Lantana Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

Design definition and texture in new landscape garden bed

I’m on a roll. Gardening is good for the soul, and for the exercise and creative outlet it provides during this stressful time. My free time is often spent surfing the web for the perfect plant since I’ve been avoiding nurseries. As fast as they arrive in the mail, I’m expanding garden beds to contain them!

Since the move last summer, I’ve been lonely without my recommended daily allowance of blooms.

There were a handful of hastily pre-sale planted impatiens in the front of the house, but nary a flower anywhere else. I couldn’t even make a tiny posey for my desk.

It was sad.

Having filled the new beds that I created along the dry creek, I decided I needed some more plants.

I turned to my winter sources, searching for my favorite plants online. I’ve slowly been planting in front of the creek above of the sidewalk. I’ve been digging out multiple 6-inch circles to plant individual plants, leaving the grass right beyond that!

Having filled the new beds that I created along the dry creek, I decided I needed some more plants.

I turned to my winter sources, searching for my favorite plants online. I’ve slowly been planting in front of the creek above of the sidewalk. I’ve been digging out multiple 6-inch circles to plant individual plants, leaving the grass right beyond that!

Last week, I finally got help to get the whole bed dug out with room for a lot more plants!

Here’s the before photo. When we moved in, there was little to no grass because of dense shade of over gown trees.

We pruned the trees heavily last summer and watered the grass, but this area is still a little shady, so it would be perfect for the part-shade and part-sun plants I love.

In the new bed I added salvia, rose campion, datura, daisies, lantana, gomphrena, iochroma, and eryngium. When the universe opens back up again, I’ll be in search of a very large turquoise pot to put on top of the large rocks at the top of the hill before the oak tree.

I can’t wait until all of these lovelies are in full bloom. I’m hoping it will be a bouquet of color, texture and form every single day!

By Diana C. Kirby|2020-04-28T16:38:11-05:00April 28th, 2020|2020 Garden, daisies, datura, erygnium, gomphrena, Iochroma, Lantana, rose campion, Sharing Nature's Garden, Uncategorized|1 Comment

Inspiration on a napkin turns ideas into reality in the new garden

I woke up at 5:15 Saturday morning, as excited to wake up and start the day as if it were Christmas morning. Saturday was planting day. I could hardly control myself as I tried to go back to sleep for at least a little longer.

When we moved last summer, I knew I would have a blank landscape canvas with which to work. Now on a large, shaded and very hilly corner lot, the conditions in this garden are dramatically different than our previous garden.

I’m reminded of the adage, “be careful what you wish for…” and smile when I think of my complaints that the other landscape was flat and boring. There’s nothing flat here! In fact, the only thing here is ivy. Lots and lots of ivy. I’ve found Jasmine, English ivy, trumpet vine and Virginia creeper, all intermingled in an incestuous mess, threatening to eat the trees and the house and everything else in its path.

Over the last few months, I’ve tried to focus on the area that runs along the lower side of the property.

One of our first projects when we moved in was intensive pruning of the wonderful, yet long-neglected heritage trees. We removed a few dead ones, and opened up the canopy of trees along that side of the property. Because of the overgrown trees, all that remained in the total shade was dead grass, soil and exposed tree roots. Now, the afternoon sun shines in this area, and I decided that it might be my best bet at creating a bed friendly to sun-loving plants.

I’ve scribbled on several napkins and I’ve had a few snippets of ideas about possible plant combinations. Luckily, I came to my senses and decided to take the time to assess the space, allow my vision to evolve, and focus on some of my favorite plants. The sketch of plants grew as I decided to intersect the long space with a dry creek, boulders and a large ceramic pot as the focal point.

Last week, I put the plan into motion as I drew out the creek outline with construction paint and got the crew digging and delivering rock.

Over the week, I finalized my plant choices and placed my order. Saturday was the day.

I lovingly placed every plant and every boulder, turning and adjusting and moving an inch to the left and then a half inch to the right and then another half inch back to the left!

At the top of the hill, I’ll add a very large ceramic pot, filled with a focal point plant and trailing potato vines or maybe silver pony foot. It will be nestled in the middle of these boulders at the headwaters of the creek.

