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

Friday, October 19, 2012

This week in the garden - #36

Fall - and the muscadines are turning purple on their vines.

October is a month full of blooms in my garden. There was no way I could include all of them in my Bloom Day post earlier this week, so I thought I'd show you a few more today.

My fall asters were trampled into the ground by workmen repairing our fence in the late summer. I never expected them to recover enough to have any blooms this fall, but, surprisingly, they have managed to produce a few, proving once again that you can't keep a good plant down.

And speaking of plants that you can't keep down, orange bulbine may be the most indomitable plant in my garden. Here, it blooms in front of the shrimp plant.

My favorite clematis, 'Rouge Cardinal,' is blooming again by the back porch.

  Nearby, the tiny blossoms of Tradescantia 'Purple Heart' are ubiquitous.

The goldenrod by the back fence is finally in full bloom.

Antique rose 'Old Blush' enjoys autumn.

I'm still getting migrating Monarch butterflies in the garden. This one rests on a leaf in the afternoon sun.

I do love my gerberas. Happy little flowers!

Evolulus glomeratus 'Blue Daze' blooms in a front yard bed.

The purple trailing lantana is a magnet to butterflies like this White-striped Long-tailed Skipper.

Nearby, a Julia's Skipper also enjoys the lantana.

While two other varieties of skippers jostle over the blue plumbago.

Rosa 'Ducher' is in bloom again.

As is 'Belinda's Dream.'

And the canna 'Lucifer' brings light to a dark spot in the garden.

This is my first year to have 'Molineux' in my garden and I do love these luscious blossoms.

A Common Buckeye feeds on the mystery plant I showed you yesterday. I believe the plant is something in the "broom" family but I haven't entirely nailed it down yet.

Cape honeysuckle has bloomed gloriously this fall.

Over it all, a female Rufous Hummingbird keeps watch, ready to evict any trespassers.

Today, I bought a collection of plants for the veggie garden, things like red cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, and collards. With any luck, I hope to get them all in the ground tomorrow. Time to finish getting that fall garden planted!

I hope your gardening is going well this week. Happy weekend!

3 comments:

  1. So much life and color still in your garden. I love that hummingbird picture, we never catch them when they are at rest. They're gone from here now, of course.

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    1. I had two Rufous Hummingbirds that stayed through the winter last year. I believe the bird in the picture is one of them and I'm hoping she'll spend the winter once again.

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  2. Your Julia's Skipper is actually an Ocola Skipper.

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