Success!

Well, the freezing temperatures have held off long enough that two of the Senna alata plants in my yard have started to flower!

It would have been much more beneficial if these had bloomed a month earlier when the hummingbirds were still around, and there were more active pollinators than a few bees and ants. Still, I'm glad I got to see the blooms this year.

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They're not the showiest flowers around, but it's nice to see them:

Next year I'll start the seeds earlier, as they took a while to germinate, and this plant apparently needs lots of time to get to the blooming stage.

I'll also have one of these plants overwintering in the garage in a pot. Not sure if that will work, but I'm going to try.

There are other plants still blooming too. The snapdragons have come back strong after the heat of summer passed:

Those aren't my favorite plants, but I have them for nostalgic reasons -- my mother grew these for years while I was growing up. She hates them now, as they've been reseeding for 30 years or so. Even after I remade her little garden for her a few years ago, the snapdragons still fight their way back in every year.

Mexican petunia (Ruellia brittoniana) is still producing some blooms:

The salvias are still going strong too. This is pineapple sage:

Too bad there are no hummingbirds left to enjoy these!

Gaura lindheimeri is new (again) in the walkway garden:

It's not certain that this will make it through the winter for me. I plant one in a different spot in the yard almost every year, and haven't had much luck with them coming back. I got one of these on sale a few weeks ago and it will spend the winter in the garage. If that works, I may start digging these up every year, for overwintering with the tender plants.

Finally, the Salvia leucantha is in full bloom now, too late like the Senna:

Those fuzzy purple buds are my favorite!


There's no hard freeze in the forecast for at least the next week, so who knows how much longer all of these will be around.

I'll keep enjoying them as long as I can though!

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