Sharing Nature's Garden Archives | Page 28 of 124

Heat-loving stunner a must-have for hot gardens…

One of my favorite heat-loving plants, Duranta erecta is a show-stopper for most of the summer here in Central Texas.

I grow four different varieties: Alba-white, Sapphire showers-deep purple, lavender, and gold mound-with lime green foliage.

Bright yellow berries, about ½ inch in diameter, spill in long, trailing clusters in the summer. (The berries are poisonous to humans.)

My favorite is the sapphire showers – it’s vibrant purple – white-edged blooms are dramatic in my tropical garden. It also attracts bees, butterflies and birds.

My white Duranta has special sentimental meaning to me. It was a gift, given to me by two dear friends at my office, when my dog, Sami, spent 11 days in emergency vet care for the worst case of pancreatitis my vet had ever seen. We didn’t think she was going to make it. So my friends brought me this amazing tree. It was such a loving, generous gift. Against all odds, Sami recovered and went on to live another 5 years, even surviving cancer after that. After the passage of 19 years, and the passing of my sweet Sami almost 14 years ago, their kindness and my miracle still bring tears to my eyes when I look at the Duranta.

This is my miracle Duranta. For me, the white blooms will always represent the hope in my heart.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:29-05:00September 17th, 2013|Blog, duranta, duranta erecta, duranta sapphire showers, plant, Sami, Sharing Nature's Garden, tree, tropicals|0 Comments

Fantastic finger limes pack a punch with flavor-bursting pearls

I picked up a fascinating fruit at the grocery store this week — finger limes. They are just a little longer than an inch and are less than half an inch wide. Being a gardener and a foodie – I had to have them.

I have a sliver of fresh lime in my hot tea in the morning and thought these would be great for that.

Reading the label, I was curious. “Delicious pearls bursting with lemon/lime flavor. Use on fish, in cocktails, ice cream baked goods and guacamole. Slice for rings, squeeze for pearls.”

What?

So I took my trusty paring knife and sliced. And then I squeezed. It was the strangest sight. The segments, or vesicles, aren’t triangular in shape, like most citrus, but rather round pearls that burst forth from the fruit. They literally POP in your mouth, much like caviar. The fruit is firm, and not very juicy and its flavor is tart and slightly more bitter than most other limes.

The finger lime tree is native to Australia, and grows in the rainforest as an understory tree. The skin can be green, yellow, red or purple.

Needless to say, there’s a tree on its way to my house as I write this.

I know, I know, we don’t live in a rainforest! But a girl can dream, can’t she?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:29-05:00September 11th, 2013|Australia, Blog, citrus, finger lime tree, finger limes, fruit, lime, lime tree, Sharing Nature's Garden, trees|0 Comments

Beautiful xeric fall bloomer freshens a tired late summer garden…

A profusion of blooms have popped up on my Lindheimer’s Senna, Senna lindheimeriana, in my wild bed outside of the bakc fence. This is deer country, and the velvety leaves of this plant are usually not nibbbled by the deer passing through. This shrub-like perennial is native and grows 3-6 feet.

Glory hallelujah, it likes dry soil, sun or part shade and grows wild in rocky limestone areas all over of Texas. The birds and bees love it, too

I brought this one home as a small starter plant a year or two ago and this year it rewarded me with a growth spurt and tons of blooms. It blooms in late summer, so it’s a welcome sight when some plants are tired and it comes into bloom to perk up the garden in August through October.

This pretty xeric plant is a perfect addition to a hot, dry Central Texas garden.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:29-05:00September 8th, 2013|Blog, deer resistant, fall, fall color, Lindheimer senna, Senna, Sharing Nature's Garden, xeric, xeric plants|0 Comments

Propagation planning for winter greenhouse plants…

My garden is making me very happy right now. It looks great. I don’t say that much, being my own worst critic, but I feel good about what I’ve accomplished since the spring. Even in this tough summer, I worked hard on it.

But, I realize it won’t be long before the blooms stop and plants go dormant as we usher in a short winter’s nap.

Many of the plants in my garden this year are not perennials. Unless we have a very mild winter, I’m likely to lose some of my new favorites in the garden.

