Plants that Take the Heat and Fill Your Summer Garden with Color
One of the major goals of gardening in Texas is finding colorful, high-performing plants that add drama to our summer landscapes and hold up to Texas heat. “Fortunately, there are many to choose from, including both perennials and annuals and both native and adapted plants,” says Sr. Horticulturist Steve Huddleston. “In fact, you might find you have more options that you realized.”
What Is This Thing? Discovering Stemless Evening Primrose.
It’s one thing to identify a flower when it’s in bloom. Petals, stamens and other features provide all sorts of information to botanists to narrow down the plant’s name and history. Starting with a seed pod is a different matter – especially when the pod is hard, dried, and an indistinct brown. When friends Carol and Cynthia both found particularly tough, dried pods that superficially resemble pine cones, they were baffled. But it takes more than a dried-up pod to baffle the botanists at the BRIT Herbarium. They were able to let Cynthia and Carol know that they had found the dried fruits of Oenothera triloba, or stemless evening primrose.
This Time, the Ants Invite You to the Picnic
Usually, ants at a picnic are unwelcome, but what if they’re the main attraction? The Botanic Garden is at the height of its early summer beauty, and we invite you to celebrate on the grounds with a picnic – perhaps near the giant, whimsical ants that are part of the David Rogers’ Big Bugs exhibition. “Now is a great time to dine al fresco at the Garden,” says CEO and President Patrick Newman. “Explore our landscape as late spring and summer blooms reach their peak, and visit sculptor David Rogers’ giant insects before the exhibition closes in June.”
