellow bulbine - took summer off now loaded with flowers and buds

Calibrachoa hybrid, tender perennials, one surviving plant of 6, dark violet flowers in hanging basket

Clematis unknown hybrid, began rebloom a couple of weeks ago - still opening flowers

Clematis hybrid, probably 'Miss Bateman' 0ne flower

Clerodendrum ugandense – Blue butterfly flower.
(Royal Horticultural Society says it's Clerodendrum myricoides 'Ugandense', nicknamed Blue Cat's Whiskers), not as robust as last year, but still quite a few flower heads

Clitoria ternatea- the annual Blue Butterfly Pea vine, still blooming but smaller than usual and foliage ratty. Its usual companion the Moonvine gave up already

Conoclinium greggii, Gregg’s Mistflower - closely related to C. coelestinium, the mistflower I grew in Illinois, but leaves are quite different. Lavish bloom following near-death in summer

Cuphea ignea, orange Cigar flower, many little orange flowers

Cuphea llavea – small pink & lavender form (two plants) both blooming but smaller than in other years

Cuphea llavea – two red & purple ‘Batfaced’ alive and flowering

Delosperma cooperi ? Dark pink flowered hardy ice plant, died back, now regrowing and flowering

Dianthus – various colors of ‘Telstar’ hybrids in assorted containers - scattered flowers

Dendranthema x grandiflora. -cushion mums - a few flowers on scraggly plants

Duranta erecta, Skyflower -grown amazingly well this year and in flower

Evolvulus glomeratus, Blue Daze, a few plants blooming

Gaura lindheimerii ‘The Bride’ (two plants)- cut back - not reblooming yet

Gaura lindheimerii, unknown tall rose-pink variety (‘Pink Cloud’?), cut back, some flowers

Hedychium coronarium/ Hawaiian White Ginger - a couple of buds left on one stalk

Helianthus, unknown, gigantic, annual sunflower - top 2-feet now dead - a few flowers still opening

Impatiens walleriana, bedding impatiens, lavender flowers in a patio container and white ones in a pot in the Secret Garden

Ipomoea quamoclit, Cypress vine - self-seeded with a few flowers

Jatropha integerrima 'Compacta' - never many open at a time but always a few

Lagerstroemia - crepe myrtles. The small 'Catawba' in a patio pot looks awful but the 2 white 'Acoma' hybrids and unnamed hot pink varieties have a few flowers here and there.

Lantana, unknown varieties both upright and trailing – lavender, white and gold, most have at least some flowers

Lavandula intermedia 'Provence', only surviving lavender has some fragrant wands in bloom

Leucophyllum frutescens/ Texas sage AKA Barometer bush AKA Cenizo – one shrub, a few flowers.

Lobularia maritime, Sweet alyssum couple of containers lived to rebloom

Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii/Turkscap or Red Wax Mallow two plants have quite a few flowers

Melampodium leucanthum / Blackfoot daisy, native plant - blooming parkway, front bed, back triangles

Ocimum basilicum, Basil, in trough

Osmanthus fragrans/Sweet olive three shrubs making tiny, fragrant flowers

Oxalis crassipes 'Alba' (dotted around and in containers), several blooming

Pavonia lasiopetala, pink rock rose near mailbox, covered in flowers

Pelargonium hybrids– assorted bedding geraniums in containers- isolated flowers here and there

Pelargonium hybrid, coral, in kitchen window - a few flowers... and ants!

Perovskia atriplicifolia, Russian Sage, plants in long sunny fence bed in bloom, but shade of pecans means no flowers on the plants in the center back fence bed

Platycodon 'Fugi White', a few flowers left

Platycodon grandiflorus / Blue Balloon Flower - front plant has flowers

Plumbago auriculata (two shrubs), still making blue flowers

Plumbago auriculata var. alba, slow to establish but now has some flowers

Poliomintha longiflora, Mexican oregano (3 plants), all blooming

Portulaca - Moss roses and flowering purslane. The plants in the ground died; those in containers have flowers

Punica granatum 'Nana'/ dwarf pomegranate - a few flowers

Rosa 'Belinda's Dream', Pink shrub rose- handful of buds

Rosa ‘Champagne’ mini rose, delicate pink , two plants

Rosa floribunda ‘Julia Child’, butter-yellow rose,

Rosa 'Mutabilis' (two good-sized plants) more buds than flowers right now

Rosa /unnamed apricot mini-rose, one open flower and a couple of buds.

