Mom gave this to me last year, and it just started blooming! She couldn't remember what color it was, so it was a surprise, lol. The blooms aren't overly showy, but I do think they're kind of exotic looking.
A tropical species native to Southern and Central America, it is not cold hardy and needs to be brought indoors in the wintertime in areas that freeze.
I bought this plant last year at the Lubbock Garden & Arts annual plant sale. It was a bit rough and unruly but has filled out and developed a more balanced form and has probably doubled in size. It IS making babies everywhere, ha ha!
Bryophyllum is a subgenus of Kalanchoe, and the species is native to Madagascar. Laetivirens may be a hybrid between K. daigremontiana and K. laxiflora.
Close-up of little plantlets that rim the serrated leaves.
My succulent plant stand on the patio. K. lativirens is on the lower shelf, back left.
The little plantets drop of and take root everywhere. I have started several new plants by putting these in pots. Any strays will die this winter as this plant will not tolerate freeze at all.
Rock rose (Cistus spp.) is a 3' to 5' tall blooming shrub. It tolerates heat, drought, and poor soils, but mine do best with some afternoon shade and supplemental water in the summertime.
My neighbor gave me some rock rose seeds 20+ years ago, and they're still reseeding themselves all these years later! So pretty!
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| Rock Rose |
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| Rock Rose bloom |
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| Rock Rose leaves |
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| Rock Rose seeds |
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| Rock Rose seeds |
Senecio douglasii (Asteraceae Sunflower family)
I transplanted this "weed" back in the spring from one spot in my yard into the rock garden. I think it's so pretty with its feathery gray foliage and bright yellow flowers. It is not as heavy a bloomer as the Spiny Goldenweed, but after heavy blooms in the spring, it does bloom sporadically throughout the summer.
More info from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension:
Threadleaf groundsel is a many-stemmed evergreen composite in the Sunflower family. The stems are herbaceous, although somewhat woody at the base, and may have variable hairiness.
The stems and leaves are gray-green. The leaves are long, threadlike and divided into three to seven segments. They may be hairy or nearly smooth. Showy yellow flowers emerge from March through November.
Threadleaf groundsel is poisonous to livestock and offers poor to fair forage value for wildlife.
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| Threadleaf Groundsel flower |
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| Threadleaf Groundsel foliage |
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| Threadleaf Groundsel flower & seed tuft |
Threadleaf groundsel is a common range plant in Colorado and Utah and south to Texas and Mexico. It is common in the grassland areas of western Texas. Disturbance and overgrazing can cause it to increase in abundance.
Xanthisma spinulosum
These are "wildflowers" in Lubbock (our wildflower selection is pretty limited!) that I dug up and relocated into my rock garden. I think they are Spiny Goldenweed.
From Blooming at Academy Village:
Spiny goldenweed is a small, rounded native perennial whose lovely yellow flowers appear in April and then again with the monsoon rains. Growing to no more than a foot, it can be used in a native garden almost as a groundcover. The petals fold in at night but soon open with morning sun.
This plant is probably not available commercially. Cherish the ones you have. Seed can be collected. Simply rake into the ground and wait for new plants to appear. Goldenweed responds well to shearing. Cutting back after the spring flush of flowers will create a compact plant and will not delay summer flowers.
Wildlife value: attracts insects and small butterflies
I dug these up in the spring when they were still fairly small. They went through about a week of mild transplant shock and since then have bloomed repeatedly throughout the summer.
The fine textrued gray-green foliage contrasts nicely with other elements of the garden. Mine is low-growing, about 6" - 8" tall, and as their name suggest, they are somewhat "prickly," though not "stickery" like a cactus. They like it hot and dry!
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| Spiny Goldenweed - Xanthisma spinulosum |
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| Spiny Goldenweed - closeup of leaves |
Yellow Cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus) is blooming and going to seed. It grows 18" - 24" tall, is heat and drought tolerant, self-seeding, and attracts butterflies.
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| Yellow Cosmos |
Seed is easy to collect and save for next year or share with a friend. If uncollected, plants will reseed themselves naturally.
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| Yellow Cosmos going to seed |
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| Yellow Cosmos on both the left and the right of this frame |
Hesperaloe parvifolia
My mom dug up a bunch of red yuccas last year to divide and gave me several. One is blooming in the rock garden, and it is quite pretty, especially in the morning when the bloom is lit up but the background is still in shade...
Red Yuccas are not "true" yuccas. Wikipedia tells me they are native to the Chihuahuan Desert. They are definitely heat and drought tolerant and produce beautiful, long-lasting bloom spikes which last for months.
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| Red Yucca close-up |
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| Red Yucca close-up |
The larkspur are blooming!
Larkspur are beautiful and easy to grow. They will grow 2' - 3' tall, and in Lubbock they really need some afternoon shade or they will fry like an egg.
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| Larkspur |
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| Larkspur with Petite Knockout rose in the foreground |
The original seed for these came from my grandmother's garden 20+ years ago. The seed is easy to collect, or leave it uncollected and it will reseed itself naturally. Larkspur sprouts in the fall and will overwinter as a small, green plant which then bolts and blooms in the spring.
You an also plant it in the spring, and it will bloom in the summer
If you wish to collect seed, when the seed pods turn brown, simply snip them off and place them upside down into a bucket or paper bag, and the little black seeds will fall out of the pods as they dry.
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| Larkspur - dried seed heads |
Larkspur dried seed heads placed in bucket to dry. Most of the seeds will fall out into the bottom of the bucket on their own. Release the remaining seeds by gently rolling dried seed heads with you fingers.
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| Larkspur seeds |
