Might 30, 2023
Swinging into Summer time
Whoa, the place did Might go? The times completely vanished as CTG hit the street! On one cease, we connected with John Hart Asher in Travis Heights the place his Blackland Collaborative undertaking danced into its first spring.
Clouds darted out and in as director Ed Fuentes and grip Steve Maedl and I trailed John Hart via the prairie, the place grasses and wildflowers present habitat for birds, pollinators, and different wildlife in opposition to a skyline the place we counted 17 building cranes.
Early spring flowers are going to seed, so we basked in mid-to-late season treasures together with dreamy daisy-like American basketflower and whorled-flower bee balm (Monarda citriodora), typically referred to as lemon mint or lemon horsemint. These annuals ought to reseed subsequent yr to switch the tapestry their very own method!
Annual clasping coneflower dominated some views on at the present time, however early-to-late summer season lovers had been elbowing in. This one’s elongated disk flowers resemble a velvet pincushion, a marvel referred to as fasciation, an irregular exercise of a plant’s rising tip that may result in this atypical form.
On the run, I noticed a hummingbird snowberry clearwing moth shifting even quicker on bee balm ‘Peter’s Purple’ rag mop flowers. This one’s a cross between native Monarda fistulosa and M. bartlettii, native to Mexico. Like all Monardas, it’s a success with every kind of bees and precise hummingbirds.
In a slender strip alongside my home, Salvia microphylla ‘La Trinidad Pink’ joins ‘Peter’s Purple’ (amongst others) to entice hummingbirds and butterflies. One supply credit Yucca Do nursery (now closed) for introducing it from Mexico. I’ve had this deciduous perennial since 2009, so it’s seen one of the best and worst of Texas climate. I’ve acquired three completely different varieties in various daylight: morning, afternoon, and a little bit of each. I lower it again severely in late February once I do all of the asters on this mattress. It helps to tidy it up a bit in June to provide extra flowers later.
My backyard’s been via so many droughts that it yawns and takes it in stride. However it’s gleeful when even a little bit of rain comes tumbling down. ‘Pam’s Pink’ turk’s cap grew a minimum of 2’ when my again was turned, and already, it’s pumping out joyful meals for hummingbirds and butterflies. Silvery-leafed Dicliptera suberecta—generally referred to as Uruguayan firecracker plant—will quickly entice the identical crowd with fiery tubular blossoms. Inland sea oats is on overdrive on this woodland’s edge border alongside the fence.
New video subsequent week! We head to New Braunfels the place Kathleen Scott labored round HOA guidelines to create a local plant backyard from scratch. See you then, Linda