THE ALSTROEMERIA DILEMMA: TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

I'm pulling up all of my regular Alstroemeria this Spring. I'm keeping the slower growing and much better behaved variegated variety. At first the small clump was of no concern. But this Spring I've noticed that it has SOMEHOW started growing in 2 other flowerbeds and in my monkey grass. It needs no care, no extra watering, no fertilizer, and yet blooms every Spring with its exotic crimson flowers. Still, I'm alarmed and it needs to go before it takes over the rest of my garden.
This is a tough call for me since it seems like the perfect plant....but it's a quiet creeper.

Exotic blooms, but beware if you live in a wet, zone 9 area!

Alstroemeria can easily make it through droughts....here's why!

Seems OK, until you lift the stones and find hundreds of white runners!

The variegated variety is much slower and I'll keep it.

The regular green variety is too powerful and overwhelms my other plants.

If you live in Houston or the Gulf Coast and REALLY want to grow it, keep it in a pot and not in the ground.

Thanks for stopping by. David/ Tropical Texana

AZALEA TIME: HAPPY MACRO MONDAY

I love azaleas. All of ours are the cultivar "Pride of Mobile" and they are always reliable.

They love acid soil, so I put live oak leaf mold around the base each year.

Visit Lisa at http://lisaschaos.com/ to see more macros.

                      The shadows across the petals caught my eye in this shot.

I like this last one...it looks like notes on a music staff.

David/ Tropical Texana/ Houston Texas

THREE FOR THURSDAY: 3 FLOWER CLOSE-UPS

Justicia fulvicoma: can bloom in shade here in Houston. A close cousin to the Shrimp plant. I wish I had more of this little guy.

Asclepias curassavica; attracts Monarch butterflies

Stachytarpheta jamaicensis; Purple Porter Weed

I just got this one from Buchanan's Native Plants on 11th Street. There was a hummingbird drinking from the display flowers. That sold me on the spot! :-)

As always, a thank-you to my blog friend Cindy at My Corner of Katy for the great idea and format. She's on the favorites side bar. Go visit ASAP!

Do you have 3 garden photos of something? Join in the fun. Three favorite weeds to pull, 3 garden art shots, 3 bugs that bug you...anything is fair game. :-)

That's it from here. Also, I'd like to thank my new best friend Hermine for bringing us 2.85" of rain and breaking our 40 day dry spell. Hermine is making rainy day friends all over Central Texas and now Oklahoma.

We should name cool fronts that hit Southern Texas. Cold Front Agnes ...already came and went

Cold Front Bob...we're WAITING..hurry up BOB!