Bordering the sidewalk entrance, a few dianella, a purple trailing lantana, a red salvia Greggii, blackfoot daisies and damianita surround a regal purple Amistad salvia. She’ll be the star of the show in short order with her almost foot-long plumes.

To create year-round interest, catmint is intermingled with the elegant and strappy leaves of Agapathus. I like the textural contrast between the delicate, gray-green catmint and the lime-y foliage of the agapanthus.

In mild winters like this one, catmint was evergreen in my previous garden.

It will be interesting to see how plants fare in this new garden.

At the other end of the bed and the creek, the shining star will be a deep magenta Maggie rose (which I haven’t found yet). She’ll be flanked by Dianella, a Mediterranean fan palm, trailing white lantana, purple skullcap and a Weberi agave. Just past the Weberi, another Dianella keeps an Indigo spires salvia company along with an artichoke and a scattering of sculptural foxtail ferns.

I didn’t realize how much I missed my other garden until I started to create a new one. It’s filled a void and I’m excited to be moving forward.

I have lots of other ideas swirling around in my head. And now that this bed is spiffy, neighboring areas definitely look shabby in comparison.

Now I’m dreaming about new stucco bed-bordering walls (to replace railroad ties), driveway flanking beds, and a possible new entrance from the street.

I’ve stocked up on napkins, there is plenty for me to do. I’ll keep you posted!

By Diana C. Kirby|2020-03-10T09:42:46-05:00March 9th, 2020|2020 Garden, Agapanthus, Agave, agave webberi, amistad salvia, artichoke, before and after, blackfoot daisies, catmint, creek, Daimianita, Dianella, dry creek, indigo spires, landscape design, landscape project, Lantana, maggie rose, Mediterranean, palms, purple salvia, purple skullcap, salvia, salvia greggii, Sharing Nature's Garden, skullcap, stone, Stream, Uncategorized, winter|7 Comments

Greening up the garden on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

After several gifts of much-needed rain this spring, the garden is beaming with delight. (As are the weeds, but that’s another story.)

We barely saw winter this year, it made a few stops nearby, but never stayed long enough to qualify for a freeze at my house.

Having happily forgone dormancy, many plants in the garden are big and bursting with blooms well ahead of their traditional schedules. So here is a peek into my garden as I celebrate Garden Bloggers Bloom day, created by Carol of May Dreams Gardens
.

This tropical hibiscus was never expected to make it through the winter – I planted two them knowing I’d probably have to replace them this spring, but low and behold, they are happily blooming again.

Euphorbia ‘Ascot rainbow’ against the backdrop of native prairie verbena.

Jerusalem sage, Phlomis, getting cozy with some Salvia Greggii in the front bed.

New additions to my shade garden last year, I added both solid yellow and fruit cocktail shrimp plant to the palette.

Purple and fuchsia dominate the end of the front bed. The irises in the foreground are done already, but they were a lovely lavender.

Scuttelaria wrightii, purple skullcap, enjoyed our warm spring and is trailing out into the walkway.

I replanted Cleome ‘Senorita Rosalita’ again this year where I had some holes in the front bed. It makes a nice contrast agains the sculptural foxtail ferns.

A tidy, low, mounding shrub, Catmint ‘Walker’s Low,’ is one of my favorites.

The Salvia ‘Mexican limelight’ on the right and back of this photo is only sporting a few blooms right now, but soon it will create a nice contrast against the yellow Calylophus in the front.

The butterflies homed right in on this native butterfly weed — they knew I’d planted it just for them. (Along with dill, parsley, fennel and many other host/food plants.)

This explosion of four-nerve daisies came flying over from the bed on the other side of the driveway and clearly like where they landed!

More prairie verbena in driveway bed, set against the Lantana ‘horrida,’ — purple and orange is one of my go-to color combos.

Early spring and much-needed rains also mean an early pruning season in the garden. I’m not quite as excited about that result.

Here, the Jerusalem sage, Salvia greggii, Zexmenia, Mexican feather grass and Mexican honesuckle are getting just a little too neighborly for my taste. I’m gonna have to go break up the fight out there this week!

I’ve twice tried to plant Cardoon in this bed with no success. This year, voila! This plant, put in last summer, overwintered well and is rewarding me with blooms.

