efprince's Blog

Late bloomers
May 9, 2009 | 2:29 AM PST
Tags: Gold Star Esperanza , honesuckle , azaela , rhodie

I bought two azaelas at Lowes for $1.95 each on clearance at the end of March. They didn't look like much, but I thought what the heck, they'll grow and next year bloom really nice. I really didn't expect them to bloom this year - not this late in the season, but this morning when I did my morning "rounds" both of them had pretty new blooms on them. They are so pretty. One is a peachy color and the other a delicate pink. They are so pretty and I see plenty more buds, too. That makes me so happy. I absolutely love rhodies - they are the Washington state flower, but they won't grow here in Texas, so I must make do with azaelas - which is not a hardship 'cause I love them, too!

I also bought a "Gold Star Esperanza" at the same time off the clearance rack. It also looked pretty sad at the time, but now, oh my gosh that little thing has just taken off. It has a ton of blooms. I wasn't sure about it because it is a tropical plant, so every time there was a frost I had to bring it in, but now that it has warmed up, it is just loving it and blooming its little head off. It's so pretty. There is a web site called plantsfortexas.com and they list Gold Star Esperanza as one of the plants "Texas born, Texas tested" meaning it's good for growing in Texas, I guess. Well it's doing great here.

Oh, I see at Texas A&M web site (http://aggie-horticulture.ta
mu.edu/cemap/esperanza/esperan
zaa.html) they list this plant as a "TEXAS SUPERSTAR"  - cool!

The vine that I found growing on my front fence finally bloomed so now I know that it is not trumpet vine like I was hoping, but honeysuckle. And it appears to grow wild all over this area. It is everywhere - on fences, in pastures, along the highways, on trees and shrubs - it is just everywhere.