Susan noticed yesterday that our Texas purple sage was blooming profusely.
Leucophyllum frutescens, the shrub in question, is very showy whenever we have a good drenching rain. We have three of these shrubs. The neighborhood has many. I conjectured that my generous watering of our yard had caused them to bloom – we are on watering restrictions, and I water the yard only on Sundays from 7PM to midnight.
I went to the store today, and on the way there and then home again, I noticed that every sage in the neighborhood was flowering like crazy. I think my watering the yard was, at best, a secondary reason for the blooms. It rained at least 2″ while we were on vacation, and the shrubs are taking advantage of that rain.
The Pride of Barbados, another neighborhood favorite, is flowering too. The butterflies enjoy it as a source of nectar. Our backyard floral display looks like this.