I love its color and its beautiful, exotic form.

The cardoon, related to the artichoke, is enjoyed frequently in Mediterranean cuisine. It is grown primarily for its thick stalks, which can be braised, stewed or deep-fried.

I’ve also grown artichokes many times in the past, but usually let the chokes bloom instead of eating them. They are just too pretty to eat, in my opinion.

I think I’ll try to cook a few of the stalks of this cardoon – just to see what it tastes like.

Most of my lantana is blooming throughout the garden. Purple trailing lantana is backed by Loropetalum ‘ever red’ in the front walkway bed.

I think this is Lantana ‘cherry sunrise’ on the side of the house. Unlike the native ‘horrida’ which can take over your garden – growing up to 6 feet wide and almost as tall – this cultivar is a very compact and orderly size of 2-3 feet wide.

The first of several rock roses began blooming this week. Pavonia lasiopetala is a tough native plant, but the deer find it tasty, so it has to live inside of the fence.

This daylily, ‘grape magic’ was ordered from Olallie Daylily Gardens when I created the daylily bed in 2008. It was advertised as an August bloomer. Just a tad early this year~!

This is Mexican flame vine, hard at work brightening up this section of fence.

These daylilies are not in the daylily bed, but out by the pool. I don’t know the cultivar, and they look a little washed out in this photo – they are a very deep, velvety maroon color.

Just down the way in the pool bed, this Pride of Barbados has also begun to bloom, well in advance of its traditional August arrival.

Last year’s addition to the pool bed was this Iochroma ‘royal queen.’

I didn’t realize how well it would do in this spot, so I’ll have to keep pruning it. I might have to get a few more to put in other spots in the bed now that I’ve seen how much they like it.

Clematis pitcheri is crawling with delicate little blooms.

Although I like the bright blue larkspur the best, the white and pale blue are the most prominent in the cutting garden this spring.

Leonotis leonurus, lion’s tail, ‘carefree beauty’ rose and Salvia ‘indigo spires’ are all blooming at once in the cutting garden.

Our recent rains have been good for these salvias. In times of drought, they really fade back.

Plenty of chow for pollinators in this garden!

I planted a few 4″ pots of Limonium sinuatum, (statice) in the garden last month. After all, a cutting garden needs some of this bouquet staple, doesn’t it?

The Echinacea reseed in this small spot and come back in droves, year after year.

Behind the pool, the transplanted Salvia ‘Amistad’ adapted very well and is bordered by yellow bulbine.

Behind our fence, the oleander I planted last year as a screen is doing its job. I will probably add a few more this year so we can start taking out some cedars.

The Loropetalum ‘ever red’ in the front bed makes a dramatic statement.

The Texas Yellow Star, or Lindheimera texana daisy, reseeded into my decomposed granite path and now towers above all of the other low-growers. It doesn’t really matter, though, because the bluebonnets and wine cups have already taken over the entire path, so the yellow star can be right at home.

We may be in for an early, hot summer, but I’m ok with that since I’ve enjoyed so many beautiful early blooms in the garden. What’s blooming in your garden today?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-11-11T21:48:16-06:00May 15th, 2016|butterfly weed, cactus, Cardoon, catmint, Cleome, cone flower, daylily, four-nerve daisy, GBBD, hibiscus, Iochroma, Lantana, larkspur, night blooming cereus, Oleander, Pride of Barbados, purple skullcap, salvia, Sharing Nature's Garden, shrimp plant, Texas Yellow Star|0 Comments

Early bloomers are putting on a show in the spring garden

Even though it’s only March, it’s already spring here in Central Texas.

After our exceptionally mild winter and welcome rains, the early bloomers are already hard at work in my garden.

In addition to the daffodils I included in my last post, many of the other perennials are already flowering.

This loropetalum is bursting with hot pink fringe-like blooms.

It’s the one I’ve pruned to become a small tree.

These pretty little blooms below called to me at the Natural Gardener last week.

And as soon as I started typing, the name flew out of my head! I’m sure you know just what they are – they aren’t mums, they might be gaillardia.

