Flowers Upon Arrival

After arriving back in Austin from Seattle I immediately went outside to check on my garden and water the hanging baskets (OK - so it was midnight by the time we got back to the house and it was dark, but my plants needed me!) Although it was in the 40's in Seattle, it was in the 80's all last week down here! I was hoping I had not lost all the hanging baskets I just purchased (our trip was the result of a last minute family emergency). I watered the plants, which appeared to have survived with only a little wilting, and noticed that many things looked like they were blooming. I absolutely new the Texas Mt Laurel was in bloom because the backyard smelled like a big vat of grape soda. Here are the images I took the next day once it became light outside:

The Mt laurel has many blooms again this year, but they are significantly smaller than the ones last year. Clearly, the extended drought is affecting the flowering of the plants:







The butterflies love the blooms:



They kept at those blooms until sundown:



And then the Hummingbird moths came to visit:





These are the wild snapdragon vines I have planted just under the Mt Laurel (I grew them from seed since I couldn't find what I wanted in plant-size). As the season progresses, they climb up into the Mt Laurel and provide these pink blooms at nearly eye-level. They Mt Laurel looks like it is blooming with a flush of hot pink flowers throughout the summer - Plus, the hummingbirds adore them:



Honeysuckle:



Swallowtail on Salvia:



California Poppy:



Texas Scarlet Quince (this is the plant that seduced me at the nursery last year when in bloom and I was forced to buy it):





Thalia:



Texas Redbud:





And I saw that male Black-Throated hummingbird again today - but he won't let me get his photo! I am going hummingbird hunting....