It's Fall Bulb Season in Texas: Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, September 2019

Long time no blog ... six months to be exact. It's not like I've got a shortage of gardening ruminations, laments, rants and celebrations to share. If I actually blogged, or even posted on Instagram and/or Facebook as often as I think about doing so, I hope a few kindred spirits would welcome my thoughts just as I welcome theirs. I make no promises but today's post is a start. 

The summer weather on my corner of Katy does have a lot to do with my lack of enthusiasm for ... well, just about everything. The last 3 summers, I've made trips to England in mid- to late June, visiting gardens in the Cotswolds, Yorkshire and East Anglia. I return from those trips with a renewed passion for gardening, which is quickly dashed by the realities of gardening in south central Texas versus the British Isles. I arrived back home on July 3rd this year, just as the temperatures headed into the mid- to high 90s, where they have stayed ever since. Rain fell on July 4th and for the next 6 weeks, we had less than 1/2 inch of rain total.  There was a brief spell, maybe 2 days, where a cool front brought slightly cooler and much drier air into our region. That was lovely but it was way too little to make a difference in the gardens here at Wit's End.

We did get finally get a few decent rain storms in August but if you heard reports back then of flooding in the Houston area, just know one thing: it didn't happen here! We've gotten just over an inch of rain in September and if you heard about street flooding in Katy earlier this week, well, that would have been in Old Katy about 5 miles down I-10.  I'm telling you, my corner of Katy gets passed over way too often for my liking. I can look at the radar and see the storms heading my way, only to look again and see they've split and gone east and west of me. Disappointing? Discouraging? Disheartening? Disgusting? Disgruntling? All of the above!

Which brings me to this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. There's been just enough rain for two of my favorite fall blooming bulbs to make their appearance.  The first to appear were the yellow rain lilies, Zephyranthes, possibly Z. citrina or sulphureus. These little beauties were dug, with permission of the landowner, from a vacant lot on Memorial Drive in Houston back in 2015.  This year, in addition to the bright sunshine yellow blooms, there are some in this lovely pale yellow which make my heart sing. Rain lilies not only multiply by offsets of the main bulb, they produce seeds. I'm allowing the seeds to set and scattering them in small groupings around the front gardens.

 The second bulb to appear is Rhodophiala bifida, commonly known as Schoolhouse Lily since it blooms just at the beginning of the fall semester. It's also known as Oxblood Lily for its rich crimson color. These are one of those bulbs which send up the flower stalk before the foliage and when the foliage dies back, it's all too easy for this gardener to forget where she's planted them. So last year I began collecting Starbucks splash sticks, and I used them to mark the spots where I've planted these and other bulbs. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I've enjoyed writing it. If you mosey on over to May Dreams Gardens, I believe our GBBD creator and sponsor, Indiana gardener Carol Michel, has had her blog taken over once again by the  garden fairies. They don't usually hold it hostage for too long and they have yet to figure out a way to take over The Gardenangelists podcast she co-hosts with Dee Nash of Red Dirt Ramblings. If you haven't listened to them, they are great company as you go about your watering and weeding, and planting and pruning!