Miscanthus from Cindy at "My Corner in Katy"

Here's one of several beautiful grasses that I dug up from a fellow master gardener's yard. Her blog -- "My Corner in Katy" -- is a great inspiration for anyone gardening in the south. It's much more impressive in person though!

April blooms

This salvia greggii is doing great now that I moved it and gave it more room.





The violas and pansies are still doing great. I have been trying to think what I will replace them with when the weather warms up for real.

Blooming in April

I read that hardy geranium -- this is Rozanne -- does not do well in the humid south. I am hopeful that this is not true for my yard because it is an awesome plant to have! The Iceberg rose above is my best repeat bloomer. It has been fairly disease resistant and during the very hot months I spray neem oil on the new blooms to keep the thrips away. I have eight of these, including one climbing -- see the picture of the copper trellis my father built -- and would recommend this rose for anyone in Zone 9 as long as it gets six full hours of sun, preferably morning.

Blooming in April in Zone 9

The Indigo Spires salvia, plumbago and mandovilla here are all survivors of Hurricane Ike in September. I just finished planting nine new Indigo Spires salvias in the front beds for a mass effect and will publish the photo when the begin to fill out. A GREAT addition to Zone 9 gardens. As long as the plumbago is cut back a third every now and then it will bloom all year for me. I have read that mandovillas are an annual for Zone 9 but mine never die back. They also bloom for me all year. They also have thrived in very hot afternoon sun.

What's Blooming in my Zone 9 Garden in April

The "Senorita Rosalita" cleome was just planted in the beginning of March. I purchased several of these Proven Winners gallon plants at Home Depot. I am amazed at how fast they have taken off and am always, always pleased with any plant that I put in my garden that is a Proven Winners plant -- of course, assuming that it is placed in the proper growing conditions!

Love the windows, too ...

The way that the windows open on the building is not something we see very often here in the south. They definitely add the charm factor to the building in a big way.

The Cupola

The cupola on top of the garden building. Almost tried to save money and not get this and am so thrilled I did!