mountain laurel Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

It’s the little things…in life and in the garden…

With the arrival of spring and increasingly warmer temperatures, I’m seeing the fruits of my first projects in the new garden. All of the plants I brought with me from the last garden went in last summer. Almost all of them survived the interim neglect, and are starting to bloom now.

I put in some bulbs in the fall, and they’re up and at ’em now.

This Loropetalum seems very happy where I planted it last summer.

The garden did have a few bloomers in it when we moved in.

I am enjoying the Bridal Wreath Spirea that’s in full bloom now.

I almost didn’t notice the grape blooms on the shaded Texas Mountain Laurel until my friend, Robin, discovered them last week. Because it’s in full shade, I was shocked to see the flowers.

Here are a few of the plants that went into the new bed about 2 weeks ago.

A handful of blooms make all the difference. I am seeing the garden glass as half full — full of the promise and possibility plants bring into our lives. Even with lots of projects on the horizon, knowing I’ll enjoy every little bloom along the way makes it all worth while.

By Diana C. Kirby|2020-03-18T14:05:57-05:00March 18th, 2020|2020 Garden, African hosta, blackfoot daisies, Bridal wreath spirea, catmint, daffodils, Escondido Cove, euphorbia, loropetalum, mountain laurel, Sharing Nature's Garden, snapdragon|6 Comments

My garden and design photo faves of 2019

It’s a new year and I’ve just passed the 6 month milestone in a new garden. I miss so many things about my previous garden – an acre and a half that I nurtured and loved for more than 16 years. I’m also excited about having a new challenge. A BIG new challenge!

So, I’m recapping some of my favorite 2019 photos of my gardens, both old and new.

This Japanese flowering quince always joined the daffodils and hellebores as the first harbingers of spring. These are plants I will definitely incorporate into the new garden. I’ve already planted several varieties of daffodil bulbs.

The row of Mountain Laurels lining the old driveway was heady with grape-y goodness when they were all in bloom. Luckily, there is a Mountain Laurel in the new garden.

I dug up and brought several hellebores from my collection to the new house and they are thriving. I lost one in the process (I might have been too busy to take good care of them in their pots for months before I began creating a bed for them).

These lyre leaf sage also came with me. They provide lovely ground cover all year and put up these delicate blooms in the spring.

All of the Austin Garden Bloggers will recognize this as Lucinda’s iris – passalongs that I believe we all share.

Rest assured, Lori, the ditch lilies you brought me back from Wisconsin in a bucket traveled with me to the new house, too. I’d never leave those behind!

Dianella and loropetalum were building blocks in the previous garden and the will be again when I start building some big beds.

I think I’ll find a home for another ebb tide rose, too.

The current yard (it’s not a garden!) is covered with ivy. I hope to craft a happier habitat for beneficials and pollinators and birds.

I loved the hot, confetti pops of color in the front bed at the previous house. This is the one I jokingly called the hideous bed.

Swedish ivy always perked up the shadier nooks and crannies in the garden.

I fell in love with crocosmia at many Garden Bloggers Flings and was happy to add some to my garden two years ago.

I always made room for cordyline in the garden and in ornamental pots.

Of course I brought all of my pots with me. I think we moved 75 of them – yikes! Having them all here made us feel right out home on the big back deck and outdoor living areas.

This eyesore area at the new house needed an overhaul. We had to regrade, take out trees, build a French drain and dig out a dozen trashy shrub volunteers. As a small project, it was my first garden creation.

I started by giving some curves and shape to this part of the French drain to define a new bed area in this square space. Then I painted the dilapidated concrete. This area is the view out of the dining room French doors that open onto a courtyard. I designed these steel panels and had them custom built to surround the AC units at the previous house, but don’t need them here. They were perfect for adding interest to this odd space.

Plants and a bird bath were the crowning touches! The wrought iron table and chairs in the courtyard offer a lovely spot for morning coffee.

