Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - Summer 2015

I was slacking the last couple of months on posting blooms for Carol's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day over at May Dreams Gardens (even though I was diligent about taking pictures), and since I have minimal August blooms, I figured I play a bit of catch-up with my summer-time bloom pictures.

WARNING:  an excessive amount of flower pictures follow.

JUNE

Since we had a mild start to our summer temperatures and a lot of early summer rainfall, the June blooms were fabulous.

One of my favorites for the month were the sunflowers.

I love how bright and cheerful they are.

The bees certainly loved their pollen.

Some of the sunflowers were planted on purpose, like these along the fenceline.

Some were volunteers from fallen birdseed...like these ones.  I love how their faces follow the sun.

The echinacea or purple corn flowers were out in full force.

Daylilies were finishing up with their late spring-time blossoms.

The antique roses went through a bloom cycle, including the Heritage (David Austin) and 

Mrs. B. R. Cant (Cant & Sons).

The butterflies were loving the Black Knight butterfly bush,

as well as the Texas lilac vitex, which is a Texas Superstar.

My orange canna lilies had a great mid-summer season, after I divided them and spaced them out last fall.

The nectar of the zinnias spread around the garden are a favorite treat of the hummingbirds, whether they are purple,

red,

or pink.

The shasta daisy seeds that I spread around last fall finally blossomed and made great cut flowers.

And to finish up the June 2015 blooms, here is a petite little blossom of my ice plant, which I had gotten several cuttings from my neighbor last fall - gotta love free pass-along plants!

JULY

My favorite blossom of July had to have been my deep purple morning glories.  Such a vibrant color greets me every morning!

The roses continued their summertime showcase, including Abraham Darby (David Austin),

Heritage (David Austin),

Mrs. B. R. Cant (Cant & Sons),

Madame Joseph Schwartz (Earthkind),

and Graham Thomas (David Austin).

The orange canna lilies continued going strong, with a nice magenta backdrop of my neighbor's crepe myrtles.

July finally got hot enough for the blue plumbago to come out to play,

as well as the shade-loving Turk's cap in pink,

and normal red varieties.

While hanging out in the shade, I saw that the giant liriope grasses were also blooming with their delicate spires of purple flowers.

Other July blooms included the garden phlox,

more coneflowers,

Black-eyed Susans,

marigolds,

and trailing lantana.

The veggie garden was even putting on a show, with beautiful okra blooms,

as well as cucumbers.

 AUGUST

Finally onto my few August blooms...there are the reliable, heat-loving annual zinnias - here in a giant purple variety.

The bougainvillea has started to bloom, but I just clipped back the branches today to encourage even more blooms in a couple weeks.

The bright orange of the cosmos help lighten the drab appearance of the sun-scorched garden.

 And to cool off with some shades of purple, we have the lavender finally blooming,

As well as the pass-along Mexican petunias, which are keeping cool in the shade.

If you've made it this far, thanks for checking out all my summertime blooms in my Central Texas zone 8b garden.  I can't wait to show you next month's blooms, when we really start getting into the most colorful time of the year for our area!

Dividing Canna Lilies

All the recent rainfall in Central Texas has loosened the soil, making it the perfect time to dig up and divide bulbs and rhizomes.  Our house came with a section of orange canna lilies which have become very overcrowded, so I figured it was time to get digging and dividing.

First, I cut the stalks down.  It makes it much easier to dig up the rhizomes.

Using a shovel, I dug out huge clumps of the canna lilies.  These babies were long overdue for some dividing.  To divide, I first tried to get as much dirt off the roots as possible.  I then started breaking the rhizomes apart, making sure to leave at least one eye or stalk on each plant.

Here is an example of a two-inch piece of rhizome that had two eyes where small shoots were coming out.

Me diligently working on dividing the cannas.

By the time it was all said and done, I had about 200 rhizomes.  I decided to keep about 100 for myself and pass along the other 100.  I gave about 20 each to five of my lucky friends and neighbors.  I love passing along plants for others to enjoy!

I then replanted my cannas.  I planted them about 1 foot apart.  The instructions I read said to plant them 1-2 feet apart.  I had so many, I decided to keep it on the closer side.  It means that I'll have fuller foliage, but that I'll have to divide the cannas again a little sooner.

I had so many that I spaced them out in twice the area they were in before, fitting about 50 rhizomes in the picture above, but that left me with still another 50 to plant, so I decided to plant them along the back of the border, behind the gardenias and pomegranate tree.  Hopefully they look good next year and I won't have to divide them for a few more years!