zinnia

In a (tiny) Vase on Monday

After an out-of-town trip (only 24 hours), I was missing my garden.  Funny how quickly that happens.

Painful signs of our lack of rain awaited me, but some blooms just won’t be stopped.

I gathered a small handful of stems and put them in a new little vase that jumped into my shopping cart a few weeks ago.

In this vase you’ll find: verbena bonariensis, zinnias, a piece of plum yew, a foxtail fern, a bit of river fern, a piece of primrose Jasmine, and a small stem (not visible in the photo, sadly) of flowering senna.

Just a smattering of sweet blooms can brighten up any room in the house.  Check out more beautiful flowers at the hostess of In a Vase on Monday, Rambling in the Garden,  at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com .

Happy Monday!

Fall color in the Central Texas garden

The fall color in my garden this week isn’t from autumnal leaves on trees, it’s from a nice 1.5 inch rain last week and a few days and nights of cooler temperatures.

These zinnias have a whole fresh set of flowers.

All the perennials shrubs and wildflowers are flush with blooms.  Not just fall colors – all colors.

The firecracker gomphrena I planted just a month ago is spreading and has made the transplant with flying colors.

I guess the change of seasons is making them happy and giving them some relief.

These wildflowers just popped up in my cutting garden.  They reseeded from somewhere into a mass clump of perky yellow blooms.

My carefree beauty rose is dotted with pretty pink blooms and the deep purple indigo spires make a lovely contrast.


I was surprised to find the Japanese quince in bloom – it must have happened over night when I wasn’t paying attention.

The lackluster purple hyacinth bean vine, which has struggled all summer long – is finally showing off.

The change of seasons makes me happy, too. 

May showers also bring May flowers…

I know why Carol of May Dreams Gardens dreams of May.  We’ve had just that kind of May this year.  Full of sunshine AND rain – giving all our parched gardens a good long drink before the relentless summer takes its toll. Garden bloggers around the globe join Carol on the 15th of each month to share what’s blooming in their gardens.  Come take a stroll with me and see what catches my eye in the garden today.

This beautiful ditch lily, a passalong from Lori, of Gardener of Good and Evil, who literally dug it up from a ditch in Wisconsin and brought it back to me in a bucket in the back seat of her car.  That’s true gardening friendship!

Some short little zinnias that are filling in small spaces in my cottage-style front path bed.

Wine cups in full force in my rock path-thats-no-longer-a-path because of the wine cup!

I’m not wild about the pineapple guava tree itself – rather boring foliage.  But these little blooms are to die for.

I’m always in awe of lamb’s ears blooms – they are so low and so understated and then their blooms shoot straight into the sky and make the boldest of statements.

One of my absolute favorite salvias, indigo spires, reaches out it’s long, lanky plumes.

If you think I’m in love with the pineapple guava blooms – this one knocks my socks off.  It’s a Mexican Bird of Paradise, and loves our heat and drought here.  Tough and wispy at the same time, one of my favorite combos.

And I couldn’t leave out the esperanza, or yellow bells, that grow all over Central Texas.  They, too, are native to Mexico.

Daylilies I just can’t get rid of!  I’ve dug them up twice and they keep coming back, so now they get to stay.  They don’t fit in and clash in the bed they’re in, but they bloom for such a short time that I just pretend it’s part of the plan!

And finally, these gray santolina make the most beautiful button blooms – tiny little golden globes.

What’s blooming in your garden today?

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