‘Tangerine Beauty’ crossvine (Bignonia capreolata )
A Spring Break trip to Houston made me late for Bloom Day this month, but wait for me! My garden is laughing with flowers this mid-March, and here they are, roughly in rainbow (ROYGBIV) order. Visit May Dreams Gardens to see what’s in bloom in other gardens around the world.
Another view of the crossvine, in glorious full bloom along the back fence.
The ‘Blue Elf’ aloe continues to make a good showing.
Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens ) on the fence beside the back porch is blooming anew.
The coral-red of Texas betony (Stachys coccinea ) reappears at ground level.
Autumn sage (Salvia greggii ), contrary to its common name, blooms beautifully in spring.
It’s coming back from its late-winter shearing in time for a good showing at the Garden Bloggers Spring Fling, I hope.
The dark-pink flowers of the Texas redbud (Cercis canadensis var. texensis ) mark the full onset of spring in Austin.
Orange bulbine (Bulbine frutescens ) offers a lovely counterpoint to the blue-green ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave.
Close up, the bulbine’s flowers look feathery.
Skyrockets in flight! Hinckley’s columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha Hinckleyana ) is firing up.
Here are more in bud.
Ever-blooming hymenoxys (Tetraneuris scaposa ) is still going strong.
Gopher plant (Euphorbia biglandulosa or rigida ) continues to delight me. Now its yellow flowers have a tinge of coppery orange. Combined with its gray foliage, it’s a beauty, even if its sap is an irritant when it gets on your skin (protect your hands and eyes when trimming it).
Look! A daffodil bud, at long last popping up after I’d thought my daffs had all died out.
The ‘Amethyst Flame’ irises still look pretty but are past their prime. A few late bloomers are budding, however.
The grape hyacinths (Muscari ) still look good.
The Texas mountain laurel’s (Sophora secundiflora ) grapey flower clusters are past peak, but I love the fading purple blossoms against the glossy green leaves.
The faded blossoms still smell like grape Kool-Aid.
I didn’t cut back the purple lantana (Lantana montevidensis ) in the back garden because it never froze back. Along with the Carolina jessamine (spent), it provided a food source for the early butterflies.
Our native spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis ) was buzzing with bees yesterday morning.
The grassy spiderwort has colonized in the rain garden at the end of the dry streambed, and it looks like a blue and purple river flowing under the cedar elm. I had trouble capturing that image, however, and will have to try again another time.
I planted these bachelor’s buttons in a new stock-tank container that I’ll show you in another post. I bought this dainty plant at Barton Springs Nursery several weeks ago and promptly forgot what variety of bachelor’s buttons I’d gotten. Anyone know? Update: A reader just gave me the forgotten ID: Gomphrena ‘Grapes.’ Thanks, Rebecca!
Purple oxalis (Oxalis triangularis ) is blooming again, although the delicate lilac flowers hadn’t opened yet yesterday morning when I took the photo. Still, I grow this plant for the leaves, which are shamrock shaped—perfect for St. Patrick’s Day.
The unknown iris from my friend Nadene is still going strong.
White potato vine (Solanum jasminoides ) flower clusters hang like parachutists.
The native Texas nolina (Nolina texana ) in the front courtyard pot is blooming. Its stiff sprays of tiny, white flowers are nestled within the thin, strappy leaves.
A close-up of the nolina’s flower reveals more detail.
In the back garden, the bamboo muhly (Muhlenbergia dumosa ), a bunch grass from Arizona, is in full bloom, like a pale green cloud. Behind it you can see the crossvine in orange bloom on the fence.
Happy belated Bloom Day!
All material © 2006-2008 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I love that you put your flowers in color order. Order is good! Laughter in the garden is also good, and there seems to be a plentiful supply in yours. I’ve added you to the list of bloom day participants. Thanks for joining in. The more the merrier.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens (where I think I am on the northern edge of hardiness for Hinkley’s columbine, so I think I’ll give that a try!)
You know me, always organized. Thanks again for hosting Bloom Day, Carol. —Pam
Comment by Carol — March 18, 2008 @ 4:14 am
Hi Pam, Yes, Daylilies flower twice, once in spring, October until December and again in autumn which starts at the beginning of march. The autumn flowering is not as prolific as in spring. The Grevillias flower all year round they never stop. It is sometimes hard to prune to cut off all the lovely flowers. Pruned it must be otherwise this plant gets very leggy and sparse. You have lovely and interesting flowers and I must make time to study them more closely. Trudi
Ooh, ever-blooming grevillia sounds better and better. I wonder if it would grow here. —Pam
Comment by Trudi — March 18, 2008 @ 4:48 am
Ah, Spring in your Austin garden, Pam. Wish I could sit on your garden bench and set up my easel to paint all the lovely flowers.
