Losing an old washtub..

I seem to remember having an old wash tub in this corner..but where did it go? Do you think it is under all that coleus and sweet potato vine?? Seriously, can you believe the old tub has grown this much? Do ya think I need to do some trimming? Oh yeah..
I complain daily about the heat and what it is doing to most of my plants-but then I stop and notice how some things, like these plants, are holding up. I do have to water this old tub once a day, but that is not a problem if I can keep the plants happy. This corner is pretty shady-well, until late afternoon. Then it gets some HOT west sun for a while. Guess that is why I am so surprised the old wash tub plants have survived. I can't tell you if this is a "sun coleus" as I just buy all kinds of coleus in spring and plant them based on color, but my guess is that it is one of the types that takes heat better than others.

One more plant that is enduring our summer just fine is Black Foot Daisy. I have a love/hate relationship with these plants as I think they can be hard to grown. Reason: you have to ignore them, and I want to mother them. However, for these hot, dry summers they are perfect. Just let them be, don't water but a small bit, and they will reward you with lots of honey scented blooms.

Now I am headed inside to think about what kind of Kale to plant in the old washtub in fall!
Have a great week everyone--stay cool!

Mountains, Texas heat and a Surprise visitor

We have been on our annual
"Rocky Mountain High" camping up in the Rockies near Crested Butte. It was beautiful as usual..and cool!
The wildflowers up in the mountains have yet to
peak, but the flowers in town were breath
taking!
It was a good trip, with lots of hikes, fishing, campfires and oh my goodness stars at night!
The special treat this year was meeting up with our daughter! (Love that hat Jen!)

Before we knew it our week was over and we said goodbye to Jen, and headed back to the Texas heat. Thanks to a very caring young man, the flowers looked good despite the terrible heat! (Thank you so much Travis!)
The time outside these days is spent watering or mowing-not relaxing. The temps have been over 100 for 31 days now, and there is no break in sight. The high Thursday is suppose to be 110. That is actual temperature, not heat index. It's Texas-we always have hot summers, but not quite like this. It hasn't rained in...well....I don't remember the last time it rained. All of Texas is in drought conditions now. We are on water restrictions now as the lakes are going down fast. So, we sit inside these days looking over the garden. As we watched the birds, we noticed a surprise visitor..
All the other birds flew away when I went out to take this picture. I think we have a run away. He (she) didn't seem very scared of me so I know this little one is pretty domesticated. I have plenty of seed and water for it, but I hope it will just visit and find it's way back home soon.

Hope your summer is going well..and is cooler than mine! :)

Bringing flowers inside

I love to bring flowers inside my home. One of the best and longest lasting flowers is rudbeckia (Back-eyed Susans) which also happens to be my favorite summer flower! These happy yellow flowers have just now started to bloom so I am out every morning finding a few to cut. I am always on the hunt for a unique container to hold flowers and when I saw this wine caddy given to me by a very dear friend (holding no wine at this time!), I decided it would be perfect for the cut rudbeckias.
I found 6 clear glasses that fit perfectly in the openings. I picked a few Susans for each glass. It looked great, but I decided that some zinnias would make it even prettier. For texture I cut a few Copper Canyon daisies (that are fall bloomers) and tucked them in the middle. Ohhh, I love that spicy scent! I was really pleased with the results!
The flowers look really good on the sofa table in the family room. I should have some kind of cut flower for several more weeks, so hopefully the caddy will stay full of color--well, until it's time to bring out the pumpkins! : )

Zinnias!

I have loved zinnias since I was a little girl. It is the first flower I ever grew from seed. Mother would let me pick all I wanted and create bouquets. Sigh...love those memories... And I have continued that summer tradition of planting zinnia seeds in anticipation of the summer show of color plus cutting some of the beautiful flowers for my kitchen.
This year I bought a seed packet of every type of zinnia I could find. They are all planted in the bed around the Chinese Pistache in back. Luckily for now, that tree is too young to produce much shade, so the zinnias get plenty of hot sun and lots of room to breathe. I tossed and raked them in this bed a couple of months ago. They are now starting to bloom, and I am being rewarded with so many different types and colors. Some are almost ruffled..
this one is a candy striped..
this is my favorite of the new--it has the colors of blanket flowers.
And can you see the large red standing proud and tall? Those came from seeds Cindy at
My Corner of Katy sent me last year. They are scattered through out the bed. I also have lots of what are called "cut and come again." Perfect for me! I have a bouquet in the kitchen, and I love to have several little vases with one flower in each on my breakfast room windowsill.
I have never tried planting seeds for profusion zinnias, but the plants I bought a few months ago are looking pretty happy in this old galvanized bucket.
Last year I was so afraid my zinnias were not going to grow, and they ended up doing beautifully. I hated the day I had to pull them up. You know what the problem was? ME! I simply could not wait for the flowers to grow and bloom. One of the hardest lessons for me to learn as a gardener is "patience." Zinnias are a good teacher!

