Zanthan Gardens
Week by Week in the Garden: Week 38: 9/17 – 9/23

September 23rd, 2006
Week 38: 9/17 – 9/23

Photo: Oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida). 2006-09-21. Austin, Texas.

Dateline: 2006
Summer hung on tooth and claw with Friday’s (9/22) temperatures near 100. Despite a lousy ending, the rest of the week was everything we can hope for this time of year. The week began with a drenching rain which interrupted Tom Petty’s set at the ACL finale but left gardeners cheering. We received upwards of 1 1/2 inches–we haven’t seen rain like this since the 4th of July when towns all around Austin were forced to cancel their firework displays. The early part of the week, the lows were in the 50s, highs in the upper 80s, low 90s and gorgeous blue October skies.

The garden responded immediately. By Wednesday (9/20) the oxblood lilies were opening en masse. The meadow was covered in rainlilies. (I usually have them throughout the summer and even after the flowers fade, their leaves tell me where they are. But this summer there has been no sign of them.) Bluebonnets began sprouting everywhere in the meadow. The salvia began reblooming. The rose ‘French Lace’ (which had no leaves whatever) put out a flush of new growth). They hyacinth bean vines are about 5 feet tall. The esperanza and plumbago are heavy with flower. The chili pequin is bursting out with tiny white flowers.

I’ve been rushing around all week dividing irises and oxblood lilies and transplanting cosmos in the meadow. More rain is forecast for the weekend and even better, El Nino is coming our way for the fall and winter. That means more rain for Central Texas and a good year to get those replacement bushes and trees in.

Dateline: 2003
I wait and wait for summer to be over, but when fall arrives it still takes me by surprise. Rain and cooler temperatures reinvigorate the garden. A front comes in from the north and brings rain, then drier cooler air. The skies are an incredible shade of blue. A few days later, the winds come up from the south bringing moist, warm air and a blanket of low clouds. Then the pattern repeats itself.

Photo: Lycoris radiata. 2003-09-23. Austin, Texas. The flowers stalks come up before any leaves. The purple leaves in the background are Tradescantia pallida ‘Purple Heart’.

The oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida) have faded, although a new flower will open here and there. This week, the red spider lilies (Lycoris radiata) take the stage. They are almost twice the height of the oxblood lilies. They are a paler, more orange-tinted red, which looks washed out if planted near any oxblood lilies. What makes red spider lily a knockout is it. delicate filigreed flower, perched on a strong straight stem. Like, oxblood lilies, it is dormant in the summer, sends up its flower in the fall, and then its leaves. The red spider lilies are blooming up in Dallas, too. Rantomat also has them in South Austin and reports that they’re blooming very well this year. (Mine are certainly doing better than usual.) And they are hard to photograph. I’ve never taken a photo of them that I liked.

Photo: Lycoris radiata. 2003-09-24. Austin, Texas.

The four o’clocks (Mirabilis jalapa) continue to bloom like they’re on steroids and fill the evening garden with their scent. The scent is quite strong when the flowers open in the late afternoon. By morning, when they close with the sunrise, I don’t smell them at all. Now that it’s cooler, we open the windows and turn on the whole-house fan and the house is inundated with scent.

The last two weeks, the banana plant has show signs that it is going to flower. The raspberry salvia is blooming again. All the roses have new bud growth. The floribunda ‘French Lace’ has gotten a head start on the other roses and has been blooming for more than a week already. I saw some old-fashioned milk and wine crinums blooming in East Austin on Monday. Erica Bess Duncan, whose Garden Spot is in Houston has a great photo of her mystery crinum. Her redesigned site is beautiful and makes me want to makeover this site.

I’ve been busy transplanting plants that I grew from seed from the nursery to places around the garden. Today I’m going to reorganize the vegetable garden so that it’s ready for a fall garden.

by M Sinclair Stevens