What's Living in My North TX Garden in the HOT Season 2013? Survival of the Fittest!

I don't even want to go out in my yard during this time of the year in North Texas - it is absolutely miserable.  When I do make it out it is usually after 7:00 pm.  However, in the interest of keeping up with my garden diary, I decided I needed to check things out so here goes.

Cottontail Bunnies come out in the backyard in the early morning and late evening. 

A male Cardinal visiting my backyard.

Close up shot of Flame Acanthus - Hummingbirds love it and it is very drought tolerant - see more below!

Flame Acanthus in back, Salvia Greggii in front.

Silverado Sage in bloom!

Sage in front - Althea in back.  Both are very drought tolerant.

Close up of an Althea bloom (also called Rose of Sharon) - they attract Hummingbirds.

Salvia Greggii

Butterfly Weed

Crinum Lily

Vitex has a few blooms left that still attract hummingbirds.

My Silverado Sage had many beautiful blooms covering them last week and they attracted many Bumble Bees and Honey Bees.  See the beautiful pollen sacks on both kinds of Bees!

There are a lot of wasps this season.

I saw a female Ruby Throated Hummingbird visiting my Flame Acanthus this morning!

I also found a beautiful Garden Spider this morning!  See her beautiful zig zag on the web.  She will catch a lot of pests.

Turk's Cap is very drought tolerant and attracts Hummingbirds.

Trumpet Vine is also very hardy and attracts hummingbirds.

 

The Vegetable Garden has a few tough plants producing during the hot season.

Cantaloupes

Harvest from 8/3/13

The tomato plants look ratty - but are still producing some tomatoes.  The tomatoes are not perfect though - they have big cracks at the top.

Harvested 8/11/13

Cinnamon Basil is in full bloom now with Marigolds (planted to ward off garden pests) in the back.

Bell Peppers are in full production now.  Swiss Chard is in the back. 

Banana Peppers are also producing heavily now.

Okra loves the heat.  Our problem is we don't harvest it frequently enough and it gets too big to eat real fast.

See an Okra bloom - it looks similar to a hibiscus.



I still have a few blossoms on the one lone squash plant that the squash bugs and heat didn't get.

The Eggplants have a lot of fruit - but they are very small and tough now.

Cucumbers are starting slow down in production but we still get a couple every day.

 

The pink and yellow Lantana is still blooming.  It also attracts Hummingbirds and Butterflies.

 

I have the Lantana planted underneath the dark red Crepe Myrtle.  Crepe Myrtles are very drought tolerant and bloom during the hottest time of the summer - I counted and have realized that I planted 22  - I now think I went overboard.

Lots of Rose Hips were produced this year after the spring bloom.  Rose Hips are typically produced on Antique Roses.
 They have lots of Vitamin C.

I have planted quite a few Cactus and Agave since they don't need much water.

Cow's Tongue Prickly Pear - this is a large and very vicious plant.

Blue Salvia variety - it is still blooming in the heat and attracts Hummingbirds!

Spineless Prickly Pear with sage behind it.

Crepe Myrtle and Althea in bloom.

Potted plants around the garden.  I chose cactus so I don't have to water them regularly.

Hen and Chicks (Sempervium) in a pot.

My Front Porch - see my huge Aloe Vera in a pot.  I have had this plant for 20 years.

See green spider on front porch.

I'm ending this post with a hope for cooler weather!  We planted some Squash for a fall crop - see it coming up!

My View on the 2013 Dallas Water Garden Tour

My dream one day is to have a beautiful water garden.  Until then, I go every year on the Dallas Water Garden tour to get my annual inspiration.  This year, I went with my good friends who also love water gardens.  We had a wonderful time!  The Tour is sponsored each year by the North Texas Water Garden Society. 
http://www.ntwgs.org/  One day I hope to join (when both my kids have flown the coop).

This year it was held on June 8th and 9th and luckily it wasn't miserably hot.  We started the tour at the Creative Water Gardens Store in Garland, TX.  I had never been there before (my friends had though!) Oh my goodness, what a wonderful store - I can't recommend it highly enough for beautiful and inspirational water garden displays!  http://www.creativewatergardens.net/


 

Below are pictures of ponds, fountains, falls, fish, turtles, and water lilies taken at the store.

Beautiful multicolored water lily pads. 

I loved the fish fountain

I love dragon flies

Cool moss growing on the turtle!

Lovely garden angel

I was amazed at the number of fish for sale - huge inventory!

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop at all the ponds on the tour, so we selected the central and southern areas of the metroplex to focus on.  The first pond was the one that was mentioned in the Dallas Morning News article.  It was beautiful and so clear - like a 7,000 gallon fish aquarium (the filtering system was incredible).  See link for the article.  http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/home-and-gardening/headlines/20130605-dallas-area-residents-7000-gallon-pond-features-20-koi-fish-and-more.ece



The fish were very friendly!

The next pond we visited was much smaller, but still lovely.

 The surrounding pond plants and flowers were very nice.

I love bee balm, and it was very pretty here.

 

Bees love beebalm!

 Such a pretty waterfall!

The next pond garden was at the bottom of a small hill in the backyard.  It was also very lovely.

 

Walking down the hill

Although not part of the water gardens, I loved this beautiful variety of thistle that was in several of the front yards of the gardens that we toured.

The next pond had a boardwalk built around it and a small building for resting and meditation.  It was also very lovely.

The Koi here was also very friendly!

The last garden also had several carnivorous plants - growing in the garden in North Texas!  How cool!

And finally - a small pond with tadpoles - my fave as a kid!  See their little legs starting to develop!

Me and my best gardening buddy!  What a great day!