Lots of fun projects are on tap for 2020. I hope you’ll come see how things are progressing.

Happy New Year and Happy Gardening!

By Diana C. Kirby|2020-01-05T10:39:28-06:00January 5th, 2020|2019, bulbs, Cordyline, cover plants, Crocosmia, daffodils, day lilies, Dianella, ditch lily, drainage, dry creek, flax lily, four-nerve daisy, Garden, Hellebore, irises, japanese quince, lady bugs, lily, loropetalum, mountain laurel, narcissus, new bed, passalongs, quince, river rock, river rock bed, rose, roses, screen, sculpture, shade plants, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring, spring bloomers, Swedish ivy, Uncategorized|6 Comments

Spring flowers scattered around my garden on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

We’ve had a tumultuous winter and spring. Well, it isn’t officially spring, but here in Central Texas, spring starts in February. We’ve already had a 91-degree day, then a week or so after that we had a low of 21. It was the first hard freeze of the winter in my garden. Of course, everything had already started to sprout and put on buds. We love the warm days, but then we pay for it.

Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, so we can see what’s blooming around the world today.

I covered for the 21-degree freeze. I normally don’t do that any more — it’s just too much work. But we’re getting things ready to put our house on the market and move up to northwest Austin and I’d really rather not have to replace plants and fill holes. (And, I want to take some of the great plants with me!)

Nonetheless, there are things blooming in the garden, in spite of the yo-yoing weather. I planted these Ostespermum, African daisy, late summer last year and I’m getting another round be beautiful blooms.

These pass-along white cemetery iris bloom first among all the iris in the garden. They’ve made the rounds among most of the Austin garden bloggers so they brighten gardens all around town.

I can always count on the bulbs and love the daffodils in my garden.

I’ve had these in the garden for a long time. It’s called yellow fortune. The contrast of the almost orange cup with the bright yellow makes a colorful display. I’ve taken to collecting different varieties of daffodils over the years. It’s fun to see who comes up each year.

These ice follies have naturalized and definitely need to be divided. Hmmm…a good opportunity to take some with me to a new garden once we find a house.

The flowering quince makes a lovely backdrop for these frilly, delicate daffodils, called double campernelle. She’s getting lost in the quince and the primrose jasmine beside her, so I may have to rescue her and bring her with me as well. (See how I keep adding to my list?)

The native Texas Mountain Laurels continue to bloom – only the open blooms succumbed to the cold.

Some of the trees hadn’t even produced buds yet, so I will get to enjoy the Kool-Aid, grapey-goodness scent of these beautiful evergreen trees for weeks to come. And, when brought into the house as part of a cut flower bouquet, I can continue to appreciate Mother Nature’s air freshener!

It was hard to cut back the roses when I had several blooms on Archduke Charles, but I brought them inside and pruned the rest.

The four roses in the new rose parterre aren’t all the same height at maturity, so keeping them similar requires careful pruning.

Livin’ easy, grandma’s yellow and ebb tide show no signs of emerging buds yet.

Catmint remains one of my garden favorites. Mostly evergreen with a compact, clearly defined form, it stays orderly in places where I want a small mounding plant.

‘Walkers low’ makes a pretty, reliable border plant, getting only about 12-14″ in my garden. Advertised as getting up to 24″ tall, that’s not my experience and I’ve had them for several years.

I’ve enjoyed them in the front bed and last year expanded their reach into a few other beds as well.

The Mexican honeysuckle on the trellis behind the green goblet agave is awash with coral-y/salmon-y blooms. They grow up into the air and over the fence, draping delicately onto the side of the greenhouse roof.

Hinkley’s columbine has started blooming and brightens up the woodland path garden.

The prairie verbena loves this spot by the street. Hot and dry, this bed bears the brunt of the full, scorching Texas sun. The perennial verbena provides a beautiful, soft contrast to the ginormous squid agave next to it.