Winged Wonders II

At the end of July, I posted  about how my garden was thriving, in spite of the heat and the drought. 

As we suffer on through August, the garden is winding down now.  There's not much blooming at all, except a few lantana in the front border.  In the back there are still some milkweed and the crape myrtles are still blooming.

But the star of the show right now has to be the Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii (A. wrightii), known as Flame Acanthus, Hummingbird Bush or the Texas Firecracker plant.  It's a Texas native plant, drought and heat tolerant so it's right at home now!

The reason I mention it now is because of the spectacle I witnessed this morning.  I'll just let the photos speak for themselves and you'll see why this post is called Winged Wonders II.

As always, you can view the full sized image by clicking on the photos below.

The Flame Acanthus is in the back border, within easy view of our patio.  As I sat outside with my morning coffee, a flash of movement drew my attention and I realized that the hummingbirds were out and about.  As I watched, three of them darted, swooped, hovered and generally played around the garden, and finally they settled in around the Flame Acanthus.

I just kept clicking - sometimes there was a hummingbird in the shot, sometimes there wasn't!

They really do love the Flame Acanthus and so do I.  It survived the onslaught of the kittens in the garden last summer, it survived the freeze this past winter and it's acting as though this summer's heat is nothing.  

I need to plant more of these!  But in the meantime, the sugar water feeders are out too, to help the hummers prepare for their migration.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Hot Color in the Garden

As I was browsing around the garden when I got home from work this evening, sweating while taking photos, this song popped into my mind...



The quintessential song of summer...

"Hot town, summer in the city,
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty..."

That about sums up summer in Houston.

The colors in the garden are hot now too.  I'm pretty pleased with how things are holding up.  I don't have great oceans of color in the garden, I have bright little jewels set in a soothing background of green.  Looking at it from inside the house, it looks quite pleasant out there until you open the door and the blast of heat hits you.

Oh well, you can browse in the comfort of your living room, office or wherever you have your computer :-)

It wasn't until I saw this photo full size on the 21 inch screen of my new computer that I realized I had a visitor...

Double click on the photo to see a larger version :-)

These zinnias are sprawling along the edging.  They seem to like it hot.

I had been worried that this Anisacanthus wrightii,  Flame Acanthus, aka Hummingbird Bush, aka Texas Firecracker, might never flower. But finally it started putting out some flowers.

As is the Hamelia patens, Firebush I showed you in my last post, seen in more close up below.

But for some reason, my resident hummingbird seems to prefer the sugar water I put out each day...

 

And finally, I think you all will like this.  Remember the swallowtail busily laying eggs on the fennel last week?

Well check this out!

And this is just on one plant!

I hope I have enough fennel!!!

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.