Turk’s cap

Golden champagne sky dusts Turk’s cap…

After a whirlwind 5 days in Los Angeles touring friends’ gardens and attending the Garden Writers Association Annual Symposium, it felt good to be home today, tending to business again.  I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and promise to post about it soon.  As soon as I go through the 1,029 photos that I took!

But tonight I’ve taken a break.  As I watered and walked through the garden this evening, the setting sun painted a lovely glow on the Turk’s cap.

It’s good to be back in my garden again.

Glistening coat of raindrops on my thirsty plants is a welcome sight

We were enjoying an afternoon and evening with friends yesterday. The kids were swimming. It was a typical, hot summer Central Texas day. Then the clouds rolled in and by dusk we had a nice sprinkle.

After the nice little shower, we watched the weather forecast and were thrilled to see a chance of rain every day next week. I woke this morning to the plink, plink, plink of raindrops on the roof.

The plants are eagerly drinking in every drop.

This Pam’s pink turk’s cap, planted in almost full shade by the front door, looked so pretty with a soft, new bloom and a glistening coat of rain on her leaves.

I hope there is rain in your forecast.

Behind on Bloom day!

Hard to believe it’s Bloom Day again!

And while I’m late today with my post, I wouldn’t miss out on the invitation extended to all garden bloggers by Carol of May Dreams Gardens to post photos of our garden blooms.

We’ve had a little fall here in Central Texas, and while the nights are cooler – high 50’s, the days are still upper 70’s and 80, even.

Many summer perennials and annuals are still blooming, but I’m starting to see a real change in the garden.

Leaves are turning yellow, blooms are slowing, and many plants are setting seed as most prepare to go dormant.

This huge Duranta is still full of blooms, but there are also many little yellow seeds along the blooms.
This Cassia is still standing tall, but the blooms are a much smaller portion of the bloom stalk than they used to be.
The Alyssum loves the cooler weather, though. No slowing down here.
The Marigolds in the garden are still hard at work, keeping the evil insects from the tomatoes!

The roses have been loving these warm days and cool nights. Maggie has lovely blooms like this all over.

And the Hibiscus in this big pot can seem to stop blooming. Was she doing that when we had company out here? No…. she waits until there isn’t anyone to see her! So she had to go in my post.
The Texas Betony in the back shade bed is growing like a weed all of a sudden.
This little corner off the back patio is blooming – lantana, Euryops, Loropetalum, and some cannas.
My bougainvillea, a passalong from Robin of Getting Grounded, likes the night air.
The front bed, with many of the same plants as the photo above, including Salvia and Cuphea, hasn’t slowed a bit.
The vines on the fence and the Mexican Mint Marigold are putting on a show.
My little mums just started blooming.
I found this Mexican birdbath last week and had to bring it home. She how nice it looks with the transplanted Agapanthus around it? And the Agapanthus says, ‘thanks for rescuing us from that evil Dakota-dog-girl!’
And the Turk’s Cap in the woods is quite happy. The Turk’s Cap in my garden bed is turning yellow and losing leaves rapidly. It’s been too wet for it as we’ve gotten some regular rains.

It’s interesting to note the change of seasons in the garden. Next week we are forecast to get down to 39 one night. Yikes! That will change things around here for sure!

Blooming beauties on bloom day

Most of my summer bloomers are all still blooming this Bloom Day. Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, encourages us to share our blooms on the 15th of each month, and mine are thrilled to be enjoying a reprieve from the summer’s heat and drought.

The rain has revived them all and they are blooming to their hearts’ content. Because they are the same plants that were barely blooming in September, I’m just going to highlight a few interesting things in the garden today.

Above is a fabulous bloom from my brand-new Bottle Brush tree. It’s a new addition to the bed where I removed an ugly cedar tree earlier this year.
The Turk’s Caps are all standing at attention with the rain renewal. And the cooler temps have really helped, too. Even though it was 92 and sticky today, we have had rain and cooler temps with nights into the high 50s. Fall is trying to show itself here.
I know this does’t qualify because it’s not blooming, but it makes me happy as a bloom would. It is new growth on the 3 new Heucheras I planted this spring. In just a few short months it will have beautiful blooms. So, today, I am celebrating the anticipation of blooms!
And the heady scent of blooms and the sweet rains must have brought romance to our garden toads, because I have hundreds of itty-bitty, teeny-weeny toad babies hopping all over my yard, garden, driveway, pathways … you name it, there are toads there!
I was trying to give you perspective — I failed! he’s about as big as my index fingernail, if that.
Isn’t he cute? Wanna adopt some?

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