After several days of above-average—and way too warm for this time of year—weather, a mild cold front came through last night and dropped temperatures ten degrees. The cooler air made gardening a pleasure again, so I got out and planted two new roses I bought at the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham last weekend: ‘The Fairy’ and ‘Marie Pavie.’ Below is a rose I bought earlier this spring, ‘Belinda’s Dream.’ I love the fat rosebuds and gorgeous, pink flowers.

Belinda’s Dream

The antique roses are much more drought-tolerant than traditional teas. I like planting them amid my xeric garden. They’re tough and require only a few additional hand-waterings during the summer. These types of roses lived on at abandoned homesteads long after the homesteaders and their watering cans moved on.

‘Belinda’s Dream’ rosebud and spineless prickly pear

A large garden spider waits in her web in the front garden

I spotted the garden spider pictured here behind the weeping yaupon in the front garden. The yaupon berries are bright red now, and the branches of the weeping yaupon droop as if laden with berries. Of course, they actually droop all year round.

Weeping yaupon

Fall color, Austin-style: weeping yaupon, Mexican bush sage, skeleton leaf goldeneye, Lindheimer muhly grass

Mexican bush sage & orange lantana

My next-door neighbor complimented me on this combination of plants (which I can’t take credit for; they were in the only native-plant bed in the yard when I moved in) around Halloween, commenting that the lantana flowers looked like miniature pumpkins. They really do.

A dreaded cucumber beetle on a fuzzy, purple Mexican bush sage blossom

My garden was overrun with cucumber beetles this fall/winter. They ate the flowers, buds, and even leaves of many of my natives and the roses. I let them be, waiting and waiting for a freeze, and had just decided to spray an insecticide when a freeze finally arrived and knocked the population down. I hear that nematodes will eat the larvae of these destroyers, so I may try some.

A more welcome visitor, this friendly cat my daughter has named Ice Cream has made himself at home in the front garden. He’s probably out there hunting innocent songbirds and leaving “presents” in the mulch, but he is beautiful and very affectionate, and we’ve begun to look for him when we go outside.

At last, at last, cooler weather has arrived. Ahhh. It’s time to return to the garden for the next six months or so of outdoor weather (aside from “cedar fever” allergy season, which starts around Christmas and lasts well into March; I recommend lots of allergy medicine and soldiering through).

One of the last of the summer bloomers, the twisted flowers of Turk’s cap put on a show in the back shade garden. Traditionally red, a creamy white variety can also be found.

Turk’s cap

In the front garden the Autumn sage, or Salvia greggii, are a mass of bright pink blooms. (In the background is the new, two-story addition to a neighbor’s house.)

Autumn sage

By late October the fall aster has joined the show. The bees love this stuff. I can just imagine all the honey they’re making off my fall aster.

Fall aster, Mexican daisy, and Autumn sage

View from driveway: Mexican bush sage sends up its fuzzy, purple spears

We had about an inch of rain last week, the first rain in over a month, and the garden perked up a bit in response. Here’s a long view from the driveway across the front garden.

Front garden—still heat-dormant, but starting to revive

Birdbath area in front garden

The plants near the birdbath are looking a bit jungly, but I noticed that the white-blooming kidneywood has grown a couple of feet this summer. To the right of the kidneywood you can see a flame acanthus; to the left, Indigo Spires salvia; in the foreground, Mexican oregano. The birdbath is filled with chips of green glass and a river rock—my low-maintenance substitute for water.

Close-up of Indigo Spires salvia

On the other side of the front garden, under the vitex tree and amid the tired black-eyed Susans that I cut back recently, the red spider lilies are popping up. Otherwise known as naked ladies because their long, slim flower stalks are leafless, these bulbs bloom in the fall. Mine like dappled shade. Lycoris radiate is native to Japan, but it does very well in Austin with no special care.

Red spider lily with red peppers of chile pequin visible behind it

Chile pequin—another showy early-fall plant

Two more signs that fall is on the way. The inland sea oats are drooping under the weight of their pretty seed heads . . .

Inland sea oats

. . . and the American beautyberry’s berries have turned fully purple. The mockingbirds have noticed, so I wanted to get a photo before the berries all get eaten.

American beautyberry

The yellow bells, or esperanza, growing in the back garden behind the cedar elm don’t seem to recognize that summer is closing up shop. Being partly shaded, they never bloom before August, but in September their butter-yellow flowers light up the back yard. Set atop 5- and 6-foot stems, the large, bell-shaped flowers are eye-catching. In Austin, yellow bells dies back to the ground in the winter.

Yellow bells (Tecoma stans )

They caught the eye of this busy bee as well.