Bloom Day, October 2014

Summer has been reluctant to release its toasty grip on us in Texas, but the cool of autumn has mostly arrived. We’ve enjoyed a couple of refreshing cold fronts, dropping our temperatures into the ’50’s, with highs in the 70’s and ’80’s. The lingering warmth of September and early October didn’t damper blooms in my gardens, though. Joining Carol at May Dreams Gardens, I’m celebrating blooming stuff on this 15th of October.

There is no shortage of blooming native Texas plants in my gardens. Let’s take a tour, shall we?

Barbados Cherry, Malpighia glabra, has blossomed its dainty, pink clusters for a month or so now.

Soon, cherry red fruits will replace blooms, feeding a whole different crop of critters. Barbados Cherry is lovely in tandem with Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus.

A cultivar of the native red Turk’s Cap, the Pam’s Pink Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus ‘Pam Puryear’, blooms as heartily as the red,

…but with softer pink swirls perched atop the long branches.   In my gardens, the Pam’s Pink is planted with Frostweed, Verbesina virginica,

….and it’s a successful pairing.   Frostweed is an excellent wildlife plant.   Attracting butterflies, like this migrating Monarch,

…and bees,

…and this guy, a Tachinid fly,

…who you can see again on Wildlife Wednesday, a fun little wildlife gardening meme I host.  The next Wildlife Wednesday is November 5th.  Frostweed a stalwart native perennial; it’s drought hardy and works well in either shade or sun.

The Goldeneye, Viguiera dentata, is photogenic in the fall garden.

Another perennial which attracts its share of pollinators,

…these pretty yellow flowers evoke glorious autumn sunshine.

They work and play well with other natives in my gardens,

…like the Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala and Barbados Cherry. And who doesn’t love the tried and true combination of yellow and blue?

This Goldeneye’s companion is the non-native Blue Anise Sage, Salvia guaranitica.  

The roses in my gardens are awake again after the heat of summer. I grow only water–wise antique or cultivar roses in my gardens.  If a rose can’t shrug off the heat and dry of the Texas summer, it’s out!  The Martha Gonzales Rose is one such beast.

Named after a Navasota, Texas gardener, Martha Gonzales,

…this rose is beautiful, fragrant, and tough. Martha grows in USDA zones 7a to 10b so it it’s appropriate in a wide range of situations.  If you only grow one rose, make it the Martha!

The Belinda’s Dream Rose, which is appropriate for USDA zones 5a to 10b,

is the quintessential elegant pink rose. Fragrant and downright luscious, Belinda isn’t quite as hardy as the Martha, but still performs well for me.  Belinda gets a little peeky in summer, but picks up again with rain and softer temperatures.  Caldwell Pink Rose,

looks dainty, but it’s no wilting beauty.  This poor thing, I’ve moved it four times–I think I’ve finally found its forever home.

A migrating Monarch finds this Old Gay Hill Rose delightful,

…and so do I.  Similar to the Martha Gonzales, the shrub is larger and the petals slightly (but only slightly) more pink than the Martha’s fire engine red petals.

I’m not a grow-only-native purest and host a number of non-native perennials in my gardens, like these Four O’Clocks, Mirabilis jalapa.  Considered a staple of the Southern garden, these are new to my gardens and were gifted to me by a gardening friend, TexasDeb at austin agrodolce.

These lovely trumpets open late in the day, bloom all night, and close in the morning. Four O’clocks are fragrant and are such lovelies–I’m tickled to make room for them in my gardens.

Jewels of Opar, Talinum paniculatum, are another new-to-my-gardens perennial from TexasDeb.  Jewels are also an old-fashioned flower of the Southern garden.

I love the teesny flowers, the “jewels” seeds, and chartreuse foliage. Both Four O’Clocks and Jewels of Opar are potentially invasive, so I’ll keep them in check–ripping out uninvited extras who crash my garden party!

It’s now that my Coral Vine, Antigonon leptopus, shines,

…or is that a sparkle?  Whatever it is, the bees love this bloomer.

After each rain, the Almond Verbena, Aloysia virgata, flowers and its fragrance graces my garden.  Shown here in partnership with Turk’s Cap blooms, the Almond Verbena is favored by honeybees.

My Almond Verbena is the anchor plant in a group of native shrubs and perennials.

It fits quite well, I think.

Quoting another garden blogging buddy, Debra of Under the Pecan Trees,  we enjoy a “second spring” in Texas–a  lush blooming autumn gift, after the heat, when all, including gardeners, perk up anew.

What’s blooming in your gardens this October Bloom Day?  Check out May Dreams Gardens for blooms from everywhere.

 

Barbados Cherry (Malpighia glabra): A Seasonal Look

The debut for this seasonal look-see is Barbados Cherry (Malpighia glabra).  I love Barbados Cherry, but even I don’t think it’s a particularly sexy, exciting plant.  It’s rather a staple of sorts: the practical “nursing shoe” of plants versus its sexier “stiletto heel” exhibitionist kin.  Barbados Cherry is tough, reliable and in its steady way, beautiful.  Gardeners utilize it as a hedge, but it also produces a mass of blooms, at least a couple of times per year, with lush berries following.  It is extremely drought tolerant, growing well in shade, part shade and full sun.  Barbados Cherry is an excellent wildlife plant.  It develops into a thick shrub/thicket, so birds love it for protection and is a host/nectar plant for several butterflies.  For all that acclaim, Barbados Cherry is not a particularly fast grower and is not deer resistant.

