June 15th, 2010
GBBD 201006: June 2010
Wild sunflower.
Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.
June 15, 2010
Austin is in the glory of first summer now and its colors are like the chorus of that Pete Seeger ditty, Henry My Son, green and yeller. May, typically one of Austin’s wettest months, was unusually dry in 2010. However, June has made up for it with big storms bringing 2 inches of rain (June 2) and 4 inches of rain (June 9) to Zanthan Gardens. As a result, lot of fading spring flowers, like bluebonnets, larkspur, false dayflowers, nigella, and Confederate jasmine put out a few more flowers. And several of the roses are producing a second flush: ‘Blush Noisette’, ‘New Dawn’, and ‘Ducher’. ‘Red Cascade’ continues to have a few flowers from its first flush.
Fading bluebonnet. Two new flowers opened today but all the flowers are very pale in the heat.
New for June
My old faithfuls for first summer are in full flower: Rudbeckia hirta, Hibiscus syriacus, Antigonon leptopus, various Ruellia, and Polanisia dodecandra.
All over town Austin’s ubiquitous summer flower, the crape myrtle, is laden with bloom. I don’t think I’ve ever seen with such huge flowers before–just like our spring wildflowers. I credit the incredible rain from September to April. The lesson I’m learning is that while these flowers may tolerate our heat and drought, they really love twice the water we normally give them.
Lagerstroemia indica ‘Catawba.’
2010 was also the best year ever for my vitex (now fading). I have so much shade in my garden that both the crape myrtle and the vitex are pretty subdued compared to what you’ll see elsewhere in Austin
I’m still waiting for the oleander, duranto, and plumbago to flower. They are struggling back from their roots after Austin’s unusual big freeze in January 2010. I’m happily finding all sorts of plants I thought had died in the freeze springing back–the biggest surprise was new growth on the bottlebrush bush. And although I wasn’t surprised to discover a lot of self sown datura, I was to see new growth springing from the stump of one of last year’s plants.
I’ve had such good luck with the scraggly annual black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) that I thought I’d give the more impressive Rudbeckia maxima a try.
Rudbeckia maxima.
Between GBBDs
Several flower bloomed and faded in my garden between GBBDs and so didn’t show up in the inventory for either May or June: Gladiolus ‘Flevo Bambino’, globe artichoke, Opuntia ficus-indica, and Callirhoe involucrata.
Complete List for June
This is the list of all plants flowering today, June 15th 2010, at Zanthan Gardens.
- Abelia grandiflora (2010)
- Antigonon leptopus (2010)
- Antirrhinum majus (2010)
- Aristolochia fimbriata (2010)
- Asparagus densiflorus (2010)
- Chilopsis linearis (2010)
- Commelina communis (2010)
- Commelinantia anomala (2010)
- Consolida ambigua (2010)
- Engelmannia peristenia/pinnatifida (2010)
- Eschscholzia californica ‘Mikado’ (2010)
- garlic (2010)
- Helianthus annuus (2010)
- Hesperaloe parviflora (2010)
- Hibiscus syriacus (full bloom) (2010)
- Lantana ‘New Gold’ (2010)
- Lavandula heterophyla ‘Goodwin Creek Grey’ (2010)
- Lupinus texensis (a couple of fading flowers) (2010)
- Malvaviscus arboreus (2010)
- Mondo grass (2010)
- Nierembergia gracilis ‘Starry Eyes’ (2010)
- Nigella damascena (fading singles and doubles) (2010)
- Oenothera speciosa (2010)
- Origanum vulgare (2010)
- Oxalis triangularis (2010)
- Parkinsonia aculeata (2010)
- Pavonia hastata (2010)
- Polanisia dodecandra (2010)
- rose ‘Blush Noisette’ (2010)
- rose ‘Ducher’ (2010)
- rose ‘New Dawn’ (2010)
- rose ‘Red Cascade’ (2010)
- rosemary (2010)
- Rudbeckia hirta (2010)
- Rudbeckia maxima (2010)
- Ruellia (2010)
- Sedum album (2010)
- Setcresea (both purple and green) (2010)
- Thymophylla tenuiloba ‘Golden Fleece’ (2010)
- tomato (2010)
- Trachelospermum jasminoides (almost finished) (2010)
- Verbena canadensis (lavender wilding) (2010)
- Vitex agnus-castus (2010)
- waterlily ‘Helvola’ (2010)
- Zexmenia hispida (2010)
- unidentified white-flower (2010)
Unidentified white flower.
