The Purple Corner – Oct 2013
This was my “purple corner” last year after my front garden’s 1st summer…
The plants are filling in, and the Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha) is stealing the spotlight.
And here we are fall #2. Gregg’s blue mistflower (Conoclinium (Eupatorium) Greggii) is a butterfly haven, prostrate rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Prostratus’ ) adds evergreen interest along with Yucca aloifolia, Agave americana, and purple Texas cholla tree cactus (Cylindropuntia imbricata). Texas fall aster (Aster oblongifolius, reclassified to Symphyotrichum oblongifolium), purple trailing lantana (Lantana montevidensis), and salvia leucantha add more perennial color pops.
We have a lot of birds that love this Texas mountain laurel (Sophora secundiflora) anchored spot in the front garden. I use purple trailing lantana to “hide-a-curb”. 
That is salvia discolor beside my trash can birdbath. The extreme silver color of the foliage looks amazing with the purply black blooms.
Here is looking back. 
And here is looking closer. Daisy flowers by far have always been my favorite. What is better than purple daisies????? Paired with spiky yucca and prostrate rosemary, this scene looks and smells delicious!
This Texas native flowering powerhouse is a MUST HAVE!!!!
And lastly…a closer look at the fuzzy flowering lightsaber-like wands of Salvia Leucantha. Just last month this mass grouping was looking tired and thirsty. I did not water it…I left it alone…I let it sleep. The rains came and it woke up with energy to spare!
Purple fall color….cooling color brought on by cooler temperatures. Fitting!
- Posted in: Front Garden - year 2 ♦ Must Have List
- Tagged: san antonio xeric garden, texas xeric garden, texas xeriscape, xericstyle
Xericstyle 
Wow! Your Purple corner flowerbed is SO beautiful! Purple & Pink are my favorite colors in the garden. Your Fall asters look amazing. I love the design, textures, plant choices and EVERYTHING about this bed.
On a side note….I’m trying to organize the SAGB meet-up. I have a couple of dates picked out – Oct 24th or Oct 27th. I have a contact me widget on my blog. If you want to email me what day and times work best for you that would be great!
Awe…blushing, Steph! and YES to SAGB meet up! Let me look at my calendar
Excited! You rock Steph! -xericstyle
Love your “purple corner”! After admiring fall asters for years, this year for the first time I have some in my yard & they are blooming like crazy. They were shared by a friend & neighbor who dug up some sections for me early this summer. I was pleasantly surprised how easily they survived being transplanted despite the heat & dry weather.
And now, next on my want list: Salvia Leucantha
I am with you! Talk about an easy plant to care for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -xericstyle
Amazing what a little rain will do! your garden has woken up and how! You must be so pleased with your choices for this area Heather.
Rain…sweet rain! I see it has done the same in your garden too. I am really happy with how this turned out, although I need to STOP. I am getting a little crowded over there…and I am trying to stay away from cottage…I love it, but I just want things to be more simple in the front…modern….sharp…cool… -xericstyle
Your purple corner garden is so striking. I just love it!
Thanks Shirley!!!!!!!!!!! That means a lot coming from you! -xericstyle
Your Autumn looks so alive! The gardens are lovely. You’ve done a great job.
Thanks so much, Sally! You are right…everything, including us human Texans, come alive again in the fall! -xericstyle
Your talent for color coordination is showing. … :-) The plants are looking gorgeous and the purple and blues go great with your porch and house trim colors.
Thanks Ragna…not hard to match monochromatic! Ha! And thanks again for having me over yesterday, it was lovely to see y’all again! :) – xericstyle
I love your purple corner! My asters are blooming too, something I look forward to all year.
I always admired them in your former garden, I knew I needed some too! Hey, would you mind answering Kris P’s question if you can? Thank you in advance mentorette! -xericstyle
The purples of fall are so beautiful and you have put them to great design use. S leucantha is one of my favorites.
Thanks Jenny, you know what my favorite color is. :) What is yours? -xericstyle
That looks great. It’s all filled in really fast.
I love the asters. Now that I have more fenced area, I think I’ll try some again. The deer ate the last try.
Thanks Linda! Your deer are OUT OF CONTROL! -xericstyle
Love it! Those purple asters are great. I wonder if they would like it in SoCal?
Hmmmmmmmm – I wonder too….I would ask Pam Penick… she will know better. I sure hope the answer is YES…they are really special. -xericstyle
Well, much as I’d love to be able to advise Kris P to add them to her lovely SoCal garden, I really have no idea how they’d do there. On the other hand, what can’t they grow in SoCal? Go for it!
Thanks Pam! -xericstyle
I like that you don’t baby things, just let the seasons pass and awaken it all. Tougher for that act, it seems! So much more grown-in from my May visit, too, Oh Canad[ian + Texan].
Thanks mentor! I am really trying hard to have a garden that can mostly take care of itself. Outside of necessary maintenance and weeding. Sometimes my lack of watering works against me and things die. Sometimes I test stuff that is not too expensive to really put it to the test. And sometimes I baby things that cost more $ initially. It all depends. Who knows!!!!!!!!!!!! ha! Things really are filling in….and I am adding a ton. Sometimes I think I am getting too cluttered. Sometimes I like it. Oy vey! -xericstyle
Love purple. Your corner looks fabulous. Nice to see another Salvia discolor in the world! Here it feeds the hummingbirds the year round, on just about zero water.
Thanks Hoov! What is not to love?! ;) Purple is….delicious! I have grown to love my salvia discolor – the first year I planted it in full on Texas sun and it struggled and rarely looked good/happy. But I am not sure how much of that is that I planted it too late or something. Anyhow…moved it into part shade last fall I think it was, and it is thriving there. Have not watered it once since. AND it does not even get full on rain when it rains either, as it is under the mountain laurel tree. GREAT PLANT. I feel mine needed the right place to thrive. -xericstyle
Wow…your purple garden is absolutely beautiful…such a lovely combination of textures too. LOVE IT!
Thank you Lee!!!!!! – and thanks for stopping by :) -xericstyle
You’ve done a beautiful job!!! Hey, just found 3 really great blogs from California that concentrate on succulents…passing along the info……. bambooandmore.info….sweetstuffsassysucculents.com…..and gardeningsuccs.com….
great info and pics from these 3 blogs … enjoyable reading….
Right on, Maria T! I look forward to having a look/see. Thank you! -xericstyle
You call them Texas fall asters? Up here we call them aromatic aster. I personally call them “blooms like a motha’ for a long time even after a few freezes.” :)
Ha! I like your style! Here…I think Texans want to slip the “T word” into as many things as possible. ;) Yes, that really is their common name here. I think this is my new fav plant! -xericstyle
Your purples all look wonderful. The aster is really putting on a show! I saw a lot of Salvia leucantha in the San Francisco area. I’m excited to see how my Conoclinum coelestinum does next year, it was new this year and did manage to start blooming by fall.
Your purple corner is gorgeous! And I love the agave and yucca as punctuation points in the sea of frothy blooms.