Mexican Flamevine

Blooms bursting out…

This Bloom Day, the Bluebonnets are bursting forth here in Central Texas. Even though we are behind in our blooms this spring, it seems things are finally waking up this month. All those fall rains are finally paying off. You can thank Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, for inviting us all to share our beautiful blooms with our friends on the 15th of each month.
My Tangerine Crossvine is absolutely out of control.
I’m very excited that I finally learned to plant Spiderwort INSIDE the fence so the deer don’t eat it and I get to enjoy it’s lovely blooms.
This pretty purple Vinca won’t be around long…it’s leftover from the previous owners (and we’ve been in the house almost 7 years!) and keeps popping up where I don’t want it – in my Abelias. But it is pretty…maybe I will try to move some…
I bought this perky Hinkley’s Columbine at the Wildflower Center Sale last weekend. I hope I have better luck this time – I’ve been unsuccessful with columbines so far.
My ‘Maggie’ rose has a hundred blooms on it, easily. And they smell heavenly — can’t you smell them?
Okay – back to the Crossvine – see how out of control it is? It’s climbing from the ground all the way to the top of this big oak tree.

These two photos are the Carefree Beauty or Katy Road Rose. It’s full of blooms, too and is competing neck and neck with Maggie for the best scent ever!

These sweet little Cosmos are in the cutting garden. They’re only a few inches tall. My last Cosmos were the tallest ones – probably 3 feet tall!
Here’s another little Spiderwort.
The Damianita are starting to bloom and this one of several little pups that I’m going to dig up and move to expand my collection! I love it when I make new plants in my own garden — well, not me personally, but my plants.

One of many different colors of Alyssum…
Texas Primrose sundrops are so perky in the rock path.
The Homestead Verbena is a sea of purple in the path.
Carpet thyme in the path.
More Alyssum…
and more…
My tall winecups are blooming, too. The foliage is up to my knee.

The profusion of Maggie Roses again.
The Desert Rose is so happy with our nice spring weather.
The Phoebe Hellebore is still blooming – all the blooms have turned from pink to green now, but sadly, none of the other plants have any blooms. Next year.
I have lots of Dianthus scattered around the beds for winter filler — the deer don’t eat them and they perk up the garden when everything else is brown.
One of several salvias I didn’t label (bad blogger, bad blogger!).
The Four-Nerve Daisies are all blooming like crazy right now.
The itsy-bitsy, teeny-weenie Daffodils are still blooming. The stalks are like standing pieces of twine, they are so thin and delicate.
The first blue Salvia bloom opened today in the front garden by the driveway. This is Mystic Spires – which is a compact, clumping form.
Another Salvia…
A leftover Tete-a-tete Daffodil – I will definitely plant more of these in the fall – loved them.
This was supposed to be Homestead Verbena — hmmm…someone (not me) was color blind. I just made the mistake of buying them with no blooms and trusting the nursery owner!
The infamous Cleome Senorita Rosalita, made famous by Pam of Digging‘s trial and rave reviews last summer.

Louisiana Blue Phlox & Dianthus
Phlox – pink something or other!
Primrose Jasmine.
Potato Vine.
Mexican Flame Vine – I am trying a new one. First year I had one it did great, then I think Mexican Mint Marigolds stole its water. Gonna make sure it gets a little more this year.
One of my favorites – Blackfoot Daisies.
A volunteer Bluebonnet that seeded across the driveway from last year’s plants.
Diamond Frost Euphorbia. Look quick – I have 3. One has been eaten to the nubs. One is on its way out. This one’s days are numbered unless I rush out and move it to the back!
Prairie Verbena that I got at the Wildflower Center last weekend.
Something I planted and didn’t write down — rats!
Another something I planted and didn’t write down — rats!
Bletilla Striata – I now have 3 of them dotting the shade along the river rock bed and it is just beautiful.

This unusual spring has enabled me to inter-plant early and late spring/summer plants and to see where the holes will be when bulbs and early bloomers die back. For me, this is the biggest challenge — keeping the garden going year round with seasonal bloomers and interest.

Happy GBBD!

I am NOT in charge!

See that pretty little yellow bloom? That’s a Mexican Mint Marigold. Just started blooming yesterday.

It’s pretty and the next photo shows you that it will soon be full of bright blooms.

BUT. (There’s always a but, isn’t there?) I planted these 3 little plants last summer when we put in this bed. The purpose of the bed was to provide a place for lots of colorful vines to cover the fence. This picture below is what it looked like last September — everything behaving according to PLAN. See the beautiful orange Mexican Flame Vine behind the little Marigolds? Nice, isn’t it?

Well, this is how it looks now. NO Flame vine, spindly leftover morning glories. All thanks to the thirsty, overgrown, block the sprinkler Marigolds who have hogged the bed.

So, after they bloom – OUT they come, to be replaced in the Spring by something much lower and slower growing so that the Flame Vine – which is still there, but just 6 leaves at the base of the plant – can reach up to the sky along the fence. I don’t know WHERE they are going, mind you, but they ARE going. I will have things according to plan, I will, I will!

And here are some signs of our cool 55 degree night last night. The Plumeria is not happy about those cool, damp temps — see the yellowing leaves inside there?


It’s a desperate cry for the Greenhouse to get here soon!

12 days ’til Greenhouse Day!

The good, the bad and the ugly…


Well, this is definitely the good! This photo was taken last August — it was Kallie’s first day of Kindergarten. You can see the soft morning light and the wonderfully green Mexican Flame Vine, Morning Glories, Mexican Mint Marigold, Purple Coneflower, and Lantana.

Here’s what the fence looks like right now. Everything is brown and dead. I see no signs of life in this bed yet. I’m hopeful that the flamevine will be perennial and come back, along with the coneflower an the lantana. I sprinkled some of the dead seedheads around the existing dead coneflower to help Mother Nature a little bit 😉

Guess you can tell from this post that I wasn’t in the yard today. A cold, blowing 20 mph wind and 58 degree high kept me indoors – drawing on a landscape plan in the morning and sitting at the automotive shop getting a new tire for 2 hours in the afternoon. (I feel lucky that I found the leak (a screw) and didn’t get stuck somewhere.)

Tomorrow, I’ll have some pretty pictures of Texas native tree for you – can you guess what what it might be?

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