Rosmarinus officinalis 'Prostratus' - Prostrate Rosemary, some pale blue flowers

Rosmarinus officinalis, upright Rosemary - many white flowers

Salvia coccinea, annual reseeder, red Hummingbird sage

Salvia coccinea, annual reseeder, white Hummingbird sage

Salvia coccinea ‘Coral Nymph’, annual reseeder, coral pink Hummingbird sage

Salvia elegans/Pineapple sage – two plants lost many stems; what survived is in bloom

Salvia farinacea, Mealy Blue sage, young plant did okay- long bloom period

Salvia greggii (white, red, cherry) most have some flowers, some have many flowers

Salvia guaranitica, Majestic blue sage - stems ragged but reblooming

Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' - planted 3 places, all reblooming but best in front bed

Salvia leucantha, Mexican Bush Sage -very happy!

Salvia leucantha 'Santa Barbara' hybrid Mexican Bush Sage - does not like its location but made some flowers

Salvia madrensis - shorter but fuller than last year, now fully budded, starting to open yellow flowers

Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips' a few scattered flowers but spindly

Salvia X 'Nuevo Leon' (several borders and containers), some plants died back, but the survivors have many small violet flowers

Scutellaria indica 'Dorota Blue' flowers on ends of branches, med. size plant in patio container

Scutellaria suffrutescens, pink skullcap, two plants - some dieback, now regrowing a reblooming

Sedum, or maybe Hylotelephium? Passalong succulents/stonecrops blooming pink



Tagetes lucida, Mexican Mint Marigold, Texas Tarragon, one plant all gold and in bloom. The other is alive but had a rough summer

Tradescantia geniculata, groundcover , in bloom

Zinnia linearis/ syn Zinnia angustifolia, several plants, abundant, long-lasting white flowers.

Garibaldi Biscuits

Both Philo & I remember liking a kind of shiny-surfaced, flat cookie with a raisin filling when we were growing up in the Chicago area, but we hadn't seen them in years. The flat bars had perforations to break a larger cookie into smaller rectangles.

Recently I read a tweet from James Alexander Sinclair , of Blackpitts Garden, revealing that his Biscuit Blog now had its own twitter account. These aren't American-style baking powder biscuits split to enclose sausage or drenched in gravy... they're what we might classify as cookies.

When Garibaldi biscuits were spoken of on the blog the historical name didn't seem to connect with our cookies of memory, but the photos looked right. Philo's family and mine lived less than a mile apart and our parents shopped at some of the same stores. It's a long time ago, but we think the cookies/biscuits were not bought not in packages but in bulk at the bakery department of a long-gone Chicago chain of department stores called Goldblatts.

Online searches turned up Crawford's Garibaldi Biscuits. While still deciding how nuts it would be to order them and pay the shipping, we stopped for other products at Spec's liquor store here in Austin and found the Garibaldi Biscuits on an aisle of imported treats. They look the same and taste pretty close to what we remember, although the ingredients say "currants" and we're pretty sure the version from the 1960's were filled with raisins. The wrapped and packaged biscuits don't seem to be as chewy as those sold loose and exposed to air from glass bins.
Patient GardenerJane Perrone wrote a post for the biscuit blog musing on the origin of the name Garibaldi Biscuit. A web search turned up a children's book called Garibaldi's Biscuits, written and illustrated by Gonzo artist Ralph Steadman, collaborator with Hunter S. Thompson on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and apparently... lover of biscuitry.

ED Oct 12 AM Was giving credit to the wrong person for that original Garibaldi post - sorry Helen!