Bloom list for July 15-16, 2008

Abelia chinensis (several shrubs in light bloom)

Achillea 'Moonshine', a couple of flowers

Amarcrinum ‘Fred Howard’ (three large flowering stalks)

Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii, Flame acanthus just started

Antirrhinum majus, Yellow snapdragons (about 6 plants), in bloom since Christmas

Asclepias curassavica, tropical milkweed, one plant very happy, one spindly

Ocimum basilicum, Basil – one plant is bolting…Stop making flowers!

Begonia semperflorens – one 2-year old white wax begonia in bloom

Buddleja davidii ‘Black Knight’, flowering, but the heads are very small

Buddleja lindleyana, Weeping butterfly bush, about four wands opening

Bulbine frutescens 'Yellow', light bloom – need to be cut back

Canna, unnamed tall, bright green-leaved with red-orange flowers

Canna ‘Bengal Tiger’ several plants – 2 flowers

Capsicum annuum – some of the garden peppers have buds & flowers, and a few have developing peppers

Clematis – possibly C. viticella, 4 flowers

Consolida ajacis, Larkspur – one surviving plant with a few flowers

Coreopsis 'Crème Brulee' (5 plants) abundant bloom but messy

Crocosmia, may be ‘Lucifer’ – three plants with one spray of buds & flowers

Cuphea ignea, Cigar flower, covered in tiny orange flowers

Cuphea llavea – small pink & lavender form (two plants), covered in tiny flowers

Cuphea llavea –red & purple ‘Batfaced’, covered in flowers

Cuphea llavea 'Georgia Scarlet', covered in red-orange & purple flowers

Cyclamen persicum, a Florist’s cyclamen from last fall is hanging on to a couple of flowers

Dianthus – several colors of ‘Telstar’ hybrids in assorted containers keep making a few flowers

Echinacea purpurea, still blooming

Echinacea purpurea alba? – a white cultivar, stems lax but blooming well

Echinacea purpurea ‘Purple Stars’, still blooming but could be cut back

Evolvulus glomeratus, Blue Daze, several plants, some blooming, some not

Gaura lindheimerii ‘The Bride’ (two plants), some white flowers on long wands

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

Helianthus, unknown, gigantic, annual sunflower with many blooms, buds and some heads going to seed

Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Blue River II’, a few huge white flowers each day

Impatiens walleriana, bedding impatiens. More than a dozen plants, some with many flowers, some barely alive

Ipomoea quamoclit, Cypress vine, a few red flowers

Lagerstroemia indica, pink crepe myrtles (5 trees), all blooming

Lagerstroemia x hybrida ‘Acoma’ white crepemyrtles (2 trees); they keep blooming if I deadhead

Lagerstroemia indica 'Catawba', in container, keeps blooming if deadheaded

Lantana, unknown varieties both upright and trailing – pink & yellow, white and gold, in bloom but looking ratty and some should be cut back

Lavandula intermedia 'Provence', a few fragrant flowers

Lavandula multifida, many, many flower wands on this fernleafed lavender, but they lack true lavender fragrance

Leucophyllum frutescens, Cenizo – one shrub, covered in flowers

Liriope muscari, all over the place, the best flowering is in the secret garden

Lobularia maritime, Sweet alyssum (dotted around), blooming since late winter

Lonicera sempervirens, coral honeysuckle (just a few flowers)

Lycopersicon lycopersicum, the ‘Juliet’ tomato has lots of flowers

Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem' (opening several buds)

Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina' (two plants), moderate bloom

Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii (two plants), some flowers and plants look okay

Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii, white form (two plants), a few flowers

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

Oxalis regnellii 'Atropurpurea' (dotted around and in containers), just one flower

Pelargonium – variousl bedding geraniums in white & coral, outdoors and indoors, all making at least one flower stalk

Pavonia lasiopetala, pink rock rose, makes flowers but leaves are always mildewed

Perovskia atriplicifolia, Russian Sage (two beds), floppy but making flowers

Petunia multiflora? Only a few flowers here and there on this heirloom, but the plants are alive

Phlox paniculata, Grandma’s white phlox, two plants (one flowering head)

