You’ll have to excuse the roses, they aren’t at their best, having been pelted the last week or so with rain and soggy weather. Still, they make interesting subjects for photos…

Cherry Parfait

The Gold Medal rose, not looking so golden…downright faded, in fact.

The unnamed lavender colored rose did not suffer too much… she’s a pretty little lady.

The Pinata roses were small and I found this one with a passenger. The passenger is the dewdrop with legs…it’s not the only little jewel I found this morning.. but they get their own post.

And this, was the only one of my mini roses blooming…

In the herb garden, the basil is going to seed, and as usual in our mixed up weather/climate, some of the seeds have sprouted and are themselves, setting seed. The blooms attract all kinds of pollinators, not only bees, but pollinating flies, wasps and butterflies. There is a rouge tomato plant in there too. When I left last Saturday, there were a couple of little tomatoes, but they seem to have been eaten by …someone. Rats. I’ll just have to hope for the next ones. The rosemary and thyme, marjoram, oregano, chives and stevia are happily putting on new growth.

And finally, after a summer of very lush, leafy growth, the Texas Tarragon, or Mexican Mint Marigold is starting to bloom. It should continue through much of the winter.

The flowers are tiny, but pungent and beautiful.

This Cuphea is not at all shy. Unlike most of the cupheas I know, this one’s flowers are huge, almost the size of my thumb. They look rather like somewhat sinister butterflies, don’t they?

A chorus of Angelonicas is blooming. I seem to have lost all the purple ones, but the white is going strong.

Also on the rebound, the blanket flowers have bloomed and are setting seeds for the next spring. I hope they establish where they are.

The fire bush has been attracting several hummingbirds. I’ve not been able to catch them staying still long enough for a picture. They fight over the bush and are in almost constant motion.

Mexican sage.

Esperanza, or Texas Golden Bells. This is one of the plants I hope I can convince my sister to plant at her new house. They are almost indestructible and never stop blooming. They start easily from seed, so I have a project for this winter!

The peacock ginger is blooming, its unassuming little bloom. These flowers just don’t seem to belong to this plant, looking more like impatients than anything else.

I’m glad to see the blooming maple (huechera?) back. It’s one of the ones I thought I’d lost during the drought.

I knew I could count on the lantana, though. It can survive anything, bloom and still put on a huge crop of berries for the birds to eat.

This is not the best picture of a canna I’ve ever taken, but it’s blooming!

And, my favorite jasmine (except when the pink jasmine is blooming) is the Angel wing jasmine. It, too, has been drought defying, blooming and growing like crazy all summer.

And this… my hibiscus…one of the very first plants I put into my garden. It needs trimming back and rescuing from the morning glory vines that have exploded into growth with the rain.

And now: For the Rock Stars of the Garden:

My first two blooms of the gloriosa lily (bottom two) have been joined by two more and the growing tip is still in good condition.. and I might.. MIGHT be getting MORE!

Continue to think bad, destructive thougthts towards the snails in my garden.. they’ve not found this plant yet. Hopefully, they WON’T!

Joining the concert, the Malabar spinach is blooming and setting fruit. It is one of the oddest plants I’ve ever grown. My mom enjoyed her plant all summer, until she broke her shoulders. I’ll be trying to keep this plant in cultivation in my garden, to honor my mom and grand mom.

An oddity and an nondescript one, is the lavender verbena. It is supposed to lend a vanilla flavor to teas, though I’ve not tried it. The bush has been tiny until this summer. It liked the heat and dry conditions and trebled in growth. Its flowers look a little like music notes in a bar of music, don’t they?

Ahh…the clitoral vine.. the plant I got after Ike, and one that huddled under plastic with the tomatoes this winter. It’s finally growing! It took a whole year to decide to grow and is only now putting out flowers. I don’t know if this is its normal way of growing, or if it is still trying to recover it’s normal life cycle after the hurricane. Isn’t is gorgeous?

Best of all, another of the gloriosa tubers has decided to grow again, and I may be getting flowers soon. The combination of the flame lilies and the pea vine should be a striking one.. not exactly harmonious.. but interesting.

Last, but not least, is my clematis. I rescued this plant from a big box store. It bloomed earlier, in the Spring, but I missed it. How it’s hung on through the heat and drought to bloom again, this fall, I can’t imagine. But, it’s welcomed, all the more because I have had abysmal luck with clematis.

That’s it for this month. To get a peek into gardens all over the country and the world, go to May Dreams Garden, where our own Garden Rock Star, ,Carol hosts a gathering of what’s blooming on the fifteenth of every month.