Diana C. Kirby, Author at Diana's Designs Austin

Free…gratis…frei…libre…!

For all my Austin (and neighboring) garden blogging friends: These two hose reels are free to a good home if you will come and pick them up! First one to email and ask for them wins!

(Those of you in Indiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Maryland, Louisiana and the rest of the world are also certainly welcome to come get them!!!)

We are the proud parents of two new reels that retract automatically, and with tendonitis in both elbows, that’s a Godsend to me since cranking is really hard on my arms. But these two are in great shape, and I thought there’d be no one better to bequeath them to than one of my garden blogging friends.

So, first come, first served!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:54-06:00May 22nd, 2008|Blog, hosereel, Sharing Nature's Garden|11 Comments

Nippers three …

Nippers three, saving me
from overgrown trees, shrubs and vines

Nippers good, cutting wood
helping me, all the time

Nippers red, always wed
to my hand, hip or behind

Nippers three, how lovely
you make my garden shine!

Diana Kirby
May 21, 2008

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:13-05:00May 21st, 2008|Blog, pruners, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Beans, beans … you know the rest!

What a delight. I spent yesterday harvesting in the veggie garden. I got a giant bowl of green beans, collard greens, spinach and the last 3 radishes.

The green beans were delicious, as were the collards. Radishes and spinach will go in tonight’s salad.

We have many tomatoes – but they are still very green. It’s already getting hot here, so I’m worried about whether the blooms will continue to set very well. (I admit I bought some bloom set spray. I’m not sure if that works, but I REALLY want tomatoes!)

I found some more blooms on the strawberries, too, so we might have another small helping of those soon.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Vanillalotus at New Sprout for solving my mysteries from the last post. She tells me:

The lily is called a Jacobean Lily, or Aztec Lily. It’s latin name is Sprekelia formosissima. Here is a website with more information at Daves Garden.

The cool-looking moth is a giant/great leopard moth.

What a wonderful thing – to have you gardening friends as a resource for tips and troubles and to indentify those mysteries that pop up in our gardens periodically.

Thanks for all your ideas and help!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:54-06:00May 19th, 2008|Blog, green beans, lily, moth, mystery, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden|9 Comments

Mystery Challenge!

Ok, garden experts! I need help. This lily (I am assuming it is a lily of sorts) is stunningly beautiful. But I have no idea what it is. The entire stem is bright red, unlike the daylilies I know. Do you know what it might be?

I’ve done some google searches and come up empty. I’d love to have your ideas to search through. It lives in dappled shade, gets good water and the soil is probably mostly black clay so I think it’s pretty hearty in that sense.

I planted them at our previous house and loved them so much that I divided them and brought these with me. I’d love to have more, but that would require a name!

Any ideas?

Ok – mystery #2 of the day! I found this amazing moth in our outdoor kitchen, where he/she hung out all day long in this spot. Must have been cozy! It looks like something you’d draw when you were doodling. Any idea what it might be?
And these are not mysterious at all, just pretty! Had to share a shot of my morning glories in their full morning glory! Don’t they look happy?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:14-05:00May 17th, 2008|Blog, lily, Morning Glory, moth, mystery, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Bursts of bloom

Welcome to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, when Carol of May Dreams Gardens invites us to share all the beautiful blooms in our gardens.

Because we basically enjoy nine months of summer here in Austin, and so many of the plants bloom for most of that time period, I decided to focus my post today on a few unusual things that are blooming instead of the normal laundry list.

Rest assured, the lantana and blackfoot daisy and other annuals and perennials that were blooming last month as still blooming. The one big change that I am seeing since our 90 degree spell — the beautiful magenta snap dragons are starting to wilt. About half of them have died and don’t appear to be coming back.

You’ll find a few favorites I couldn’t resist sharing, but also several blooms on the vegetables growing in my garden with the promise of delectable veggies yet to come. Here are my first day lilies blooming. These are not from my new bed, but ones that I planted last year. I got the full “frontal” shot for you (tee hee) but was more intrigued by the look from the back, so I took one of those as well. Isn’t the back of it lovely, too?

This is a Mexican Hat native wildflower that I planted after grabbing a handful of seeds on the side of the road during a walk last year! I crushed the dried head into an open meadow area where we have our bird feeders and they came up this year! I am so excited that my experiment actually worked!
This is a terrible picture, but I wanted you to see Mr. Lizard who was hot-footing it away from me down the driveway. Think he’s camera shy?
First blooms of the lovely Guara.
The Damianita in the front bed in its full glory.
This Black and Blue Salvia is one of my favorites. It’s so rare that we are able to get true blues in our gardens and I just love these.
A collection of little pots that I SWORE I wouldn’t plant this year. (When we get to 100, it takes a LONNNNNNNNG time to water all those little pots every single day without fail….and every year I swear I am not going to plant them again …… I lie!)
More little pots…
More little plants and more little pots into which I will someday put the plants!
My new Spiderwort who is still WAITING to go into the ground and has decided to shame me into planting it by blooming!
Rudbeckia that came from a mail order and I am so pleased with its lovely color.
These are Tomatillo blooms.
These are bush bean blooms. By the way, we have lots and lots of beans, so I am planning to cook homemade green beans on Sunday night for dinner…with bacon and onions! Yum…like my Grandma used to make.
The cucumbers are looking very healthy and started blooming this week.
A little garden art I picked up at a nursery across town — this is on the fence by our playscape.
And, finally, my Pavonia – or Rock Rose, that I have gleefully planted behind the fence out of the range of the hungry deer. Over the years, they’ve eaten 3 on me, so I’ve learned my lesson and was excited to think of a spot to safely plant one. This is across the way from the new daylilies on the edge of that bed. Tonight two Mexican heathers and an Idigo Spires joined her, but that was after photo time. I snuck in three plants while Kallie was brushing her teeth and putting her jammies on!

It’s so nice here in the evenings these day, it’s just plain hard to come inside until it’s dark, but Mommy duty calls, so I only get a few stolen moments!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:54-06:00May 15th, 2008|Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, Uncategorized|14 Comments

It’s a beautiful day in my neighborhood …

Wow. Never mind what’s blooming in my garden today.

I wanted to share with you some of the amazing sights that I enjoy on my daily neighborhood walks with Tanner.

As I was taking these pictures, I was humming that infamous Mister Rogers tune ~~ don’t hate me if you start humming it to yourself now!

Stunning and soft blooms on this prickly cactus.

A close-up of native Agarita berries bursting forth.
Lantana and yuccas make a nice couple!
More blooms,
And a yellow blooming yucca – much less common than the red.
Mexican feather grass blowing in the breeze.