Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day--July, 2013

Welcome to my yard in July! It's late in the day here in Hawaii, so I'm sure you've probably already been over to visit Carol at May Dreams Garden to see what everyone else has blooming in their yard... but if you haven't, please stop in and say hi to our wonderful host. Meanwhile, if you can stand looking at one more yard on this beautiful July day, then let's get to it!

I can't figure out my crape myrtle at all--I never know when to expect flowers, and at least once a year, I'm convinced that I've killed it, so it's always a nice surprise when it blooms.

Evolvus glomeratus (Blue Daze) looking a little more purple than blue here today, but that's OK.

Both my lavender and my basil are almost always in bloom.

This ice blue plumbago is going crazy right now. I guess after the year+ that it spent living in a bag between my friend's yard and mine, it's decided to take advantage of its spot in the yard.

I planted some Noir de Carmes melon seeds from D. Landreth Seed Company, a few weeks ago, and I already have a flower!

I also planted some radishes...so far, I have discovered that I am not much of a radish farmer, but I can grow some pretty good radish flowers. 

My unidentified orchid that I got bought at Long's Drugs a few years ago. It is making the best of the saddest "repotting" situation ever. What a trooper!

My favorite daylily surprised me with a new bloom the other day. With red ti leaves in the background and my hardy ice plant (Delosperma cooperi) below, what more could I ask for?

This is another mystery plant for me. When the leaves unfurl, they are a gorgeous purple color; eventually they turn into the mellow green that you see on the left-hand side of the picture. The flowers are sort of secondary, but they are always a nice little surprise when they show up.

This is another mystery bloomer that I always forget about. The variegated grass is the main attraction, and every once in a while, when I'm poking around in the yard,  I'll discover that it has decided to flower. Once again, it's always a nice surprise when they show up.

Do you have anything in your yard that makes surprise appearances? What's been your favorite surprise so far?

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-July 2011

Well, somehow I managed to completely miss last month's GBBD.  I don't know what happened--it just went right past me without even stopping to say hi.  I waved at it and everything, but it was gone; it wasn't going to turn around just for little ol' me.  But here I am today, and here it is, so here we go!

First, my miniature rose, which hasn't bloomed in months, finally made an appearance just in time for today's photo shoot!

I was surprised to see my bleeding heart, Clerodendrum thomsonae, preparing to bloom a few days ago since just a few days before that, I was thinking about pruning it back pretty severely.  Maybe it picked up on my mood and decided it had better get it in gear before it got cut back to a nub.

This belongs to my purple plant that I don't know the name of, you know the one that I watched unfold from a kidney bean.

As always, my golden shrimp plant, Pachystachys lutea.  Or as my young friend Abbi would say, SHRIMP PLANT!  (That's a play on the enthusiasm she expressed for the shrimp trucks when her family was out here on vacation.  Any time the topic of meal time came up, Abbi would interject her opinion, which was always, "SHRIMP TRUCK!")

I think my ice blue plumbago is blooming like it has never bloomed before, perhaps because I haven't attacked it and cut it back to a nub lately.

My intensely blue lobelia continues to gain ground amongst the Sweet Alyssum in my lemon tree pot.  

My crape myrtle, which only blooms once a year, showed up right on time for Bloom Day as well.  I thought it was blooming early this year, but it turns out, it was just blooming late last year.  July seems to be its normal bloom time.  

In a thoughtful effort of color coordination, these volunteer snapdragons put themselves in the same pot as my crape myrtle.  Didn't they do a nice job?

More lobelia.  Man is it hard to get this color to show up accurately!  Anybody have any tips?

I don't know what is going on with my Agapanthus, but apparently it's been going on for a while now.  See the weird little collection of buds below the main group?  Below, you can also see a couple tiny little buds sticking out about half-way down the stem.  What is that? 

Of all my most recent acquisitions, my hardy ice plant seems to be holding on the best. 

Peeking out from the middle of all those leaves, watching over everything from the top of our rock wall is the yellow flower of my variegated hau, Hibiscus tiliaceus.

Thanks for joining me on this fine July day!  To see what else is blooming around the world, please visit our host, Carol, over at May Dreams Gardens.  

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-July 2009

Boy, it doesn't seem like any time has passed at all since our last GBBD, but here we are again! To see what else is blooming around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Here's what's blooming in my yard.

Leucophyllum frutescens, or Texas sage, has been a good plant for me. I've had it in a container for a couple years now, and it doesn't do much, but when it does it's very pretty. It's drought tolerant, which is good, seeing as how my pots experience frequent bouts of drought. I believe mine is the 'Green Cloud' variety. Mostly, it's just a nice foliage plant, but after a good rain pretty pink flowers just pop out all over the place.

Here's some bougainvillea, lining up nicely for a shot.

A camera shot over the rock wall reveals that my lantana are still doing well.

Last month, we saw Pam Tajima. Pam is starting to fade a little bit, so this month we'll be looking at...Pam's unnamed brother. Dang. He's got a tag, but there's nothing on it. We'll call him Bob.

I was having a hard time getting a clear picture of Bob. Seems every time I tried to take a picture I was getting jostled around by some mysterious force. Apparently Buster was not as interested in my picture taking as he was in letting me know that he had not yet had breakfast.

Hello. Can I help you?

Technically this isn't blooming, but I thought the red ti plant was pretty in the morning light.



Remember my mysterious purple plant that we watched unfold and grow? Well, now it's blooming too. Always something new with this one!

My golden shrimp plant, Pachystachys lutea was a big hit with everyone last month, and since it is still blooming like crazy I thought I'd provide a close up shot.

Again, these aren't exactly "blooming" but they are popping up all over my lawn, so I thought I would include them too.



And, finally, my poor crape myrtles-they went from sticks that showed no sign of ever blooming again last month to past their prime this month, but they were quite pretty in between.

This month was kind of a challenge, but I hope you all enjoyed hanging out with me and Buster in the garden!