Blog Archives | Page 71 of 116 | Diana's Designs Austin

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

The Four Musketeers …

I couldn’t believe my eyes yesterday when I looked out the breakfast room window and saw, not one, not two, not three, but FOUR rats with tails eating at the bird feeders with reckless abandon.

Can you hang upside down by your toenails and eat? He can!
Those little claws are clenched around the tiniest of ledges around this feeder, but Mr. Bushy Tail doesn’t seem to mind.
This is a big ceramic tea cup and Weasel-lips here has squished his plump little body right down in it so he can root around in the seeds until he’s about to burst. And the little roof will keep him dry if it rains!

(Not much chance of that around here!)

And here’s the panoramic view of most of the feeders (there are a few others that won’t fit into the shot). But these are the ones that get the most traffic and make the dogs go nuts ~~ jumping up on the breakfast room windowsill to get just a little closer at those varmits.

Maybe instead of participating in bird watch day, I should make up a squirrel watch day where nature lovers count these critters instead!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:44:37-05:00April 7th, 2009|bird feeders, Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, squirrels|0 Comments

Taniguchi Japanese Garden inspires wedded bliss~

So many of you commented about our wedding at the Zilker Taniguchi Japanese Garden that I wanted to share a picture with you of the beautiful setting it provided for one of the happiest days of my life.

It was a sunny (hot) June day (a few sprinkles for luck, but not on us!).

We were surrounded by our family, closest friends and the Koi!

So, while I was search through the 6,000+ photos in my iphoto program, I ran across another one you need to see.

The next photo was taken at the reception at the Barr Mansion across town. It has nothing to do with the garden story, I just wanted you to see the back of my dress!!!

Tee hee.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:44:37-05:00April 2nd, 2009|Blog, Japanese garden, Sharing Nature's Garden, wedding|0 Comments

Garden festival galore

What a gardening bonanza. I’m still glowing from my wonderful weekend.

The Zilker Garden Festival, formerly known to long-time Austinites as Florarama, was this weekend.

There are so many things to love about Austin, but this is my very favorite event of the year. I think I’ve only missed it once in the last 17 years (I was sick as a dog).

It’s a wonderful garden festival, with garden vendors, craft booths, garden art and accessories, food, informational speakers, bands, a children’s corner with face painting and gardening crafts. You name it, they have it.

And it’s located in the beautiful Zilker Gardens, which were showing off for us in full force this weekend. I gawked at the rose garden, the fern garden, the bulbs and promise of the daylilies to come. It’s an amazing setting. I’m partial to it because my husband and I were married in the Japanese Gardens by the bridge over the koi ponds.
Is this the biggest Ch-ch-chia pet you’ve ever seen? (There, behind that attractive young woman!)

This is the perfect place to pick up daylilies from the Dayliliy Society or exotic plants from boutique growers around the area. I look forward to seeing my favorite garden booths year after year. I have several Plumeria, Desert Roses, Night-blooming Cerius, daylilies and succulents that I have collected from these folks over the years.
Mom watched our two carts while Dad and I took a break. You absolutely have to take a wagon for your haul. Mine is the little red one. See the cute bird house in the foreground, and my Amaryllis, Heuchera Plum Pudding, and a hand-painted hummingbird feeder…look closely — you’ll see it all!
One of many water features in the park — it was so peaceful.
Now, here’s Dad sitting on his wagon waiting while Mom and I look at something for a long time.
This is a local nursery’s booth that I love to frequent. They had some great things, but I’m going over to the nursery to buy this week so I can get more goodies.
And here’s a booth set up by the local Master Gardeners to answer questions and provide great information to new gardeners.
And this is a huge cabbage head from the veggie gardens down by the food vendors. I was so impressed by its size — someone always eats mine before they get this big!