Digging

January 26, 2012

Going vertical with a steel pipe planter

Filed under: 2nd garden--2012,Containers,Xeric plants — Pam/Digging @ 2:13 pm

A few months ago Link Davidson, who has a talent for collecting and repurposing industrial leftovers in gardens (see the garden he designed for his neighbor, Wendy), sold me a piece of heavy steel pipe. He even delivered it to my house, and let me tell you, it is extremely heavy. I found the perfect place for it in the new gravel garden I’ve started between the garage and the front entry. I had help burying two feet of its length in the ground for stability, and I eagerly planted it up with a large toothless sotol (Dasylirion longissimum) that I found on sale at Big Red Sun.

Uh-oh. This is how it looked after I finished watering it in and top-dressing it with gravel. Have you ever made this mistake? Believe it or not, I did measure the height of the root ball and thought I’d filled the pipe with enough soil to ensure the plant sat high, allowing its lower leaves to fall horizontally. But clearly I goofed, and by the time I stood back and saw my error, the plant had somehow gained about 25 pounds, and I couldn’t budge it. When my teenage son came home from school, I set up two stepladders on either side of the pipe, and we both grabbed handfuls of leaves and pulled. It wouldn’t budge. My husband came home and we tried again. No dice.

So this morning I paid for my initial hastiness with a slow excavation of handfuls of soil and gravel until half the root ball was exposed. I bungeed the sotol’s long, breakable leaves into a vertical ponytail, climbed the stepladder, jammed my arms down the sides of the pipe, and heaved it out. I felt like a farmer who’d just assisted in the difficult birth of a calf: dirty, sweaty, a little bloody, but triumphant. And here it is, raised to the right height this time, looking great in that rusty pipe planter, in the new gravel bed with a crisp limestone edge. I still have much to do: clean the stained brick siding, paint the wood siding on the garage (not visible here), and soften the whole space with more xeric plants. I will try not to be so hasty with the rest of it.

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January 21, 2012

Margaritaville yucca in culvert pipe planter & my winter garden

Filed under: 2nd garden--2012,Agaves,Aloes,Bamboo,Bottle tree,Containers,Fences,Paths,Patios & decks,Ponds,Seating,Sheds,Stock tanks,Texas natives,Trees,Water features,Xeric plants,Yuccas — Pam/Digging @ 10:39 am

Doesn’t everyone want to go to Margaritaville in the winter? I do, so I planted a Yucca recurvifolia ‘Margaritaville’ in a tall culvert pipe I’ve been hoarding for several months, waiting for inspiration to hit. Now it adds height to the drop-off bed behind the pool, next to the yellow motel chairs.

Here’s a closer look. I separated two pups from the mother plant and stuck them in the ground at the base of the culvert pipe. This has been a tough spot to get anything to grow because it gets a blast of afternoon sun in the summer, shade the rest of the day, and I’m neglectful about watering this space. Yuccas should be perfect, and ‘Margaritaville’ has floppy, less spiky leaves, so it’ll be fine by the pool.

Hm, what else is going on in the back garden? It’s getting spikier and spikier over time as the plants grow and the drought continues; whenever a plant fails I replace it with something spiny. Three softleaf yuccas (Y. recurvifolia) by the bottle tree hulk shoulder-to-shoulder, like mob heavies. Moby, my whale’s tongue agave (A. ovatifolia), shines silvery white at the top of the retaining wall. In the blue pot at the base of the wall, ‘Blue Elf’ aloe is pushing up bloom stalks.

Looking in the other direction, you see the stock-tank container pond and my husband’s beautiful shed. Three more short culvert-pipe planters display a trio of shade-tolerant squid agaves (A. bracteosa).

The ‘Colorado’ waterlily bloomed yesterday, amazingly. This is its winter-pale blossom unfurling in the morning. I neglected to photograph it fully open, but it was lovely and a welcome sight in January.

While my hired crew was here ripping out grass in the front yard, I also had them replace the squishy pea gravel on this hillside path with a crushed limestone that knits together and is much easier to walk on.

It’s gray today but good weather for a hike or working in the garden. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be near 80 F (26.6 C) again. A typical Austin winter.

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January 18, 2012

Under construction: New path and gardens!

Filed under: 2nd garden--2012,Gates,Lawns,Paths — Pam/Digging @ 5:31 am

Look, I’m as into self-empowerment as the next person, and I’m generally a DIY gal. But is there anything more thrilling than inviting several strong, capable men over to do your bidding…in the garden? I think not.

I’m practically dancing with glee as I see how much progress has been achieved in just one day by these hard-working guys. Within a couple of hours yesterday they ripped out a LOT of grass, making room for a 5-foot wide path through the front yard and around to the back gate, plus a new courtyard-style entry garden, pictured at top.

Fully half of the front lawn is now gone with the addition of the path, soon to be filled in with compacted decomposed granite, and the streetside bed I planted last spring.

The view from the back gate, looking up the slope toward the street. There will be one or two limestone steps along the path to keep the decomposed granite fairly flat, to avoid erosion from runoff.

In the center island bed, they’re laying chopped limestone and a decomposed-granite parking strip to echo the look I created with the streetside bed.

That crisp edge gives much-needed definition to this large berm (original to the lot; the driveway was poured around it), plus it’ll give visitors flat, comfortable access to their cars.

Even my two next-door neighbors are getting into the lawn-removal spirit. We’re ripping out grass in the front strips between our houses, and I’ll be designing gardens for them next month. These shared spaces are not shaded by live oaks, which is amazing in my neighborhood (just look at all those trees in my front yard), so I’ll get to garden in the sun again. Salvias! Sotols! Grasses! I can’t wait.

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