squash

It’s Bloom Day here in Central Texas, where the ground is still damp, the morning skies are a little gray and the gardeners are on Cloud 9.

Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, invites us to share our garden blooms on the 15th of every month.

Enjoy a little trip through some interesting things in my garden today.

This isn’t everything that’s blooming here today, just things that have burst back into life after our 7 inches of glorious rain last weekend.

It’s amazing what a good dose of real rain water will do for our gardens. And it was even down to 69 degrees last night.

Fall is just around the corner.
This is a Hyacinth Bean that was turning yellow and not flowering before the rains.
Sadly, the rains washed my BT off this Butterfly weed. Can you see the hundreds of baby caterpillars eating at the buffet there? Ewwww. They have almost destroyed the plants, so I think I will have to spray them again.
The Abutilon is very happy, and has managed to bloom all summer in spite of the drought.
I’m ever so proud of this beautiful clump of Oxblood lilies, passed along to me by MSS of Zanthan Gardens.
The Sweet Alyssum are bursting with blooms thanks to the cooler weather.
My favorite purple ‘Homestead’ Verbena.
Straight neck squash blossoms promise wonderful produce to come.
That pesky Cypress Vine is out of control again. I like it right now, but thank goodness for winter!
This is a canteloupe bloom. It’s taking over my whole garden — it’s bed, the pathways on either side of its bed and part of the other two beds! It better make me some fruit.
There’s another view of the squash with its blooms peeking out. And, there, see the canteloupe tendrils sneaking over in front of it?
Morning glories saluting the day again.
My Cosmos in the cutting garden are have gotten their second wind now.

The Esperanza are stunning — they were happy in the drought and now they are happy with the rain. Can’t complain about that, now can you?
The Hibiscus in pots have multiple blooms for the first time in months.
Autumn Joy Sedum is blooming its little head off.
Another little Oxblood lily.
One of the few Agapanthus that the darn hound dog didn’t dig up. What is it with her and bulbs at this time of year? Is there something going on here that I am missing?
These poor little Salvias have been stunted all summer long – and bloomless. Yeah for rain.
The Turks Cap is full of little red hats of happiness, and the Mangave ‘macho mocha,’ given to me by Pam, of Digging, is pretty happy here, too.
The flickering flame-like blooms of the candlestick tree, Cassia alata, are lighting up my garden.
And, of course, what would a lot of rain be without a pretty mushroom?
A few little Lobelias, planted with no success several years ago, have made a bit of an appearance now. I don’t think they will really make it where they are though — I might have to think about moving them.
The wedelia is so slow to grow here, but I did get several blooms out of this one this week.
And the Buddleia is finally blooming again. The other one is borderline dead, but it’s showing signs of a few green leaves this week. I hope it survives.

All in all, it’s a great bloom day here at Nature’s Garden.