GBBD: OCTOBER BLOOMS AT TROPICAL TEXANA

Long hours at school are making it hard to get out in the garden...even with near perfect weather here in Houston. Here's what's blooming now even though I'm mostly a shade garden. To see the whole collection, visit our host Carol at MayDreamsGarden. She's over on my sidebar favorites. Viva la Flora!

                     Pinecone Shrimp Plant                                           

The blackfoot daisy wins the prize for longevity of bloom. Solid all summer!

This one is unusual. It is an aluminum plant in bloom. I've used aluminum plant for a number of years as a landscape foliage plant in zone 9.  It's drought tolerant to a degree and root hardy.

I'll be back for Foliage Followup on the 16th. Here's a little window into that post.

Pecan leaves on our Norfolk Island Pine.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Gardening!

ZINNIAS IN SEPTEMBER

The hot weather just drifts along in a seemingly endless pattern of heat and humidity. No relief and September is 1/3 over. So...there's only one thing to do: plant zinnias.  I think of zinnias as early summer flowers and was actually excited to see them for sale this time of year. They love heat and some varieties are tolerant of humidity.
These are the very short variety and will bloom until it gets cold...which is currently beyond my imagination.

                                                 Is this bright enough? :-) Whoa!

                                                       The petals have a light peach tone in the white.

                                                  Another bright color to liven up the day

.                                Half the fun of buying a variety pack is waiting for new colors.

                                                 There are still some surprises in the bunch.

                                               I'll close with a closeup of the Porter Weed I just bought.
                                              It is quickly soaring to the top of my favorite's list.