Coneflower Archives | Page 2 of 3 | Diana's Designs Austin

Summer perennials blooming even in the heat and drought

While some of the early spring-through-fall bloomers are taking a break in all this heat, some of the mid-summer bloomers are putting on a show.

I love this thryallis in the front xeric bed. It’s a focal point and should have plenty of room to grow and shine.

One of my all-time go-to favorite plants, Mexican oregano. It’s tough as nails and tolerates the heat and the drought.

The the new-ish plants in the back shade bed are starting to fill in and making a lovely cool landscape.

After going after the new gold lantana with a machete (just kidding, but I DO own a machete!), I can now see the agave Americana var. I know it won’t be long before it’s a giant.

The combination of my transplanted coneflowers next to the May night salvias makes a nice contrast.

After a little pruning and clean up of the dead spring flowers last week, the cutting garden has new bloomers. The larkspur and bluebonnets are all gone and the Klondyke cosmos, blackberry lilies and Clematis are blooming.

Now it’s time to prune all the other early bloomers so we have time for another flush of blooms. Too hot to plant, but sadly, not too hot to prune and weed! After 109 on Monday, today’s high of 88 with cloud cover was great and I spent a long time deadheading and pruning the lamb’s ears, narrow-leaf zinnias and the Santolina. It was really delightful with a little breeze.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:35-05:00June 30th, 2012|Agave, agave Americana, Blog, Coneflower, Crape Myrtle, cutting garden, heat, May night salvia, Mexican Oregano, Sharing Nature's Garden, thryallis, variegated liriope|2 Comments

Mother’s Day Flowers – in and out of the garden

Happy Mother’s Day.

It’s been a great Mother’s Day weekend for me.

First, my son graduated from college yesterday with two degrees and we spent the afternoon and evening celebrating with lots of family and friends in our garden.

Then today, my daughter presented me with her hand-painted poster of hand-painted Texas wildflowers, all created with meticulous detail.

How wonderful that the garden is the gathering place and inspiration for sharing love in our family.

I feel very blessed.

Can you name the wildflowers and 2 cutting flowers in the painting above? Let’s see how many you can identify!

Hope your Mother’s Day was as special as mine.

Have a wonderful week.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:17-06:00May 13th, 2012|Blog, Coneflower, daisies, Graduation, Mother's Day, quadricolor agave, Sharing Nature's Garden, Wildflowers|0 Comments

Cannas and Coneflowers…

Time flies when it’s gardening season. It’s already time for Garden Bloggers Bloom day, hosted each month on the 15th by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

Many plants are coming into their own in the garden right now. Foliage is filling out and becoming lush and new blooms are popping out to surprise me every day.

Unless of course the deer eat them! In my new garden bed, the deer have tromped around, but only ate the potato vines. I deliberately planted the bed with plants that deer typically shun. Except, apparently for Klondyke Cosmos. I was so pleased with my idea – planting this tangerine orange wispy flower grown from seed next to a vibrant purple salvia and some Mexican Feather Grass. I went out this morning to capture a photo of this little vignette, only to find…no vignette. The two blooms that popped up yesterday had been eaten off. So, you will just have to imagine what I imagined when I planted it all.

The Purple Cone Flowers above are some of my very favorite summer bloomers, and this year I have dozens and dozens of volunteers coming up so I will be transplanting lots of them into other beds.

But, I didn’t let the deer spoil my day. Many other blooms in the garden were happy to pose for pictures today.

These photos are of my King Humbert Orange Cannas. I love the hot yellow and tangerine against the lime green leaves.

This is a Mexican Bird of Paradise Tree — perfect for our hot,dry weather. Mine gets next to no water (especially in this drought) and yet it still blooms like crazy all summer long.
These Blackfoot Daisies are tough as nails — even though they look so delicate.
Coral Trumpet Vine is taking over my fence and sprouting up in 3 different nearby beds. But it’s stunning all over the fence – if it would just mind its manners!
Verbena thrives in these warm, sunny days, and it’s making a beautiful purple velvet carpet in my new bed.
Some of the combinations I planned for the new front bed are starting to fill in and look like I intended them to. These yellow Zexmenia are bright and cheerful next to the hot pink Salvia Greggii.
These Shasta Daisies are bursting with blooms in the cutting garden. But I love seeing them there so much that I don’t want to cut them!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:40:07-05:00May 16th, 2011|Bird of Paradise, Blog, cannas, Coneflower, coral trumpet vine, deer, GBBD, Prairie Verbena, purples. salvia, salvia greggii, Sharing Nature's Garden, shasta daisy|0 Comments

Barely in time bloom day!

The blooms were all out there, waiting for their photo session…each of them thinking, pick me, pick me!

And there were so many of them from which to choose, each one eager to join in Carol of May Dreams Gardens‘ Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

But it’s June here in Central Texas, and if I brought all the pretty girls to the dance I would have had to spend all day posting, instead of squeezing in quickly right under the wire tonight like I am!
So I decided today to only invite the newest or most interesting blooms. (Shhh – don’t tell them, but if you want to see the rest you can just look at June 1999!)