Platycodon 'Fugi White', doing fine after cutting back; has a few flowers

Platycodon grandiflorus (several plants), just a few flowers left, time for cutting back so it will flower again

Platycodon 'Miss Tilly' (3 plants), doing fine

Platycodon 'Sentimental Blue', has some flowers but should be cut back to encourage rebloom

Plumbago auriculata (two shrubs), going nuts and covered in pale blue flowers – recently pruned so the back door could shut

Plumbago auriculata var. alba (one plant), finally made one flower head after 2 years

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

Portulaca - about a dozen assorted Moss Roses and Flowering Purslanes in full bloom

Rosa ‘Champagne’ mini rose, two plants, a few flowers each

Rosa ‘Julia Child’, this rose was defoliated by something and remaining leaves had blackspot; finally has some decent foliage, and a dozen buds and blooms

Rosa 'Mutabilis' (two good-sized plants) nonstop bloom

Rosmarinus officinalis 'Prostratus' - many tiny blue flowers

Ruellia brittoniana 'Katy' (very stingy – perhaps 4 flowers on 5 plants)

Salvia coccinea (many plants, many red flowers)

Salvia coccinea ‘Coral Nymph’ (many plants, some flowering, some ready to be cut back)

Salvia farinacea (a few plants with many flower spikes)

Salvia greggii (white, red, cherry) all in flower and in need of cutting back

Salvia guaranitica (lots), keep flowering when I deadhead

Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' (lots), keep flowering when I deadhead

Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips' (2 plants), nonstop flowers

Salvia X 'Nuevo Leon' (several borders and containers), many small violet flowers

Scabiosa columbaria ‘Butterfly Blue’, a handful of buds and flowers

Scutellaria suffrutescens, pink skullcap (2 plants), lots of tiny blooms

Scutellaria wrightii, there are 3 plants - one plant has a few flowers

Tradescantia geniculata (spreading across front woodland border), many tiny white flowers

Tulbaghia violacea (two plants, one flower)

Verbena bonariensis – all over the place, in various stages of bud, flower and seed

Verbena – small lavender and purple bedding-type, blooming well after I stopped the lavender from smothering it

Zephyranthes 'Labuffarosea' (several borders), many flowers in the last couple of days – one clump had 16 open at once

Zinnia – 3 small plants with a few red flowers and a couple of buds

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


(I'll never be as good at keeping records as MSS, but it's a start.)

Silver Ponyfoot

ON THE PATIO
The native Silver ponyfoot, sometimes called Silver ponys foot, is Dichondra argentea according to the Wildflower Center, but the plants at nurseries are frequently labeled 'Silver Falls'. Mine started out as the "Spiller" in a basket hanging near the wall at right about 3 years ago. Some strands landed in the granite below, rooting and gradually spreading. Last spring the ponyfoot trotted across the sidewalk to the decomposed granite area next to the patio and it kept going. Even in Austin's fairly mild zone 8 winter, this groundcover gets frozen back, but there are usually enough rooted knobs still alive to get it restarted.

Now it's gently lapping the rocks around the fountain.

IN THE FRONT

Near the steps to the veranda a bowl of Silver Pony foot dripped down and has likewise spread to fill this area of decomposed granite. It will look better once the oleander leaves are removed!

Pam/Digging shows Silver Ponyfoot on a garden tour, used to fill in the spaces and soften an area of large flat stones.

King Cake

When I made this cake in 2004 it was pretty good - a sort of yeast coffee cake. I can't find the recipe that was used, but this recipe looks good, although I was a lot stingier with the colored sugar.

If you get the baby you host the next party.

For those who are "Apes at Heart"

This post was written for Annie's Addendum by Annie in Austin.

The Garden Bloggers Book Club selection for November was Green Thoughts by Eleanor Perényi. When Ms Perényi refers to an engraving from 1841 in her chapter on tree houses, some of us could look at the engraving as we read the book, but others, like Entangled from "Cultivated" were left guessing as to this reference. Why? When the book was published in 1981 the tree house was on the cover but the cover has changed with recent editions.

My copy is the old one with the mid-Nineteenth century tree house on the cover. I think Eleanor Perényi would like you to see what she was seeing as she wrote so I've posted it, and hope that the photo will enlarge if you click. What's the trick to that?

