Too Bloomin' Hot!

Despite the fact that it's really hot down here(have I told you that before? *wink wink*) and we've had 42 consecutive days without rain, some flowering plants are still attempting to bloom. Our neighbor has a small garden of old Cecile Brunner roses that are pretty spectacular against the dust and prematurely brown liveoak leaves.



Of course, these dainty pink blossoms rely on irrigation provided by a quintessential Texas windmill. I love that windmill!



Outside my Dear Professor's sister's gate, is a magnificent cenizo or purplesage, a shrub that has attractive lilac flowers. At least, I think they are attractive, and the number of butterflies fluttering around them the day I took this picture seem to agree.



A few years ago, this big city girl was introduced to this plant on Daddy Britt's ranch in south Texas. I decided I'd like to transplant a small specimen to our yard in Houston. Daddy Britt, always a man of keen insight and few words(my Dear Professor comes by it honestly) invited me to go ahead and "try". Although it was a small plant, the roots went deep looking for water in a very dry country. It was like pulling teeth out of concrete, but I somehow managed. I think Daddy Britt found that very entertaining!

Last year I saw fields and fields of blue bells around here. The numbers were not as great this year, but that just made the blooms we saw even more special.



When I was a child, my sister and I would play with the trumpet vine flowers whose advancing tendrils harrassed the fence and tall pine trees around our home. She calls them "witchy fingers". Imagine the blooms perched upside down on our fingertips. "I've got you, my pretty! You and your little dog, too!"



What I miss most living in the Frozen North are the crepe myrtle trees that line the streets with beautiful, lacy bunches all summer long. They come in many colors--red, several pinks, and white. These were found on an overlook at a nearby lake.



I can't help but enjoy this weed that ranchers hate. It reminds me too much of its distant cousin, my favorite sunflower. These grow in waste places and on the lawn at the local Popeye's Chicken franchise. If you look, beauty can be found anywhere, even at a fast food drive through.



I think it's a tribute to Texas gardeners (and plants!) that they can produce so many wonderful blooms when it is just too bloomin' hot!