Tuesday, July 16, 2013

A MIX OF FLOWERS & FOLIAGE FOR JULY GBBD

Howdy from Houston and welcome to my garden.
On the 15th of each month, our host Carol at May Dreams Gardens
invites us all to share our gardens. And my friend Pam at Digging, adds to the fun with a Foliage Follow-up on the 16th. It's a double header!
Fortunately, it has rained here during the past month and the garden is looking pretty good.
I've mixed my flowers with my foliage, so scroll down to what you'd like to see.


The Pride of Barbados has a little surprise. Do you see him? It's a tiny spider.

Speaking of surprises, I am delighted to tell you that the sun loving types (more like sun tolerant types) of coleus are getting better and better each year.
I'm a bit of a coleus freak, so this is great news. The one pictured above is probably 'Solar Sunrise'
from the Sunlover collection.
This sunlover is called 'Gay's Delight' . It's a sprinter and can grow about twice a fast as any coleus I've ever tried.
This one is called 'Redhead'. It is so velvety that you're tempted to pet it!
Here's 'Dijon' and it looks the part. Great name. It blends with dark greens perfectly.
Finally, here's my favorite called "You're So Vein". All of these can tolerate morning sun here in Texas.
Now back to the flowers.
The tiny Pearls of Opar (or Jewels of Opar) are popping up in the shade garden.
Our friendly cat 'Bear' poses next to the plant. See the tiny flowers?
Does anyone know how it got the name  'Pearls of Opar'? Sounds exotic...like it's from an Arabian fairy tale.

This is my first summer to grow Ice Plant. I think it's going to be a great little bloomer.

I'm also trying Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) for the first time. Anyone else LOVE this plant? I do.
And so does somebody else!
The lowly airplane plant is in bloom. I have it everywhere in the flower beds. It grows outdoors here in Houston.

This little Dahlberg Daisy has bloomed for an entire month. It loves sun!

Here's a larger view of the cottage garden with Gomphrena 'Buddy Purple' in the front.
Here's a larger view with some of the agaves. 
The silver plant is called Licorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare).
It is one of my favorite ground covers.
The agave is a hybrid called 'Sharkskin'.
Here's another view of the front garden. As you can see, I have to depend on plant foliage and textures rather than flowers at this point in the summer.
Our plumeria has finally decided to bloom after many years of waiting.
The scent transports me to tropical islands.
Here's the yellow one. It doesn't have the wonderful scent of the white one, but it's still nice to have around.
Perhaps my most difficult plant is this cycad. It has just put out its ONCE a YEAR set of leaves. That's it and the show is over until another year has passed. I must have the patience of Job to put up with this plant.
However, right now it is indeed beautiful.
On the opposite side of the spectrum is this lime green pothos. It has to be the fastest plant in my garden. I swear it adds a new leaf daily! Unfortunately, the bugs like to nibble on this one.
I am almost finished with a new fence. It's been the longest (literally) project I've ever done
and it's taken the longest time!
I'll close with this smiling dragon fly. They love to visit our pond. This particular species has absolutely no fear of humans. On the other hand, all the blue species are so paranoid that I can never photograph them.
Well, that's it for this month. 
I hope you enjoyed the July garden.
I'll see you next time.
Until then, happy growing!
David/:0)


8 comments:

  1. Your garden looks so cool! That licorice plant is going on my wish list annd your plumeria takes me all the way back to my African garden...

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  2. Nice Gomphrena. Mine is not amused at all the recent rain but Spider Plants are lovin' it. I think more spiders should be planted in the ground.

    What is with Cycads these days? Two of mine have beginning fronds, sitting there since May.

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  3. Your coleus is just gorgeous!! I love that Dijon one!! Russian Sage has been on my wish list for a very long time, but I hadn't figured out where I wanted to put it in my last garden. It will make it in there sometime! I also like your picture of the carved wooden flower in your collage picture. Very mysterious since we don't know what it's from..

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  4. July looks wonderful in your garden. I really like using the licorice plant with agaves. That little talinum is reseeding here too but I just couldn't get a photograph. At first I thought that closeup of perovskia/Russian sage was Teucrium azureum until I read your caption. Best of luck with that "long" project.

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  5. Everything looks soo good!! I love the agaves (naturally coming from a poky plant loving heart!). But the scent of plumeria can't be beat! That's wonderful!

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  6. I had a lovely Jewels of Opar in my front garden until the deer devoured it. Ah well. Hey, that long shot of your front garden along the street really shows off your design, and it looks fabulous! Also, I now want to try that licorice plant.

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  7. My Jewels of Opar didn't do much until it finally quit raining and turned 100. Now they're happy but since they were grown from seed, I don't have those cool flowers yet. I love Pride of Barbados! Such a beautiful plant! I'm glad you're putting up a fence. It will help you take back some of the privacy you've lost.

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  8. Your eden is a dream garden. The plumerias are pretty - surprised to see it growing over in your place - always associate it with the tropics. I love your snapshots of the visiting fauna. The dragonfly looks like it has a permanent grin on.

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I always appreciate your comments & questions! Happy Gardening from David/ Tropical Texana