Gardening

New Blooms and Veggies

I know many of the Austin garden bloggers are bemoaning the heat and drought we are experiencing, and the toll it is taking on our gardens, so I hate to be touting my successes in the midst of so many folks’ struggles, but perhaps I can provide some positive input to the current situation. I have to admit that I am applying a lot of water, via drip irrigation and hand watering only, to keep my plants going, but many of my plants are newly planted this year and require at least a year to get well established before I cut back on their water.

I bought this The President Clematis from the Natural Gardener in the spring of this year, and it was green and covered with large purple blooms. I planted it in an eastern exposure where it gets full morning sun, and the top part of the plant gets midday and afternoon sun as well. There are garden sage plants at the foot of the plant to help shade the roots also. Several weeks after I planted it, the weather turned very hot and dry and all of the blooms fell off and the foliage started to turn a bit brown. No new growth was evident at all, until last week. There are now several new branches putting out leaves and setting flower buds. I am so pleased. I put this plant at the front entrance to the house hoping that it would be worthy of being showcased.

I planted this pink rain lily, Zephyranthes labufarosea, last spring, and this is the first bloom that it has produced. Funny, the rain occurred two days ago, but it didn’t bloom until today.

Both my Katie ruellias and my ruellia humilis are blooming like crazy. Their purple blooms have a cooling effect on me.

The Fairy roses continue to set many beautiful creamy pink blooms.

I seeded some sweet basil and dill a few weeks ago. The basil is really doing well as you can tell from the photo. The dill is starting more slowly, but will take off when the weather cools down some.

I decided to try growing some melons and pumpkins as late summer, early fall, crops. So far they are doing better than any that I have planted in the spring of the year in past years. The small sugar pumpkin is setting tiny little fruits, and the ambrosia melons are blooming profusely. I am letting the plants grow on the ground outside of the beds, so I spread a healthy layer of hay for them to grow on to keep them dry and ventilated.

The chadwick cherry tomatoes are producing steadily, and make a great pop-in-your-mouth snack when working in the garden.

Blessings.
Carol

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