Agave Archives | Page 5 of 5 | Diana's Designs Austin

Shopping and planting and puttering…

Today I went with a friend to two Hill Country nurseries that specialize in Cacti and Agaves and Succulents.

I had a list (in my head) and wanted some things for pots and the rock path and a few other empty spots. I came home with this very interesting Agave americana var. mediopicta f. alba.

I also came home with the really big rust/burgundy glazed pot. The lovely toile-looking distressed urn-pot was a thank you gift from my shopping companion for giving her tickets to Rent last weekend. Isn’t that a nice thank you? And it came with a soy candle and sweet-smelling almond soaps, too. So I bought this adorable Flapjack Kalanchoe to put in it — with something else I don’t have yet…I also got the tiny Echeveria, and the curly-edged Rose Kalanchoe.

When I got home, I dug into the holding area by my garage, read: Diana’s nursery of stuff waiting to find a home, and found a spot of this Kangaroo Paw – Cape Amazon – that I bought a few weeks ago. Being native to Australia, I hope it likes our hot climate here. I put it in a non-irrigated area, but in a spot where I spray frequently with the hose by hand.

This little Agave and her even smaller pup went in the same area as the Kangaroo Paw, and are passalongs from Lori, of The Gardener of Good and Evil.
These are some orange daylilies that I dug up when I organized a eighborhood entryway cleanup with some of my neighbors. They were crowding other plants and in full shade, so I rescued them to my garden. How con-VEEEEN-ient for me!
So, here’s what’s left in the holding area: Two volunteer palm trees that I dug up around our giant palm. A Bulbine, A Mexican Bird of Paradise Tree, and some irises and Sprekelia bulbs.
And here we have chocolate mint, two purple Alyssum and a pot of moss along with a volunteer Crape Myrtle tree that I dug up in the front bed.
And here are some passalong irises and the Avocado tree that will make its home in that big new pot.

Those are my “to-do” lists for the near-term. Along with WEEDING every bed except the veggie garden, which I did last week. I will be so happy when some of these newer and sparse beds fill in more so I have fewer WEEDS!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:45-06:00May 19th, 2009|Agave, avocado, Blog, bulbine, iris, Kalanchoe, Kangaroo Paw, lilies, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Building a new bed…

Well, it doesn’t photograph very well yet, or maybe it’s me (!) but here are the new additions to the Greenhouse corner bed.
I’ve put in an Indigo Spires Salvia, three Lamb’s ears, a variegated Quasimodo Agave, 3 Violet Pentas, 1 Warsaw Nike Clematis vine and a packet of Bachelor’s buttons. I have about 6 more packets of cutting flower seeds to sow and a few more plants to buy for the other end, but I am well on my way.
The new plants are joining some Texas Bluebonnets, some mystery lilies and Larkspur given to me by MSS of Zanthan Gardens. On the other end, I have some orange ditch lilies given to me by Lori of The Gardener of Good and Evil, 3 Daimianita, some Stock, and an Agave passalong from Phillip of East-Side Patch.

Guess I could call this my Passalong Garden!

I wish I could say that I had help, but I didn’t! Just observers.

As much as Dakota digs, I sure wish I could train her to dig holes for me, but no such luck. Lately she’s taken to digging in the grass and unearthing earthworms! And then, yes, eating them. And then yakking them up. Nice, huh? Bet you could have gone all day without knowing that bit of information.

But I really wanted to share it with you!

This CLAIMS to be a DWARF agave…I sure hope that isn’t a lie!

My new Buddha will smile on these plants.

Garden Art along Kallie’s playscape fence.

And a very happy little girl enjoying her playscape and making her own fun in the sun.

But even in the sun, she loves writing and reading and hauled her stuff up into the fort to write in her journal. (Yes, she’s 6!)

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:47-06:00April 9th, 2009|Agave, Blog, Dakota, desert rose, garden art, greenhouse bed, Kallie, Lamb's Ears, Pentas, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

A few little things…

Okay – the mystery is solved. Colleen at Barton Springs Nursery looked it up for me, because they had it mis-labled. My mystery plant is … drumroll, please … Thunbergia Battiscombei — also known as Scrambling Skyflower. She says it is not the vine, also known as Clock Vine — but rather a small shrubby perennial in the same family. Thanks for all the guesses!
Some little ground covers that will soon join the back rock path and some Lace Irises that came yesterday (like Christmas in October) from an order I placed several months ago!
These are Ocelot Irises that came in the same surprise package.
I’m finally accepting that my driveway bed is much more a shade bed than a sunny bed. To that end, I’m adding this nice Philodendron to the mix where the Lantana continue to be puny.
And then, out where the is sun, and just outside of the sprinkler zone, this beautiful Agave Celsii is going to be a lovely focal point at the entrance to our driveway where I’ve also recently planted Zexmenia and Texas Betony. The Agave will be joined by two new Mystic Spires (the compact ones) that will add some pretty purple to the reds and yellows there.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:08-05:00October 2nd, 2008|Agave, Blog, mystic spires, Sharing Nature's Garden|7 Comments

Transformation…

Well, the wonder guys came and did my big project work yesterday and boy did I (rather, we) clear out some stuff! It’s hard to tell, but now there is nothing behind the pool wall until you get to the line of cedars outside our fence. There used to be huge overgrown vines encroaching on the wall and covering up the Hibiscus pots. I dug around and found an old before picture to give you some perspective — two or three years ago I planted two primrose jasmines on either side of the back of the pool. And they grew into monsters!

Can you see the HUGE vines behind the 3 pots and how tall they were? And they went all the way across to the other side of the pool.

So this is all the space I’ve opened up. And I’m really excited about it because I’ve come to realize lately that many of my garden beds are becoming shadier. Which is hard for me because I haven’t historically been a shade gardener.

The is the new bed out behind the wrought iron fence that I meant to put in last Spring and instead I let the heat beat me down. So, on the left side is a variegated Agave that is a passalong plant from my neighbor that has a big agave collection. The lovely pot is flanked by two trailing Lantanas. There are three pink Skullcaps in the front, three little Blackfoot Daisies on the right in front of a Sago Palm, and there are also three Feather Grasses scattered about. In the pot, I have a toothless Texas Sotol. I also plan to put in some Aloe pups that were given to me by Pam at Digging

This is the back corner bed where I had them pull out the three Viburnums. They were just taking over the bed and I wanted some more room to plant other things, so I passed them along to Robin, at Getting Grounded, where she has given them a good and loving home.
This is what they hauled out of here!!! Plus a truck bed full of stuff and the 3 Viburnum that went to Robin’s.
And, besides the empty spaces and clean beds, they left me 350 pounds (yes, 350 pounds!) of crushed granite for me to refresh my pathway because every time I weed I throw about granite bits. And since I can’t carry all that, they put it in buckets for me all along the path so I can put it out as I weed. So, now I have another job to do!