Oxblood lilies and other hotties
Austin’s big show of oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida) came right after Tropical Storm Hermine dumped buckets of rain on us. I went out of town for a few days and came home to find spent and wilted blooms, empty stems, and pictures of the dark-red flowers on everyone else’s blogs. Luckily, I still have a fair number of oxbloods popping up and adding their hot color to the raised beds along the back of the house.
Other hotties in the garden right now? Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), putting on a second show after a hard pruning last month. It loves the hot, sunny hillside garden and looks lovely next to the purple-flowering Salvia leucantha.
‘Black Pearl’ ornamental pepper (Capsicum annuum ‘Black Pearl’) may have a heart of darkness, but its shiny, ebony peppers turn bright red as they mature.
‘Black Pearl’ is a dramatic annual for sun or part sun. I’ll definitely be planting more of this next year.
The Autumn sage (Salvia greggii), a tried-and-true native for central Texas, is living up to its name and putting on a fine show of red-hot, hummingbird-attracting flowers right now. Run your fingers through its tiny leaves to enjoy its minty fragrance too.
Summer’s heat has been broken—hallelujah!—but these flowers and fruits blaze on.
All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
It’s been a good year for the oxbloods. They always bloom on my birthday, but this year I appear to have gotten two rounds of them.
Nice photos! I like that globe mallow. Is it a Central Texas native?
Globe mallows are native to west Texas, Marc, as well as the southwest plains and high desert regions of the U.S. It does well here provided you give it sun and sharp drainage. —Pam
Love the ‘Black Pearl’ ornamental pepper. I’ve never seen anything like it! It’s hard to tell from the photo how large the plant and pepper are -can you share that with us? I wonder if we have enough sunshine and hot weather up here in CT to get the peppers to turn red?
Aren’t they fabulous? Mine are about 2 feet tall, Monica. The peppers are about a half-inch in diameter. —Pam
Well geez, I need to get some Oxblood Lilies now. I love ornamental peppers…
The pepper really is outstanding…that color is so out-of-this world!
I hear you…our last monsoon surge while I was in your garden greets me this morning with happy, dancing Autumn Sage flowers. FINALLY!
I will enjoy your yearly oxbloods as I think it a bit too cold here. Love the peppers and why don’t I have any of those? They are easy to find. Next year. Is it still hot temperature wise?
We’re enjoying a week of perfect weather, Layanee, with overnight lows in the upper 50s and highs in mid- to low 80s, with low humidity. Ahh. —Pam
I agree hallelujah! It is so nice I am going to have to go outside. I love the globe mallow. I have never seen it before and will have to keep my eye out for that one. Pretty photos, as always!
Your plants look amazing. I love the combination of the “black” foliage with the red berries and/or adjacent flowers. Seems fitting this time of year. Glad the hurricane didn’t cause more damage!
I’m loving the cooler weather here in Houston today too – yay!! The Oxblood lilies are lovely, I do hope you get to see more in your garden.
Oxblood lily will always be on my August and September list. Ours are still flowering, longer than usual!!!
The combination of the Black Pearl’s red peppers and dark foliage is really nice.
I don’t think I’ve seen you mention Globe Mallow before. It is a stunner that I think I must have.
I did a spring post about globe mallow last May, Bob. —Pam
Salvia greggii is one of my faves even way over here in RI – it’s the best red around and absolutely essential for late summer/fall color. The plants must have loved our hot rainless summer because they’ve never been showier.
Your Black Pearl ornamental pepper is beautiful. It looks like you have a wide variety of different textures and colors in your garden. What a wonderful landscape.