Two weeks have gone by since my return from the Garden Bloggers' Fling so clearly I did not get my blogging mojo back in San Francisco ... nor did I leave my heart there. I'll blame both on the totally unexpected and thoroughly unwelcome heat wave that hit the Bay Area during the Fling. This has happened to me enough times on my garden related jaunts that I can only conclude that: (a) I am being punished for egregious crimes against gardens in a past life; (b) my presence in any other gardens but my own in the summer is some kind of a jinx; or (c) I am personally responsible for global weirding. This does not mean I won't be in attendance at next year's Fling in Portland, Oregon but it certainly doesn't bode well for the weather while we're there!
I'm still cogitating about how to share my Fling experiences but while I ponder that, it's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and I thought I'd take time to share a few blooms from my corner of Katy. I've been planting more white blooming trees and perennials out back in the last couple of years and I like how they light up the gardens at night. I can see this white plumbago through the patio door at night.
The foliage is a lighter green than is usual, due to the lack of rain.
A creamy white lantana has taken over the space under the Sweet Almond Verbena. Yes, that's one plant.
Diamond Frost Euphorbia has been a delightful addition to the garden bed along the south fence.
White bauhinia trees are spaced throughout the east/northeast garden bed. That's salvia 'Augusta Duelberg' paired with a bauhinia by the gate.
Thanks for stopping by my corner of Katy for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, the monthly celebration hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Mosey on over to see what's blooming around the world!
I agree with Leslie, there's just something about looking at white flowers that makes you feel cooler. I hope you get your mojo back.
So you're the one to blame for this unbearable heat:) I just read somewhere that Portland has been unusually hot lately, too, so I think you're off the hook, Cindy. That lantana is amazing!
By the way, my 'Wendy's Wish' is doing very well, and the hummingbirds have enjoyed it. One of these days I'll post a photo of it.
Hey, if you are also responsible for the cloudy, rainy, almost tolerable temperatures this week, then please keep doing what you're doing. Sorry about San Fran.
it's 96 in Boston today, so some other wretched Texas gardener must be vacationing up there touring their gardens (and feeling the same as you).
I like that circular garden sculpture. Is that new?
The weather turned evil earlier than usual this summer and we had August in July, with daytime temperatures in the high 90s and nights in the high 70s. A 2+ inch rainstorm on July 4th was the last time my corner of Katy received any significant rain. The gardens still require my attention, though, so I do my best to make my outside several days a week and spend some time attempting some degree of control over the chaos. The sun's glare is so fierce that I only managed to take 3 pictures throughout the month of July, which I had intended to post for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. I probably took a cool shower and a nap instead.
It seems that I have a gaillardia situation on my corner of Katy. When a thicket of seedlings first began to appear in the front beds inFebruary and March, I decided to thin them later in the interest of suppressing weeds. Friends and fellow gardeners, you most surely know without my having to tell you that thin them I did not.
The plants had been doing so well that I couldn't bring myself to start yanking them even though I knew they were overwhelming other plants. I finally made a start on that today but rain drove me inside before I could really get going. We're told to expect more rain tomorrow and Tuesday so this task may have to wait until July. The Head Gardener and I are packing our bags and heading across the pond to tour a sampling of the gardens in Yorkshire, England. Cheerio pip pip, the old girls can't wait!
Excitement Abounds On My Corner of Katy!
Last month, working in the back garden, I found a small volunteer plant growing on the edge of one of the beds in the back garden, a plant I didn't recognize. So I left it there and carefully monitored its growth ... by which I mean, I forgot all about the darned thing until I walked out one morning and found it blooming. How a White Prickly Poppy came to be blooming on my corner of Katy, I cannot say. Did it hitch a ride in the soil of some other plant, perhaps one brought home from my last trip to Austin? Did a bird plant it? It's one of those horticultural mysteries, as is a second seedling I found growing in one of the front gardens just yesterday.