Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’ would be in every month’s bloom day posting because it never has stopped blooming for me since it went into the ground two years ago. The plants are getting huge and taking more than their share of the garden, and I’ll have to admit that they’re on my list of flowers that I’m almost tired of seeing. But because of these plants, the hummingbirds are a constant presence in the back yard. I’d hate to do anything rash like remove their favorite year-round source of nectar.
A while back I had to find out what it was about these plants that was so appealing. I took one of the flowers and popped it into my mouth. A tiny hit of flavor, faint but sweet, registered on my tongue. Pretty tasty if you’re a bird addicted to nectar. But I wondered if I was pimping my neighborhood birds with sugar water in the way a busy suburban parent might keep their kids supplied with gallons of soda.
Some other plants that are in the “I’m almost sick and tire of seeing them all the time” category: Salvia nemerosa ‘Snow Hills,’ Gaillardia pulchella, and Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost.’ They’re all in the gallery of flowers below.
The season also brings some new blooms to the fall garden: Oxalis bowiei, Protea Pink Ice, Camellia sasanqua ‘Cleopatra,’ lemongrass, and the plant formerly known as Lessingia filanginifolia var. californica (now relabeled as Corethrogyne filaginifolia var. californica). And then there are the sporadic bloomers. You can’t set your calendar by them, but they’re nice to have around. Hover over any image below for their name.
Happy Bloom Day, and thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this monthly online garden party.
I envy you the Thymus serpyllum. I’ve tried to grow that and several other species of thyme, but every thyme species I’ve tried has ended up dead within a month or two.
We all seem to have one or two flowers that we can count on year round, don’t we? Mine is, of course, indoors because of my climate.
Thanks for sharing your blooms with us for bloom day!
Spend the winter with us in Pennsylvania, and I promise you’ll never take your salvias and gaillardias and euphorbias for granted ever again! Proteas, lemongrass in bloom, and narcissus in November – what a treat to see those, and your many other beauties today. Thanks for sharing them.
Hi
I know what you mean about being fed up with plants but it is at this time of year that they come into their own and we actually appreciate them.
Beautiful, I love that protea. I have a leucadendron just starting to color up.
pimp my garden – hilarious! i feel that way when i see neighbors putting up their hummingbird feeders with the red dye in it – who wants some kool-aid? but i’m happy to provide our local birds with colorless sugar water and lots of pollinator plants to round out the menu.
Our hummingbird likes the Hot Lips better than I do, too. I haven’t ever tasted it, though I do like to suck on the flowers of Apricot Sunrise Agastache. I like the way the Hot Lips varies from mostly white flowers to two tone flowers to mostly red flowers.
How I smiled when you talked about your Salvia Hot Lips – here mine gets my undivided love to see ot through the winter 🙂
How lovely to have protea blooming and I do like the colour of the Salvia sagittata
Right – off to taste my Salvia Hot Lips before the frosts get it.
K
Now why did I think that ‘Hot Lips’ would be red? Anything that brings the hummingbirds is welcome at our place. Lucky you with the protea!
Protea ‘Pink ice’ How wonderful, so you have Proteas in your garden…in not at all jealous 😉 Very nice post and I most say very well presented.
Tyra
I always try to visit at least one new site each bloom day. yours is quite a find. i’ll be back (as arnold is famous for saying).
Gayle, my luck with thyme is spotty. I have some spots that look lush and happy. Others looked great and then died overnight. The only constant I’ve found is that they don’t’ tolerate being crowded by bigger plants flopping over on them.
Carol, indoors or out you always have some great things blooming!
Nan, I can see why people new to California complain about there being no seasons. With plants blooming year-round it’s easy to miss the signs of the changing year.
Helen, yes, as much as it sounds like I might be complaining, it IS nice to have some plants that don’t take constant pamering.
Susie, leucadendron! Cool. Be sure to post pictures!
Andrea, I definitely feel better about planting sage than putting colored water out for the hummers.
Ryan, one of my Hot Lips seems to be drifting towards an all-white plant. Some stems show red, but all summer long 90% of the blooms have been almost all-white.
Karen, good luck keeping your Hot Lips going over the winter. Even here they slow down considerably as the weather cools, though they haven’t stopped flowering yet.
Helen, the sage will sometimes produce all-red flowers, other times a mix of white and red, and other times all-white. I’m happy to have a spot where the protea is happy. It’s not just the climate–they have very special soil and water requirements too.
Ricki, thanks for the kind words!
Beautiful! But I remember living in TX and getting so tired of the Salvias always doing their thing. I think Nan’s on to something there–after a few months of grey you’d kill for a carnation! Love seeing lemongrass. Do you cook with it?
Lynn, the lemongrass ends up in a lot of things I cook: lots of curries and even some more mediterranean veggie or pasta dishes. As much as I like it, I have two huge plants–way more than I’ll ever need–so one of them will get converted to something I’d be able to use.