coral trumpet vine Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

Drought tolerant plants are beautiful summer bloomers…

The scorching heat has the humans in the garden working really hard to keep plants hydrated in this terrible drought. And for the most part, all the extra hand-watering (prompted by water restrictions and astronomical water bills) is paying off.
Yesterday was Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, the monthly communal gathering of garden bloggers around the globe and the brain child of Carol of May Dreams Gardens . To celebrate, there were many happy plants showing off in my garden.

This stunning Blackberry lily above, Belamcanda chinensis, is in full bloom. In spite of its name, it is neither a blackberry or a lily. It’s actually in the iris family. It is hardy in zones 5-10 and is a native to Japan and China. This is the first bloom of this plant for me and I’m going to have to have some more. The stalks hold many blooms, and the flowers are about an inch across.

My carefully-planted zinnias did come up – unfortunately they did not come up in the neat little circle of space in which I planted them! They’re coming up in the middle of many neat clusters of other, existing plants! It’s ok – they make me happy.
The double purple Datura is coming into its own this year for the first time. It’s swirling multi-colored blooms look so exotic.
One of our favorite native drought-tolerant plants here in Central Texas, the Blackfoot Daisy, loves the heat and all the abuse we can give it. We’re being very giving this year.
The monstrous Coral Trumpet vine is in full bloom. It wants to grow everywhere, and in spite of the fact that I have to prune it as it pops up 100 feet away from the main plant, it’s beautiful climbing up the fence.
The cannas are all blooming. The grasshoppers are having lunch on the bottom leaves, but they haven’t done too much damage.
This Clematis (I can’t remember the variety) with its bell-shaped flowers looks delicate, but in its 2nd year, it’s holding its own.
The Moy Grande hibiscus with it’s paper-plate-sized blooms has at least a few blooms every day.
The Plumerias in pots on the back patio have been in bloom for a long time. I am actually going to have to water them just a little less. I forget that they can tolerate this heat better than some plants in pots.
This plant – the Medusa hair in my garden statue’s head – was give to me by Lancashire Rose of Rock Rose. I can’t remember its name, either. Giving it a little spritz of water this week I discovered the sweetest little bloom. What a lovely reward. She looked quite different here in last year’s snow.
There are even surprised in the cutting garden. The Larkspur, (seeds given to my by Zanthan Gardens, two years ago) has bloomed profusely for two long springs. And today there is yet another bloom, coming up with the cosmos, just in time to surprise me for bloom day.

Gardening continues, in spite of the heat. Now that my post is up, I can’t wait to to see what’s blooming in other gardens around the world.

Happy Garden Bloggers Bloom Day~

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:23-06:00July 16th, 2011|blackberry lily, blackfoot daisies, Blog, cannas, clematis, coral trumpet vine, datura, day lilies, GBBD, larkspur, Moy Grande hibiscus, plumeria, Sharing Nature's Garden|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

The good, the bad and the ugly…

“To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.”
— ecclesiastes 3:1-8

So, as the Death Star blazes on (100+ for as long as I can remember …103 today), some things in my garden are still doing well — many things, in fact. These plants have popped up recently and come into their own. These are some of my hot St. Tropez-on-the-beach-loving plants!
Grandpa Ott morning glories greeting the day on the back fence in the cutting garden.
Look hard for the 3 new Butterfly weed plants in the center of the bed – finally filling a hole left by last year’s Viburnum exorcism!
Coral trumpet vine is bursting with trumpets — can you hear her?
The huge Duranta bush looks like purple fireworks exploding in this corner.
And one of my very favorites, the Pride of Barbados, is giving us a long show this year. This tropical normally doesn’t bloom until August and I’m so excited to see them so early. I hope they can last the whole, hot summer.
Another Pride of Barbados.
Like the Pride of Barbados, this Cassia alata, or Candlestick Tree, normally blooms in August. I have two in a slightly less than perfect spot – they routinely stop growing at about 2-2-1/2 feet tall, and this one is blooming already! My other 3 are in a hot protected corner in the back and they are easily 10 feet tall! They aren’t blooming yet, but they never even died back during our mild winter last year. Can’t wait to show them to you.
A few spindly vines still have wonderful tropical colors to offer. They just need to GROW and fill in! The orange one is a Mexican Flame Vine and the other is a Morning Glory.

Ok – did enjoy the tour?

You might want to shield your eyes now — parental discretion is advised for the following photos. These are the bad and the ugly. Things stressed by the heat and the sun and not enough water, or, conversely, too much water or scalding on the leaves. I desperately try to water before 9 a.m., but life doesn’t always cooperate and at 106, 1 missed day of watering can mean death. So, sometimes even careful watering with warmer temps can damage.

Ready? Are you sitting down?
My new Avocado plant. I think it fried in the heat, I thought it like sun…maybe not OUR sun, though.
My lacebark elm is stressed and I’m going to have to get a drip hose on it to deep water tomorrow.
A Mandavilla vine recently planted with roots too close to the surface in the cutting bed.
The variegated lemon tree has a few sad leaves.
And the Sago is suffering, too.
The black elephant ears were great until about 2 weeks ago. These are in full sun, and on a less than scorching summer, which we USED to have, they are fine that way. But, that’s not this year!
Variegated shell ginger struggles, too
And apparently, I have the dreaded day lily rust that came to Texas in the last year or two. I may have to remove them before the other plants in the bed succumb to it.
Even the tropical Plumeria has a few sad spots.
And this one is just plain UGLY. But amazing, nonetheless. This is a Texas Bluebonnet. They normally bloom in March, but I did see my first bloom this year on February 28th and posted about how amazing THAT was in this Seriously? post.