Friday, August 5, 2011

New garden blooms and buys

Hello! Today I wanted to share with you some of my newly acquired and newly blooming wildflowers from this week.

All of the wildflowers from my last My Garden post are still blooming nicely and now are joined by:

Salvia azurea - Azure Sage , I just planted the seeds this spring and they are coming on really nice, all with flower spikes. The foliage is really pretty too because the leaves are perfectly lined up in very neat rows. A mainly fall blooming native wildflower that has nice cool blue flowers to contrast the heat.

Monarda fistulosa - Beebalm , has still not bloomed. I planted the seeds last winter. They seem to be growing nicely but Im a little worried they'll never bloom. If that is the case I am going to collect some seed from the local Monarda citriodora populations that are in every vacant lot around here in SW Houston and bloom like crazy in the Spring.

Liatris pycnostachya - Prairie Blazingstar (no picture) is very close to blooming!! The spikes are getting tall and are loaded with flower buds.

Here are some of my newly acquired wildflowers:

Penstemon tenuis - Gulf Coast Penstemon, I just bought this plant from Joshua's Native Plants Nursery. It is very healthy and has tons of ripening seed -heads and even a few blooms left. I was looking for this plant for a long time!

Cooperia drummondii - Evening Rain-lily, a relative of the Amaryllis, this plant I bought from Buchanans Native Plant Nursery. It looks like a very thin grass right now but it will have really pretty blooms once it finally rains! I see these all the time roadside around Houston.

Chasmanthium latifolium - River Oats, planted in the shade of a large old Crepe Myrtle. They are a native grass that looks similar to Bamboo. They produce very cute gracefully drooping oats. I bought all four from Buchanan's Native Plant Nursery.

Here is another pic of the River Oats. It is a great plant for a shady area. It is low maintenance and provides food and refuge for birds, butterflies, and other native wildlife.

No comments:

Post a Comment