Most of the year, Barbados Cherry presents as a green shrub, though individual plants can be shaped as a sphere or in  tree form.  I don’t care for overly pruned plants, preferring more natural growth patterns.  I’ve only pruned my B. Cherry to prevent overhanging the driveway too much. I planted my original five shrubs about 20 years ago, in a shade/part shade area, primarily as a privacy hedge.  Once established, B. Cherry like this most of the year.

A disclaimer:  these photos were taken in autumn, but Barbados Cherry are green, rear-round, with some exceptions, noted later.

The photos illustrate a plant, while not heart-stopping, is green, lush and tough.  In the course of its life, my hedge of Barbados Cherry withstood bicycles, basketballs, soccer balls and all manner of kid destruction while demanding nothing from me,  serving its purpose well.

In spring and fall, reliably after rain, the Barbados Cherry will explode with ruffly clusters of pink, dainty flowers.

My experience is that the bloom cycle lasts up to about six weeks, once in the spring/early summer and then again in the fall.

During the bloom cycle, berries like this beauty develop.

Barbados Cherry is especially stunning when there are blooms and berries at the same time which typically occurs during both bloom cycles..

Many birds, but especially mockingbirds, favor the berries.  The berries are sweet, though a little seedy for my taste.

Depending upon the winter, Barbados Cherry exhibits differing responses.  To about 30 degrees for short periods of time, Barbados Cherry remains evergreen.  If temperatures remain in the low 30s for long periods or dip into the 20s, for more than 12-15 hours, some of the upper limbs will defoliate, though in a thick bramble, the rest will likely stay green.

Not much green here, because of the freeze events of the 2013-14 winter.  Still, this group (different from the one in the photos above) isn’t completely frozen to the ground because it’s in a protected area. The branches will flush out with new growth once temperatures warm. There’s no need to prune further than where you can scratch the surface to find some green. In this photo, it’s just below the copyright.

Because winter was colder than in the last 2 decades and the original, exposed stand of Barbados Cherry experienced a number of freezes well into the mid 20s, they froze completely to the ground.

I knew they were goners when I saw the trunks of the shrubs.

By early March, I’d cut all of the original stand of Barbados Cherry to the ground.

So much for my privacy hedge!  Now, to wait until new growth from the roots. Finally, in late March, signs of life!!

As of the end of March 2014, these individual plants are recovering slowly from the hard freezes of this past winter.

In fact, B. Cherry is at its northern range in Austin.  According to the Native Plant Database of the Lady Bird Johnson National Wildflower Center, B. Cherry are native to South Texas, Mexico and into Central and South America.  So it is a tropical plant and not reliably evergreen in Austin.  I knew that when I planted, but was lulled to complacency by the abnormally mild winters we’ve experienced since the mid-to-late 1990s.   As of March 31, 2014 all of the Barbados Cherry are sprouting green from the trunks.  I’ll definitely keep them, but because the light requirements have changed for this garden, I am augmenting the garden by planting other native plants and will prune the B. Cherry more regularly.  This garden will no longer be a mono-culture hedge, but a more diverse native garden.

 

Patience, Young Padawon

Recently, several people have mentioned to me that they’ve planted Barbados Cherry (Malpighia glabra) and asked, “why is it taking so long to grow and bloom?”

It’s a pokey little puppy, that’s why.

Barbados Cherry is a slow-growing, mostly evergreen shrub, native to Texas and Lands South Of The Border. It isn’t an exciting plant.  It’s not something that catches the eye and takes the breath away.  But for a tough and hardy hedge for privacy, you’ll find none that serves better.   It’s also an excellent plant for attracting wildlife to your garden.

In Austin, Barbados Cherry will freeze when it gets below 32 for any length of time.  I’ve never had it die back completely–usually it stays leafy on at least some parts of the shrub.  I used to prune at the end of winter, but now  I just  wait until spring and reliably, the leaves flush out–bright, cheery, little  green leaves all over the branches.  I  prune only for shape, (or if the branches are rubbing up against a car, since mine is planted along the driveway).

I planted this group about fifteen years ago.  It took FOREVER for them to do anything.  After year four–Boom! The group really took off. This has been a great hedge for privacy and the birds love to hang out in its thicket.  Birds also love the bright red fruit that develops after the blooms.    Currently this is the only fruit on any of my plants.

I’ve observed some mockingbird action lately, so he/she/they might have gobbled the others up.  (There is also a Turk’s Cap planted in the same area and a mockingbird has been dining on that fruit too.)  Additionally, Barbados Cherry is a  host and nectar source for bees  and butterflies. The flowers look like tiny Crapemyrtle blooms to me.

According to  the NPIN site, one of the common names for Barbados Cherry is Wild crapemyrtle.  The bloom-time  lasts four to six weeks during both spring and fall and appear all over the shrub.  Usually, though not this year,  there are both blooms and fruit on the shrub and this red-pink combination is striking.

I planted this group at the back of my garage about four years ago.

They have a while to go before they reach the mature height of five to six feet.

Barbados Cherry is a stalwart plant. I don’t have a sprinkler system and I don’t have a soaker hose in this group of plants.

This past Summer From Hell, I watered four times, by hand.  That’s it.  There was a point, in early August when the shrubs were droopy–I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in this plant before.  But with a little drink,  they perked up and survived the heat.  They’re still surviving the drought.

So, if you’ve planted lovely Barbados Cherry recently, be patient–with time, it will grow up to become a large shrub that requires very little care.

And may the (gardening) force be with you.