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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.

Frost on the pumpkin … I mean window!


My DH took this beautiful photo of frost on the windshield of the car this morning here in the beautiful heartland of Indiana.

Really cold mornings give way to sunny, cold days, but throughout our time here, it was bright and crisp and delightful. I love Texas, and the Texas sunshine, but it’s good to get a few extra seasons besides summer and almost summer!

We hit the air again tomorrow as we head for home. But it’s been good to be home and spend time with family and to give thanks for all the blessings in our lives.

By |2016-04-14T02:45:05-05:00November 28th, 2008|Blog, Indiana, Sharing Nature's Garden, thanksgiving|7 Comments
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Clear and crisp…


It was 19 degrees and clear this morning. No snow, but a little bit of frost on the ground made for a pretty sight on the farm as the sun was coming up in Indiana.

Turkey day preparations are well underway — they have been for days as my MIL prepares for the wonderful feast she makes us every holiday we are lucky enough to share together.

We wish you many blessings and peace on this day – the day of giving thanks.

By |2016-04-14T02:45:05-05:00November 27th, 2008|Blog, Indiana, Sharing Nature's Garden, thanksgiving|0 Comments
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“We’re leavin’…on a jet plane!”

Can’t you just hum that in your head? 

We’re off to Indiana tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving with my DH’s family.  They live just north of Indianapolis, so it will be a cool and chilly welcome, with a high of about 40 expected there.  Slight chance of snow flurries, and Kallie has her fingers crossed!
So, this is where we’ll all be tomorrow … on a jet plane!
I will try to blog some from there, though the connectivity is rather limited out on the farm sometimes.
In any case, here’s wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.  I certainly have a lot for which to be thankful, including my garden and my blogging friends.
Peace and turkey!
By |2017-11-29T23:27:51-06:00November 24th, 2008|Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, thanksgiving|0 Comments
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Are my deer sheepish?


Well, well, well.  What have we here?

Does this look like the remnants of a little rutting going on in my front yard on MY MAGNOLIA TREE???
(Can you tell I’m annoyed?)
Of course, it’s the girls that I’m feeding, and this was the handiwork of the young boys the other night when it was very cold out.
Unfortunately, this means that my Magnolia, should  it live to a nice, ripe age, will simply not have those full, traditional low branches that we love in the structure of the Magnolia.  Mine will look like an fruit tree, instead!  
Oh well.  
Okay, Carol, I’m “embracing” my bucks!
By |2017-11-29T23:27:51-06:00November 19th, 2008|Blog, deer, magnolia, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments
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Monopolizing munchies…

So, the plants are in the greenhouse and only require a squirt of the hose each day and opening and closing doors and windows.  

And since it’s only weeks until our annual holiday party, my urge to garden and plant the new bed and work outside…and yes, BLOG… is being squelched by a more urgent need to make about 1500 appetizers in the next 3 weeks!
So, today it was 168 mini quiches with Gruyere cheese and olives.  
If I’m AWOL for a while, just imagine me here in crab cake hell!

By |2016-04-14T02:45:05-05:00November 18th, 2008|Blog, christmas party, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments
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Full for the Freeze…or, I blew bloom day!

Okay, everyone is inside, all cozy and getting heated up for the impending freeze tonight.

Yes, you read right, Central Texas has a freeze warning for tonight.  In the city, we are expecting a low of 37, but the surrounding areas will be colder.
Even though we have been unseasonably warm this fall — (all year, really), this is very early for the threat of a freeze.
In anticipation, though, I loaded up the greenhouse and my DH put a fancy, new-fangled thermometer with a humidity reading on it that I can see from inside the house.  How cool is that?
Then, instead of taking pictures for Bloom Day like I was supposed to (Sorry Carol, I’m skipping this one), I was picking an amazing crop of tomatoes and lemons.  I picked 65, YES, 65 red tomatoes.  I left countless green ones on the plants.  Since I don’t really think it will freeze, I’m taking the chance.  But the reds were really almost all ready, so I’ll have to find something to do with them anyway!
Then I went around the corner and crawled carefully under the Lemon tree (because there are lethal 1-inch thorns all over it).  I picked 30 lemons from my Citrus limon variegated.  I only picked the really big ones, and again, left countless littler ones in the hope it won’t really freeze.
Don’t blink and think you’ve been reading blogs too long, the next photo is out of focus.  (I was too lazy to get my DH’s good camera when mine didn’t fully focus where I wanted it to.)
Can you tell what I am photographing?  It’s my token bloom in honor of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day — yes, I have blooms all over my lemon tree!  
Our plants are so confused.  I guess tonight might set them straight.  
Ironically, yesterday as I was putting some plant into the greenhouse, it was 85 hot and sunny degrees outside.  Even with the 4 roof windows open and the doors open and the fan/vent running, it was 110 inside the greenhouse!
Yep.  So it isn’t going to be the cold that gets me — I’m just praying it stays under 75 until sometime in the Spring!  What an odd wish that must seem for those of you in parts north of here.  
Happy Fall!
By |2017-11-29T23:27:51-06:00November 15th, 2008|Blog, freeze, greenhouse, lemons, Sharing Nature's Garden, tomaotes|15 Comments
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