It apparently just waits until the middle of winter to do it. Although, you couldn't tell it was winter by the weather around here. We've been enjoying temps in the seventies for this past week or so here in Central Texas -- which will be more than accounted for during the summer, of course, so we're enjoying them while we can. I've been off work since Christmas Eve for the holidays and have spent the last few days piddling around the house and garden and sprawling on the various porches with books and cats. I've recently discovered J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) and have been through three of her mystery novels since Christmas. Thank goodness for Half Price Books!I'm starting to get that hopeful gardening feeling again. This past summer was brutal to the poor plants. I lost a lot of the newcomers I put in last spring to the heat and dry weather, but the lavender held on, as you can see above, and the double bridal wreath spirea and the two rose bushes survived as well. The Lady Banks actually put on a lot of growth, I've had to re-stake her to keep her from sprawling across the yard.
My mom gave me some of my grandfather's old-fashioned red Guernsey Lilies (aka Red Spider Lilies) to plant again. We'll see how they do, since the cats have devoted themselves to digging up every bulb I plant at least twice this fall and winter. They're tough little bulbs, though, so hopefully they'll manage to hang on and put up flower stalks next summer and fall.
The official name for these bulbs is Lycoris radiata, but this is not the red Lycoris you'll see in most catelogues. I always knew there was something off about the Lycoris being offered in the garden centers and in catalogues, they just didn't look quite right. The entry at Old House Gardens confirms it: Grumpy's Guernsey Lilies are triploid, the new selections are diploid. Something about that changes the way the flowers look, at least to me.
