Fifteen days into the month,
May Dream Gardens sponsors Garden Blogger's Bloom Day where we can record the plants that are producing flowers in our gardens. As the temperatures have cooled, my blooms have revived.
Established Plants
The Soap Aloe (
Aloe maculata) plants that missed last GBBD are in full form for this one.
Fall has seen the West Texas Mist Flower (
Conoclinium greggii) explode into a mass of blooms - its the first time any of my plants has produced a swath of non-foliar color.
This past spring, I moved my Mountain Sage (
Salvia regla) closer to a path so that one could better enjoy its large, brilliant red blooms.
Mexican Petunias (
Ruellia tweediana 'Colobe Pink') seem to never quit producing light pink color.
And the Rock Rose (
Pavonia lasiopetala) is another that seems to bloom from spring to freeze.
Adorned with triple petals, the Aztec Arrowhead (
Sagittaria montevidensis) bloom stalk keeps the show going.
New Plants in the Garden
Though the blooms are quite sparse and hardly noticeable in its first year, the appearance of them on the Dwarf Barbados Cherry (
Malphigia glabra) at least hints at future possibilities.
Sweet Violet (
Viola odorata 'Royal Robe') is actually putting out a bloom or two - if you're willing to stoop down low to spot them.
The Ground Orchid (
Spathoglottis plicata) blooms that initially appeared in last month's GBBD are still going strong. Will be interesting to see if it survives the winter in ground (though I have one potted to ensure its continued presence).
My
Salvia van houttei tends to have a significant magenta flavor to its blooms, though I have seen it on other garden blogs with a much more reddish tinge.
Potted Plants
The blooms of the Ox Tongue (
Gasteria liliputana) are close to an end; as the age, they tend to lengthen and take on this pendulous form.
This year, the garden bloom for which I have the greatest excitement are those of the Toad Lily (
Tricyrtis lasiocarpa). I have a couple of the plants in the ground and, for the first time, one large one in a pot. Though they all have more flower buds than ever before, the potted plant is absolutely exploding with them. On it, though only a few have opened, there are well over a hundred buds ready to unfurl.
Tardies
A new plant this year, the Forsythia Sage (
Salvia madrensis) will not quite make this month's GBBD. The yellow flowers buds are almost there, but I'm still waiting for its first blossom.
Flower Wannabes
The berries of the American Beautyberry (
Callicarpa americana) have, over time, darkened from their original bright purple, but the deeper wine-color is still quite appealing.
And some the Chile Petin's (
Capsicum annuum var. aviculare) green berries have begun to transition to red.
