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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Fall blooms on the hill

The woolly butterflybush (Buddleja 
marrubiifolia) is a Texas native, according to the 
Wildflower Research Center. This cool plant 
survived the summer in my hottest bed 
without supplemental water. It grows 3 to 
6 feet tall (mine is about 3) and 
attracts butterflies, as its name implies.
As per usual, I am posting for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted by May Dreams Gardens one day late. In my defense, it was raining yesterday. While we were thrilled by the 1 inch we received, my camera was not and took the day off. That inch of rain brings us to 15.1 inches for the year (our average is about 33 inches). It's astonishing anything is blooming at all. But voila!

We are having a beautiful fall in central Texas. The temperatures have been mostly in the upper 70s during the day, 50s and 60s at night, with a few quick cool spells. This moderate weather is probably drought related, but I'll take it. Monday evening, I was out in shorts and t-shirt. I'm so happy to live in Texas right now! (I might not have been so happy at the end of this past summer.)

Also, we have not had a freeze yet here on the hill, though some of our neighbors have. Our lowest temp so far has been 37 F.


Here's another Texas native perennial strutting its stuff. The white mistflower
(Ageratina havanensis) is a butterfly magnet, though it hasn't drawn many this year.
However, the bees were ecstatic this morning! Again, from the Wildflower Center,
this is a Texas native, found on the Edwards Plateau south to Mexico,
blooming in October and November. 


Above: Moses' boat, bedraggled,
but hanging in there!
Left:  Tropical sage (Salvia coccinea)
is a southern U.S. native. It suffers in
drought here, but perks up nicely with rain.



Fleabane! This stuff volunteers - I love it!

Still blooming - new gold lantana  . . .
These blackfoot daisies (Melampodium leucanthum) reappeared after our fall rains.
Last, but not least, flame acanthus (Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii)
is still blooming and nourishing lots of bees. I tried to get a picture of a bee dining,
but the darn things would not pose.



10 comments:

  1. Love that gold Lantana - a nice contrast to the cactus in the background.

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  2. I just adore those Blackfoot Daisies! It's great to hear you've been getting some rain.

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  3. @Lea - Thanks, Lea! I love that combination, too.

    @Bernie - The blackfoots are among my favorites; they love it here and are naturalizing all over the place - hurrah!

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  4. Nice post...I agree with Bernie...the Blackfoot Daisies are just awesome...also, love the Fleabane...gotta love the volunteers!

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  5. Yeah, it's amazing how just a couple of fall rains can produce so much bloom action after such a dry summer. The color on your flame acanthus is so nice and deep orange, and I love that woolly butterfly bush! Might have to add that to my wishlist.

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  6. I'm finally getting around to reading Bloomday posts.
    You got an inch of rain? I'm jealous. We only got .20, here in Woodcreek. And, we've been to low 20s two mornings and freezing several more.
    I think we live in some kind of hole, here.
    Love that Flame acanthus. I think there's one in the future here. Just hope the deer will leave it alone.

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  7. @Amy - I believe you like orange! The butterfly bush is an interesting plant, isn't it?

    @Linda - I have noticed when i drive your way in the morning (to school) the temp drops by 8 to 10 degrees - you would think we would be colder up on a little hill, but then again cold air sinks. I have acanthus seeding out everywhere (I'm not exaggerating), and I'd be happy to pot up a few for you!

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  8. Cynthia...I'd love to have an acanthus. Thank you.

    Do you or yours go to school in Wimberley? I'm always a bit confused just where the Driftwood/Wimberley line is.

    Hope you've gotten more rain today than we have, so far. Hope there's more coming.

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  9. @Linda - Sorry such a slow response! Wimberley. It recently got more confusing, as the tax office realized the line wasn't where they thought it was . . . oops.

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  10. When she (Cynthia) told how much rain we got, i practically passed out!!!!

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