The wisteria is starting to bloom. Like last year, there is some growth on the back side of the fence, but there are plenty of buds for me to enjoy inside the fence.
I love looking at the Mexican plum tree buds against the pretty blue sky.
The stone wall makes a nice backdrop for the trailing lavender lantana behind the pool.
The hellebores would have preferred a colder winter, but some of them are giving me some blooms — this is ‘winter’s wren.’
The strawberries are blooming their ever-loving heads off! Soon we will be able to eat more than one ripe one at a time. I long for the day when we get a small bowl full.
My absolute favorite low-grower is ‘homestead’ verbena. That bright purple color is just stunning.
All of my blackfoot daisies are back again from last year. You just can’t beat these little guys for drought tolerance.
The alyssum is mounding up all over along the rock path already.

‘May night’ salvia can do great in the garden here, but my luck with them has been hit and miss. I love their low-growing form, but they are hard to get established.
Kallie’s window box is full of little pretties that I got last weekend at the Natural Gardener.
After some slacking last year, many of my irises are showing off for the first time. I don’t know the name of the purple or the white iris, though I believe the white one may be a pass along from Pam of Digging or Annie of The Transplantable Rose.

As always, Fletcher wanted to know what I was doing in the garden with that camera around my neck, so he had to come check out the salvia, too! I’m sure he thought there must be something edible in there!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:19-06:00March 4th, 2012|alyssum, blackfoot daisies, Blog, Fletcher, Hellebore, iris, irises, Lantana, loropetalum, May night salvia, Mexican Plum, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring, spring bloomers, strawberries, verbena, winter's wren hellebore, wisteria|0 Comments

Drought tolerant plants for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

I had pictures on Bloom Day (on the 15th!) and I had most of the post done, but then … life happened. So, whether it’s the 15th or the 23rd, I still want to write about my garden and share it with you. Besides, things are still the same – no water, that’s for sure. But this morning it was a blissful 66, so hope is on the way.

We’ve had more than 86 days over 100 degrees here in Central Texas this summer. And we hit an all-time high of 112.

Our gardens are crispy and our arms are tired from dragging around hoses to hand water while we’re under water restrictions.

Only allowed to use irrigation systems for 1 day a week, before 10 am and after 7 pm, gardening has been more of a challenge than usual.

I’ve spent a lot of my time hand watering all summer long, so I have more blooms than some gardeners. I feel lucky to have had the time to devote to it.

But we do still have blooms and we’re learning more than we ever wanted to know about the true meaning of drought tolerant and xeric.

These Blackfoot Daisies are tough as nails and seem quite content in the heat.

Crape Myrtles are doing ok when they get a little water. Those with American Indian names are the most adapted to our climate.
This Katy Road/Carefree Beauty rose doesn’t seem the least bit concerned about the heat – and she’s providing some shade for the small cutting garden flowers around her.
Lord Baltimore hibiscus really came into his own this year with a profusion of blooms.
Mexican Oregano is thriving in this heat. In fact, I spent an hour cutting this one back as it completely outgrew its space and tried to take over the Sago and the nearby lavendar trailing Lantana.
Can’t kill this Datura either. Tough as nails and out of control.
Another Mexican native, Esperanza (also known as Yellow Bells) is a strong bloomer all summer long. It is outshining the variegated shell ginger interplanted with it.
Well, these Homestead Verbenas are happy, but I have also lost many of them this summer. I planted some in 3 different places at 3 different times since the spring and 6 of them bit the dust. These are well-established and have been in the crushed granite path for at least 3 years. Guess that made all the difference.
Some of the Lantana looked drought tolerant this year and some doesn’t. A few of them never really recovered from last winter’s 19 degrees. They grew some foliage but then just stopped. No more growth and no blooms all summer. Not a one. This “Bandana Cherry Sunrise” is full of blooms.
My photography skills were challenged on this photo — this is Pitcher Sage — a native plant that I got two years ago at the annual Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center sale. It is a stunning shade of blue and blooming its head off! In the same bed as the Lantana shown above and the Liatris below, also from the Wildflower Center sale. They share the bed with two salvia greggii. All of these plants are natives, they are in a space where they get less water than most of my other beds, and look great. There’s a lesson there — hope I’m paying attention!

Hope you have lots of blooms in your garden on this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted each month by Carol of May Dreams Gardens. Happy Bloom Day!