GARDEN BLOGGERS MONTHLY BOUQUET ~ A CHEERY MORNING

 Orange zinnia, purple angelonia, white tradescantia, lavender leaves, violet lantanta, blue daze round out this bouquet  photographed in my agave beds.  Thanks for visiting Tropical Texana in Houston, Texas.

Keeping a positive outlook during a prolonged drought is not the easiest thing to do. I added up the days and we are now on day 32 without a good rain. This is our second time to reach these numbers (I was up to day 40 just a month or so ago).  So what's there to do whilst waiting for rain? Beside praying for rain, I'll PICK FLOWERS and give them to my wife. Thanks to Noelle at http://www.azplantlady.com/ for hostin' this wonderful collection on her garden blog. You will need to scroll down one post to see this month's collection of 9 bouquets.   BTW: A month sure flies by....it just seems like yesterday that I posted a bouquet. Wow! :-) Happy Gardening and may you get R-A-I-N if you're dry as bone in your garden home.

GARDEN BLOGGERS MONTHLY BOUQUET ~ SINGING THE BLUES

I really DON'T want my OTHER LIFE (work, problems, etc.) to spill over into my nice, cozy garden blog.
But sometimes you get overwhelmed by a wave of circumstances that crashes through all those nice little walled partitions and affects everything...including gardening.
I had a bad fall at work last week, went in ambulance to the emergency room and have hurt my back. The good news is that I have no ruptured discs and as far as we know I've not reinjured my back from a long ago surgery in that area. I'm in recovery now with physical therapy and have now gone back to work. But, as a kinda sad joke, when asked if I'm OK, I just tell people 'It only hurts when I move'. un haha. :0)
Sooooooooo.....my poor wife has had to endure the pain with me and she's a trooper for taking on all the chores in the garden.   We've had the blues, so the blue family of flowers is the theme.

These mini bouquets are really fun to make.

Angelonia, Sage, and Peppervine

Pink Garden Phlox, Licorice plant, and violet Lantana

Blackfoot Daisy, Blue Daze, and Violet Lantana

                                                 More Blue Daze and Peppevine. The yellow coreopsis offers a ray of hope.

One of my teacher friends at school made this card for me with her scrapbooking skills.

Isn't it nice to have friends that care?

My doctor says I can do SOME gardening, but no heavy lifting for awhile.

A tip of the trowel to my garden blog buddy NOELLE for the monthly linky for MONTHLY BOUQUET.

I love making these.

To see our small, but spunky group, go to

http://www.azplantlady.com/

See you next time from hot, humid, Houston

GARDEN TRIALS~ RESULTS: NEW PLANTS SUMMER 2010

This post is like Survivor TV: many of the plants start out with high hopes of 'making it' to that final A+++ rating, but first they have to survive. I tried out a LOT of new plants since I redid the front beds. The front beds are in a brutal situation: near the street, on a slope, lots of sun, sandy loam soil, and that occasional dog that decides to mark his territory. I also do not fertilize except with compost once a year. In other words, they'll live the life of a wildflower.

I also did NOT want to water these plants endlessly, so here goes:

THE LOSERS:

The white angelonia did not do well (the other colors of Angelonia did splendidly), the cilantro bolted after a week, the Ruby Star got eaten and decided it did not like it here, and the creeping thyme, well, here's the picture:

Creeping thyme got the dreaded two thumbs way down award. It will be a long time before I try Thyme again.

(I was hoping for more Thyme in the garden, guess not..ha ha)

NEXT:   THUMBS UP PLANTS

I really was hoping for something with small, delicate foliage and lots of endless blooms to soften the hard edges of the agaves. Angelonia is FANTASTIC for this purpose. I highly recommend this plant for Houston gardens.  The dahlberg daisy is a sweet little plant and a native to boot. The salvia is an old friend along with the sage. The cleome is taller, and currently suffering a bit from the high temps. Still, it gets a thumbs up.

AND NOW~ THE COVETED DOUBLE THUMBS UP:

These plants have beautiful foliage, are compact, and add interest to the dry, rock garden.

Most varieties of lavender cannot stand our high humidity, but Goodwin Creek is the exception. I LOVE this plant. The white licorice plant is from South Africa, and has a low habit with nice, silver foliage. It can recover from a wilted condition in an hour.  The rosemary is another old favorite, but it comes in so many varieties that it can be very confusing. This one has a larger leaf and used for culinary purposes. I like it.

And finally, the ultimate award goes to blue daze (Evolvulus) It blooms endlessly, honey bees LOVE IT, it takes drought well, it stays low, and has a small, intertwining habit. I wish the flowers would last all day, but they fade by noon.

Blue Daze and Angelonia are great together.

I have a few other wonderful plants that passed with flying colors, but that will have to wait 'til next week.

BLUE DAZE is the winner!