The Nature of Things

What's blooming in my zone 9a garden near Houston this month? Several things. Here are some of them.  If it's May, then of course the old southern magnolia must be in bloom. On the patio, a couple of pots of pentas brighten things.  Here's #1. And here's #2. And helping them brighten things is this pot of Helianthus 'Brown-eyed Girl.' 'Julia Child' rose with an insect friend. 'Peggy Martin' rose. Ever-dependable 'Lady of Shalott' rose. My antique polyantha rose, 'Caldwell Pink.' Some of the daylilies are blooming. Here's a beauty next to the goldfish pond. More daylilies, the variety name unfortunately lost. For the first time, this cestrum which I've had for many years was killed back to the roots in last winter's freeze, but it has recovered and is beginning to bloom. Coreopsis in a tangle of blooms next to my Japanese maple. I've just added this coreopsis, 'Uptick Gold & Bronze,' to the garden. I ha...

Blooms are still sparse here in my post-February freeze Southeast Texas garden, but, happily, many of the plants that I had feared had been lost have started to come back. Slowly, but they are coming back. I'm glad that I have been slow to replace them. Meanwhile, my roses are in the pink! My 'Old Blush' heirloom rose is beginning to blush once again. Here's a close-up of some of its blossoms. 'Belinda's Dream' rose is just as dreamy as ever, covered in these big, squashy blooms.   'Peggy Martin' was hit hard by the freeze and seriously knocked back. I cut her way back afterward and now she is all the way recovered and just about to be in full bloom. The pink Knockout, too, is doing its best to live up to its name. I do actually have other colors of roses in my garden but only the pink ones are in bloom at the moment. That yellow flowering plant next to the bottle tree in the back garden is a wildflower called Texas groundsel. Here's a closer vie...