Our area is on voluntary water restrictions so I've moderated the sprinkler schedule and it seems to be working. Basically I run the sprinklers in the middle of the night twice a week, and I run them for an abbreviated amount of time, and then repeat. So it's not using any more water than before, but more of the water is soaking in and not running down the street to the storm drain and it's not evaporating as soon as it hits the ground.
I love it and the garden seems to like it as well. As usual, the photos will enlarge when you tap them.
In the repurposed grill-turned-planter, the vinca that I planted has put out a zillion seedlings. Not sure what I'll do with them, but I should be able to get at least a couple of plants going from this lot.
I forget what this is, and apparently didn't make a note in my garden journal (tsk. tsk) It was looking pretty ragged a few days ago, but I trimmed off the dead bits, gave it a drink and it rewarded me with some new flowers.
I suppose I'm going to have to trim the "Scentless Star Jasmine" as we call it. It's growing so rampantly there's almost as much on the other side of the fence as there is on ours. Or perhaps future neighbors won't mind a vine taking over the fence?
Amazingly, in spite of being subject to benign neglect and drying out completely more than once, this petunia is still putting out blooms. I've been deadheading and trying to keep it evenly moist this week and it seems to be thanking me. As I was putting birdseed out early this morning, there was a hummingbird moth nectaring on it which was neat, but I didn't get photos.
Underneath it, I almost missed this bloom on the Tropi-Canna. It looks like there are some more blooms on the way too.
Underneath the Southern Wax Myrtle, this Dutchman's Pipe Vine languished for a long time. Now suddenly it's growing and even flowering (see pic below).
In front of the lattice hiding the phone and cable utility boxes, the bulbine is blooming. I nearly lost this early in the year, so I'm thrilled to see the little blooms on it.
That's all I got photos of today in the back garden. This doesn't include the Rose of Sharon, the Vitex and the Texas Star Hibiscus, which are all still blooming, but I thought it was time to show you the front.
Beside the driveway, this little bed bids you Welcome, and offers a view of the new house being built on the lot.
More rampant plants - this time sweet potato vines. Does anything kill this plant?
And when I looked closer, I spotted this daylily getting ready to rebloom (it even looks like I missed one bloom today)
Elsewhere in the front, lots of Lantana "New Gold" (as well as "White Gold" not shown) Can't kill this stuff either - I love it!
Underneath the seedling Live Oak, a Guallardia "Fanfare" has been blooming for months. I'm resisting the temptation to deadhead it and letting it reseed if it wants to.
Speaking of reseeding - last year's tropical milkweed reseeded everywhere. They seem to be doing well this year and you know what I noticed?
NO UGLY ORANGE APHIDS THIS YEAR! Last year they were COVERED with those nasty things. This year, not a one (YET)
And finally, one more reblooming daylily about to bloom. Please just ignore the raggedy-looking verbena. It needs trimming back, but I've been on the injured list this week and haven't done any weeding at all --- that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
