Huh. Nectar!

 

Those wet spots are not water.  Huh.  How 'bout that? 

Cooler, finally, after a consistently very warm September.  

Cool enough to trim one of the Callistemon 'Slim' away from the house.

A little more wouldn't hurt: 

There were a few flowers on 'Slim', mostly spent.   Suprising to discover how much nectar even the mostly spent flowers contain--dropping them onto the walkway left splats of nectar.  No wonder nectar lovers (bees, hummers, orioles, warblers, etc.) are constantly at them.

 The Zephyranthes candida clumps, several throughout the garden along paths and walkways, are still flowering joyfully at a time when much of the garden is floppping, scorched, heat-exhausted.   

Especially eye-catching with dark-leafed Alternathera: 

Under a rose:

Under another rose:

  Even a cluster of them in a largely shady spot pretty  well, as did a pot of them tucked under and nearly covered up by a Cuphea.  The starry-white flowers managed to peek through:

 Zephyranthes flavissima, with saturated pure chrome-yellow flowers, seems different from Z. candida, It needs more water, and flowers sparingly over a much longer period of time.  Here is one purchased back in 2022--it didn't get much water and didn't survive.

 One bought last year is bringing chrome yellow joy to a better irrigated location.  I was surprised to see this species offered for sale online as a "shallow water plant":  "Great for small ponds, water gardens, and stream edges".  Huh?  Really?  That would explain its apparent need for more water than Z. candida.  I wondered, would it grow in my koi pond waterfall?  I pulled two Trachelium seedlings and several fern sprouts (probably the very undesirable Polystichum californicum) from the waterfall yesterday.  I left the lovely pillows of moss, though:  

 I've not found pink-flowered Z. grandiflora for sale locally.  I prefer the white flowers anyway, as a small edging plant along paths.  The clumps slowly expand, but havn't reseeded here in a summer-dry climate.   

Zephryanthes is a genus of about 70 species in the Amaryllidaceae, native to southern North America, Central America, and South America.  Z. candida is USDA zone 7-10 hardy, dormant in colder parts of the zone.  The glossy, plump, grass-like leaves arch towards sunlight.  

 

Although the weather is cooling, gardening is taking second place behind getting Harry fully accustomed to a new home and new pack.  Lots and lots of long walks to absorb some of the puppy energy and new-pack anxiety.

Harry likes to retrieve unusual items: 

 He had his first training lesson this past week to address the counter surfing, pantry-raiding, cracker-stealing issues, the leash-tug-of-wars, the I-don't-wanna-come-when-called rebellion, the jumping....typical teen-aged dog behaviors.  

Someone walking in the neighborhood bravely posed with Harry in from of a neighbor's gorgeous Leucophyllum: 

He's a quick learner.  He's not Samoyed-level stubborn.  The Samoyed half of him tries pressing buttons to see what he can get away with, but the Retriever half of him relents and cooperates.  Natasha found his training lesson very amusing.  

The garden.  It's great to be out there despite the mess.     Despite sad Zinnias.  At least they got to flower a bit.

Still flowers on Lagerstroemia 'Dynamite'

A sudden large crop of flowers from all the 'Bella Sera' daylilys.  

The last Clematis flower of the year:  'Bourbon':

Most of the Dahlias chopped to the ground, but a beauty here and there:

Pentas had a great September:

So did Chili Thrips, unfortunately.  Lots of ruined rose buds (not 'Firefighter', though):

Did get a spur-of-the-moment trip to Plant Depot.  A lot of fresh new 4" plants for autumn had arrived.  

 Two more Calylophus 'Southern Belle', two Gaillardia  'Arizona Apricot', one more Dicliptera squarrosa.

 The several 'Southern Belle's in the yard are starting to go dormant, though still plenty of flowers.  Photo below shows the one planted last year.  It didn't do much over the winter but grew and flowered lavishly come this spring.  A great plant for hot, reflected heat, dry(ish) locations.  Bee food, too.  

That's what's up here.   Pretty dull stuff, but Harry is enough excitement right now.