This week in the garden - #35

Brugmansia aurea, member of the family Solanaceae, or as we prefer to call them, "Angel Trumpets." The angel trumpets are at their best in my garden at this time of year and they've reached their peak this week. This old, established plant that's been in the garden for about ten years, has blossoms on every limb and twig. In the late afternoon, the entire corner of the garden where it stands is filled with the scent of the sweet perfume of those blossoms.

I added four new brugs to the garden this year. Two of them have bloomed and a third one now has buds and will be in bloom soon, but all are enjoying the somewhat cooler days and nights of autumn and are putting on a late spurt of growth. They will all, like the old plant, die back to the roots this winter, but next spring they should be back stronger than ever, and by this time next year, I hope to have wonderful angel trumpets "blowing" all over my garden.

This week, fall cleanup of the garden continued. At mid-week, I walked through the garden one afternoon and realized, to my surprise, that actually things look pretty good. Not that there isn't still a lot of work that needs to be done. When was there ever not a lot of work to be done in the garden? But progress has been made and as we meander into late autumn and the leaves begin to carpet the ground, I'm not too displeased with where I am at this stage of my gardening year. In less than two weeks, I'll be leaving on my fall vacation and, as things now stand, I may actually be able to leave in good conscience!

The five goldfishes in my little pond enjoy lazing in the late afternoon sun, as do I. How pleasant it is to sit and watch and listen as the day winds down. I hope you've had time to sit and enjoy your garden this week. It is something that I'm afraid we gardeners too often forget to do.

Strawberry bush

My strawberry bush, Euonymous americana, showing some of the "fruits" which give the plant its most common name.

This is the third year that I've had the strawberry bush in my garden. This native perennial shrub can get up to six feet tall, but mine isn't nearly that size yet. Four feet maybe. Last spring the plant was covered in rather insignificant yellowish-green blossoms and now it is full of the much more significant and noticeable red, warty fruits that do, in fact, look quite a bit like strawberries. When the pods mature, around this time of year, they burst open revealing the red seeds inside and also revealing how the plant got another of its common names, "bursting heart" or "hearts-a-burstin'-love."  

The pod on the right has matured and burst open to show the shiny red seeds. The one on the left still has a ways to go.

In the wild, the seeds of this shrub are allegedly consumed by wildlife such as Wild Turkeys and various songbirds and deer like it so well that they will keep it grazed to the ground, which can eventually extirpate the plant from an area where there are lots of deer. I have not noticed any of the wildlife in my yard making use of the plant, but perhaps that will change this winter.

In homeopathic and traditional medicine, the plant has uses as a laxative and as treatment for various problems of the intestines and abdominal area.  But probably its greatest use today is as an ornamental shrub, and it can be quite ornamental especially in the late fall and winter garden, with its bright green stems and red seed pods.

It seems very tolerant and forgiving regarding soil and growing conditions. It gets very minimal care in my garden. I pretty much just plopped it into the bed three years ago and it has been on its own since. I did provide some supplemental water during our almost two year drought, but with the increased rain this year, it hasn't been watered and it has thrived. It's been a fun plant to have around and to get to know.

If you are looking for an unusual native plant to add to your garden, take a look at the strawberry bush. It might be just what your garden needs.

Wordless Wednesday: Satsumas of autumn

Autumn roses

A walk around my garden today found several of my roses in bloom. Several more had heavy buds and will be in bloom soon.

Autumn is actually a prime time for roses here. The first flush of blooms in the spring is the heaviest, of course, and most of my roses do bloom more or less continually through the summer. But as the heat and humidity intensify, the blooms get sparser and smaller. Then the humidity and the temperatures begin to drop a bit. Rain becomes more frequent and dependable. Autumn arrives and, with it, most of the roses hurry to get in that last bright volley of blossoms for this year.

I have several 'Caldwell Pink' rose bushes scattered around the yard, but all of them are offspring of this plant, my original  'Caldwell Pink' that was a Valentine's Day gift from my husband many years ago. All of the bushes bloom faithfully from April to December, but some of their best blooms come at this time of the year.

Knockout shrub roses are not the prettiest of the roses but they do have the virtue of blooming just about twelve months of the year in our climate, providing us with some bright color even in the grayest and brownest of months. I have several different colors of Knockouts but I find that the 'Radazz' cherry red is the best of the lot.