Thanks for sharing your March garden.
I wish you could too, Carolyn Gail! I’d enjoy watching you turn flowers into a painting. —Pam
Comment by carolyngail — March 18, 2008 @ 6:20 am
Lots to look at in your garden, Pam. I love your spiderwort — it’s so wild and exotic-looking — but someone usually eats mine, so I’ve given up trying to grow it myself. I’m glad to have you share your pretty photos. Happy Rain Day! If we get as much as they are predicting, I will try to take a photo of my not-so-dry riverbed of rocks when it’s a rushing stream!
Yea, rain! I’ve gotten an inch so far—all in about a 10-minute period. —Pam
Comment by Diana Kirby — March 18, 2008 @ 6:25 am
Now that’s my kind of color wheel! Thanks for the very organized look at your garden.
You are welcome! Thanks for visiting, Mary Beth. —Pam
Comment by Mary Beth — March 18, 2008 @ 7:06 am
Hi Pam your blooms were worth waiting for. That Crossvine on the fence is spectacular. I haven’t seen Bulbine before. I like anything that is feathery. The Mariache band would be welcome in my garden anytime. They look like a party just waiting to happen. P.S. my first comment didn’t appear. I hope it doesn’t show up too. If so I hope you can delete one.
Sorry about your first comment disappearing, Lisa. I’m glad you tried again, as I love comments. —Pam
Comment by Lisa at Greenbow — March 18, 2008 @ 7:12 am
I was wondering where your post was. You know I love your crossvine! And I was dying to find out what else March brought to your garden this year.
When did you plant the bachelor buttons? Mine are just about to bloom and I thought they were ahead of last year. Or did you buy them as plants? Duh (going back to reread)…yes you said you did.
I was at BSN recently but didn’t get the chance to look around like I usually do because of the awful music being piped in to the covered area. How long have they been doing that? Did it bother you? I spent most of the time out back. And, hey! They have golden barrel cactus.
I was at BSN early this afternoon, and, as a matter of fact, they were playing classical music in the covered area. It was on a low volume, and I didn’t even notice it until I heard one staff member say to another that it made him feel like he was in a World War I movie. Which cracked me up, because it did sound ponderous, morose, and kind of old-fashioned. —Pam
Comment by mss @ Zanthan Gardens — March 18, 2008 @ 7:25 am
Wow Pam, the wealth of blooms you have right now is amazing. I can’t begin to pick a favorite. At first I went immediately to the Texas betony (I grow every variety I can get my hands on but haven’t seen this one up here) but then along came that amazing Columbine and blew the betony right out of my thoughts.
Just as I was calming down I saw that beautiful display of rocks under your nolina and now I’m all excited again.
Thanks for the tour!
You’re welcome. Thanks for your delightful comment. —Pam
Comment by Melanie — March 18, 2008 @ 8:31 am
Pam,
What they said! It is all beautiful, colorful and vibrant.
Gail
Thanks, Gail. March and April are prime months in most Austin gardens. —Pam
Comment by Gail — March 18, 2008 @ 9:33 am
So many delights in your garden, Pam–how do you ever pull yourself away from it? :)
I always love the combination of glaucous-blue agaves and bulbine.
I also love the autumn sage and the columbine. Looking forward to seeing them in person at Spring Fling.
I’m in and out of the garden all day at this time of year. I bet most Austin gardeners are living it up in their gardens before summer arrives, don’t you think? See you soon at the Fling! —Pam
Comment by Brianna — March 18, 2008 @ 9:38 am
Wow, what a variety! How beautiful. We may have some of the same plants, but you’ve got a whole lot more.
Close-ups can give the illusion of plenty, Vertie. But some of my plants have been growing here for 6 or 7 years, and they’ve filled out a good deal. —Pam
Comment by Vertie — March 18, 2008 @ 11:05 am
Wow! So much beauty in your pictures! We share a few of the blooms like Bulbine and Oxalis (wich I forgot to post this month). I love the columbine and the texas betony, I wonder if they would do ok over at my garden?