So, I lead with my White Echinacea, which just started blooming. I love its structure — it’s less formal-looking that the standard pink, rather ecclectic, don’t you think?

And no one can hold a candle to the Moy Grande Hibiscus. She bloomed on the 14th, but I’m sneaking her in anyway. This was her first bloom of the year. But there are many more to come soon.
To give you a sense of scale, the whole Hibiscus plant is 5 feet tall, so you can see how enormous this bloom really is.
The two Plumerias are happy as can be out on the back porch. And the Dessert Willow on the ground below them has just started to bloom, as well.
This little vignette by the cutting garden is so delicate-looking. The Crape Myrtle just started blooming, the Katy Road Rose is on bloom #2 and the Lambs Ears blooms are just finishing and peeking in from the bottom of the photo.
I think instead of Autumn Joy, this Sedum is Year-round Joy!
My new plantings in the giant pots by the pool are getting lush. In here I have Sapphire Showers Duranta, Silver Pony Foot, Bandana Cherry Lantana and Sharskin Agave. I know this will require pruning, but I was so enamored with the idea of these plants together that I decided I was willing to work at it. (Remind me of this in August, will you?!) P.S. See the dog tails in the background? Thought I’d throw in a hidden picture game along with the blooms!
This is the right side of the pool, with the lovely new Pindo Palm, flanked my Esperanza and white Datura.
The is the left side of the pool, with the other Pindo, a cluster of Echinacea, Taro Elephant Ears that are so relieved to have some shade so they will thrive this year, and in the foreground, some Tropicana Cannas (otherwise known as caterpillar food.)
The Plumeria blooms up close and personal. Wish you could smell their lemony goodness!
My replacement Bottle Brush tree seems to be thriving and is showing it with lots of wispy, yet spiky blooms.
Below the Bottle Brush, the cluster of Mai Nacht Salvia are looking particularly blue — and that’s a good thing!

Happy Garden Bloggers Blue-m Day. (I know, I know — it’s late & I’m punchy. But it’s only 10:330 p.m. CST, so it’s still bloom day and I made it!)

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:26-06:00June 15th, 2010|Blog, Bottle Brush tree, Coneflower, echinacea, GBBD, Moy Grande hibiscus, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Hot blooms in the hot town tonigt…

I know it won’t be summer for quite some time yet, but for those of us living in Central Texas, it’s already here.

Luckily for us, the plants in my garden are happy to see it arrive, and are showing off some of their hot blooms in honor of our hot weather.

Bog sage

This is the passalong I got from The Gardener of Good and Evil‘ — a Wisconsin ditch lily!

Coneflower

Geraniums

My first Plumeria blooms of the season, with a wonderful, heady lemon scent.

This amazing Allium is not a bulb I planted (THEY all died, or rather, they are still dying a slow and hot ugly death!), but this is an onion in my garden whose bloom I didn’t remove!
Need a plant ID on this one. This is one of only a handful of plants left from the original owner. I love it, but have no idea what it is. It’s a BIG shrub – I prune it to 3×3.

A little knockout rose bloom ready to knock our socks off with color.

A little mix of Damianita and trailing Lantana.

The Pitcher Sage I bought LAST spring at the Wildflower Center sale finally grew and bloomed this spring.
This is the Buddleia that I pruned into a small tree shape this week. It looks so much better with a haircut, but it was hard to cut off some of those stunning hot purple blooms.
Everyone should have a little Parika Yarrow – and I got some more today from Robin at GettingGrounded to add into the mix!

Up close and personal with Senorita Rosalita Cleome.

And this delicate little beauty is a Blue Curls, given to me at the last swap by Bob at Gardening at Draco. I cannot get over how sweet this little bloom is, yet the plant is growing fast and hearty as it can be.

It’s so nice when the summer bloomers are young and happy and not yet stressed!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:28-06:00May 22nd, 2010|alliums, Blog, blue curls, bog sage, Cleome, Coneflower, ditch lily, pitcher sage, plumeria, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Finally Fall…

It’s finally Fall here in Central Texas. Don’t get me wrong, we still have some hot days, but we are also enjoying some cooler nights, some rain and the sun has lost just a little of its “edge.”

How do I know it’s Fall? Because the Mexican Mint Marigolds (Tagetes lucida) have graced us with their perky little Fall blooms.
They grow all summer, getting full and bushy and lush with foliage, but display nary a bloom. Until the cool weather kicks in, that is, and then they burst like baby sunflowers.

This weird weather we’re having has both the Mexican Mint Marigold and the Cassia blooming at the same time. That’s never happened before. The Cassia is very tropical and a hot weather plant. It’s ok, I’ll take whatever blooms I can get, whenever I can get them!
On a glum note, how about this little guy? You’d never know he was a Green Envy Coneflower that I special ordered for some ridiculously high price, would you? He croaked not long after he arrived, succumbing to the drought and the intense heat. While his ordinary Coneflower neighbors were blooming away, he was wilting. He’s technically still alive. Maybe next year he’ll feel better. (I hope!)