July 8 , 2021
My Garden: Summertime Hot Spots in Shade and Sun
Welp , the preceding hebdomad ’s bucketing pelting reasonably much detour my little patch . Its smatters dotted crinum lily ‘ Ellen Bosanquet ’ , yet another stalwart subsister of February ’s freeze and long time of drought . But recent rain did the blooming trick . As Steve Lowe of Tejas Bulbstold us in a late segment , “ Nothing really spur these thing on like a skillful rain . ”Texas weather does n’t do things midway , that ’s for sure . Stormy clouds darken the house while I was blue-pencil an upcoming segment . Then , in a flash , bright sunshine traverse it all aside with nary a raindrop fall . I decamp outdoors to grab a few shots and sleuth this cutie on my Tecoma stans.iNaturalistandBugGuideconfirmed that it ’s a young instar ( houri ) of Aztec spur - throated grasshopper . Yes , I be intimate it ’ll chomp plants , but I did n’t vex its peaceable sunbath . Most likely , a bird had it for dejeuner . My attitude is “ last and let inhabit ” in my backyard home ground . That ’s work out quite well , since it ’s been too foresightful to remember an infestation of any exceptional pest . Somebody ’s always eating somebody else . By the agency , this is nativeTecoma stansvar.angustata . It does n’t flower as prolifically ( for me , anyway ) as do showy cultivar esperanzas like ‘ Gold Star ’ and orange - hued varieties , which I ’d wish to have . I ’m wow every summertime by a neighbour ’s street side ‘ Gold Star ’ and Pride of Barbados , humming with pollinator cheerfulness . My Tecoma stans get unshackled sunshine in a back cove midday and late afternoon , souse to shade off in between . Nearby , hummingbird - dear native shrub flame acanthus seeded itself behind strong - bladed lemon grass ( that subsist 9 ° ) . Plants know best where they want to live , and often , they ’re more ingenious than I am about visually challenging industrial plant placement . aboriginal repeated Turk ’s caps dot every area of the garden — from part refinement to mottled sun to brief sun blasts . ‘ Pam ’s Pink ’ unfurled its first flowers this calendar week . In this cool , mottled light strip , where I need to disguise the chain link fence , I planted to feed in and shelter wildlife . There ’s red Turk ’s crown , too , along with Mexican honeysuckle , American beautyberry , frostweed , inland sea oats and rampage Virginia creeper . annotation : Drake White of @nectarbarsa on Instagram recently advised us to cut back our mammoth frostweed a few foot . Clipping now will foul up it out and bring out more ashen blossom this fall for migrating butterflies and other pollinators . Watch her CTG “ Gardening for Bees and Butterflies ” conversation .
Here ’s a wider persuasion of the fence strip where I thin thing back a bit last weekend ( include the frostweed ) to glimpse the rustic path I laid long ago . This used to be all grass , especially when it was sunny . One summertime , I laid down cardboard from salvaged box and newspapers and overlay with compost and mulch . By that fall , I was quick to plant , an on - departure process , of row . Although I do n’t water plant a good deal , I do “ water ” the birds and other wildlife with upraised birdbaths and a ground - level bowl for mammalian that look for a deglutition in sear summertime days . In this shallow container — a repurposed saucer — I commit a pumice stone sherd where bees can sit and sip alongside birds . Rambling Turk ’s ceiling fills out a once - blank smudge along the part sun / shade back fence strip , where hummingbird and butterflies dart into those tubular flowers . sunflower favour a red-hot spotlight beyond promiscuous hosiery reach to inseminate generations of sky - high-pitched summer bounty for bee , butterflies , and seed - plucking trivial bird . Thanks for stopping by ! See you next week , Linda
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