Summer garden moments
Texas summers always test me as a gardener. I dislike the heat and humidity and generally view summer as a holing-up season, a downtime to wait out, the way gardeners up north view winter. Except of course the weeds don’t stop growing during my downtime.
But this isn’t a post about weeds, or the news-making heat that Texas is currently experiencing, or anything else I try to ignore. It’s just about a few things I spotted and enjoyed enough to pull out my phone and take a photo of while outside watering pots and new plants.
Like the toothy, speckled foliage of ‘Fiercely Fabulous’ mangave. Look how happy Fierce Fab is! She’s not minding the Death Star’s glare one bit. What a trouper.
Other summer lovers include old-reliable purple skullcap (Scutellaria wrightii), ‘Bright Edge’ yucca, and ‘Peter’s Purple’ monarda. The monarda finished flowering a week or two ago. A passing neighbor asked me the other day whether she should pull up her monarda “now that summer has fried it.” Oh no, I assured her. Summer hasn’t killed your monarda. Here in Texas, ‘Peter’s Purple’ monarda blooms in early summer and then goes to seed, and it will return again next May.
I typically leave monarda standing after the flowers dry up because I think the seedheads are interesting. But you can carefully (don’t pull up the plant by the roots) snap off its blackened seedheads and scatter them where you want more plants, just like you’d do with purple coneflower. Or if you leave them standing, as I do, they’ll do it on their own.
Mullein is another self-seeder in my garden. This one seeded itself at the corner of the house in the decomposed-granite path, and it looks so pretty there, flowering tall and yellow.
I did do a little “gardening” early this summer: I rolled the battery-powered mower out of the garage and mowed the Berkeley sedge lawn. So satisfying to mow just once all year and enjoy the lawn-like appearance of my now-10-year-old sedge lawn!
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Digging Deeper
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My mullein didn’t come back this year!
Question: any idea how to get my perennial morning glory vine to bloom? It’s in sun in the morning and shade later, and used to bloom profusely, but last year and this year , beautiful leaves and no flowers!
Mullein is a two-year annual, so if it bloomed last year, that’s the end of its life cycle. But generally it seeds out generously, especially in gravel, so you have more. Sorry, I don’t have any ideas about the morning glory problem.
I love plants that thrive in the heat–so few do!
Does that mangave need full sun? I’ve been craving one, but don’t really have a great full-sun spot for it.
I find mangaves can take some shade, but they generally have better color in sun.
I’ve been thinking of adding another Mangave (or 2) to my garden – and ‘Fiercely Fabulous’ may be just the ticket.
She’s pretty fierce! But I bet you have a wealth of mangaves to choose from in CA. Must be hard to decide!
I love your Berkeley sedge “lawn”! So cool and easy maintenance.
Mullein is a fun plant to grow: it’s tall, fuzzy and makes quite a statement.
Mullein goes where it wants, but I generally end up liking where it chooses.
Hahah, I looked at your FF mangrave and thought of it having a Lt. Dan (from Forrest Gump) moment — it, glaring up at the Death Star, ‘WHAT?!? Is THAT all you got!!!’ ….. (cackling crazily)
Ooooh, that sedge lawn! Beautiful and so cooling.
Funny image! She’s definitely defying the Death Star.
Yucca and skullcap are a match made in heaven. I think I’ll try that combo, especially since it looks like it’s thriving in your front yard (deer territory).
Yes, the deer never bother purple skullcap. Something does occasionally munch the tender inner leaves of my yuccas when they’re small. Could be rabbits. Could be deer. But they usually recover and make it to maturity, and then they’re left alone — except the bloom spikes of course. Deer love to eat those.
Catching up on my “Digging”. Is your Berkeley sedge lawn part shade or will it work in a Death Star location. Want to convert my front yard lawn strip to a more friendly turf. Right now just a hodge podge of weeds which replaced the builder’s bermuda which couldn’t take the heat and lack of water/care from us. Best thing to happen. P.S. We are a deer travel yard as they live in the undeveloped lot next door that is part of our property. So, how deer tolerant is the sedge?
My Berkeley sedge is in dappled shade under live oaks, MaryAnn. But a friend grows it in morning to noonday sun, and it does great for her there. Here in Central Texas, sedge prefers morning sun or bright shade but NOT hot afternoon sun. It is very deer resistant. Many grassy plants are.
Bermudagrass may go dormant in the summer if there’s no rain, but it’ll come right back once it rains and the temps cool off. Make sure your Bermuda and weeds are dead as doornails before planting anything else, as they are much harder to remove once you’ve planted over them. If you’re in Central Texas, you could consider Mexican feathergrass or an alternative lawn of unmowed zoysia or Habiturf. They will need water to get them established and then occasionally to keep them looking good in extreme weather like we’re having this summer. Good luck!