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Diana C. Kirby

About Diana C. Kirby

Diana Kirby is a lifelong gardener and longtime Austinite, who loves the Central Texas climate for the almost year-round opportunities it offers for active gardening and seasonal splendor. Known as an impassioned and successful gardener, Diana began by helping friends design and implement their landscapes. Soon, she was contracted as a professional designer by a popular local landscaping installation firm, where she designed landscapes for residential and commercial clients for several years. In 2007, her new passion blossomed with the launch of her own firm, Diana’s Designs. ... Diana is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, the Garden Writers Association of America, and she writes a monthly gardening column for the Austin American-Statesman. Diana teaches the Landscape Design classes for several county Texas Agrilife Extension Service Master Gardener certification programs and speaks about gardening and design for garden centers and other groups. Learn more about presentation topics, availability and speaking fees.

Spring thinks it has sprung!


Oh, I know we’re ahead of the curve here in Central Texas, and it isn’t really Spring here quite yet, either, but Miss Daffodil thinks it is.

She’s got her party hat on and she’s ready for her friends to join her, but I think even the closest ones are another week or more away. She’ll just have to dance in these gusty winds all by herself.

And this is Miss Maggie – from my newest rose bushes. She is really lovely, and she smells so wonderful — wish you had a scratch and sniff computer screen! She’s in a bowl in my kitchen.

By |2016-04-14T02:44:40-05:00February 7th, 2009|Blog, daffodils, desert rose, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring|0 Comments
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“Isn’t she lovely?”


Ok, I have to admit I have Stevie Wonder singing in my head as I write this post title, so now I think maybe you do, too!

I just had to share.
Look at Ms. Daffodil above — here she is this morning. Looking for the sunshine that graced us today.

And here she is, this afternoon, as she begins to unfurl her precious petals in preparation for her “First Bulb of the Season Party!”
And you are invited!
I’m continually amazed at how such a simple little thing can be so joyful.
The normally-cranky looking Mr. Leatherleaf Mahonia is quite perky in today’s sunshine as well, as he shows off his yellow berries.  The birds don’t eat them, though.  I’m guessing they taste like they look – kind of prickly.

And here’s the view up the side path to the wild garden, with that glorious sunslight glinting on the trees.  Lots of dead foliage and plants in here right now, but in spite of that, it looked beautiful to me today.  Sunlight has a way of changing your view of things, doesn’t it?
I guess that’s why I love living in Texas – LOTS of sunshine.  (Ask me how I feel about it in August!)
But, today, I’ll leave you with another jingle in your head – like McDonald’s…
“I’m Lovin’ It!”
By |2017-11-29T23:27:50-06:00February 6th, 2009|Blog, daffodils, leatherleaf mahonia, Sharing Nature's Garden, sunshine, wild bed|6 Comments
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Chicago Spring Fling

Chicago Spring Fling

Well, I’ve started making plans to attend the 2nd annual Garden Bloggers Spring Fling, to be held May 29-31 in Chicago.

I’m so excited, because their great website has a long list of very interesting garden tours and visits — and they all sound wonderful. I knew Chicago had a lot to offer, but this list is amazing. So much to see and do, so little time.

So, for now, on to the logistics — child sitter, dog sitter, and reservations…

Will I see you there?

By |2017-11-29T23:27:50-06:00January 31st, 2009|Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, Spring Fling 2009|0 Comments
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Whither the weather…

No matter what your weather this week, I suspect that you, like me, were glued to the television and the newspaper and the internet, eager for speculation and information about the weather.

My passion for gardening has grown slowly over the years, and as I was getting my education in plants and all things green, I was unwittingly minoring in weather.  
I always have an opinion about the weather forecast, don’t you?  
Here in Austin, my typical comment is that the forecasters tend to play Chicken Little and tell us the sky is falling far too often.  I suppose it isn’t their fault, they are just guessing, after all.  
To help me with my own forecasting (amateur, though I may be), my husband (also a weather amateur) had outfitted our home and yard with every conceivable gauging and forecasting gadget.

These two babies are in our master bath window and tell me the temps in the house, in the green house, outside, and outside in another location, as well as the humidity in the greenhouse.  LOVE them.
This tells me what it’s like on the back porch.
And here’s the thermostat in the garage – very important to know, that information!
This is the master gadget.  It reads the temps from 3 different locations (including the garage and the back porch and the cabana) and broadcasts them into the house so I don’t have to set foot outside to see what the weather is like!
And this little dude was given to us by my father last Christmas — it’s a rain gauge that does all sorts of other things, too, but my husband would have to post to tell you more than that.  What I can tell you, is that it tells me how much water fell from the sky and I love that!
I’m a weather geek.  I admit it.
Are you?  Are there similar gadgets lurking in your house and garden.  Can you beat 8 components? I dare ya!
By |2016-04-14T02:44:41-05:00January 29th, 2009|Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, weather|0 Comments
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Icy wonderland and dead buds…

Well, we got lucky today. We missed the ice storm for the most part. Roads were pretty dry this morning, and so even though it was 28 degrees, it was safe. That’s the good part.

Now for the bad part.



I don’t mind winter.  It’s just a problem here because we had summer last week.  With our see-saw of temperatures – 82 on Friday and 35 yesterday — our plants get discombobulated.
And, so, many things are budding and blooming and thinking, 
“Hey, this is nice — lookit that sun — shining on me.  I think I will grow some tender shoot/sprouts/buds/leaves…Ahhhhhhh.”
Then the next week Mother Nature comes along with an icy winter storm and smacks them upside the head.  It IS winter, after all.
Sigh.  So, I think the things I covered are fine, and the perennials will all be fine, it’s just hard on them to go back and forth like that.  But I know that those lemon buds are goners — and our lemon production suffered a serious set-back.
Much of the rest of the nation is snowed/iced in or without power, so we’re really lucky here to be safe and heated.  
We’ll just make lemonade later in the year…
By |2016-04-14T02:44:41-05:00January 28th, 2009|Blog, freeze, ice, lemons, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments
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Escape in the garden

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