Friday, October 15, 2010

What's Bloomin' - October '10

Garden tour anyone?  
Let's see what's blooming in my garden this month...


Welcome to my garden!






The 'Regal Mist' Muhly grass 
(Muhlenbergia capillaris)
is stealing the show this month!





I've been waiting for this all year!


And big brother Lindheimer's Muhly is just starting to set plumes, as well. 

I needed a large and very drought-tolerant grass to add to my front 
perennial bed, and this grass is just the ticket!

 As you can see, the Knock-Out Rose and Russian Sage are still going strong.





The Miscanthus Sinensus 
'Variegatus' plumes
shimmer in the sunlight
 


The Salvia farinacea (Mealycup sage) in front of the Knock-Out is one of the longest blooming perennials in my garden.

If it ever gets a little leggy, I just cut it down to about one inch above the ground, and it is back full and beautiful in about two weeks!







Salvia greggii (Autumn Sage)
never disappoints.









A lone 'Becky' Shasta Daisy bloom has its last hurrah!
And a few last Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm') chime in, too.







Another surprise is a single bloom
on the 'Elsa Spath' Clematis




Native Lantana Camara is hard to beat for attracting butterflies! 









 The Purple Hyacinth Bean Vine is setting its burgundy seed pods 
which I think are just as pretty as the blooms!






Cheery Cosmos blooms have
brightened my garden 
all summer and into the fall.






Ice Plant
(Delosperma cooperii)
is pretty in pink
by the pond






The Mexican Mint Marigold (Tagetes lucida)  is just starting to bloom, but the fragrance of the foliage is intoxicating as the sun warms its leaves!!



This herb is also called Texas Tarragon




The Cotton Plant is still producing blooms and bolls.
  
See my In High Cotton post for more information
on growing this interesting and beautiful plant!



Okay.  So this is not a "bloom" per se, but the American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) provides color in my shade garden, and I'll take what I can get this time of year!


The Turk's Cap are still blooming, too.
The red blooms look great paired with the purple berries.  
(See September post for pic)




'May Night' Salvia (Salvia nemerosa) blooms profusely in the spring, 
sporadically through the summer, 
and picks up again when it cools down in the fall.


If you plant it, they will come...


The Monarchs have finally arrived in my garden!!!
Their bloom of choice is the
Mexican Butterfly Weed
(Asclepias curassavica)

 

A wasp and a butterfly share this bloom :-)

I also got some great Monarch shots at a local nursery yesterday.
Click here to see!

Check out my Flying Colors post to learn some fascinating information 
about the life cycle and migration of the Monarchs, as well as some 
plants that will attract the butterflies to your garden!

And last but not least ...

This little one stopped by for a sip of nectar on the Cosmos
and was very accommodating when I asked for wingspan picture ;-)

Can anyone help me identify this butterfly?


I hope you enjoyed your tour of my October garden.  Join me next month, and we'll see What's Bloomin' :-)

To see what's blooming in other parts of the country,
visit Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens


Until next time...
              Happy Gardening

 Toni :-)

12 comments:

  1. Lovely tour. Wow, the Muhly grass is spectacular. I like your pairings, especially the salvia and knockouts. Texas does gardening right. No wonder the Monarchs make a pit stop in your garden.

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  2. oh my gosh - what a great tour! I'm so saddened though because I remembered that I ordered a muhly grass this year...need to figure out what happened - did it die? backorder? not get shipped?

    That lantana is awesome - all those fun colors on one perfect bloom!

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  3. Wow! You do have a lot of blooms going on at the same time. The butterflies were great models!

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  4. aloha,

    what a very nice tour of your garden this morning, i enjoyed the beautiful flowers, but he mulhy grass and others were stealing the show for me :)

    thanks for sharing that with us

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  5. Love your muhly grass and am going absolutely gaga over that purple hyacinth bean vine. I would love to have that growing in my garden! Happy Bloom Day.

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  6. Wonderful photos of your garden. Love that Muhly grass.

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  7. Your garden is beautiful Toni! I enjoyed my visit. I tried the purple hyacinth bean vine last year with no luck...it's so pretty I'm going to have to give it another go. Have a great weekend!

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  8. Love that grassy path through the billowy blooms! It all looks very lush for being a drought-tolerant garden. That is a beautiful butterfly. Perhaps it is the Scudder's Patch butterfly (Chlosyne lacinia adjutrix).

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  9. Gorgeous! Your pic of the Muhly grass gives me hope that mine will be that beautiful some day!

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  10. Your garden sure is looking very pretty, mine, here in the PNW is rather shabby looking now fall is here. We don't have Monarchs here, sure wish we did.

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  11. @gardenwalk: Texas DOES do gardening right! Salvias paired with just about anything is a good combo! I do feel honored when the Monarchs visit my garden :-)
    @wendy: I lost a muhly too. I had 4 around the birdbath, but the one in the back got so covered up with salvias that it is struggling and about to give up! I like odd numbers better anyway, so I guess I'll go with the 3 I have and call it good :-)
    @kate and @cat/whimsical: The hyacinth bean vine is SO EASY! My neighbor gave me a transplant years ago. I planted it in July, of all months, and then left the next day on vacation and forgot about it. When we got back from vacation, I found that little transplant THRIVING. When you can plant something in July in Texas and forget about it, and it not only just lives but it thrives, that is what I call a KEEPER!
    @floridagirl: Thanks for the butterfly ID. I think you might be right! Had not heard of that kind of butterfly before, so I've learned something knew :-)
    @scottweberpdx: Hang in there on the muhly; it's worth the wait. Needs full sun, though.
    @TO EVERYONE ELSE: Thanks so much for visiting my blog and for your kind comments! It is encouraging to have all my hard work appreciated, but in the whole scheme of things, I have a small part; it's God who makes them grow :-)

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  12. That is definitely a Texas butterfly! I'm assuming Bordered Patch and Scudder's Patch are one in the same. I would love to see one of those Toni! Lucky you!

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