Cinco De Mayo Rose

My hubby gave this to me today as
an early Christmas present. This is
Cinco De Mayo. It's a floribunda
that is a chocolate or rust red with a hint
of lavender and is suppose to smell
really good. I planted it over by
the yellow Graham Thomas English rose.

The front yard got pretty neglected during our extreme
drought, so now that it has been cooler, I've been
in the mood to try and make a flower bed
around the rocks that previously
had pampas grass growing around them. I
started with this large clump of
Mystic Spires salvia. The
heat didn't bother this plant.

I transplanted a few of the zinnia's that
were a pretty pinkish red and also purple. I'm
hoping that they will go to seed
and come back next summer the same color.

In this bed I also transplanted
some lambs ear, coneflowers, alyssum, 
Frankly Scarlet daylily,
 which is a maroon red and 3 different iris.
There is a shady spot
along the underside
 of the rock, here
I transplanted some pink flowered
 wood sorrel/oxalis.

I just transplanted, so everything
looks a little wilted.

I transplanted another kind of salvia (Blue Bedder)  in front of this red knockout.

This is the crepe myrtle that I
tried to cut down last spring, but
it came back with a vengeance and looked beautiful
this past summer. Now it
has gorgeous reddish golden leaves.

Zinnia patch that came back from seed from the
summer ones.

I transplanted this rose at the
beginning of summer. It struggled
along and now has it's first bloom. It
is one that was here when we bought the
house and I didn't like where the previous
owner had it planted. I think it might be
a John F Kennedy rose.

A sunflower that has come back from seed.

Newly planted shrub bought for me by my sister
as a gift. It's a dwarf holly. I love the berries on it.

Quilt I'm making for my granddaughter. Lots
of flower fabric. I call it my
flower garden bow-tie quilt.

This And That

Red rose that came with the house. It smells wonderful!!
It's about 6 ft high. I think it might be a Mr Lincoln.

Bell peppers are loving this cooler weather.

Blue Bedder Salvia that I started in spring from
seed.

Mystic Spires Salvia. Bumblebees won't let me
get near to take a cutting. 

Queen Elizabeth

Hosta is looking good. I've moved it three
times and found it likes being under
this tree and I discovered - don't plant them
too deeply.

I cut down all the old and dying zinnias in
late August. This is the second wave from seed left
on the ground.

Believe it or not - there is a rose growing under this jar
from a cutting.

Encore Azalea - Autumn Moonlight

Encore Azalea - Autumn Sangria. I'm really
happy with these azaleas. I was
skeptical about them blooming 3
times during the year here in Texas -
they lived up to the claim. 

Double Red Knockout

Another shot of the unknown rose (it might be
a Mr Lincoln)

And The Winners Are...

I thought I'd mention a few top performers in my garden
that still look pretty good considering we've
had around 30 days of 100+ degree heat
and no rain since mid May.  This is a photo of the
Catnip Nepeta cataria.
I read though, that it can become invasive. 

Of course, lambs ear and alyssum.

Happy Returns daylily

It's not blooming now but the foliage is nice on the
Queen Elizabeth rose and next to it is the
coleus Electric Lime.

Miss Muffett caladium.

Candidum caladium

Another shot of Electric Lime coleus. It has done better
than the red coleus.

Coneflower - Echinacea
I started these from seed. They haven't bloomed
yet but are still growing and may yet.

Mystic Spires salvia.

Bell Pepper. Earlier in the season this plant produced
one bell pepper, now it has 3 pretty good
sized ones on it and more flowers.

Sunflower started from seed dropped by the
birds from their feeder. This is the really
large variety.

The Return Of The Daylily

Happy Returns daylily - this photo was taken yesterday at dusk, so it's  a little blurry. This is always the first daylily in my garden to bloom. It is a rebloomer, usually blooms most of the summer. It's flowers are around 3 1/8 inches and reaches a height of about 18 inches. This goes in the front of my borders. The color in the picture isn't a true color - the flower is more lemony yellow. (See other photos below for a truer color) I prefer Happy Returns over Stella de Oro.

I planted some of my tomato plants in between the Knockout roses. Next year I won't be able to do this because, hopefully, the roses will be bigger and fill in the gaps for my wall of roses. Nastursiums are growing in front of these.

Pink Knockout rose

Another shot of tomatoes with roses

A shot from the other end of the wall of roses. The road is on the outside of the chain link fence - which I am attempting to eventually block out.

More tomatoes 

Another shot of Happy Returns daylily 
by the Peach Schnapps Espadrille Verbena

Mystic Spires salvia in foreground and the small red color is the Shakespeare David Austin rose and a yellow lily 

Another shot of Mystic Spires blue salvia

Another shot of Happy Returns daylily with a red lily in the foreground.

This is Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia uvaria) coming up through the daylily leaves. I brought this from my previous house last fall. It was divided and replanted, so this one is considered a "baby". It will eventually have large tall flower spikes of a bright orange red that are really striking from a distance.

This is an old photo of Red Hot Poker from my previous house.