Whether the temperatures cooperate or not, fall announces itself in the garden. One of the harbingers of the changing seasons is the arrival of my Oxblood lilies.
Passalongs from my friend at Zanthan Gardens, they pop up like clockwork, even if the sun is still scalding us. Small and delicate, they always bring a smile to my face, knowing that the cooler days of fall are just around the corner.
Fall. And a whole new palette in the garden.
3.66.
That’s my lucky number. At least for a while, it is.
That’s how much rain we got yesterday between 6 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. It came down in buckets. And I began putting out buckets, and watering cans and coolers. We have several rain barrels, but I didn’t want to waste a drop. It was delightful … but a little scary, too.
When we get rain here in Central Texas these days, especially in the middle of what they’re calling a 10-year drought, we see quite a few gully washers. Because of our rock and clay soil, a high volume of the good stuff, results in serious flooding. This dry creek, for example, isn’t supposed to be a creek at all, just an interesting addition to the landscape in this spot. But it had moving water in it yesterday.
The rain came so fast that the overflow pipe from the pool (only a few inches in diameter), was gushing, but just couldn’t handle it all.
This was the pool at 3:00 when we were still in the deluge. I thought it was going to overflow and started to worry about all the surrounding beds.
The path to the greenhouse and the vegetable garden looked like an aquarium for a while. Those plants, used to very little water and hot, baking sun, may be a little stressed for a while.
And the AC made terrible noises. I thought it was going to blow up! I turned it off and it’s fine this morning.
The migraine is gone and it’s cool and windy outside. Feels like fall. Real fall. Fall like they get way up north. Ahhhh. Jeans and long-sleeve weather. Football weather (oh nevermind, we’re not going to talk about that – Central Texas readers will know whereof I speak).
I’m about to bundle up and pull on my galoshes and head out to survey. Something I do most mornings. I know that one Candlestick tree – Cassia alata — was pushed over by the weight of the rain, but it isn’t broken.
I can imagine the plants – all recharging and taking deep breaths, ready for an amazing growth spurt and some fabulous bloom time.
I know some of the plants – especially some of the indigo spires salvias – will have brighter blooms. They’ll do that with even a little extra water, so there might be a show this morning.
While I’m excited about seeing the garden, it’s going to be an inside day — too wet and mucky to do anything outside. Organizing my office will be the perfect chore for a cool, breezy fall day, and it will feel good to finally focus on the inside for just a while. (A short while!)
Ahhhhhh….
Bright yellow berries, about ½ inch in diameter, spill in long, trailing clusters in the summer. (The berries are poisonous to humans.)
This is my miracle Duranta. For me, the white blooms will always represent the hope in my heart.
I picked up a fascinating fruit at the grocery store this week — finger limes. They are just a little longer than an inch and are less than half an inch wide. Being a gardener and a foodie – I had to have them.
I have a sliver of fresh lime in my hot tea in the morning and thought these would be great for that.
Reading the label, I was curious. “Delicious pearls bursting with lemon/lime flavor. Use on fish, in cocktails, ice cream baked goods and guacamole. Slice for rings, squeeze for pearls.”
What?
So I took my trusty paring knife and sliced. And then I squeezed. It was the strangest sight. The segments, or vesicles, aren’t triangular in shape, like most citrus, but rather round pearls that burst forth from the fruit. They literally POP in your mouth, much like caviar. The fruit is firm, and not very juicy and its flavor is tart and slightly more bitter than most other limes.
The finger lime tree is native to Australia, and grows in the rainforest as an understory tree. The skin can be green, yellow, red or purple.
Needless to say, there’s a tree on its way to my house as I write this.
I know, I know, we don’t live in a rainforest! But a girl can dream, can’t she?
A profusion of blooms have popped up on my Lindheimer’s Senna, Senna lindheimeriana, in my wild bed outside of the bakc fence. This is deer country, and the velvety leaves of this plant are usually not nibbbled by the deer passing through. This shrub-like perennial is native and grows 3-6 feet.
Glory hallelujah, it likes dry soil, sun or part shade and grows wild in rocky limestone areas all over of Texas. The birds and bees love it, too
I brought this one home as a small starter plant a year or two ago and this year it rewarded me with a growth spurt and tons of blooms. It blooms in late summer, so it’s a welcome sight when some plants are tired and it comes into bloom to perk up the garden in August through October.
This pretty xeric plant is a perfect addition to a hot, dry Central Texas garden.
My garden is making me very happy right now. It looks great. I don’t say that much, being my own worst critic, but I feel good about what I’ve accomplished since the spring. Even in this tough summer, I worked hard on it.
But, I realize it won’t be long before the blooms stop and plants go dormant as we usher in a short winter’s nap.
Many of the plants in my garden this year are not perennials. Unless we have a very mild winter, I’m likely to lose some of my new favorites in the garden.
This salvia madrensis below isn’t in my garden, but my friend and fellow garden blogger, Renee of Renee’s New Blog, gave me three cuttings of hers and I know I’m going to want more, so I will root some more over the winter. They are really hard to find in nurseries.
The variegated plant in the photo below is Cuban oregano – a strong smelling herbaceous perennial that is cold tender. I lost my first one last winter, but promptly went out and bought several more. And I stuck at least 6 little stems into the ground and they immediately started growing. So, I will prune some off before the first freeze and have my own collection growing over the winter.
Don’t you think all of these plants would love getting to spend the winter in my greenhouse getting lots of TLC? I do!