I always forget a few too. For me it was the orchid tree and the bottlebrush. Thanks for commenting, Gintoino. —Pam
Comment by gintoino — March 18, 2008 @ 11:17 am
What a fantastic explosion of blooms and color! That crossvine is spectacular, and the orange bulbine certainly looks lovely with the blue-green agave. I have fuchsia bougainvillea with my agave, and thanks to you, a lot of ideas on how to use agave and aloe in the new garden.
Thanks, Nicole! I’m glad you found some ideas here at Digging. I find that reading garden blogs is a great way to get inspired. —Pam
Comment by Nicole — March 18, 2008 @ 11:41 am
Wonderful, Pam, and definitely worth waiting for! You have so many things going on, I love the rainbow order, that’s new to me. You have to have a lot of blooms to be able to pull that off, and you do and you did! That bulbine will always be my favorite flower in your garden, I love it’s perkiness!
Frances at Faire Garden
The bulbine should be in full flower for you at Spring Fling, Frances. See you then. —Pam
Comment by Frances — March 18, 2008 @ 11:48 am
What a lovely rainbow! We’re still under rain warnings so your post is timely, Pam – did you get anything in your neighborhood?
It’s kind of hard to fit flower color to the standard color names though, isn’t it? Like having only a small box of crayons. We need the peach! The magenta! The blue-green and the lavender, too!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
So far, about an inch of rain, Annie. And yeah, I fudged on the rainbow order, plus I wasn’t quite sure where to put white, since it’s made up of all the colors in the spectrum. —Pam
Comment by Annie in Austin — March 18, 2008 @ 12:39 pm
It’s too bad you can’t recall the name of the Bachelor Buttons. I’ve never seen them in that color & I really want it! Everything looks so beautiful!
It grows more like a small, airy shrub than like the individual bachelor’s buttons that are commonly grown from seed. I’ll have to keep looking until I find out what it’s called. —Pam
Comment by Mr. McGregor's Daughter — March 18, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
Thanks for this wonderful tour Pam. The crossvine is spectacular indeed! How creative to do through the rainbow of colors :) I love the salvia greggii and hope to add some of that to my garden. That hymenoxys just goes and goes doesn’t it? Your blooms are laughing their heads off down there. I think I’m beginning to hear giggles from the snowdrops up here :)
I guess the Salvia greggii would be an annual for you, Kerri? It grows so quickly and blooms for so long that it is surely a great choice for a summer annual up north. —Pam
Comment by kerri — March 18, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
I love that long spurred yellow columbine. Do you know what is different about Hinckleyana from the straight species? Does it like dry or well drained soil?
I believe its flowers are bigger. Here’s a site with more information about it. And yes, it needs well-drained soil and some shade, but it likes a bit of extra moisture in our climate. —Pam
Comment by Kathy — March 18, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
What a lovely and colourful contribution to GBBD. It’s amazing to see how your spring flowers (except for the dafs and grape hyacinths) are so very different from mine, knowing that we both garden in zone 8. My colombines and irises will flower somewhere in April so I’ll have to wait at least another month for that.
Great pics as usual! :-)
It just goes to show how greatly climates can differ, even when they share a zone designation. But that’s what keeps things interesting here in garden-blog land. Thanks for commenting, YE. —Pam
Comment by Yolanda Elizabet — March 19, 2008 @ 4:19 am
It is a pleasure to look at your blog and enjoy the lovely cold climate spring flowers, very good fotos.
Thanks, Trudi. But I’m sure you meant warm-, not cold-climate flowers. There can’t be many places hotter than Austin, except maybe central Australia. ;-) —Pam
Comment by Trudi — March 19, 2008 @ 5:17 am
Wow, such wonderful color! The tangerine crossvine is beautiful! Lovely blooms.
Thanks, Nancy. It’s one of my favorite sights in spring. —Pam
Comment by Nancy Bond — March 19, 2008 @ 7:25 am
I’m a little late for your Bloom Day offering, but so glad to see it now on this rainy, dreary day.
Beautiful post, Pam.
Thanks, Robin. I was late posting this month, so a late visit seems entirely appropriate, and I’m glad you stopped by. —Pam
Comment by Robin — March 19, 2008 @ 11:17 am
Pam, you’ve got a beautiful array of blooms, many of which I’ve never heard before. I think it’s mainly due to our very different climates. I love the bulbine’s flowers!
Bulbine is a tender, succulent-like evergreen here. If we were to get a pretty hard freeze, I suspect I might lose it. But since that rarely happens, this clump has been happily expanding for several years. Light freezes don’t bother it a bit. —Pam
Comment by Kylee — March 20, 2008 @ 8:55 pm