'Belinda's Dream' is not an antique rose, but it has all the best characteristics of those tough old roses. It is a waterwise plant that needs very little care once it is established, and it rewards the gardener throughout much of the year with these big, puffy pink blossoms.

Then, of course, there is the David Austin rose 'Graham Thomas' which is just about at its best - at least in my garden - at this time of year.

Autumn is my favorite season of the year for many reasons, mostly having to do with the pleasant weather and the reduced growth rate of the weeds in my garden. But high on my list of reasons for autumn being my favorite has to be the roses of this season. They are the gardener's reward from Mother Nature for perseverance,  the one that says, "See? I told you you could make it through summer!"

This week in the garden - #34

It's autumn and the squirrels are getting frisky. They've plenty to get frisky about. We've had the biggest acorn crop I've ever seen from the live oaks in our front yard. The yard and our driveway are literally blanketed in the small acorns. Everywhere we walk, we hear that crunch. When we back out of the driveway, we make acorn butter all over the pavement.

There are still plenty of hummers, like this juvenile male Ruby-throat, around, and they are plenty frisky, too. The chase is on constantly throughout the day. We're supposed to get another cool front through this weekend. Will that push some of these birds on their way? We'll see.

These little skipper butterflies can be frisky and surprisingly aggressive. I noticed this one because I saw it chasing a hummingbird! This is a Long-tailed Skipper, although its long tail is hidden in the fold of the leaf.

I tell you who hasn't felt very frisky in my garden this week - me! Early in the week I injured my right hand while I was whacking back the wild hedge at the back of the yard and, for the rest of the week, it has been swollen and painful. I am so completely right-handed that it is really hard for me to get very much done when my dominant hand is out of commission. Still, if nothing else, I have managed to get outside and enjoy the weather, which has been absolutely glorious.

I added this firespike (Odontonema strictum) to the garden three years ago, but it has never before bloomed for me. This autumn, finally, it is full of these red spikes, just beginning to open. Another feast for the hummingbirds.

Yes, the Stapelia gigantea, aka corpse flower, is still putting out smelly blossoms and still drawing flies.

The cooler weather has also encouraged the purple oxalis to give us more of its dainty pink blossoms. I'm really fond of this oxalis. It is invasive, but not quite as perniciously so as the green variety. I grow a lot of it in pots which limits the problem.

The weatherman is promising us high temperatures in the 70s at least for Sunday and Monday and continuing pleasant weather after that. Oh, glorious October, you may be the most perfect month of the year here in Southeast Texas.

Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens by Lauren Springer Ogden and Scott Ogden: A review

All over the country, gardeners are facing the realities of restricted water availability. Water-use restrictions are now commonplace, not only in dry climate areas like the Southwest, but in the Northeast, the South and the West and Mid-West. It really is a nation-wide phenomenon, one that is likely to get worse as global warming continues unabated. Even in areas that do not yet have water restrictions, low-water plants are an important ingredient in planning a sustainable garden. What's a poor gardener to do?

Gardeners, after all, want their gardens to be beautiful and interesting and the common impression of a low-water garden is that it is a boring space with a limited plant selection. Lauren Springer Ogden and Scott Ogden have written a book that proves to us that this does not have to be the case. Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens: 200 Drought-Tolerant Choices for All Climates is a wonderfully practical and usable guide to what the authors consider to be the 200 best plants for low-water gardens. These are tough plants that are guaranteed to thrive under such dry conditions.

Each individual plant entry includes the common and botanical name for the plant, as well as information about the regions for which the plant is best adapted, growth and care information, notes on pests and diseases, and, of course, a picture of the plant. Moreover, the guide includes a wide variety of plants, from trees to succulents, perennials to bulbs, all selected for their wide adaptability and ornamental value. 

The Ogdens cover both humid and arid parts of zones 4 to 10 and offer choices for gardens from coast to coast. The guide also has information about companion plants and includes creative design ideas. It really is one of the most user-friendly guides that I have found. It is readily accessible to the novice gardener as well as the more experienced ones.

The writers are garden designers and horticulturists who have a wide range of experience in various climates, plants, and planting styles both in the United States and Europe. We are lucky that they have chosen to share that experience with us. I can recommend their book wholeheartedly for those gardeners who, like myself,  are genuinely interested in creating a sustainable garden.

(A copy of this book was provided to me at no cost by the publisher for the purposes of this review.)

Wordless Wednesday: The cardinal