Like the variegated begonia in the right of the picture above. It was fussy and had to be watered every day, but so did all my pots just about 10 feet away, so I babied it. It was so pretty with its cranberry colored stems and juicy cream and lime colored leaves. I want more of these next year.

:i

This Persian shield is also one of my new faves this year. I finally got a few close enough to the house and big enough that the deer aren’t eating them to the ground. Love that vivid color.

This salvia madrensis below isn’t in my garden, but my friend and fellow garden blogger, Renee of Renee’s New Blog, gave me three cuttings of hers and I know I’m going to want more, so I will root some more over the winter. They are really hard to find in nurseries.

The variegated plant in the photo below is Cuban oregano – a strong smelling herbaceous perennial that is cold tender. I lost my first one last winter, but promptly went out and bought several more. And I stuck at least 6 little stems into the ground and they immediately started growing. So, I will prune some off before the first freeze and have my own collection growing over the winter.

Don’t you think all of these plants would love getting to spend the winter in my greenhouse getting lots of TLC? I do!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:13-06:00September 5th, 2013|Blog, Cuban oregano, cuttings, greenhouse, Persian shield, propagate, propagation, salvia, salvia madrensis, Sharing Nature's Garden, variegated begonia|0 Comments

Goodbye sweet Maggie roses, hello tasty fall tomatoes…

I know that I planted the two ‘Maggie‘ roses before April of 2009, the second set of plants to be placed in the deep raised bed behind the pool. I looked carefully at their growth habit, having just removed monstrous Italian jasmine that I’d hoped would not scale those heights quite so quickly. (I do know that they get that big, I was just in denial that they’d be in such a hurry about it.)

And the Maggies were happy there. VERY happy there. They grew, and grew and grew. They grew up to the ledge on the back of the pool – about 3 feet. And then they grew another 4 feet.

They have the most delicious rose scent. It was heavenly and it was the primary reason I brought them home with me.

They were beautiful. And then they were ugly. They grew so much and so fast, that deadheading, pruning and generally keeping up with them became a monstrous chore. And then the black spot and leaves falling like rain. They were not only 7+ feet tall, they were about 8 feet wide. And constantly leaning out over the edge into the path behind them.

I tired. I really tried. I pruned and pruned. My crew came and pruned and pruned and pruned. It was work. And then it was expensive.

And I never liked them towering behind the pool wall and water sheer because the rest of the pool and cabana area is filled with tropical plants.

So a few weeks ago I made the agonizing decision to let them go. (That’s a gardener euphemism for rip them out.)

I didn’t do it (not with tendonitis in both arms, are you kidding me?). They were monsters. And I couldn’t watch.

But when they were gone, I breathed a sigh of relief. After all, I don’t grow roses because they are a lot of work to keep up properly.

So, while looking at the bed with the giant hole in it, my husband said, “why don’t you pot some fall tomatoes in that nice, deep soil?” Just what I was thinking. (I can’t rotate them enough in our veggie garden and out spring crop s…. was bad.)

So, I planted three tomatoes and lovingly covered them with shade cloth for these 100+ temps to help them get established. They will grow past the pool wall, but it will be late fall and then they’ll come out. Next spring new perennials will find a home in this spot. Wonder who will get the honor?

But that’s a deliberation for another day. I’ll have all winter to think about it.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:13-06:00September 2nd, 2013|Blog, fall tomatoes, maggie rose, pool bed, roses, Sharing Nature's Garden, tomatoes|0 Comments

Stunning San Francisco Fling garden tour of my dream garden…

The San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was an amazing adventure into a myriad of unique and beautiful gardens and micro climates. I expected the weather in San Francisco to be cool and comfortable. Not so. As is often the case when I’ve traveled to the annual garden flings, they were having an uncharacteristic heat wave. (The Texas bloggers have a theory that we bring the beat with us – a tradition we’d love to put an end to!)

San Francisco was tolerable, though as we ventured further out from the city, it was hotter (103 one day walking through the gardens) and drier. Of course the beauty of the micro climates is that it enabled us to tour a wonderful variety of gardens, all within driving distance.

