Thursday, September 16, 2010

Flowers and Leaves....

Orange Esperanza

Again this month, I'm running late with Bloomday, so I'm combining it with Foliage Follow-up.  I can almost hear my dad chuckling.  He was always after me, for running late.


Autumn Fern

It's been interesting, since last Bloom and Foliage days.  July and August were hot and dry.
Then, we were visited by Hermine.  She wasn't the nicest guest.  She dropped LOTS of  water, on the area.
So, things are a bit bedraggled.


Wax Begonia

Most things liked the extra water.  Some, are looking pretty bad.  You won't see the Lamb's Ear that the water flowed over.  It's coming back.  But, it gets pretty squishy, with too much water.


The Inland Seaoats like some extra water.  They're putting on their fall colors.


Impatiense like extra to drink, too.

And, one of my favorite combinations of foliage, the Persian Shield and Coleus, with Oyster Plant peeking out.



The Castor Bean has a small bloom.  I'm hoping for some seeds, for next year.



The foliage is nice...although, I wanted it to be taller, by now.

Plectanthus 'Lavender Mona', likes some shade and extra water.  This is one of my favorites.  Easy to propagate from cuttings and it's bloomed all summer.  I didn't get a picture of the purple underside of the leaves.  It's good for foliage and flowers.  I'll be taking lots of cuttings soon, to make sure I have some next year.  It doesn't like the cold.



The Palm Grass is beginning to grow.  It was tested by the deer.  I was hoping it would be much taller, by now.

The Sago Palm we were worried had been frozen, has popped back quite nicely.

The Mexican Bush sage, salvia leucantha, is putting on it's fall show.  This is a tough plant.  Needs very little water, and likes lots of sun.

The gold Lantana is about to bloom a lot.  Notice the mesh....the deer like the blooms....grrrr...

Plumbago is doing well, despite too much shade.

And, speaking of too much shade...this Indigo Spires sage will be moved this winter.  It needs lots more sun.

The Agaves my neighbor gave me a while back, are doing well.  These are tough plants, too.



No talk of foliage would be complete, without the Cuban Oregano.  I really like this one.  More cuttings will be taken, for plants for next year.

I'll finish up, with another one of my favorites...Thryallis  It has been blooming a lot.  It's a bit 'leggy', I think.  But, as long as it blooms like this, I'll leave it where it is.

 
If you'd like to see more Garden Bloggers Bloomday posts, visit Carol at May Dreams Garden. And, for more Foliage Follow-up, visit Pam at Digging.

HAPPY GARDENING…
~~Linda~~

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Unwelcome Visitors.....


I caught these guys heading for the beds, outside the fenced yard.  They'd already dug up some Lamb's Ear, and made holes around the area. 

The little one scurried away.  The big one headed toward me.  I high tailed it back up onto the deck.  Armadillos' claws can do some damage.  He/she bumped into the wire we have around the base of the deck....to keep out critters...then, went slowly off in the other direction.  But, I think they both came back the next night.

Another wildlife challenge, here at Patchwork Garden.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Friday, September 10, 2010

Be Careful What You Wish For...


My mother used to say 'Be careful what you wish for....you just might get it'.  It's advice I passed down to my children.

Well, I thought I was being careful, wishing for a 'little rain'.  You know, a couple inches, spread out over a couple days.

Tropical storm Hermine had a different idea.  We got almost 9...that's NINE...inches, here at Patchwork Garden.

And, we were lucky. 

As she moved north, Hermine dropped more and more rain.  On the other side of Austin from us, she dropped 15 inches or more.  All the way up to the DFW area, where she caused more flooding, and tornadoes, too.  I'm not sure just what made her so mad.



Since we have a little bit of a drainage problem here, we had a little bit of water in our garage.  That is nothing.  Lots of people were flooded out of their homes.  Tornadoes damaged businesses and homes.

We were lucky..


Sunshine in the Rain.


We'll be working on our drainage problem.  We'll be praying for the people who had messes made of their homes.  And, we'll remember

Be careful what you wish for....

This time, we were lucky.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Wordless Wednesday...Garden Helpers


Happy Gardening...
~~Linda~~