Sharing Nature's Garden Archives | Page 76 of 124

a little side trip … from Chicago to Orlando…

Ok, blog-wise, I am still in Chicago, with more to post about our wonderful Spring Fling.

But my (tired) body is in lush Orlando, where today we took in all there is to see at Epcot at Disney World. Here’s our little princess above, posing in front of Japan with all its beautiful gardens and the koi pond. This is her first trip — though we were here with her brother 13 years ago (it surely can’t have been that long ago). Click on the photo of her and see the amazing face painting mask that she’s sporting — it’s not a dirty face!

There were at least 3 different varieties of Water lilies in the pond; this was my favorite one.

As with everything, Disney does it right. I am amazed at the vegetation everywhere. Every little detail — from simple planters by a doorway — has been planned and designed.
I have no idea what kind of palm this is, but I thought it was fascinating — it seems like the foiliage is thick, more like a succulent. Any ideas what it might be? It’s not a Texas native, that’s for sure.
As we toured The Land, I was left with my mouth hanging open. They are working with the USDA to develop new growing methods. They had hanging plants and “trees” that encourage the stems and leaves to grow in a huge canopy above the stem — which conserves plant energy and allows air to circulate better among the leaves and helps growth and production.
These herbs are growing like epiphytes — they are doused with a mist of nutrients and moisture directly onto the roots — no soil!
This is NOT an orange tree — those are bell peppers up there!
And this is a cherry tomato TREE – that goes down to a single stalk (I just took a lousy photo — sorry – imagine the pepper tree!).
And see — they even grow their lettuce in the shape of Mickey Mouse ears!
It was pretty cool to see all this experimental plant research. Kallie thought it was “ok” but it wasn’t her favorite event of the long day.

Her favorite was a ride called, “Soarin’,” a simulation of a hang glider flying over California in an IMAX-like theater setting. Her Daddy took her — I’m a chicken and that was way out of my comfort zone! Can you imagine? She had a BALL. No fear, that one. It’s great that she and her Daddy can be so adventurous together. Me? I prefer the lazy river ride through the greenhouse any day!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:43-06:00June 7th, 2009|Blog, Disney, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Chicago ala Mexicana

One of the events I looked forward to the most as Spring Fling 2009 neared was the tour of Rick Bayless’ garden. My husband and I are long-time fans of his south-of-the-border cooking and his flare for sharing the Mexican culture with the culinary world.

One of my husband’s favorite Bayless cookbooks is called, “Salsas that Cook,” and it’s so fun — chock-full of salsa recipes designed to wake you up.
Spread over two small urban lots, the garden was delightful. It had texture and old-world charm — lots of little rooms with seating and pots of plants and vines working their way up brick walls and wooden trellises and arbors. It was very much a courtyard garden — with several courtyards, if you will.
Our hosts and the keepers of the garden, Bill and Lori Shores, gave us a full rundown of how this small space provides the micro greens and peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, radishes, grapes and many other fruits and vegetables for Rick’s two restaurants, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo.
This space added onto the second story of the home is a greenhouse, in which Bill overwinters plants and gets a head start on seedlings. He also grows micro greens under lights in the basement all year long.
I loved the warm embrace of this garden — so cozy and aged — like a good wine. I clearly had garden envy here, and described this as much more the kind of garden that suits my liking than my own, sprawling suburban garden.

I guess the grass always seems greener on the other side.

But then again, I’m already eating tomatoes out of my HOT HOT zone 9 garden, so that’s definitely a plus!

By Diana C. Kirby|2019-07-15T19:14:17-05:00June 3rd, 2009|Blog, Chicago, Rick Bayless, Sharing Nature's Garden, Spring Fling 2009|0 Comments

The Lurie lures us in…

After a wonderful tour of the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Spring Fling Garden Bloggers all went to Millenium Park where we were treated to a tour of the Lurie Garden by the Chief Horticulturalist, Colleen Lockovitch.

There was a river of purple — made up of four different types of Salvia. All the attendees will have shots of this river of plants — they were amazing in their own right, but I loved the contrast with the bold Chicago skyline.

Colleen showed us all “her” plants, talked about the past, the design and the creation of the garden, as well as its upkeep and evolution going forward.

And then she said it.

What every gardener says when having guests.

“Oh – don’t look at that corner!”

I didn’t take a picture of it, though I was tempted. Even a professional garden horticulturalist suffers from “gardener’s excuse.” I could totally relate. And it made me feel better about MY humble garden. Gardeners are kindred spirits the world over, whether their gardens be large or small. It was an entertaining and a comforting moment for me. And frankly, I saw the Lurie garden in a whole new, human light.

See the skyscrapers peeking through this tree?

Everyone really listened to what Colleen had to say and kept pretty quiet during her whole tour — unusual for us — we’re a pretty rowdy group!

And the garden had this wonderful display with information readily available to the public.

More alliums. Just not blooming yet. See … I’m drawn to them like flies to honey.

That’s if for Day #1. More to come …

By Diana C. Kirby|2019-07-15T19:14:17-05:00June 2nd, 2009|Blog, Chicago, Lurie Garden, Sharing Nature's Garden, Spring Fling 2009|0 Comments

The fling has flung…

We’ve had a wonderful five days at the 2nd Annual Garden Bloggers Spring Fling, held this year in Chicago.

It was such a treat to see friends and make new friends and step into a whirlwind of garden-mania.

The Chicago bloggers put on a great show for us and treated us to the best their gardens and their city has to offer and I want to extend my thanks to them for a fabulous fling.

