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

Well, we HAVE had snow here in winter…

Monday, February 25, 2008

Don’t fall out of your chair! It isn’t snowing here today. In fact, it was 92 today!!!!! But looking at all the beautiful northern snows and ice covered plants, it reminded me that we HAVE had snow here, and it’s just a beautiful when we get it here. It turns everything into a magical winter wonderland. I thought you’d enjoy seeing these — they were the winter of 2003-2004.

And this is my little munchkin’s first look at it! She doesn’t seem too sure, does she?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:47:53-05:00February 24th, 2008|Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, snow|0 Comments

Don’t chew, I surrender!

I surrender. Sigh. After planting lots of little eye candy last week, I got up and went outside to survey Saturday morning. Lo and behold, several of my plants were strewn about the driveway and the beds. Clearly, someone, or several someones, came through for a tasting sampler and found some of them unpalatable! If they didn’t like them, I wishe they’d at least figure that out first, or put them back!

I was able to shove most of those back into their holes and water them. Unfortunately, there were also quite a few plants that were obviously tasty, because they were munched on. They ate all the blooms of Kallie’s Cyclamen, and munched on shrubs and annuals. I know the deer tolerance for most of the perennials and shrubs, but there are just too many annuals to keep track of. And, let’s face it, when I’m standing in the nursery oogling some cute new plant, I know I’m not going to rush home to look it up and come back to buy it. I want it NOW!

So after the deer had a nice salad from my beds Friday night, Saturday morning I went out with strips of laundry dryer sheets to tie around the plants I was most worried about. (They are very scent-sensitive and I’ve some success with it in the past to keep the deer out of the bird feeders.)

Mostly eaten.

Spared — and now with a dryer sheet scarf!
Munched on — sporting a lovely new scarf.

Here are a few bulbs from the experimental ones I planted last month! They are actually coming up now – I can’t believe it. I think these are daffodils or irises. I guess they will surprise me, or I can go back and search my posts.
These are two amaryllis that were eaten last year and managed to survive to grow another season. I guess I’d better chicken wire them until they’ve bloomed!
Here’s another little daffodil that sprouted up and surprised me — I thought these were hyacinths when they first peeked up!
Here is my new vegetable bed — the little one on the left. I just thought I’d squeeze one more in there.
These are the two cleaned-up beds — new garden soil inside and with weed block and thick mulch in the pathways instead of the zoysia grass that kept invading the gardens. Between that and the new metal edging, I’m hoping to keep most of the grass at bay. I swear, last summer it looked like a LAWN in my veggie gardens at one point! Cross your fingers for me.

The gate has been promised tomorrow. And it’s supposed to be 84f — unbelieveable. I’m postponing my teacher conference meeting until Tuesday when the cold front comes through and we drop to 63f 😉

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:55-06:00February 24th, 2008|amaryllis, Blog, bulbs, daffodils, deer, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden|0 Comments

Sago seeds

Posted Friday, February 22, 2008

Meet my “Big Guy.” This is my biggest Sago palm, cycas revoluta. He’s a beautiful specimen, and he’s got lots of pups (which I’m happy to share if you are willing to brave getting them OUT!) My Dad had a long battle with him one day when he didn’t want to give up any pups, but I’m glad to say that Dad won and the Sago was none the worse for the wear.

My neighbor has several Sagos, but she has both male and female specimens. And a week ago, she gave me 4 seeds from her female plant. (The cluster of seeds is an amazing sight if you haven’t ever seen it. I’ll try to get over there and get a picture for you.)

So, I soaked them for several days, and today I removed the outer shell of the seed to prepare them for planting. I’m thrilled that they floated in the water, which is the sign that the seeds have been pollinated and will grow. The outer shell was remarkably thick, but relatively easy to remove with some gloves (the shell is a nasty orange substance that will stain your hands) and my thumbnail.
Now they will sit in a cool damp place to dry out and then I will rehydrate them (seems odd to me, but that’s what you’re supposed to do.) And then they are planted – sideways of all things. not with the point up or down, but on its side.

I have a big new bed into which two of these babies are going to go soon, along with a variegated agave that another neighbor passed along to me. This is the bed behind our iron fence that doesn’t really get watered. I have pots close by that I drag the hose out to water daily, so I can give them a drink periodically, but they will prefer it on the dry side. I’ll be adding some other native grasses and xeric plants to the bed as well.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:47:53-05:00February 21st, 2008|Blog, Sago, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

A little Sunshine in my garden

We had a mixed bag of weather today – humid and damp and misty this morning, then that broke and the sun came out and then a cold front blew in and blew right back out again, leaving sunshine and warmth for the rest of the afternoon. As I was cleaning up the back patio and pruning some, I was struck by how many yellows I have in my garden. So I thought I’d take you on a tip-toe through the yellows today. This is a Gerbera daisy left from last year’s basket of mixed color.

