What’s Not (Too) Crunchy

Lisa of Lisa’s Landscape and Design has been posting plants on Facebook that do well in this heat. I’ve been feeling pretty beaten down like a lot of Austinites by this unrelenting heat and dryness. But it did inspire me to show off what is doing well. Because there are actually some things still blooming and not (too) crunchy.

Cenizo or Barometer Bush. Every garden should have multiple. They bloom when you least expect it.
Flame Acanthus. Hummingbirds are still visiting it on the regular. It’s a bit crispy, but I’ll allow it.
Kidneywood or Bee Brush. I’ve been planting a lot of this as it fills in really densely. But this is around a year old and is holding its own in this drought.
Red Yucca. Second stop for the daily hummingbirds.
Big Muhly in the foreground, purple heart behind it, and accompanied by a Texas Mountain Laurel looking cool and inviting.
Fall Aster. One of my favorites. This gets no irrigation, other than rain, and look at this! I cut back a bunch of plants just so I could admire it better. I never do that.
Gayfeather shaded by a Retama. This is gayfeather from Native American Seed. I found out that Blazing Star is for more moist soils. So if you’ve been striking out with that and want the super xeric kind make sure to order the regular gayfeather.
Aren’t those seedheads pretty? They’re very yellow. This is Indian Grass from Native American Seed.
I have lost track of what this is. It was supposed to grow up a trellis, but it hated that, and instead loves mounding in this area. You just see some of its tiny hot pink flowers if you look close enough. Let me know if you know what it is!
Thompson’s yucca I grew from seed.
Gopher plant. This is one of the foundational corners of my yard and is pretty much always happy.
Sensitive Briar. In many places very crispy, but we’ve still got a couple pink puffballs there!
Gregg’s Mistflower. Crispy, but we’ve still got some blooms.
Got some sideoats gramma that’s holding on, and some violet ruellia. I tend to treat that as a weed, but this is a set of berms I’ve made to retain water, so I might just let them take over. They’re very pretty.
And finally Woolly Stemodia. Which lives next to the gopher plant and regularly plays the game where it disappears almost entirely for a year or two. This year it seems very happy. Go figure.

What do you have that’s still keeping on in this heat?

One thought on “What’s Not (Too) Crunchy”

  1. It’s been a very challenging fall so far, but it’s good to see you and Lisa sharing what’s still feeding bees and hummers. For me it’s Turk’s cap and hesperaloe, mostly. Oh and golden thryallis. Salvia greggii are trying.

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