On the last day, we visited the Ann Nichols Garden in Oakland. This was my favorite garden by far, filled with mysterious paths, babbling water features, unique artwork and an intricate garden of tropical plants and desert plants mixed with traditional plants. (I have a soft spot for tropicals and I garden in the scorching heat of the southwest in Austin, Texas.)

As you arrive, the garden rises from the street in a succulent-lovers hillside of hot with the tropical colors of agaves, yuccas, phormium and cannas.

Everyone ooohed and ahhhhed over this intricate spiral agave. It can’t take our arid heat, so I won’t be searching for one to plant in my garden.

I finally tore myself away from the hillside to follow a delicate, almost-hidden path up to the house. Lined with papyrus, aloes, ground cover and cannas, it led me to my ultimate destination — a stunning brugmansia, its bell-shaped blooms dripping over the path to envelop garden visitors in an apricot canopy.

Winding on the other side of the house is another path, filled with ground cover, succulents and grasses, that leads you up into the back garden.

Along the property line is a fence/trellis/jungle creation that hosts bromeliads, tillandsias ferns and other exotic

But unlike so many side gardens that are just an avenue for reaching another area, this was a mystical garden of its own. Flanked by layers upon layers of plants, the steps lead through a series of unique, artistic ponds that are part of a larger waterway system and all connected.

The water runs through channels from the upper lever water feature down to the other ponds.

Here’s a garden blogger capturing a photo in the garden…you’ll laugh at this one. I was trying to remember who this was and I remember that I was wearing a peach blouse that day, wondering who else did. Then I realize this is a mirror that was hanging on the fence and that’s ME in the picture! Working on a creative photo shot, I captured myself and then promptly forgot about it. In any case, the mirror, tucked behind a treasure trove of plants, was a delightful find for garden visitors.

Next to the gate at the top of the stone steps, a tile mural covers the wall as a backdrop for the pond. Notice the cat in the mural – you’ll see him again in more art in the back garden.

Now onto the back garden. There are 3 levels in the back garden. Through the gate and continuing up the stairs, you pass another water feature as you’re drawn to another gate.

But wait, that’s a door, or is it. No, it’s a gate… It’s a door to a building, painted to look like the gate, with our friend the cat perched on top and his friend waiting for him at the bottom. So clever and entertaining. (And there’s another brugmansia to the left…sigh…)

And then it’s off to the right and up another set of steps, flanked by glorious loropetalums in pots, and up onto the small patch of lawn. In this lush setting, the grass itself is a focal point.

It was also a perfect gathering spot for the garden bloggers to share their thoughts on this amazing garden. Ann Nichols even invited a few of us inside the house to view the back garden from upstairs, which is the perch from which I shot this photo.

Then it’s up the stairs once more, through this Dr. Seuss-like allee of weeping sequoia, tied together and leading you on to the last gate of the garden, a replica of the first gate and the painted gate.

There are several delightful seating areas in the upper garden, which is filled with fragrant roses, succulents and phormium.

And the look back down the hill, framed by the sequoias, to the back of the house and our friends enjoying refreshments and good company.

The back of the house is flanked by a lower-level patio area, filled with pots of suculents and a rock lined retaining wall filled with hot colors and wonderful textures.

You can see why I fell in love with this garden. I’m sure I could have spent the entire day there and still not seen everything it has to offer,

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:13-06:00September 1st, 2013|2013 fling, 2013 Garden Bloggers Fling, Agave, Blog, bromeliad, brugmansia, garden art, gate, loropetalum, mirror, paths, pathway, phormium, San Francisco fling, Sharing Nature's Garden, succulents, tropicals, water feature|2 Comments

Sharing Nature’s Garden

Heat-loving stunner a must-have for hot gardens…

Fantastic finger limes pack a punch with flavor-bursting pearls

Beautiful xeric fall bloomer freshens a tired late summer garden…

Propagation planning for winter greenhouse plants…

Goodbye sweet Maggie roses, hello tasty fall tomatoes…

Stunning San Francisco Fling garden tour of my dream garden…

Escape in the garden