Just another shot of the Assassin Bug who has set up permanent residence on the Broom Snakeweed. A big bunch of hugs to wantanamara for sending this plant, it smells divine and the whole front is fragrant from just the one plant. Its been a popular site for all kinds of flying nectar loving insects but its dangerous too. I've seen this guy nab all kinds of things from wasps to bees. Here he is engaged in victorious combat with a wasp.

Nice shots TR. Those gazania flowers have always appealed to me, but they didn't care much for moist heat..so never did well for me.

Broom snakeweed is fragrant? Yea! Mara passed one along to me too.

Your flower and critter photos are wonderful! Fall flowers are so gorgeous and it's sad to see them go. Sometimes we get one freeze and then nice weather until January and you wish you'd covered everything, but you never know.

roselee we usually stay pretty nice until late December and fall is a gradual season, but not this year. That weird typhoon is cutting our fall short just as it was starting to get cooler during the days. Nothing is hardened off because its been very warm, time will tell. Years ago we had a long Indian Summer and then wham, real bitter cold set in and the plants weren't ready. All the Crepe Myrtles died down to the roots. This year the leaves are still green on them so its a bit scary what this extended front will do.

It looks like most of Texas is dodging the worst cold except for the panhandle. Oklahoma is not so lucky.

Hey y'all, thanks for posting the pics, now I want some of that broom snakeweed, haha. Do they know why it's called snakeweed? Repels or attracts? Lol I had big snake this year in my daylily flowerbed and I would like to avoid (ahem) seeing her again. :D I am about to ponder on how to protect my potted citrus trees, and start preparing the plants for winter. Mums are in full bloom, what a sight! :)

dzejna, you'd do better against snakes with a possum. Possum are good at killing snakes. Maybe they call it snakeweed is because it kills cattle and/or causes them to abort calves if they eat it. Ranchers hate it & its considered an invasive weed on grazing land but I don't think its considered invasive as a garden plant. The annual kind which is also called broomweed is very invasive, its a single stalk with a yellow bouquet on top. It lines the highways here in Oklahoma for miles, probably in Texas too.

It is very sweetly fragrant. Mara, I think it smells similar to that white mist flower which is also blooming right now.

Nice garden shots. I do love both those plants for how they stretch out the fall . Mine are both still going. The snakeweed broom is almost done with but the seed heads hold on for a link time The broom does seed out but it takes several years before the seeds start to stout. I have never found them to be a heavy hassle.Plant swaps keep them in line and moving them to the back valley keeps the bugs happy.

They keep lowering the expectations. I am hearing a possible hard freeze now. Weather underground is still saying 34 for me, But they routinely underestimated the big freezes last year, so I am going to do the dance and move my aloes and wrap the pipes. I REALLY do not want to move that large oxipetalum. Maybe I will just move it under the overhang and pray.

On Broom snakeweed from Wikipedia.

"G. sarothrae was used by the Native Americans of the Great Plains for various reasons.[3][4][5] The Comanche bound the stems together to make brooms. The Blackfoot used the roots in an herbal steam as a treatment for respiratory ailments. A decoction of the plant was used by the Lakota to treat colds, coughs, and dizziness, while a concentrate made from the flowers was used by the Dakota as a laxative for horses. The Navajo rubbed the ashes of G. sarothrae on their bodies to treat headaches and dizziness, and also applied the chewed plant to wounds, snakebites, and areas swollen by insect bites and stings. The Zuni used an infusion of the blossoms as a diuretic and to "make one strong in the limbs and muscles",[9] and an infusion of the whole plant was used topically for muscle aches.[10]"