Thursday, May 15, 2008

Bloom Day - May 15th

First off - WOW! What a storm we had last night! Some parts of Austin got pummeled, while others just got skirted by the winds. We were under a Tornado Warning with a storm bearing down on our house that had already produced a funnel cloud or two. We dragged everything that wasn't tied down into the garage and waited for the storm to hit. 80-100 mile an hour straight line winds they said. We were all ready to run into the center hall closet and hunker down in there. The sky was alive with lightning and there was so much thunder, I thought for sure the Gods were in the midst of a championship bowling tournament!

When the storm did hit - almost NO wind! Crazy I tell you. We did get torrential rains and hail however. See, that is how it works - take the time to prepare and nothing bad happens - don't lift a finger, and your house has its roof torn off. I guess the winds just skirted us - what a break! Later on overnight and into the morning we did get some pretty crazy winds and more torrential rains, though nothing like some parts of Austin that had old oak trees torn in half and thrown about. I saw some of that damage on my way into work this morning. I always feel bad for the trees - must be that Northwest tree-hugger in me.

Anyway...on to the blooms!

Salvia guaranitica - Black and Blue:



Buddleia Black Knight:



Dwarf Yellow Canna:



Purple Coneflower:



Coreopsis and Passionflower:



Yellow Cosmos:



Cuphea Ignea and Mexican Petunia:



Desert Willow:



A collection of hummingbird favorites:



Rock Rose:



Nasturtium:



Blackfoot daisy and Pink Skullcap:



Mexican Oregano:



Blue Mistflower and Lantana:



Moonbeam Yarrow:



And here is my Fuchsia 'Angels Earrings Snowfire' still blooming and undaunted by the heat and humidity. I am starting to really love this fuchsia!:

14 comments:

chey said...

Great blooms! Looks like they survived the storm without damage. That must have been a frightening experience anticipating a possible tornado.

Lori said...

I really like your xeriscape bed with the cactus, skullcap, and blackfoot daisies. I keep intending to do something like that, and it keeps morphing into straight-up cottage garden.

I'm glad you escaped the worst of last night's crazy weather!

Carol Michel said...

I've read several accounts of that storm and it sounds like a whopper. It is true what you say about preparation and of course, storm warnings should be taken seriously.

I love the flowers you've chosen for your garden, and like Lori, find the xeriscape interesting, as that is something we wouldn't find around here.

Thanks for joining in for bloom day.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Iris said...

They all look great and your pink scullcap is particularly cute with the rocks and blackfoot daisy. Happy you made it through the crazy storm unscathed!

Anonymous said...

The winds hit us pretty hard--horizontally from the north. The large trees in my neighborhood are devastated. One uprooted completely and fell on a neighbor's house. Another neighbor woke up to find her car under a limb. And my tree dropped two limbs on the power lines knocking out power on my street for 7 hours.

Still the flower bloom in spite of it all. I covet your desert willow. I must own the only desert willow in Austin that doesn't bloom. The Buddleia is also beautiful.

Anonymous said...

i like your site, great info. may be a little of topic, but we got hit by the storm as well, we have several huge oaks, that were stripped bare, most of the leaves gone. i was wondering if you knew if thay will come back this late in the year?, will they be ok?

Unknown said...

I love that yellow canna. What a great color.

Storm didn't seem that bad for us, maybe I'm just a sound sleeper!

Lee17 said...

chey,

It was kinda scary. We were ready to run and hide in the center hall closet, that is for sure!

Lee17 said...

lori,

Thanks, that garden is on the downslope of the front yard and any plants that I put there have to be extra tough and those guys fit the bill!

Lee17 said...

carol,

Thanks, the xeriscaping is fun and conserves water.

And thank you, for coming up with bloom day in the first place!

Lee17 said...

iris,

Thanks, I am glad we came out unscathed too. I only lost one medium sized branch off my oak tree.

Lee17 said...

mss,

I am so sorry to hear about your neighborhood - I saw the damage from the freeway - all the trees uprooted and broken in half. It was so sad to see. Old, large trees are something to be treasured. It always hurts to lose them.

Lee17 said...

Peter,

I have no idea if the trees will get leaves back this year (poor trees!)- probably not. I would think they would recover next year though, if the tree itself is intact.

Lee17 said...

bonnie,

The storm was so hit and miss - some areas were torn to shreds and others looked pretty much untouched. Nature is weird that way.