tulipa clusiana

Dazzling color in the spring garden…

We all love the spring garden — the awakening of plants that herald the arrival of spring and provide a foreshadowing of more  to come.

As the sun shifts in the sky and the breezes begin to warm up, I’m enjoying some rejuvenating time in the garden.

I bought these sweet glass daffodils to bring a pop of color into the garden before the daffodils were ready to open up.

The ‘Kate Izzard’ irises are loaded up and several of them are opening every day.  You can tell that I should have divided them last fall, which I fully intended to do, but I seriously need to do that this fall.

Just gorgeous.

Even though traditional tulips aren’t in our Central Texas plant palette, these species tulips, cluisana ‘Lady Jane’ are sweet substitutes in my garden. 

This little patch of phlox disappears entirely in the head of summer, but I can count on it to emerge in spring with loads of little blooms.

My cemetery irises are also popping open all over the garden.  Our winter clearly made the irises happy.

Bluebonnets are covering my decomposed granite path, and even Kallie’s playground filled with pea gravel.  Fletcher enjoys a peaceful moment with them here.

While most of the buds on my monster wisteria were frozen in our last freeze, there are still some opening up and draping delicately from the fence.

And then there is the homestead verbena.  What a powerhouse.  In the cooler spring and fall, they thrive and liven up any spot in the garden.  They will shrivel and look poor in the heat of summer, but just shade your eyes and pretend not to see them until they return again in the fall.  Even though many of our bloomers start now and run through the fall, homestead verbena is well worth it’s little summer break.

Now that the threat of freezing is past (I have my fingers crossed as I type this), it’s time to fill in the rest of the garden with new and exciting plants that will herald the summer.

Zilker Garden Fest

I had a delightful day yesterday with my parents at the Zilker Garden Festival. It’s the plant event of the year in Austin, and my favorite thing to do. We’ve been going for at least 20 years and I never tire of it.

Vendors come from all around to sell plants and pottery and garden art and other crafts. There is a kid’s corner and music and food and it’s just the most wonderful time.

I filled my wagon this time (I usually do) and am so pleased with the interesting things I found:

Ming Fern
3 Homestead Verbena
2 sedums – 1 variegated no-name and 1 pulchellum Sea Star
1 Mock Orange Philadelphus coronarius
1 spotted Bromeliad
1 Dragon Tongue Bean
2 bags of Tulipa Clusiana bulbs (gave one to my Mom and Dad)
1 Aloifolia Yucca (pink and lime green variegated)

I like to buy unusual things at ZilkerFest, because the nursery vendors tend to bring their best or most interesting specimens to show.

Today I planted bluebonnets, 3 tomatoes, 1 pimiento pepper, horseradish, chamomile, and my Space saver cucumber seedlings. I also planted two passalong Baby Blue Eyes that Bob at Draco Gardens brought to the Design A Go Go.

I still have some Society Garlics from my friend to passalong for any Austin area gardeners who need some. Let me know if you want some!

Another beautiful day is on tap for tomorrow … wonder what trouble I can get into the garden tomorrow? Do you have garden plans for Tuesday? Or the rest of the week?

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