November Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

There's still a few things blooming in the old garden this November Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Leading off are what have become my fall staple - Salvia leucantha (Mexican Sage) and Tagetes lucida (Mexican Mint Marigold, now sometimes known as Texas Tarragon). If the Mexican Sage looks rather bunched up that's because it is. I had to lasso it together after 20 inches of October rains and winds caused it to flop over.



Patrick's Abutilon has many fall blooms. I found this to be a good hummingbird magnet, something I wasn't expecting. But alas, the hummers have finally flown south for the winter.



I bought this Russelia equisetiformis lutea (Yellow firecracker fern) for the hummers as well. Although I never saw them at this plant, to be fair it's still a very small one. But maybe it's not the right color?



This is very beloved of the hummers - Lizard Lips aloe.



Pulling back from the blooms you can see some of my succulent collection. Soon they'll all be nestled in their winter home of shelves in the storeroom.



And one more bloom for the hummingbirds, pink Turk's Cap. I'm not sure of the botanical name for this one. I was looking for 'Pam's Pink' at Barton Springs Nursery earlier this year and the man helping me found this one. But I'm pretty sure it's not 'Pam's Pink'. The blooms are too long. Anyway, it's blooming nicely now. Here's it's surrounded by Muhlenbergia dumosa, Bamboo muhly.



Though the hummingbirds have flown, there are still a few other winged creatures hanging about. This poor Gulf Fritillary, on Buddleia davidii ‘Nanho Purple’, has lost part of a wing.



There have been lots of bees around, busy as usual. This one is working hard at a bloom on the Italian arugula.



Another Gulf Fritillary on my latest impulse purchase, Dianthus barbatus interspecific 'Amazon Neon Duo'. Half price, over-watered, and three to a pot - I just had to rescue it. (Actually I had to rescue two pots of it!)



The "black eye" of the Black-eyed Susan vine (Enredadera rudbeckia) is like a black hole to me. It's so dark and deep!



Here's a plant that I was hoping would bloom in time for GBBD but it's still in the bud stage. It's a Eupatorium viburnoides, Viburnum mistflower. I haven't been able to find out much about this plant. It's supposed to bloom pink in November, is from Mexico, and is a woody shrub that's also called Joe-Pye shrub. If anyone has experience with this plant, please let me know what you think of it. It's grown at least a foot since I planted it in early spring.

That's about it for the blooms around here but I have to show a few other things I'm happy about.



The 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple is still turning colors. You can see that it hasn't hit that real red that it should get in December, as you can see it has in my header photo (from last year).



My sweet little oakleaf hydrangea still hasn't bloomed for me but I'm happy that it's starting to show its fall colors.



And last but not least, will my Heatwave tomatoes actually turn red before a freeze??

To see what's blooming around the world on this day, visit Carol's website for links to other blogs. Thank you for hosting Carol!