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.