Summer Blooms!

 

Red Zinnia

This is the volunteer lantana that came up shortly after B died...

'Confetti' Lantana

'Confetti' Lantana close-up

Red Yucca

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.

Red Yucca close-up

Red Yucca close-up

Various Things in the Front Yard

I planted this 'Desperado' Texas sage and 'Moonshine' yarrow in 2019. This is a spot that catches a LOT of water when it rains but also gets extremely dry and hot (reflected heat off the brick and sidewalk) in the summer. These have both done well here!

The front porch cats have been hard on the sage and have broken off a number of its limbs, but I was still surprised to discover how much it has grown when I looked back at pictures of the original planting.

Original planting in 2019...

And today...

'Desperado' Texas sage and
'Moonshine' yarrow

'Moonshine' yarrow

Front porch kitty makes an appearance!

Texas sage gets LOADED with purple blooms before it rains. It's considered a bit of a "weather barometer" for this reason!

'Desperado' Texas sage with front porch kitty

 

I started out with 3 'Moonshine' yarrow. After two years of growing in this spot, I dug them up this spring and divided them out and got 7 more plants! Two I planted here in the front yard (the front porch cats like to lie between the yarrow and the sage like it's a little cubbyhole for them) and the rest I moved into the rock garden in the back yard. They were really easy to divide up, and the interwebz tells me that yarrow benefit from being divided every 2-4 years.

'Moonshine' yarrow in the rock garden
with Mexican feather grass, spineless
prickly pear, and hardy ice plant

This 'Emerald Gaity' euonymous has been planted here for 20 years. It's tough and beautiful! Tolerates heat, cold, wet, dry, etc. Stays compact and tight, requiring little to no maintenance and terrific in a spot where you need something that stays compact, such as in front of this low window.

'Emerald Gaity' euonymous

'Emerald Gaity' euonymous foliage close-up

Autumn sage is a popular Texas xeriscape plant. This variety is 'Lipstick' and has been in this spot for probably around 10 years. It tolerates blazing summertime heat (it's positioned between a sidewalk and a west-facing brick wall), drought, and occasional wet spells. It requires very little maintenance but will really benefit from a periodic light pruning back to help shape it and encourage new growth.

'Lipstick' Autumn Sage

Larkspur

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.

Larkspur

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.

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.

Larkspur seeds

Indian Blanket Flower

I was delighted (and surprised!) that these Indian Blanket Flowers came back this year - especially after winter storm Uri! I lost a couple of them but was able to dig up a strong, healthy plant and divide it up to fill in the gaps.

I thought I might be able to use a spade to just cut one in half while it was still in the ground, but that didn't work at all. You really need to dig up the whole plant and then gently separate out the roots into separate plants for this to work.

These line the sidewalk going up to my front door. Parts of it do get some full, blazing sun in the morning hours, but my cedar elm tree has grown so big that this is really turning into a mostly shady spot.

Rock Garden

The whole idea behind putting a renewed focus on the rock garden area was to have something pretty to look at from the house. It's working! I swear, every time I look out there it just makes me happy!

The green grass on the right was seeded in about 10 days prior to the area on the left. 

The sunflowers seem to grow noticeably every day!

Mexican Feather Grass, Hardy Ice Plant,
'Moonshine' Yarrow, spineless prickly pear

Red Yucca in the foreground, rosemary and
Mexican petunia (Ruellia) in the background

This is some kind of yellow blooming weed I dug up from another spot in my yard and transplanted into the rock garden! It suffered some transplant shock but is about to bloom again.

 

I broke up a sedum tile to plant around the path through the rock garden. I'm just crazy about it! Hopefully it will fill in all around and between these rocks.

Whenever a piece breaks off because the dogs walk on it or something, I stick it into the in-between spots...

Catnip

I bought catnip seed probably 10 years ago, and it has been reseeding itself in the garden even since. It's really happy this year in this part shade location and with all the rain we've been receiving.

I pinched a little off the top and took it out to the front porch kitties to see what they thought, and the loved it and rolled all around on it. So adorable! (These are some of the semi-feral cats I TNR'ed a few years ago who have taken up residence in the front yard.)