Today’s the 15th, so I would normally be flaunting the lovliness that’s blooming in my garden—but it’s July in Texas, and we’ve now had 15 days of over 100 degree temps. It’s bleak in the garden today…

This butterfly weed is still sitting in the holding pen on the front porch, where I can dump water in it regularly, which is probably why it’s blooming. I keep trying to find a cool time to get it into the ground, but it just hasn’t happened yet.


All three Mexican petunias are blooming, and spreading nicely. Their blooms don’t seem to last very long, so deadheading has been a challenge, but there are tons of them, so the pretty purple overpowers the faded brown. I just planted these in May, and I think two of the three already big enough to consider dividing in the fall.

The two surviving Knockour roses, plus the rose bush I transplanted from the backyard are all blooming, and seem to be doing well. The other two Knockouts withered and died. I think I kept them too wet while I was waiting to plant them, and their roots never recovered. Note to self: stop buying plants unless you definitely have the time and place to put them in the ground right away.

Naturally, the red yucca is still blooming, and happy as a clam. The lantana at the base of it has stopped blooming completely, and I’m not sure why. I noticed this morning it now has lots of seed pods on it. The last time it stopped blooming, I knocked all the pods off, and deep watered it, and it burst back into flower. Note to self: lantana needs to be deadheaded.

Moving to the backyard, the basil is in bloom. I’ve surrendered, and let it go ahead and bolt, because I was pinching off the tops daily to prevent it. Go on and bolt, sweetie.

Marigolds are blooming. The big ones above were planted around the squash bed. The squash is pretty much spent, and now the marigolds are blooming. Nice timing. The little ones at left are new, in the fall tomato bed. I went ahead and bought plants, since clearly my seed/seedling timing isn’t the best, but I also transplanted some of the big ones to this bed, and am deadheading the seeds right into the soil. Perhaps I’ll have a decent fall marigold crop…

Just as I was turning to go insided, I caught a flutter of wings over the honeysuckle, which is just barely still blooming.

This post is for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. If you have a garden, join in the fun!