Our first outing was a visit to the world-renown Chicago Botanic Garden.

We strolled through so many different gardens.

We ooohed and aaaahed over the design, the plants, and the color combinations.

And we speculated about whether or not we could grow that plant, that combination, in our gardens.

After she’d heard enough of my speculating, Pam, of Digging, finally said:

“Diana — don’t think for even a minute that you can grow any of this in your garden!”

Ok.

I knew that!

But I needed an intervention. After seeing all the beautiful gardens, I just wanted to rush home and try to replicate some of that creativity and color in my garden.

There were a handful of things that we can grown in Austin in my zone 9 garden. We were shocked to find Texas Bluebonnets among the plants in this bright spring planter.
And there were several Agaves growing throughout the garden, which surprised me as well.

Cindy, My Corner of Katy, Layanee, Ledge and Gardens, and Pam, Digging, and I spent a really long time in front of this poppy field – taken by the interesting mix of colors and the papery-softness of the poppies.
Alliums have held a mysterious allure for me for some time. I even tried to plant them in my garden, but the one that actually came up OUT of the ground fried to a crisp at about 2-3 inches tall. So much for Alliums in Austin!

I certainly got my fill of them in Chicago — they were everywhere. and I couldn’t stop taking pictures of them — big ones, little ones, purple ones, lavender ones, white ones — they were all there, just waiting for me to join the party.
One of my favorites at the Botanic Garden was the Japanese Garden. It was so peaceful to stroll through the meticulously cared-for garden with its Zen style and simplicity.
And there were Irises everywhere, too. I never tire of looking at them. These were stunning in the Japanese garden. And even though my camera is showing them as more blue than they actually were, they are still pretty.
The species Tulips were so cheery.
As were the Ranunculas (above) and the Toadworts (below).

Enough posting for now, my bed is calling after a long travel day back home.

(Where the first place I went was a walk around the gardens to see what I could see and where I found everything happy and healthy thanks to my DH who lovingly took care of my plants while I flitted off to the Fling!)

I’ll post more tomorrow…check back for gardens galore, ala Chicago.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:44-06:00June 1st, 2009|agaves, alliums, Blog, blue bonnets, Sharing Nature's Garden, Spring Fling 2009|0 Comments

Garden dinner…

This was the scene from my kitchen this afternoon. I sliced up leeks to fry and crisp up to top some boiled and fried potatoes, cut up green beans for a side dish and sliced a Lemon Yellow tomato to eat with just a little kosher salt.

Yum, yum. The beans were picked about a week or more too late, but with travel and other family things going on, I finally got to them today and my husband and I are both at home together tonight to eat them.

The leeks were originally going to be potato leek soup, but I thought I’d try something different and it worked great. They were browned little crisps that went great with the browned potatoes.

And the tomato was sweet and delicate, with a lot less acidity than your average red tomatoes. They have a very subtle but very nice flavor — I’d plant that one again. The cherry tomatoes on the counter were “Hank” and were sent to me for free with my TomatoBob heirloom tomato seed order in December. My DH said that they were not as sweet as the normal cherry tomatoes we grow, so I don’t think I will order them.

Paired with some pork tenderloin medallions under the broiler, as Martha Stewart would say, it was “a good thing.”

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:44:35-05:00May 25th, 2009|Blog, green beans, Hank, leeks, Lemon Yellow Tomato, Sharing Nature's Garden, tomaotes|0 Comments

Big goings on …

Lots happening here today. I called my buddy, Juan, who sent his guys out to do a lot of heavy lifting garden work around here today.

First, they took down this huge cedar tree in our front yard. Heaven knows why, but the previous homeowner put a pretty mulch ring around it and pretended it was a real tree. Texans will understand that this particular cedar is a trash tree — one that drinks all the moisture in the soil and robs other plants of water and causes our well-known cedar fever allergies. So — off with her head!

Wish I had thought to take a picture FIRST, but you get the point and you can tell how big she was by the trailer full of tree in the background as well.

Then, on to digging and pruning. They guys dug the big holes and I stuck to the little ones! The Brug finally went into the ground — you’ll remember I dug her up from a spot that was much too hot for her and now she will live in partial shade. It’s not shady there now, but in an hour or so, the oak tree behind her will shield her from the worst of the hot Texas afternoon sun. One of her babies, rooted from chopping off her head in the greenhouse last winter, also went in beside her.

Also planted today (not by me) were two volunteer palms, the Mexican Bird of Paradise, the variegated agave from Tuesday’s shopping trip, and three Blackfoot daisies. Dang — the soil is just too darn dry here for me to get much into the ground and with tendonitis arms, it’s that much harder. So, I just save up the big stuff sometimes and add those chores onto a job list when I call for help.

I planted a little Bulbine today — two plants that have been waiting in the “hold indefinitely” area! This big one came in a plantable pot last summer and I finally got around to planting it in the ground because it was getting too hot on the table.

And this baby bulbine in a 6 inch pot found a home by the driveway. Cross your fingers that no one EATS them!

A couple more hours of work to go … I’m going to go back out and supervise and prune and weed a little. Oh – and I have 5 day lilies, some caladiums, some irises and some succents to plant, too…boy…I’d better get to work!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:44-06:00May 21st, 2009|Blog, brugmansia, bulbine, cedar tree, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Sharing Nature’s Garden

a little side trip … from Chicago to Orlando…

Chicago ala Mexicana

The Lurie lures us in…

The fling has flung…

Garden dinner…

Big goings on …

Escape in the garden