Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-August, 2011

Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, Everybody!  With our yard freshly pruned and August being one of the hottest driest months around here (unless we're getting rain from passing tropical storms) I wasn't sure what I was going to find today, but I managed to do OK!

Probably suffering the most from the recent lack of rain (and my poor watering skills) is my Evolvus glomeratus (Blue Daze), but shriveled or not, it's still putting out some lovely color.

Winning the award for "Best Attendance" is my golden shrimp plant, Pachystachys lutea.  It always shows up, never complains, and gets the job done with nice flair but little drama.  If I had to hire any of the plants in my yard, this would be the one.

To be fair, my lantana probably does the same thing, but it's always buried under my variegated hau plants, where I can't see it.  

I have a few red gingers that are in pretty nice form today.  They show up pretty consistently as well, but sometimes they look like they need to go back home, put on a clean shirt, and comb their hair.  Not really "front of the house" material, I'm afraid.

My white spider lily, Crinum asiaticum, was among the plants that got a pretty severe pruning yesterday, but the flowers are hanging in there. 

The creamy white flowers and the pretty pink bracts of my bouganvillea come in a close second for "Best Attendance".  

I've still got a few snapdragons...

...and some lobelia.

Another victim of the severe pruning, my variegated hau is being a real trooper, seeing as how these are the trimmings that are sitting in our truck bed, waiting to be hauled away.  

The newest addition to my yard, lavender.  I love the smell, but I can only seem to pick it up peripherally.  If I stick my nose right into the leaves or flowers, I can't smell anything, but as soon as I start to move away, I can catch a faint waft.  

Although they're not much to look at, the night-blooming jasmine comes to life at night and often fills the whole front of our house with its heady aroma.

This poor little guy, Cuphea hyssopifolia (False Heather/Mexian Heather/Hawaiian Heather) rarely gets any love, even though it blooms year-round.  It tends to get a little leggy and overwhelmed by all the things that are planted above it.

You know I'm getting desperate when I start taking pictures of my rosemary.

I love the hot pink and bright yellow of my hardy ice plant.

This time last month, my Agapanthus was just getting ready to bloom, and I was wondering what the weird little nubbins were that were sticking out about half-way down the stem.

Well, it turns out they were fairly normal flowers-to-be.  

Possibly my most mysterious bloomer is my Texas sage.  Like the drought-tolerant, desert plant that it is, it seems to go from zero flowers to fully-formed, open flowers overnight.  I have yet to watch a bud develop on this plant.  I think I might have to schedule a watering and photography stake-out some day to see how these flowers appear.  If I do, you know I'll post the riveting results here!

I hope you managed to find something blooming in your August gardens and that you didn't pass out from the heat while looking.  To see what others found blooming in their yards today, visit our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host, Carol, at May Dreams Gardens.  Thanks, Carol!  

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-August 2010

It's a good thing that GBBD is today, otherwise who knows how long I would have gone without posting. I'm not sure what the deal is, but I've been in a blogging funk lately.  Maybe this will get the ball rolling again.  Let's see what happens.  I hope you're not in a funk, but, if you are, please go visit Carol's site, May Dreams Gardens, to see what other people have blooming in their gardens today.  Even if you're not in a funk, go visit Carol-it's fun to see what's blooming around the world!

This is my crape myrtle.  I think it's a petite orchid variety?  According to what I've been reading on line, they should reach about 3-5', but I've had these for a couple years now, and they are still only about 6-8" high.  Oh well.  They're pretty when they bloom anyway.  They seem to be flowering about a month later than they did last year.  I'm not sure why this is, but I'm just going to be happy that they're still alive and blooming at all...

Which is more than I can say for several of the things that I showed you in my last GBBD post.  Remember how I was all excited about my new Cuphea llavea, the one that had "all the brilliant color of a fuchsia with none of the tendency to die immediately upon coming into my care."?  Ummmm...yeeeeaaah.  I've already thrown away the nub that used to the the rootball which was attached to the stick that used to be the stem.  I also lost my geranium, my lobelia, and my strawberries.  I think this is largely a consequence of being out of town for three weeks in the middle of summer and leaving the watering to our house/dog sitters; although to be fair, the Cuphea and the geranium seemed to be going downhill before I left.  Luckily, the house and the dog fared better, so I guess I can't complain too much.  

I do still have a few survivors that are flourishing in this August heat.

My canna is doing well and putting on a nice show.

My bouganvillea is a bit withered but hanging in there.

And, finally, my white spider lilies, which I think are Crinum asiaticum, seem to be in almost perpetual bloom now that they've had almost a couple years to mature.

Speaking of mature, look at my tomatoes!  The ones that haven't been eaten by the birds yet, I mean.  

See how they're sitting there all red and ripe and not in a bird's belly?  My tomato plant started leaning into my red ti plant, and I thought I'd let it go and see if it would protect the tomatoes from theiving birds.  I'm not sure if it's the color or simply the fact that the tomatoes aren't highly visible from above, but either way it seems to be working.  I realize this isn't technically a bloom, but I thought it was worth sharing anyway.

Of course, since I lost so many plants in the last couple months, I had to replace them.  It was only the responsible thing to do.  Right?  Of course, maybe I should have waited until we get back from our next vacation...Wish me luck on these new arrivals.

Osteospermum or African Daisy

Portulaca-I believe this one is 'Fairytale Cinderella'  I love the bright pink against the yellow!

Evolvus glomeratus or Blue Daze

I think I've picked some hardier plants than I did last time, so hopefully they will be able to survive.  Also, August tends to be a good month for cloudy, rainy weather from tropical storms, so maybe Mother Nature will help me out a little bit.