Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' July 21, 2021

I have two of these planted in pots around the pool.  Even when I am here for a week at a time I don't water them much.  And they have done extremely well.  I recall that the description on the tag said they were drought tolerant which is why I bought them.  The flowers are unusual, but non-descript unless you bend down to look at them.  The foliage is their greatest asset.  They are perennial and winter hardy - I don't know how hardy that is.  Frost tolerant is what the description says.  But so far I am impressed.  The foliage is supposed to get really colorful in the cooler months.  Around the pool I am growing aloe varieties, sedum varieties - basically cactus-ey stuff.  And I have a copper canyon daisy out there. Rain and occasional watering from me has kept it all alive.  I will move the copper canyon daisy to a bed in the Star Garden in the winter after it blooms.  Although copper canyon daisy is drought tolerant, it has suffered more than the aloes and sedums and the euphorbias.  

Below, this is a weird little aloe, Piranha aloe that I bought back in March.  It has of course been very drought tolerant.  In the photo above you can see the pretty red flowers it makes.  The butterflies really like them.

I don't remember the name of this sedum.  But, like all sedums - I love it.  This one has been with me for many years.  I made it through the February freeze like a champ.

   

Red and White Turks Cap July 20, 2021

 The red and the white Turks Cap are beginning to bloom.  These are useful plants.  They do fine in sun or shade.  I also have a pink variety, but it's not blooming yet.  In the winter they are a bit high maintenance because I have to cut back all the sticks.  I have many dozens, maybe hundreds of Turks Cap plants throughout the Boardwalk Gardens, by the pool, in the Shade Garden and the Star Garden.  That's a bit time consuming.  I suppose I can stop cutting them down, but I think over time they would get really messy looking. These plants are butterfly favorites.    

I can never get a photograph that does the white variety justice.  The white is so pretty, but my camera doesn't like them I guess.

Poke Salad July 20, 2021

 The photo below is Poke Salad, Illustris colocasia, Texas native lantana and Red Wave cannas.  This is a photo right at the bottom of the Boardwalk at the entrance to the Orchard. I didn't plant the Poke Salad, it grows wild on our property, and this plant just showed up.  Poke Salad is a perennial herb and a host plant for the giant leopard moth.  It's quite pretty with its pink branches and its green and purple berries, although so common that it's hard not to take it for granted.  The young leaves can be cooked and eaten, but they have to be cooked in water, drained, cooked in water again, then drained and then cooked again because they contain a poisonous chemical that can harm you.  The dark purple berries are a favorite of many wildlife species - deer, mice, possums, raccoons, and of course birds.  Right now, it is being quite a garden bully, and I need to go down there and trim it a bit so that it's not blocking the Orchard entrance.

My Peach Ginger July 20, 2021

 I don't know the name of this ginger, but it is fabulous.  I bought my start at a plant sale, but i did not write down the name.  They are fine in morning sun.  They can be grown in full shade, but they will lean towards the light. What a magnificent flower head, and it is a good multiplier.  I have them growing in the Shade Garden, the Star Garden, the Medicine Garden, the Greenhouse Garden, and the Boardwalk Garden. I'm so happy to be here for their magnificent show.  Many years I have missed it because I had to be in Houston through their entire bloom season.  It is unbelievable that something can be so lovely.

This ginger is growing along the Boardwalk.

This ginger is in the Medicine Garden.

This is the Shade Garden.

This is the Shade Garden.

These gingers are blooming in a bed in the Star Garden.  

These gingers are blooming in the Shade Garden, along the driveway.

Luffa July 20, 2021

 I always thought luffa sponges came from the sea until I was leafing through a seed catalogue and came upon luffa seeds for sale.  I was so surprised.  I planted a couple seeds last spring.  So far, I have only seen flowers and flower buds, no gourds have formed.  It's just a little fun experiment.  Frankly, I expect the nematodes to weaken and kill the vine long before I ever get a luffa. They need a long growing season which we have here in Texas, but as I just wrote, nematodes ruin everything in my garden that has a long growing season.  It's certainly a floriferous vine!  Apparently the gourds are long and slender, and if you let them dry on the vine the insides forms the "sponge".  You just peel off the skin and there you have it - a luffa sponge.

It's crawling all over my asparagus, but I don't mind.

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Hoja Santa AKA Root Beer Plant July 20, 2021

 I love plants with big leaves.  I love Mexicali Rose, Bears Breeches, Grecian Plant and of course Hoja Santa.  The leaves have a strong root beer smell hence its nickname.  I had it growing in the moist shady part of the Star Garden, and it became a real pest.  But in this spot in the Medicine Garden  (Hoja Santa is an herb.  It is edible.) it is much more mannerly because it is drier.  The leaves are heart shaped.  The white "flowers" that come up in the indentation of the heart are so interesting-looking.

 

John Fannick Phlox July 17, 2021

 This pretty light pink phlox with the dark pink eye blooms for a long time in July.  It is a spreading perennial.  It goes dormant in the winter.  I really like it, so much so that I bought 3 more of them last spring and planted them near this clump.  The new ones have not begun blooming yet, something to do with one clump being mature and one clump newly planted.  I assume they will bloom at the same time next year.