The title of this post is a quote from her wonderful book, "Tree houses acknowledge that we are still apes at heart.....I have before me an engraving of a maple carved into a three-story pavilion complete with windows and a roof with a finial. It is dated 1841 ... although I have been unable to discover exactly what were the techniques employed."

This post is part of my review of Green Thoughts by Eleanor Perényi, posted on the Transplantable Rose by Annie in Austin.

Happy Thanksgiving!

There's been more than enough talk of Pecans at the Transplantable Rose so I posted the Pie over here. Making a pie with our own pecans was quite thrilling for a couple of Thanksgiving garden geeks like Philo and Annie in Austin!

We can't grow cranberries, but added a few Meyer's Lemons from our small tree to the store-bagged kind for Lemon-cranberry relish.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Identities needed

Pam/Digging recently had a post about Lost Maples State Park with its Bigtooth Maples. Philo and I had been surprised to see maples growing a couple of miles from our house - we rode our bikes over and scooped a few leaves. They don't seem to be Pam's Bigtooth Maples - and with 3 lobes, don't match things like Silver Maples either... anyone know the ID of these trees?

Here's another mystery plant. This photo was taken last spring at Zilker Park. I've looked around but can't put a name to this flower.

Edit July 2010: found out awhile ago that people in my neighborhood did plant Silver Maples in Texas! And as to the beautiful pink vine, it's probably Bauhinia corymbosa. More information

Zone Map From 1936- with Key

This old map from 1936 was supposedly the first to designate national hardiness zones. It divides the continental USA and Canada into 9 hardiness zones, and it doesn't include Alaska or Hawaii. This is a different system, so the numbers are completely different from more recent maps with finer divisions - they usually put Austin in zone 8B, and my old garden in Illinois into zone 5.

You might like to check out a recent thread titled "Hardiness Zone Changes" on the Texas Forum of GardenWeb . A member has posted a map from 1960 that was different from the 2006 Arbor Day version.

Added Oct 17 - I apologize for not finding and adding the key for this system when I first posted the map. All zone numbers are based on "the average minimum temperature of the coldest month" and are expressed in Farenheit degrees.

Zone 1 average minimum temperature is zero or below. [spruce and fir forests]

Zone 2 average minimum temperature is zero to 10º above. [red & white pine]

Zone 3 average minimum temperature is 10º t0 20º above [beech-birch-maple]

Zone 4 average minimum temperature is 20º t0 25º above [box and English holly]

Zone 5 average minimum temperature is 25º t0 30º above [beginning of Southern plants]

Zone 6 average minimum temperature is 30º t0 40º above [upper limit for cotton]

Zone 7 average minimum temperature is 40º t0 50º above [great cotton belt]

Zone 8 average minimum temperature is 50º t0 60º above [relatively safe for citrus]

Zone 9 average minimum temperature is 60º or above [some frost-free, some rare frost]

According to this map, Austin would be on the border of zone 7, with an average annual minimum temperature of 40º t0 50º above; on the 2006 Arboretum map Austin is listed as zone 8B with an average annual minimum temperature of 15º t0 20º above zero F. The areas where certain plants survive according to the key seem similar to today - did the term average minimum temperature mean something different in 1936?

If any additional information comes up I'll post it.

Late Summer Books

Blue Pea Vine

Here's a photo for Kate who gardens in Saskatchewan. I don't know if the summer there would be long enough or warm enough for her to grow this beautiful blue annual flower, but she's very successful with blue morning glories! Blue pea vine is also called Blue Butterfly Pea, and by its botanical name, Clitoria ternatea.

Annie, Your Grass is Past

The only way I can join the bloggers who are posting photos of their ornamental grasses is to get out a photo album from Illinois and scan something from my old garden. This Miscanthus zebrina was the anchor for a bed of yellow, white, silver and blue. The grass had five blades when it arrived from Wayside Gardens and the surrounding border evolved over time. This is how it looked in July of 1992, which was about season four for the Zebra grass. Can you see some Perovskia/Russian sage at left, and a tall yucca stalk at right?

I think Layanee of Ledge & Gardens made the original post.