May Garden Blogger Bloom Day

Cornus angustata - Chinese evergreen dogwood - an awesome, drought and heat tolerant small tree

Today is Garden Blogger Bloom Day (GBBD), a day when garden bloggers post what’s blooming in their garden. It is fun and interesting to see what is blooming in different parts of the country at different times of the year. To see what other bloggers are posting for GBBD, go to May Dreams Gardens – they’re the folks that started this great concept.

I really didn’t have a lot of time to take photos today, but did manage to get a few snapped before taking care of business. I am particularly fond of the my Cornus angustata – typically called Evergreen Chinese dogwood. Southern Living Gardens Plant Collection has introduced it this year as “Empress of China”. I got mine from Margie Jenkins in Louisiana several years ago, and it has done brilliantly here in my East Texas garden with minimal care and only occasional watering during recent extreme summer droughts. It started blooming a few days ago, and in past years, the blooms have held up for 4 to 5 weeks before starting to fade – outstanding for that time of year (or any time of year, for that matter).

Here are a few other things blooming in my garden today:

: Cornus angustata – Evergreen Dogwood

: Azalea wakabisu – a great May-blooming, compact, evergreen Satsuki variety

: Buddleia lindleyana – weeping butterfly bush. Watch out, this dude suckers, but, it is evergreen for me, and has not been too much of a pest because it is not pampered or watered.

: Close up of evergreen dogwood Cornus angustata

: Farfugium japonica ‘Kaimon Dake’ – okay, not a bloom, but very showy foliage!

: Mondara fistulosa ‘Peter’s Purple’ holds up well without powdery mildew

: Oakleaf Hydrangea – everybody needs at least one in their garden

: Zephyranthes – Pink rain lily. A prolific rebloomer and reseeder

: Texas Azaela – R. oblongifolium. Doesn’t look like much here at the end of its bloom season, but proud to have this native to Texas (and even Smith County) in the garden.