Bloom Day

June 15, 2009 Red: ‘Apple Tart’ daylily Orange: Narrowleaf zinnia (Zinnia angustifolia ) And more narrowleaf zinnia, plus Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’, Gaillardia ‘Goblin’, and Artemesia ‘Powis Castle’ Yellow: ‘Radsunny’ Knock Out rose And yellow strawflower (Proven Winners’ Chrysocephalum apiculatum Flambe Yellow) And Dahlberg daisy (Thymophylla tenuiloba ) Green, Blue: ...

May 15, 2009 I nearly didn’t post this Bloom Day, having a lot of work on my desk that needs doing, plus a stock tank pond that needs installing. But when I went out this morning to water some new plants and recent transplants, I noticed some new May flowers ...

April 15, 2009 Winecup with Texas bluebonnets A riot of color threads through my new-baby garden this Bloom Day…if you crouch down and look closely. Many of my new plants and transplants are still small, but with recent rain (nearly half an inch last week), warm (but not hot) temperatures, ...

March 15, 2009 Bloom Day in the new-baby garden this March is damp and cool, with only a few bright flowers to show for my manic planting efforts over the past months. Where are all the flowers? Saving it up for April, I suppose. Still, the garden is green and ...

February 15, 2009 Bloom Day in the new-baby garden this February is sparse. I cut everything back a couple of weeks ago, and while fresh, green foliage is sprouting on the Mexican oregano, salvias, roses, irises, daylilies, and ornamental grasses and some of the trees are budding, flowers are few ...

January 15, 2009 Abutilon ‘Marilyn’s Choice’ Shh! They don’t know it’s January, the depths of winter. They’re obliviously blooming in the new-baby garden—not a lot of them, mind you, but enough to make the Bloom Day hunt worthwhile. The ‘Pam’s Pink’ Turk’s cap (Malvaviscus drummondii) is surprising me with its ...

December 15, 2008 A roller-coaster of hot and cold winter temperatures suits me better than just flat-out cold, but, boy, is it confusing—to the gardener as well as the plants. Yesterday afternoon I cut back poorly placed foundation shrubs while my husband pulled down fig ivy that was threatening to ...

November 15, 2008 While checking on things over at the old house today, I admired the blowsy fall garden and decided to celebrate Garden Bloggers Bloom Day there instead of in my new garden, which has much less in bloom. So, if you will, join me for a stroll down ...

October 15, 2008 Last night the moon was in full bloom in the October sky. It shone like a newly minted dime as it peeked over the treetops. But by the time I’d set up the tripod in the dark street, wispy gray clouds had tarnished it. More clouds scudded ...

September 16, 2008 On this month’s Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, Austin enjoyed a truly fall-like day. The air had a slight chill early yesterday morning, by noon it was only 79 degrees, and all day the air was fresh and dry, scrubbed of humidity. I saw people walking around with ...

August 14, 2008 I’m dating myself here, but does anyone else remember the Valley speak of the 1980s? So many of my flowers this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day are tubular—perfect for hummingbirds and, as it turns out, perfect for surviving a hot, dry Austin summer. Aside from the heat-loving ‘Incense’ ...

August 14, 2008 I’m dating myself here, but does anyone else remember the Valley speak of the 1980s? So many of my flowers this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day are tubular—perfect for hummingbirds and, as it turns out, perfect for surviving a hot, dry Austin summer. Aside from the heat-loving ‘Incense’ ...

June 15, 2008 Autumn sage (Salvia greggii ), bat-faced cuphea (Cuphea llavea ), purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ), and ‘Carefree Beauty’ rose. Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day snuck up on me this month. Rather than spend several hours today shooting each flower in my garden, cropping, resizing, and posting, I’m taking ...

June 15, 2008 Autumn sage (Salvia greggii ), bat-faced cuphea (Cuphea llavea ), purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ), and ‘Carefree Beauty’ rose. Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day snuck up on me this month. Rather than spend several hours today shooting each flower in my garden, cropping, resizing, and posting, I’m taking ...

May 16, 2008 Our second hailstorm in a week pounded us Wednesday night. Like machine-gun fire—rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—chunks of ice flew horizontally at the west-facing windows and piled up on the patio. We moved the sleeping kids away from the windows, I listened to reports of “tornadic rotation” on the TV, and ...

April 23, 2008 If you haven’t been paying attention, you may have missed the memo about Austin garden bloggers taking over the world, or at least the blogosphere. Austin booster that I am, even I have been surprised by the number of garden blogs popping up left and right in ...