A MIDSUMMER DAY'S DREAM: HAPPY JULY GBBD & FOLIAGE FOLLOW-UP

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens and Pam at Digging, gardeners can take a whirlwind tour of garden's throughout the world to see what's blooming and growing. We've had over 6.8 inches (17.2cm) of rain this week and the tropical garden and cottage garden are both growing at a feverish pitch. At this rate, I'll soon have to garden with a machete'! First the blooms, then the foliage. Here we go!

The Rudbeckia fulgida has just started blooming and is fresh as a...uh...daisy.

Buddleia davidii 'Nanho Purple' has been the surprise of the summer. I cut it back thinking it was 'done' and now it is back in its full glory. Sadly, I've not seen any butterflies on it and I don't know why.

Here it is again. Its silver green foliage is also lovely. But no butterflies! I wonder if the hybrids have no nectar.

With all the rain, it has been a terrific year for Pentas. Butterflies love it.

This has been another surprise. I thought it was too hot for this Blue Hill Salvia (Salvia x sylvestris 'Blauhugel'), but it is again in bloom. It's becoming my favorite Salvia.

The Cape Daisies from South Africa seem to love Houston. This Osteospermum is called 'Voltage Yellow'.

Our purple Crapemrytle will bloom all month. I wish I knew the name of this variety. It is an old one and was probably planted in the 1950s. It's the size of a small tree.

I can count on Hemerocallis 'Tuscawilla Tigress' to be in bloom every summer. It is heat and drought tolerant and gorgeous.

Thanks to Sharon, my new friend at Thompson + Hanson Nursery, and another Sharon, my new gardening friend here in the Oak Forest neighborhood, I am excited to find this perennial verbena.

It is called 'Homestead Purple' and it is very low growing and has none of the powdery mildew problems of the annual verbenas. 

You can barely see it poking above the grass. The St. Augustine turf will be gone by next year and...no more edging! 'Homestead Purple' verbena will be there instead along with a stone pathway. I can't wait!

Now for the foliage or what's left of it after this fellow's through!

Just joking. Giant Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars are always welcome to munch on the rue.

This is the first time I've had one in my garden. 

Speaking of new visitors. This is a Tropical Checkered Skipper butterfly on a Bidens humilis. It is a fast darter and hard to photograph. I was lucky.

  

I hope you can enjoy the rest of the foliage photos without the species names.

Since I taught Kindergarteners at a summer camp all week, I'm a bit tired tonight.

The front yard woodland garden

Cardboard palm with large Bromeliad

With all the rain, my small patches of moss are trying to add some territory.

Don't laugh, but I've tried to grow moss for years here in my Houston garden.

A little bit of art with a b&w rendering of hanging Virginia creeper

Part of my foliage plant collection

The Yucca is getting ready to bloom

Thinking inside the box and my next landscaping adventure

The backyard jungle

I sometimes think I might find a monkey in my backyard.

The front entry garden after a rain.

Well, that's it for this month...A Midsummer Day's Dream. Hope you are having a wonderful summer.

Thanks for stopping by.

David/:0)

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, THEN A SUMMER OF GARDENING!

I love my job. But, for a gardener, getting up early and driving AWAY from your garden is torture. I'm looking forward to FOUR things this summer:

Playing with our new kittens all summer!

 Then taking them out to the garden so they can be my helpers.

Do they look like they're ready to help out in the garden?

I'm looking forward to asking Cindy at My Corner of Katy (next to my school!) what these gorgeous flowers are. (Then begging her for a cutting)

Knowing her green thumb, they are probably Icelandic Poppies and she's figured out a way to get them to grow in Texas. LOL

I'm looking forward to adding flowers and plants to my own cottage garden. If you don't have a cottage garden you should try it!

I've never been one for flowers, but I must say if you find native and easy to grow flowers, the rewards are immeasurable.

And the last thing:

Getting to visit my 50 Nifty Garden Friends (and others!) and leaving comments. During the school year that is the one part of blogging I can't maintain. The school kids come first and I have to put my time into their lessons.

But during the summer, I get to visit all those other garden blogs! Hurray!

Year 31 is done! Happy Summer, my students.

I'm headed out to the garden now!

Thanks for stopping by.

David/:0)