Mystery plant

Mama and I chose this plant and several others from the Farmer's Market (a very nice retired school teacher was selling) and we failed to get her to write down the name. By the time we got home and got everything planted, neither of us could remember what it was! It bloomed for the first time last week, and I'm so happy with what I think is Coreopsis tinctoria (golden tickseed). A happy surprise.


There was another wonderful surprise waiting for me in the garden this week. I had attempted to move a mature gardenia (Chuck Hayes) in the late winter as it had outgrown its spot in the garden. I loved that gardenia, which bloomed all summer and stayed green all winter. But after the big move I didn't see anything but stumps until....
In April, as I was relating my sad gardenia story, my Aunt Betty told me you should always prune something severely before moving it so that the root system, which is bound to be shortened by transplanting, won't be trying to support a larger system above ground. Chuck Hayes triumphed despite my poor planning, but next time I'll prune first.

Climate shock

We returned from a week in San Miguel de Allende late Friday night, and the heat here is nearly overwhelming after those days of mid-70's and high blue skies. At 6500 feet, San Miguel really has the perfect summer weather: thunderstorms nearly every night, with clearing, beautiful days. As the summer goes on, the weather becomes drier and seeing the lake at EL CHARCO DEL INGENIO Jardin Botanico made that so clear. This was higher than we had ever seen the water at this wonderful botanical garden.

My favorite plants there? The "pussy toes," (pictured here) which were all in bloom and the amazing, seamed agave cacti. The greenhouse there is a marvel - it is terraced with a stream meandering through from the top left to the bottom center. The stream narrows to be just a deep canyon (charco) in the terrace below the greenhouses, but is still wide and deep enough to accommodate many little fish and frogs. I think it's a brilliant design and I always want to linger at this spot in the garden.

We had an overcast morning for this hike, which was fine as it is a pretty long, steep climb from El Centro to the botanical garden. Narrow cobbled streets filled with shops and children rushing off to school give way to the "Balcones," an area of opulent homes that overlook the city. It was heartbreaking to see how those excessive, (probably American) homes were encroaching upon the botanical garden. Sadly, the gardening at those homes seems to be limited to bouganvilla and trumpet creeper to cover their privacy/security walls.

There is this one, which I can't help but admire.




The real garden magic in San Miguel, however, is all about pots and containers. The town is full of rather flat, forbidding entrances, but if you are lucky enough to pass by a home when someone is coming or going....oh my goodness!

The house where we have stayed is no exception. Here's the face the house gives to the street.




Now here's what is inside. I once counted over 100 pots rambling about the terraces at this house. The effect is pretty amazing - color, depth, activity (lots of nesting birds and crickets), sound and even produce. We had an orange from the orange tree while we were there and went to sleep every night listening to the fountain sounds.









I tried to start the pot magic at home with some Talavera pots from Delores Hidalgo, but I've got a ways to go...

Back in Virginia, my Farmer's Market mystery plant is blooming, the hibiscus is poised to bloom, the foxglove is just about finished, and the butterfly bushes and chaste tree are about to take over the garden. It seems that in one week our garden leapt to its midsummer show. The garden is bone dry, but everything does seem to have survived.

As a nod to the heat that is really here for a while and the resignation to air-conditioning while it's here, I took the screens down and washed windows yesterday so we could really see the garden.

Now if I only had that fountain burbling....