June 20 , 2023
Layer Up + Pruning Native Plants in Summer
While eyebrow - swinge heat sets in , let ’s make plans for fall planting ! One of the backbreaking thing for gardeners to figure out is the art of layering for successional bloom . PLUS , the whole gang must be compatible with the grime , amount of ignitor , and lacrimation indigence , too . Michelle and Louis Lay absolutely peg it in a very new garden where they ’re pare aside lawn with native plant . When we stop by in late May , bee balm and gaillardia dominated this driveway strip under a sister desert willow — its summertime funnel - shaped efflorescence a hummingbird hit . Graceful woolly ironweed may be flower now , and while bee balm fades , others claim top pollinator billing , including golden - flowered zexmenia and rock penstemon , its red vasiform blooms another hummingbird sensation . Our picture hail subsequently this year . Streetside at James Barela and Ray Delgadillo ’s new garden , they layer spring ’s one-year bluebonnets and poppy with fall - bloom perennial redolent aster ( jumping in ahead of time on cloudy days when we visited ) and Mexican feather grass . In this view , we ’ve catch spring - to - fall genus Rudbeckia , Salvia greggiiandSalvia‘Indigo Spires ’ , and spring - blooming Jerusalem sage . ( see our video online next workweek to see what else!)In my garden , hummingbirds and butterflies dart around white - flowered native tropical sage ( Salvia coccinea ) and repeated coneflowers in an island bottom ’s part shade side . The coneflower ’s at the very edge of the sunlight - to - shade line . The sage heralds fromKathleen Scott ’s aboriginal plant garden , a division she share when we visited last declension . In harsh winter , we considerSalvia coccineaa self - seeding annual , but despite February ’s halt , it made it back . I bet it knew I was rooting for it as a precious pass - along!Mainly , the coneflower thrive in the sunny side of the bed ( I ’ve had no luck with them in the part shadowiness side ) . I mistrust a grasshopper nipped this one . Apparently , an opportunistic wanderer plan a ambush . In a part shade spot shoot with sun , native white mistflower ( Ageratina havanensis ) flop over Mexican beautyberry until I cut back it back . Like asters , mistflower ’s key signature bloom clock time is fall , gear for migrating butterfly . Beautyberry should be flowering already , with cryptic imperial fruits in fall for razzing , but this one was slow to return after the freeze . A few metrical foot by , more shade overtop a corner with brief good afternoon sun blasts . Salvia ‘ Indigo Spires ’ recently see its first hummingbird . They ’ll also go forMexican honeysuckle’s(Justicia spicigera ) late orange vasiform blossoms , as will butterflies and bee . Spring ’s aboriginal assumed dayflower has withered while strait - along spring - flower Louisiana iris contributes stately evergreen foliation . There ’s more white mistflower and in fall , aboriginal coralberry ’s Battle of Magenta fruit for skirt . trim of empurpled tenderness ( Tradescantia pallida ) knit it all together , flowering in warm weather for bee .
Find out more about layering for successional bloomingAustin ’s Grow Green Native and Adapted Plants guideLady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center What ’s in BloomWhen to prune our aboriginal plants in summertime ? Drake White of the stigma - new native plant nursery in San Antonio , The Nectar Bar , presented a prompt guide onInstagramand Facebook . Honestly , I ’m not certain about doing a lot in this record hotness . Do keep plants hydrated .
And here ’s our pandemic working - from - home Zoom interview with her aboutpruning , admit tropical milkweed .
Thanks for stop by!Linda
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