Foliage Follow Up

On the heals of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day comes Foliage Follow Up.



Day or night, this agave has served me well in its hanging basket. I've tried other plants in this spot, and the closest I've come to success was portulaca, but even it couldn't manager more than five days without water so like Amy, I've decided to get real with my container selections this summer.



Here's a rose that provides two for one beauty - the new purple foliage looks almost like tubular flowers (at least that what a hummingbird thought the other night) and the blooms in the spring are lovely too.

For more standout foliage, check out the links shared at Digging today.

GBBD : Pink December

Blooms are in short supply this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, but I can't complain. From the looks of the other GBBD posts across the U.S., I have a lot to be thankful for.


Notice the red on the baby shrimp plant leaves.

The shrimp plants are in full bloom. The weather has dipped down to freezing a few times so I've been covering these shade bloomers. They are fairing well.


The Arch Duke Charles rose bushes aren't as spectacular as they've been in previous months, but new buds are still opening regularly.



I can see the potted petunias and dianthus form almost any vantage point in the house. They're doing a good job perking up the view on days when it's too chilly to be outside.

Finally salvia gregii or autumn sage is living up to its name with a full show right now. December in San Antonio is more akin to autumn than winter, and that's just fine by me.

Bi-colored Beauties

After the rains and with the dip in the temperature, everything in my landscape is refreshed (including the gardener). Right now, I am loving the two-in-one color displays from a few of my plants.


This Burgundy To Green Coleus started its life with a thin necklace of lime ringing each maroon leaf. As the temperatures have changed, the burgundy has receded and the green has encroached. You can get an idea of what the young plant looked like from the faded leaf near the top of this picture.


I have two varieties of purple shamrock planted in the same bed. One has solid plum colored leaves and the other (a pass along from MomMom) has deep purple leaves with violet splotches. To complete the monochrome pallet, these plant send up a few delicate lavender blooms on separate stems.


My Archduke Charles rose bushes have about fifty blooms each. The flower petals change color throughout the day, going from light pink to fuchsia. Each flower is in a different stage of the process so from a distance, it looks like I have multicolored hedges.

Winged Guests

Since the summer flowers have come into bloom, butterflies and bees are everywhere.

Any time I go out front, I see at least three or four of these Border Patch Butterflies enjoying my lantana.

Here's the same species with its wings closed. This is by far the most common butterfly in my yard. I photographed this one on my climbing rose bush in the backyard.

I've only see the Hummingbird Moth visit my garden once so far. But they're so willing to let you watch and photograph them up close that the time you get to spend observing them leaves you feeling very satisfied.

By contrast, I never get to watch the huge Swallowtail Butterflies for more than a few seconds, and, as soon as I turn toward the house to grab my camera, they're gone.

However, I did get a good look at the Black Swallowtail Caterpillars enjoying my parsley. I let the parsely flower because I was hoping to attract these guests. Today was the first day I noticed them.

It seems like you can see his litte face in this picture. These caterpillars were so photogenic. I have a few more shots in my flickr Bugs set.

Finally, near dusk I saw this fuzzy caterpillar chomping on my nandia. I saw another one on my front porch a few nights ago. I know they will turn into moths, but I am not sure which kind. Giant Leopard Moths maybe?