Burst of spring color
As spring temperatures bounce up and down, the mercury is going steadily up, up, up on the hot color bursting forth in my new garden. Here’s a look around, starting with the ‘Totally Tempted’ cuphea I’m trialing from Proven Winners. I’m foregoing my favorite bat-face cuphea to try this one in my jam-packed sunny beds. ‘Totally Tempted’ is performing well and couldn’t be more showy, but I have a sentimental attachment to the bat-face (Austin loves bats!) and miss it.
The purple prickly pear (Opuntia macrocentra) is studded with yellow buds, including these hot beauties that have already opened.
Such glorious blossoms on such a severe plant.
A purple coneflower transplanted from my old garden is flowering. Echinacea remains an old favorite of mine.
My new Knock Out rose, ‘Radsunny’, opens new blooms every day.
My daughter photographed this close-up of the ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome, another Proven Winners plant that I’m trialing in my garden.
I’ve transplanted this ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate three times in the last two and a half years, the last move being a few miles north to help form a shrubby perimeter in the new-baby garden. It has laughed off any move-induced stress and is having its best flowering ever. Here’s a fat bud, almost ready to pop open into a tissuey, frilly orange blossom.
Could this, its third growing season, be the year it finally sets fruit?
I leave you with ‘Dortmund’ rose, inherited with the new garden. Another red-hot beauty.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Hi Pam, tell your daughter she did a fantastic job with the cleome photo! She is going to give you a run for your money, when does she get her own camera? The flowers are hot hot hot, hope your temps are not quite there yet. I loved your bat face cuphea, but this one is charming too. I have seed started cuphea miniata planted out, don’t know what they will look like though. The yellow knockout promises to be a winner. I have heard people asking for it around here already. Last year offspring Brokenbeat bought Carefree Sunshine, a similar rose, for me as a Mother’s day present. It is vigorous and healthy. The pomegranate looks promising too. I bought one at Christmas as a houseplant and have planted it out. Your plants are such inspiration to me. Serious zone envy. 🙂
Frances
I’m excited to hear your pomegranate does well under the stress of moving. I love pomogranatess and have such an affection for plants that are a little bit scrappy when it comes to transplant (or temp or drought) abuse. Thanks for the pictures!
Pam, these are some beautiful plants, ‘baby garden’ must already be looking spectacular. I am enjoying watching it develop. Unfortunately I have no local nursery stocking Proven Winner plants, the one I have found is several 100 miles away and we are not going on holiday to that area this year. I got some lovely plants last year though.
Best wishes Sylvia (England)
Your blooms are beautiful………hope the winter is over now!
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…Your daughter has a good eye Pam! I am completely charmed and Totally Tempted by the cuphea~~I wonder if we can grow it here? It really is a hot combo of colors…and the pomegranate flower is spectacular. BTW, I loved your bat faced cuphea a lot! The baby garden is really coming along Pam! gail
Boy, the new cupheas they are breeding are really looking different from the “originals”. I like it though. I’m assuming that the bloom is still pretty small?? LOVE those blooms on the cactus (the red is a nice touch). And I love all the others too!
Lovely fresh burst of color. I love the Dortmund rose and the santa rita opuntia bloom. Also the lavender color of the santa rita pads. That’s an opuntia I hope to get someday.
I love that KO rose! What a beautiful yellow! I’d love to plant one with my Black & Blue salvia for a cobalt/yellow combo.
Cameron
My new RadSunny knockout is just getting started. Can’t wait to see some blooms on it.I am totally in love with the cupheas. Such hard workers in the garden and fun to see those funny bat faces.I don’t think I could garden without them and salvias.I’m even trying one in a basket this year to see if I can keep it alive(I have serious black thumb with containers.
Hi, Pam, you must be soaking up all that color with a grateful heart! Proven Winners picked the perfect person to experiment and showcase their beautiful plants!
Pam, another benefit of the Purple Coneflower is that the blooms attract a whole bunch of beneficial bugs! I wish I had a few of them growing in my yard; unfortunately I didn’t realize that the seed should be started in the fall until after I’d already planted it. *sigh*…
What beautiful flowers. It looks like mid summer would look here. I love all that color.
Oh man I love that cuphea! I also have a weakness for cleome. My summer garden will be full of them, although they seem to be bug magnets.
Arrgh! I’m looking out the window at snow falling. My coneflowers have just started to emerge. Leaf buds on the roses are beginning to swell. It’s so early in the season Winter Aconite is blooming.
Best I go back to your pics and look at the future.
Oh, I’m salivating over all. But mostly the cone flower. I planted some last fall. I haven’t seen any action yet. But I can’t wait! Pomegranites! Wow!
Brenda
I’m totally tempted!
Nice collection of flowers – I really like the cuphea and the coneflower. I planted a pomegranate last year and can’t wait to see how it does.
Pam, I trialed that Cleome last year, and I loved its size and the nonstop blooms. I’ve never seen it at the garden center, but I saw the Cuphea today. It sure looks good. Perhaps I’ll buy one after Easter. You have some very pretty things in your new garden. It’s nice that your daughter is now joining you in gardening. I hope you all like the peas. Do you have a pea fence for them to climb?~~Dee
So many glorious beautiful blooms. And that one which your daughter took; beautifully done. Make sure she knows that I like her work …
Your roses are beautiful, and I love the delicate colors of the Prickly Pear. But, I think my favorite is the ‘Totally Tempted’ cuphea. The coloring of pink to lavender is striking. I would love to try a pomegranate–what great blossoms! I hope you get some fruit this year.
Oh, that Cuphea might help my discouragement about lack of unique flowers available here! Love it! I have to know, though, how you can plant a new garden months after I do, and yours blooms immediately while mine still is barely getting green? You must have a lot more sun around the pool that I realized? The Cleome is also a sweetie. Can we purchase them anywhere? Thanks for a great post, Pam.
I will have to look for the cuphea and your daughter is going to give you a run for your money!
hey pam, your pictures are always so inspiring!! especially since i am moving back to austin! i really can’t wait, my house is for sale now so hopefully i will get an offer soon and be on my way. of course there is a reason why i am moving back that is not so great but we have to make the best out of life and there is not any other place on earth i would rather live. i would love to get in touch and get together when i move back, definitely get involeved with the austin garden bloggers, i have been out of touch for awhile but am ready to start over! i was so jealous of your trip to peckerwood gardens! i have drooled over their website many a time, hopefully there will be another trip and i will be on it! i love reading your blog and have lots of catching up to do, take care and hope to see you soon! Laura
Your spring blooms are looking beautiful. The cuphea has the cutest blooms. I’d love to try it. Your daughter’s cleome photo is glorious! She’s a budding photographer.
Have a wonderful Easter with your family, Pam!
Thank you all so much for your comments. I wish I could answer every one, but with busy season for work, Easter, and family birthdays upon me, something had to give. Please know that I appreciate each comment! —Pam
Love your blue bottle tree. I’m working on mine. I need to get some more blue bottles though.