by M Sinclair Stevens
June 15th, 2010
I am curious now about “unidentified white-flower” on your bloom day list. I wonder what it could be? And I tried a crape myrtle in my garden last summer that was supposed to be hardy to zone 5, but it didn’t make it through the winter. Perhaps if I had mulched it better, I might now be enjoying a few “Austin” blooms in my garden this summer?
Thanks for joining in for bloom day!
I meant to take a photo of the white flower but the light wasn’t good. I’ll try today. It looks like a horsemint, I think. Those are usually a dirty pink and upright. The mystery plant is sprawling and white. This might just be the effect of the shade. –mss
June 15th, 2010
It’s such a comfort to see that I’m not the only gardener with “unidentifieds” growing in her garden!
My garden is populated with self-sowns and passalongs. — mss
June 15th, 2010
I thought I was hallucinating that all the crape myrtles seem to be overloaded with blooms this year! Even my crapes, which normally display meager blooms, are lush. Yes, they are definitely responding to the rains of autumn, aren’t they? I can’t believe you still had some bluebonnets bloom. I’ll bet everything is looking lovely.
If you deadhead bluebonnets (and we’re lucky with rain) you can keep them going longer. But they lack the intense blue of spring with its cooler temperatures. New bluebonnets are already sprouting. It’s rare that any that sprout this early survive the summer though. –mss
June 15th, 2010
We are lush going into true summer, aren’t we? That rain was wonderful. Your list is unbelievably long – I need to come check it all out for myself! Love that Rudbeckia – there’s just something about them. Your larkspur are still blooming in my cutting garden!
If you could see it you would know that my garden is pretty bare right now. I still have the remains of the meadow to clean up but I’m not trying to keep any flowers over summer. And I don’t have lawn in the front anymore. Any credit for flowers today goes to the wonderful rain last week. Before the rain, a lot of things had already stopped blooming. Afterwards they put out one last flush. –mss
June 15th, 2010
The unidentified white flower is intriguing me, too- MSS- no photo?
My white crepe myrtles look great out in sun, but the Catawba isn’t blooming yet and many of the pink ones in the neighborhood are moldy. Guess it’s from too many overhanging tree branches.
Oh – so glad your waterlily bloomed!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
One of my ‘Catawba’ is more subject to mildew than the other. It’s bad this year because it’s been a more typical hot, humid June. However, it suffered a little even in last year’s dessicating dryness. –mss
June 16th, 2010
I’m so happy for you that your garden got some good rain and that some plants are rising from the dead. The Crepe Myrtle is a frilly delight.
June 16th, 2010
Could the mystery white flower be a bee balm?
June 16th, 2010
I think your unidentified flower is the native horsemint, Monarda citriodora. This year there has been a fantastic blooming everywhere, including my own lot where it has never flowered before. Just perfect conditions. I tried growing bee balm for 8 years and only one year did it flower. That was when we had a lot of rain during the spring and summer.
June 18th, 2010
I was thinking Monarda too, but I’ve never seen a white one! Does it smell nice?
June 18th, 2010
I just posted about the fantastic show of the Mytles this year…they are stunning! I’m loving the second bloom cycle this year…I hope the rain keeps up!
June 23rd, 2010
I agree, the mystery plant looks like a monarda.
What fabulous flowers you have, and such a list! Wish I could grow rudbeckia; I just love it.
Great pictures & super bloom day!