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Bloomfest in my garden for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day!

After more rain in recent weeks than in the first four months of 2011, my east Austin, Texas garden joyously celebrates Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day!  Daylilies keep coming, day after day.

Yellow daylily Tawny daylily

‘Patrick’ abutilon’s little lanterns light up part shady spots near the house on this graceful evergreen shrub.

'Patrick' abutilon
Mexican blanket (Gaillardia pulchella) is one of my favorite annual native wildflowers.

Mexican blanket Gaillardia pulchella
Perennial Coreopsis lanceolata is another love that favors me with foliage all year.

Coreopsis lanceolata
Oh, but I can’t be picking favorites yet, because there’s rock rose (Pavonia lasiopetala), a shrubby perennial that blooms for months!

Rock rose Pavonia lasiopetela

And groundcover winecup (Callirhoe involucrata) that sprawls underneath them and everywhere!

Winecups

Shrubby plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) sprawls a little too, but much taller, cooling us off all summer.

Plumbago auriculata
Native plumbago (Plumbago scandens) is less aggressive but just as eager to perform, even in spots that get shade a lot of the day.

Plumbago scandens

Lemon yellow rosemallow (Hibiscus calyphyllus) is a dreamy plant in shade. It barely wants a speck of sun.

Lemon yellow rosemallow (Hibiscus calyphyllus)
Nearby, shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana) hasn’t stopped blooming since we had such a mild winter. I did cut them back to shape, but they jumped right back in!

Shrimp plant
White oxalis is still out to join heat lover Turk’s cap that’s already feeding butterflies and hummingbirds again this year. The bees go for the oxalis.

Turk's cap and white oxalis
Towering over us are bird-seeded sunflowers, some 8′ tall!  In a few weeks, the birds will have picked them clean.

Sunflowers
Closer to the ground is sweet little rain lily Habranthus robustus.

rain lily Habranthus robustus
Although my coneflowers are going absolutely nuts, they don’t compare to this scene at  the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Coneflower Echinachea purpurea
And all around town, check out these Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta).

Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta

That’s only a sampling of what’s going on in my east Austin garden.  Now  it’s time to thank dear Carol at May Dreams Garden for showcasing gardeners from around the world on Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! Linda

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