Mickaela Euonymus

Daffodils – -again!

This is a Duranta stem with some yellow berries on it — hard to see because it’s in the garage still until we pass the early March last possible freeze point. I’m not moving that baby twice — she’s heavy.

Here are some flowers in my kitchen today.
Mums and Alstromeria – some of my favs.

Euryops Daisy

Primrose Jasmine

Variegated shell ginger.
(With quite a bit of freeze damage that I just
haven’t cutback yet, so this is a sample of
yellow and dead!)

Leatherleaf Mahonia.

Compact Daisies.

Thought this might be a little ray sunshine for those of you who are still deep in the throes of winter.

Enjoy.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:47:53-05:00February 21st, 2008|Blog, daisy, Gerber, ginger, leatherleaf mahonia, primrose jasmine, Sharing Nature's Garden, Yellows|9 Comments

Projects…

This is my newest project. Well, one of the two…or twenty! I’m still on the veggie fence and new bed but my workers have abandoned me for a few days. They’ll be back, but since I can’t plant my vegetable garden yet, I’ve turned my sights elsewhere.

These photos are at the end of the river rock path that runs along the side of the house. This whole area is at the end of our driveway and before our septic field, which is just a grassy area. This is a nice, sunny hole in the woods and I got a vision last summer to plant wildflowers and cutting flowers here. The statue I bought last week is the anchor for this area, and I’ve decided to name her, Artemis! Thanks to Annie, at The Transplantable Rose, for the idea. It was hard to pick – thanks to everyone for giving me lots of great suggestions — it was tough to decide. Flora ran a close second – thanks also to Kate at Kate Smudges in Earth, Paint and Life, for the suggestion.

So, yesterday I bought some larkspur and society garlic (to deter the deer) and some blackfoot daisies and some corralberry to frame the area and feed the birds. I bought those gigantic sunflowers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last summer and planted them here and they will be back. I’ve also sprinkled some seeds here from my other native plants over the last year. I’m going to leave these new plants sitting here and ponder them for a while. Isn’t that part of gardening, pondering? I tend to be impulsive in the garden (and in life, let’s be honest, here!) so I’m trying to think this through for a change.

For some strange reason, I don’t usually draw out landscape design plans for myself, I just start throwing stuff in the ground. Generally, that works for me. But I will also be pulling OUT 4-5 plants from the front bed for exactly that reason — I over planted the summer before last. That wouldn’t have happened if I’d drawn the design out formally because I would have seen clearly that there was too much material there. But there was a sale at the old Marbridge farms and I went nuts. So, now I get to dig it back up and guess where it’s going? The edges of this new bed! Irony. And, I’m kind of an old dog — hard to teach me new tricks.

These little fillers will look nice in front of the lantana and guara and ferns when they come back in.

It’s drizzling and overcast and we have a 30% chance of rain today, so I’m not sure I will get these plants in the ground. But, with the moisture, they’ll be happy outside anyway.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:56-06:00February 20th, 2008|Blog, new bed, planning, Sharing Nature's Garden, wildlflower|0 Comments

Plugging away ~

I started plugging away in the garden today. After I took my daughter (5) to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, we stopped at the nursery for a few plants. It was a brisk 59 here and mostly sunny, so a good day to get some work done.

I pulled a few tiny weeds (my elms sprout by the millions, it seems, but they are easy to pull out when they’re less than an inch tall), and I pruned a few small lantanas.

I’m so excited — the daffodils officially joined the garden today!

Not just one, or two, but several of them popped open. I love them.

Daffodils — bobbing their bright yellow bonnets in the breeze. Beckoning us out into the garden to join them in the Spring sunshine.

Today, I planted:

3 Malicoides Mix Primula
9 Sorbet Babyfae Ruby and Gold Viola
6 White Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
3 Grace Ward Lithodora
And 1 Cyclamen persicum that I bought for my daughter

(Doesn’t this Grace Ward Lithodora look like prostrate rosemary? I just love finding blues for the garden since they are so much less common than many other colors.)

This last photo is my new gardening best friend! I bought it last week – you can’t really tell the scale from the photo, but it’s a shorter and smaller shovel. Because I have tendonitis in my elbows, using the hand trowel is about the worst thing I can do. (ha! Like I’m gonna stop THAT!)But, since most of what I buy are one gallon plants anyway, I can use this smaller shovel to dig the right sized hole and use my foot for strength instead of my arm. Whoo hoo. And I’m pleased to report that it worked great today on everything but the 6-pack of Alyssum.