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

Friday, August 24, 2012

This week in the garden - #28

This week has brought the first inkling that autumn may be just around the corner. First, we had some much-needed rain. Afterward, the humidity has been noticeably less and the early morning air has had a certain freshness that wasn't present before. Moreover, the maximum/minimum thermometer on the back porch has shown a couple of nights where the temperature actually dipped down to 69 degrees, the first time it has gone under 70 since spring. Around the yard, the trees have begun to tentatively shed their leaves. Yes, I think that autumn may really be on its way and it can't come a moment too soon for me and my garden.

The garden has been receiving a lot of brightly colored Monarch butterflies this week as their fall migration is under way and they head toward the mountains of Mexico.

Even though the passion vines have been repeatedly munched back to the stems by the caterpillars of the Gulf Fritillary butterflies, they continue to regenerate and now they are blooming again.

Throughout the garden, vines are a big part of late summer and fall. The tiny tubular red blossoms of the cypress vine are a great favorite of hummingbirds and butterflies at this time of year.

  This sunny yellow hibiscus brightens my spirits every time I see it.

A giant among the flames. The flame acanthus continues to send forth its orange tubular blossoms and the Giant Swallowtail butterfly is very glad it does.

Giant Swallowtails are, in fact, quite numerous in the garden this summer.

Happy little gerbera daisies and potato vine fill a pot by the back porch.

As we head into autumn, I'm looking around the garden to see where I need to be concentrating my energies this fall and winter. Already I've identified two large shrubs that I need to move. As I've whined about here many times in the past, it seems that my life as a gardener has been marked by bad initial decisions in placing my plants. I almost always get it wrong the first time.

This time it is the almond verbena and the  'Montrose Purple' vitex that are much too big for the spaces they occupy. So I need to relocate them to areas where they have more room to expand. It's the same old story that I reenact year after year. I seem to never learn from my mistakes, but I live in hope that eventually I will.

I hope you've learned from all your mistakes and that everything in your garden is perfect this week!  

10 comments:

  1. Lovely images of all your butterflies! I am on the look out for the first monarch. They should be arriving soon. I've never seen a Giant Swallowtail in my garden. I bet they are impressive! You have reminded me that I have some cypress vine seeds that I need to plant. So much on my fall to do list!

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    1. Once you get that cypress vine started, you'll have it forever, Karin. I got my seeds from my mom many years ago and they have reseeded themselves every year since. Whenever I see them, I remember her.

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  2. Your sunny yellow hibiscus looks great! I'm sorry to hear about the darn caterpillars sneaking up and munching on your hard earned flora and fauna. Errybody's gotta eat though! Just keep it out of my garden, I always say.

    -Adam Ahmed

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    1. The munching is perfectly okay with me, Adam. That's actually why I planted them - to feed the caterpillars.

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  3. I love that passionflower! What a gorgeous bloom. I was recently given some cypress vine seeds by another garden blogger, but I wondered if I should wait until spring to plant them - do you know when would be the best time?

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    1. Best to wait until spring. Cypress vine is a tender annual but it readily reseeds itself so it comes back year after year. This year's plants are gone with the first frost.

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  4. I just spent a sweaty Saturday planting the fall vegetables. It wouldn't have been so much work if I hadn't been avoiding the outdoors for the past two months due to heat and humidity. Have fun moving those shrubs!

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    1. I know exactly what you mean, hollasboy. My garden is just a mess right now because I've been neglecting it over the past several weeks. I'll pay the price of my neglect in the coming weeks. Like you, I need to get those fall veggies in the ground. Maybe tomorrow...

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  5. The giant swallowtails are breathtaking.

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    1. They truly are magnificent butterflies and are easily my favorites to photograph.

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