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True love…

This is what my pretty new bed looks like now that my dear husband spread all my mulch for me while I was lying in my bed this weekend recuperating.

Not only did he take care of kids and dogs and housekeeping and shopping and cooking, he gardened for me, too. He spread 6 bags of mulch and he pulled mutant malabar spinach and swiss chard and fed the deer, and then he planted new lettuce plants in their place. Lettuce plants I didn’t have time to get in before the surgery and would have just let die in the garage until I was up to gardening again.

I’m pretty darn lucky. I got fed great homemade food and pampered and got to check things off my list without even lifting a foot out of bed!

Here is a lousy picture of my new blooming rose, Maggie. It’s a couple of days old, so it’s sad, but I’m too proud of it not to post it! It might not hold up against all the beautiful photo-shopped professional quality pictures of bloggers who raise dozens of roses, but it makes me happy, so here it is!
And this is my first bloom on my Desert Rose. Which is odd, because it normally blooms all summer, but I moved it and that clearly wasn’t the right thing to do!

On the reovery front, thanks for all the good wishes. And thank goodness for laparopscopic surgery. I’m almost back to normal today with much less discomfort and only one nap! Might be gardening by next week, even!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:52-06:00October 13th, 2008|Blog, desert rose, new bed, rose, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Whew…

So my Wednesday job was to get all 18 of those plants into the ground before a little surgery on Thursday put me out of gardening commission for a while.

My boots and shovel got a good workout, but it was nice to have a bed to work in, where all the soil was reasonably diggable (is that a word?!).

Unfortunately, once I got everything in the ground, I discovered that the sprinkler back there had been broken digging out the giant Primrose Jasmine, so then I had to water it all by hand.

As you can see, the black elephant ears were not happy about the lack of moisture.

Dakota and Tanner were big helpers all day. Although I did tell Dakota that since she was digging giant holes in the empty bed — she really should be the one to dig the holes for my plants as restitution. She didn’t respond. Dogs.
Tanner found himself a nice shady spot below the bed from which to observe. Doesn’t he look content there? How can they be so happy watching me sweat?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:07-05:00October 11th, 2008|Blog, dogs, new bed, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Passalong present … awesome Oxblood lilies

What wonderful garden blogging friends I have. Today I had a delightful tour of Zanthan Gardens and tonight I am the proud and thankful owner of a bucket-o-Oxblood lilies.

MSS shared her amazing bounty with me, as she has with so many others in the gardening community. Her post and her photos of her collection, truly are amazing, as is her garden. We had fun talking to her goldfish in the pond and sharing garden tales.
So I promptly brought my bucket home and found special places to tuck these beautiful specimens. I divided them into four groups — two went into the corner bed and two went into the shade bed.

They are all safe and sound asleep tonight inside the fence, as I learned that the deer do like them with their salad.

For more on deer salad – see the sidebar!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:52-06:00October 7th, 2008|Blog, bloggers, Oxblood lilies, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Back-breaking…

Oh – it was a back-breaking day in the garden today.

I brought home 10 bags of mulch and compost yesterday in my DH’s truck, and he was going to haul it to the back in the mower and cart for me.

But a bad mower battery but a monkey-wrench in that plan. So after getting a new battery today and a mower driving lesson, I set about to haul 18 plants and 10 giant bags around to the back of our property.

Thought about taking a picture of the mower and cart, but I was too focused on getting the hauling done before it rained on me.

Which, of course, it did not, because it’s not ever going to rain here again — I’m quite sure of it!

So, I survived big rocks and a lumpy path and even backed the mower and cart on several occasions to get my #$%&*@ stuff where it needed to be.

The first photo is a bloom on my Tangerine Crossvine — I found it by accident while standing next to the corner bed thinking about what a good place it is for Oxblood lilies.

So, this is the bed I ripped the two giant, over-grown Primrose Jasmines out of last week. (Well, if you read my blog, you know that I didn’t really do it, I had it done!) As you can see, the grass is dead where the vines covered it up, so it needs to grow back up.

