Welcome!

Welcome to my zone 9a habitat garden near Houston, Texas.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - July 2012

I was on the road when Bloom Day rolled around last month and didn't get to participate in my favorite monthly meme, so I wanted to be sure that I got my post done early for July.

It's been an interesting week here - very, very wet, with more than ten inches of rain falling in a three-day period. Along with the rain came a bit of windy, stormy weather. The result of all that is that a lot of the blooms in my garden look rather beat up just now. Nevertheless, let's take a look at them, shall we?

Maybe the worst of the lot is this 'Rouge Cardinal' clematis which took quite a battering.

July means it is time for the coneflowers to bloom.

Both the white...

And the purple.

July is also sunflower time. I bought a packet of mixed seeds earlier this year and planted them in the garden and now they are giving me a variety of blooms.

This one blooms on a shorter stalk than many of the others.

This one is a slightly different color.

The bumblebees like this one! So do I.

Here's a pretty yellow one that certainly looks sunny.

This one is almost pink.

Is there any happier-looking flower than the sunflower?

The Brugmansias (Angel's trumpets) are in full bloom now. They appreciated all the rain received this week.

And so did the Esperanzas (Yellow bells).

This old heirloom buddleia has been in bloom since early spring. Its blossoms are not as full and colorful as the newer varieties but the butterflies love it just the same.

Texas sage's blooms are triggered by the rain. It has been blooming a lot this summer.

The evergreen wisteria has been in bloom for much of the summer.

The nectar in its blossoms is highly prized by butterflies like this little skipper that uses its long proboscis to extract the sweet stuff.

The blossoms of the almond verbena are sweetly scented and they perfume the air in their corner of the garden.

The Hamelia patens' red-orange blossoms are frequently visited by hummingbirds and butterflies.

The oddly-shaped blooms of the shrimp plant are also great favorites of hummingbirds.


The crocosmia has been blooming for several weeks now.


Summer phlox also brightens the garden for weeks.


'Montrose Purple' vitex is now on its second flush of bloom.


Caesalpinia pulcherrima. the 'Pride of Barbados' plant, also has a long bloom period.


But the star of the garden on this Bloom Day is the Duranta erecta, "golden dewdrop," and not just because of its blooms. When I went to take its picture for this post, I found the shrub alive with butterflies!


There were several different varieties of butterflies sipping from the flowers, including Gulf Fritillaries and various skippers, but the majority of the visitors were members of the swallowtail clan. The two on the left here are Giant Swallowtails, the one on the right is a Tiger Swallowtail.


Most of the butterflies, like this Giant Swallowtail, had damage to their wings which could have been from predators but I suspect a lot of it came from the heavy weather we had this week.


Even somewhat tattered, this Tiger Swallowtail is still beautiful.


I hope this July Bloom Day finds you and your garden flourishing. Thanks once again to our hostess Carol of May Dreams Gardens for continuing to bring us Bloom Day each month.

18 comments:

  1. Wow, beautiful, and the last two photos especially. Some of your flowers are familiar, some not. I enjoyed your bloom day post very much--thank you for sharing your garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And thank you for stopping by. I will hope to visit your garden soon.

      Delete
  2. We have almost the same climate, though we don't have your 4 seasons, but i recognize most of your plants. The color of that shrimp plant is so lovely. And yes, wherever Duranta erecta is, it is favored by insects and butterflies. I also have a big plant near our living room.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can only assume the Duranta has a heavy load of nectar because the butterflies and bees flock to it, Kalantikan.

      Delete
  3. Beautiful. I've wanted a clematis that blooms into the summer, and that one is a beauty! What phlox is that? Only the old fashioned magenta and "John Fannick" bloom consistently and stay alive for me here in Louisiana. I don't know if that is just the photo, but yours appears to have white edges.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That particular plant does have lighter edges on its blooms, Debbie, and, I'm sorry, I'm not entirely sure of its name.

      Delete
  4. Wow! That duranta covered in butterflies is amazing. And I didn't realize there was a wisteria that bloomed in the summer, but the colors on it are beautiful. Wonderful selection of blooms!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The evergreen wisteria with its wine-colored blossoms is not as invasive as the better know purple bloomer, Amy. I've found it to be pretty well-behaved.

      Delete
  5. I'd always shied away from the evergreen wisteria because of its invasive character...very nice to hear the wine-colored variety is not as invasive. Have you had yours long? The butterflies must just have your heart filled to the brim! Glad you've gotten some rain too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The evergreen wisteria has been in place for three years, Cat, and so far, so good. Butterflies are one of the main reasons I'm a gardener!

      Delete
  6. WOW--what great captures of the Monarchs! I definitely think I need to add this plant to my wish list. Your blooms are just lovely! The variety of sunflowers are gorgeous--I completely forgot to plant sunflowers this year, even though I bought so many different varieties of seeds. Ah well, I got to enjoy seeing them in your garden! Happy GBBD!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the Monarchs do love the Duranta, too, as well as the various swallowtails shown here, Julie, and we've had good numbers of Monarchs this year, unlike drought-ridden 2011 when they were almost completely absent. And for me, summer just wouldn't be summer without the sunflowers!

      Delete
  7. The Duranta is amazing. Sadly, butterflies have been scarce in my area - I suspect because of drought. Skippers are the main exception. Monarchs, Swallowtails, and Red Admirals make occasional appearances.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think of last year as "The Year Without Butterflies," Jason, because they were so scarce here due to drought, but with more rain this year, the butterflies have returned. So there is hope for your garden to host more butterflies in the future once again.

      Delete
  8. Nice pictures. With all this raid we've been having it's probably tough to get outside and look at things. After the last summer we had. I won't complain though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No complaints here either, ossnap, even if my garden is a bit of a mess at the moment. Better to be a mess with plenty of rain than suffer through another drought summer.

      Delete
  9. Lovely photos...I'm in awe of your sunflowers! We've been lucky this summer in that there have been way more butterflies than I ever remember seeing in the past :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's been a very good year for the winged ones here, too, Scott, and for that I am very grateful.

      Delete