What's in Bloom? June 2011

Getting all of the loose ends wrapped up for the big DWG Celebration Weekend has kept me running this week such that I don't have time to write the post that I had planned. However, I didn't want to stop the weekly blog post momentum so this week I am sharing some photos of what is currently coloring up my gardens. Enjoy.

The leaves of these two shade loving plants (Japanese Painted Fern, Purple Leaf Oxalis) are reason enough to plant them. In addition to its pretty two toned purple leaves, the oxalis also sports pretty lilac pink flowers.

Standing up to the heat and full sun, my coneflowers and cosmos mix provide bright focal points. The cosmos attracts a wide range of butterflies too.

You will find other blooming beauties in my Texas Stars photo album.

Winter Garden Clean Up

If a killing freeze has turned sections of your garden from vibrant to drab, you need to do a little “winter cleaning” for the look and health of your garden. Annuals that have turned brown need to be taken out and perennials that go dormant over the winter need to be clipped back. Not only will this maintenance make your garden look better, but it can improve the health of your garden by removing hiding places for pests to spend the winter in. This is especially true for beds of asparagus.

After pulling out the dead annuals and clipping back the dormant perennials, you may discover some winter weeds that need to be pulled. Once you have completed these tasks, it is a great time to freshen your mulch. It is easiest to do now, when there are no plants to mulch around. If you are in a part of the country with mild winters, you may even want to put in some pansies or snapdragons.

The photos accompanying this article are of a portion of one of my front beds. Annual cosmos predominates in shades of yellow and orange during the summer, right up to the first freeze. After the freeze, the now brown plants were taken out and the ripened seeds scattered back into the garden for next year. I added a layer of no float cypress mulch before putting out my polar bear holiday decoration. I will put in some cold hardy annuals along the edge of the walk after the holidays.