Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Tuesday View

tuesday view, small sunny garden, amy myers, desert garden
The main change to notice in this week's official Tuesday View is the ever-lengthening stems on Muhlenbergia capillaris "Regal Mist", the autumn-blooming grass which dominates the upper part of the South Border.

However, last Friday there was a very special burst of bloom in the border.  I knew it would be quite brief so I took some pictures to save for today.
tuesday view, small sunny garden, amy myers, desert garden, photography, leucophyllum frutescens, texas ranger, shrub
Leucophyllum frutescens anchors the very top of the border at the back, forming the end of the still-small rosemary hedge.  The Leucophyllm (variety uncertain, possibly "Green Cloud") is a handsome enough shrub out of bloom, but magnificent when flowering.  Unfortunately I did not manage to get a good shot of the whole bush.   Another time, I hope!

It blooms through the year in response to rainfall or increased humidity (it was the latter in this case). We haven't had much of either this year so it was a treat to see it suddenly burst into flower.  Any particular flowering is very brief, lasting perhaps three days between the opening of the blooms and a purple carpet under a green shrub.

 Commonly known as Texas Ranger, it is a native of the higher altitude Chihuahuan Desert region, but it is also an ironclad for low desert growing, surviving here on minimal supplemental watering and taking the heat and sun in stride.  And periodically putting out its masses of blue to lavender flowers.
tuesday view, small sunny garden, amy myers, desert garden, photography, leucophyllum frutescens, texas ranger, shrub

tuesday view, small sunny garden, amy myers, desert garden, photography, leucophyllum frutescens, texas ranger, shrub
They have speckled throats and a little rough fur.  I didn't get any bee shots this time, but bees do adore them!
tuesday view, small sunny garden, amy myers, desert garden, photography, leucophyllum frutescens, texas ranger, shrub
Elsewhere in the South Border, the miniscule Melocactus azureus continues to do well under the miniature rose.
tuesday view, small sunny garden, amy myers, desert garden, photography, melocactus azureus
And my young Lagerstroemia indica "Rhapsody in Pink", which appeared to have ceased flowering for the summer, has put out another spate of bloom.
tuesday view, small sunny garden, amy myers, desert garden,
We are still in slow transition between summer and autumn, with high temperatures moderating down to the upper nineties (37 C) and lows sometimes dropping below 70 F (21 C).  I have begun planting out the cacti and agaves I've been holding in pots in shade over summer.  So far, so good.  Trichocereus grandiflorus and Echinocactus grusonii (the golden barrel cactus) are in the ground.  Also a well-priced, handsome agave apologetically labelled something like "garden agave", or was it "landscape agave"; it seemed to indicate it should be winter-hardy at any rate, and it is almost certainly A. parryi in any case.  All these are summer-growers so should settle in well now that the sunlight and temperatures are moderating.

Meantime, a new planting project arrived last night.
tuesday view, small sunny garden, amy myers, desert garden, photography, iris order, schreiners
The first of two iris orders, this one of tall bearded irises from Schreiners'.  The rhizomes look terrific -- huge, chunky divisions -- and will hopefully go in the ground today.  Unless it starts raining first!  Newton may beat me to the garden!

Thanks to Cathy of Words and Herbs for hosting this weekly look at a single spot in the garden!
tuesday view, small sunny garden, amy myers, desert garden, photography, leucophyllum frutescens, texas ranger, shrub
Weather Diary: Cloudy and expecting rain; High yesterday: 98 F (37 C)/Low: 75 F (24 C); Humidity: 15% - 100% (that is definitely a desert range on the humidity!)  Note: Newton has arrived just as I finish this - so great to see a real downpour!

12 comments:

  1. This is such a lovely post! I can feel your excitement at the rain as well as at the flowering of that pretty shrub! Also good to see the Lagerstroemia producing more flowers. Enjoy your rainfall Amy!

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    1. The Lagerstroemia has been such a beautiful answer to the question of bloom in high temperatures; I really look forward to seeing it get larger ;-) Thanks so much, Cathy!

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  2. Lovely, Amy! How exciting that you have all those new iris to plant - they look fat and vigorous!

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    1. They are and I am thrilled ;-) I wasn't able to keep my irises from my earlier garden so it's quite special to be starting again!

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  3. I didn't know Leucophyllum's blooms could be prompted by humidity but that explains the blooms I just saw on my L. laevigatum. Mine, in the ground going on 4 years now, is still a puny 1 foot tall (vs the 4-5 feet it was advertised to grow). Yours looks much more impressive!

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    1. Both Leucophyllum and Ruellia seem to bloom sometimes on the strength of humidity alone - which is great considering we've definitely had more humidity than rain. I'm not sure why your L. laevigatum is staying small; maybe a foray into the frutescens varieties is in order? ;-)

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  4. Hi Amy, the Leucophyllum looks so pretty. Lagerstroemia is usually very good in drought and heat but this year it's suffering big time around here and no flowers up to now. Must be some kind of summer dormancy, maybe we'll get some in the autumn. I've planted Muhlenbergia in different places with mixed results as I love it so much but you defintely need patience as it's so late to put on a show. Instead of rain we had a forest fire not far from here last night, the wind came from the "wrong" direction so it was very scary. Here's hoping, dancing for rain, the frog lady :)
    PS: Just a thought: I think the reason why you don't seem to have many comments is the difficulty one faces when trying to comment. I'm trying for the 4th time now...

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    1. Yes, I'm getting impatient to see bloom from the Muhlenbergia ;-) Just waiting since I don't think it will happen for several more weeks... I am so looking forward to autumn for the garden; it is a season of 'new beginnings' here ;-) Hope your rain dance works and you get some rain soon; having fire close by is quite frightening!
      And I'm so sorry about the commenting issue! I know it happens but I never know when until someone finally gets through and tells me :( It always happens to WordPress bloggers, so I think it is some kind of mismatch (war?) between the two platforms. Very distressing, and it goes both ways as I sometimes spend weeks unable to get my comments through on WP blogs. Grrr...!!! Honestly, I am not quite sure what to do as I have roughly the same number of followers from each platfom... I'm definitely open to some good ideas ;-)

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  5. the colour of Leucophyllum is just beautiful, Amy - a new plant to me and one to make a note of.

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    1. I adore that colour every time the shrub blooms :) The Leucophyllums were new to me when I moved here, but they are widely used in the area as they really are indispensable for the hot, dry climates, even taking hedge-shearing fairly well, or so I understand.

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