And, Dakota Blue, Missy Hound dog that she is, thinks this bed of dirt is JUST for her! She’s been digging holes in it, so I’m in a big rush to get it turned into a bed. And I sprinkled Cayenne pepper in it yesterday to try to keep her out. I think she got a snootful yesterday as I saw her rubbingher nose in the grass and pawing at it, so I am hoping that helps.
I got two big plants – a nice Sago palm and some black Elephant ears to be specimen plants on this corner that you see more often.
I am also planting two Maggie roses, since this is a full sun bed with no deer access! They smell just wonderful and I am so psyched about getting to have roses. They have bright pink blooms. I hope I can keep them happy in there. See the hold back there where Dakota was digging? A toad lived there. He’d be wise to move!

Across the yard, I have a nice collection of tomatoes coming. I had to shoot this up inthe air as they are in cages about 6-8 feet tall and trailing down!
And it’s finally cooled off enough for the nasturium to bloom a little. I just like having these little guys in my garden and some of my window boxes. They’re perky — and sometime we eat them!

And this, to my surprise, is a yellow Skullcap. I didn’t know that’s what I’d gotten until it started to bloom this week. I’m very excited, because it grows so well and the deer leave it alone. I’ve been looking for a lavender variety with no luck. I’ll keep my fingers crossed – sure wish I could remember at which nursery I bought this.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:52-06:00October 6th, 2008|Blog, elephant ears, nasturtium, new bed, roses, Sago, Sharing Nature's Garden, skullcap, tomatoes|8 Comments

Peeping bloggers…

With a little luck and a lot of planning, I was able to check out 4 of the amazing gardens on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days. My neighbor and gardening friend, Maria and I set out on our excursion early this morning, hoping to fit in 3, and we managed to see 4.

I have some nice pictures, and I’m not going to try and guess plant names, so I’ll just share some of the wonderful views. This first photo was the first garden we visited in East Austin — called Fatal Flowers. It was a beautiful blend of desert and lush plants. Lots of rock paths and walls, shade and sun plants, all mixed in a lovely layered garden. And who should I run into at the first garden, but Pam of Digging and Annie of the Transplantable Rose. We had fun looking at everything together and trying to ID things!

There were so many beautiful succulents – many growing out of rock crevices and cascading down.
The most stunning focal point in the garden was this Agave. It was at least 9-10 feet tall.
The dappled shade pathways gave me lots of ideas and inspiration for shady beds.

This garden, on West 12th, was called Stone Palms, and that’s what was at the entrance to the property. Not a species of palm, but rather art — tall trunks made all of rock, topped with Sago palms. Not sure how they water up there!
This gardener is also an artist who uses shells to create her art. This is a gazebo in her front yard, complete with a shell-covered fireplace in the background.

Then on the other side there was a grotto-style waterfall, lush and tropical, with art made from shells in the middle of it. The water trickled into a concrete tank surrounded by plants. Beside this was a bed – yes, a bed, in her front yard. I supposed it was intended to be a sleeping porch, just without the screens or the porch!
This is the entrance to the back yard.
Along the side of the house.
And another piece of her striking and unique art holding an agave.

We saw two other gardens, the G. Hughes & Betsy Abell garden, designed by Scott Ogden, but we were not allowed to take any photos there. I’m not sure why, once you’ve let the city come in and walk around, what you protect by doing that, and it was lush and interesting. Lots of shade plants, a cactus garden and interestingly, the beds had pine needles instead of mulch. You don’t see that much around here.

Then we went around the corner and saw the Granger Garden, which had beautiful lake views and some lovely beds. Sadly, I had put my camera away and didn’t get it back out. And the garden, while pretty, wasn’t as unique — not a gardener’s garden, like the first two clearly were.

All in all, a lovely day, spent with a good friend and basking in the beauty and inspiration of others. We both went home wanting to stick our hands in the dirt.

Thank goodness, because now I can say that the two Mystic Spires and the new Celsii Agave are in the ground!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:52-06:00October 4th, 2008|Blog, garden tour, Sharing Nature's Garden|19 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.