Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - July 2011

The exceptional drought which has plagued Texas for months drags on, discouraging both gardens and gardeners.  There is no end in sight.  Perhaps this is our new norm in this time of climate change.  If so, it is good to know there are a few bloomers we can still depend upon.

"Heat?  What heat?  Drought? What drought?"  The old 'Caldwell Pink' polyantha blooms from April to December, regardless of the weather.

The crape myrtles have never been so floriferous as they are this year.  This ancient tree stands near the back of our property.

The stand of butterfly weed has bloomed beautifully all summer but has had few butterflies to enjoy it.

 The native bees, like this large carpenter bee, have not been shy about utilizing it.  Maybe they think it is "bee weed."

The flame acanthus still burns.

Jatropha has bloomed profusely for several weeks now and seems just about ready to take a rest.

This brilliant-hued morning glory graces the trellis at the corner of the house.

'Mystic Spires' salvia blooms on, undaunted by the brutal weather.

Of course, peppers positively like it hot, including this ornamental next to the lemon grass in the herb garden.  It is full of tiny blossoms and fruit.

This crocosmia, a passalong from a neighbor, is also unconcerned with the heat.

I planted the 'African Blue' basil because it is such a favorite with bees, but it has so far had few visitors in this dry season.

The spider lilies bloom on.

And the 'Texas Star' hibiscus shines on.

'Belinda's Dream' has not bloomed as much as in a normal year, but now and then she sends out a few of these beauties just to keep our spirits up.

The several Hamelia patens shrubs around the backyard are in full bloom now, and a good thing, too, for their main customers, the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, are already beginning to show up on their fall migration.

'Big Momma' Turk's cap lives up to her name, filling the beds along the south side of the house.

And what is this, hiding among the leaves and sipping from one of 'Big Momma's' blossoms?  Why, it is a Gulf Fritillary butterfly, the first one I have seen in my garden for weeks!  Gulf Fritillaries are normally numerous in my garden at this time of year, but in this year of drought, they and most other butterflies have been mostly absent.

The pretty little blooms of pink lythrum peek out from a bed of summer phlox.

The variegated potato vine has been in bloom constantly since early spring.

Regular readers of the blog might possibly remember that I mentioned here that I was going to plant a few cotton seeds in one of my beds in honor of my father who was a cotton farmer.  Well, my cotton crop has done poorly.  I'll never be the farmer that my father was, but the few surviving stalks of cotton that I have are blooming now and here is one of the blooms to prove it.

I hope the weather where you are on this Bloom Day is more benevolent, and by the time we meet here again next month, I hope I'll be complaining about too much rain!

Happy Bloom Day and don't forget to visit our wonderful hostess Carol at May Dreams Gardens and see a list of all of this month's participants.