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Types of zinnias I planted:
Giant Cactus Mixed; Giant Double Mixed; Starlight Mixed; Oklahoma Mixed; Giant Scarlet; Whirligig; Big Tetra; Candy Cane; Cut and Come again; Pass-along Large Red

Love those Coneflowers....but....

You all know how I love cone-
flowers!
I have them growing all around the pond now.
This is my newest one: Tomato Soup. It is just starting to bloom.
This is Hot Papaya. I know the original Purple Cone-
flowers are the best, but this hybrid was planted last year and look how beautiful it is this year!
I dug a few purple up last year and started them along the little pathway behind the patio..




..and I noticed they are starting to naturalize in this area now. Yea!! However, if you will remember last year I did a post on all my Coneflower woes. Since that time, several gardeners have commented on having similar problems. Basically here was the issue: the heads of the flowers got a tar-like look on one side; then the flowers just kind of fell apart, or did not continue to develop. Trying to find the cause, I discovered little worms in the seed heads. I had comments from people in Canada and Nebraska, all the way down here to Texas. Well--the same thing started to happen to mine earlier in spring. I decided to keep a careful watch on the flowers to see if I could determine the problem. As I watched, I began to see these bugs that looked like yellow lady bugs flying all over the coneflowers and coreopsis. After a while, I began to notice that tar looking head again, and after digging into it, I found the same greenish worm I found last year.
I never got a picture of the bug, but this is the closest thing on the Internet I could find. This is a "cucumber beetle." However, after reading about the larvae of this kind of beetle, I don't think this is it. (The larvae attack the roots) There is also a type of beetle called "asian beetle." I didn't think the description fit either. Then there was the "squash bug beetle." One picture looked like it might be the culprit...but again the description did not match my problem. So...folks I just don't have an answer for you. I did use insecticide soap on the flowers, and if I sprayed it heavily, it did seem to work. I also cut off the flowers that were damaged. Once the spring rains stopped, and the high temperatures hit--the problem seemed to go away. Looking back, I think that is exactly what I remember happening last year.
Wish I had better news for you coneflower lovers out there. The bees and butterflies love the flowers as much as I do, so I suppose I will just keep on researching and watching. But in the meantime...I am still in love with coneflowers!

Note: I did some research on aster yellows disease because it is one thing coneflowers are known to get. (It is spread by leafhoppers) However, I did not think it fit my situation. Here is a link to an article that gives good information and a picture that could be some help. Let us know if those of you with coneflower problems solve the mystery!
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/Pests/Diseases/astryel2.htm

Texas Star Hibiscus - In the Pond!

Here is the plant I told you about in the last post. It is a Texas Star Hibiscus, and it is indeed in the pond! After doing our big pond clean out and getting rid of all the plants, I went to the pond store to buy a new water poppy and a lily. The guy helping me said "oh, you gotta get one of these-they are my favorites." I couldn't believe he wanted me to get a TS Hibiscus and put it in the pond. I kept thinking how drought tolerant I always thought hibiscus were--but when he told me about the flowers, he convinced me to give it a try. The buds start out large like this one..and stay in bud form..it seemed like forever, but guess it was several weeks.

This weekend I noticed it had split and I could see the color---RED!

Yesterday it opened a bit more..

And this morning it was all the way open-big and gorgeous! Well worth the wait I think.

But of course, you know hibiscus--here today, gone tomorrow. Oh well...there are lots more flowers to come judging by all the buds I see!

She's a Beauty!

This is my new water lily--isn't she pretty? Her name is "Mayle Rose Pink." About 2 months ago we did a big pond clean up. We scraped the bottom of the pond and got rid of all but 1 of our old plants. They had just about taken over the little pond and made it impossible to clean--or see the fish!
Because water lilies need so much sun I couldn't have them when we had the Bradford Pear trees, but now that the back is in full sun all day I decided to give them a try..one more time. I have been thrilled with the results! When I bought this plant, it was small and...well, not very pretty. But once it warmed up a bit and the sun started hitting the pond again, I have been rewarded with bloom after bloom. The leaves are large as well. I couldn't be more pleased.
My picture doesn't really show the true pink color--but I can you it is yummy! I think it goes well with the yellow water poppy. The plant you can barely see to the left is a water "Texas Star Hibiscus." Cannot wait to tell you about that one!
Happy June everyone!