After the big rain of last week (3.75 inches recorded in my garden), accompanied by an instant freshening and greening up outdoors, I feel it’s time for a garden stroll. The annual garden-burying live oak leaf drop is over, but you’ll have to ignore remnant leaves and strings of oak pollen hanging from the trees (I try to!). Focus on the ‘Tangerine Beauty’ crossvine draping the cedar-post fence instead.

My most exciting blooms? Dyckia! An orange bloom spike is towering above the silvery leaves of Dyckia fosteriana on the back deck. Add in the purple pot (and a few copper live oak leaves), and you have a scrumptious combo of color.

A closer look

The Lilliputian unnamed dyckia I bought at Peckerwood Garden‘s plant sale last year is blooming also—in cheery yellow. The spiky plant itself is dwarfed by the Yucca rostrata next to it.

But its bloom spike isn’t shy, towering about 2-1/2 feet above the ground-hugging leaves.

A longer view down the sunny hillside path reveals a full view of the Yucca rostrata. Loree at Danger Garden recently gave her Y. rostrata a trim, revealing the trunk. Should I do the same, I wonder?

A closer view of the hot, dry bed bordering the path reveals a tumble of yellow hymenoxys (Tetraneuris scaposa) blossoms, Mexican feathergrass, Opuntia pads, and Agave lophantha‘s sword-like leaves.

The Indian mallow (Abutilon palmeri) I brought home in my suitcase from Tucson came through our mild winter just fine. I’m eagerly anticipating summer flowers.

Red columbine—this must be a passalong from another Austin blogger, as I don’t recall buying a red one—is sporting rocket-shaped flowers on dainty stems in the shade of a Texas persimmon.

Our native spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis) is also making a good show here, attracting friendly honeybees.

I love this reliable spring beauty, and the contrast of the purple blossoms with the fresh, green, strappy foliage.

I purchased my first Chinese ground orchid (Bletilla striata) after admiring it in other Austin gardens over the years. Diana Kirby introduced me to South Austin nursery It’s About Thyme last week, where I picked up one for me and one for my mom.

Just for fun, my “Needle-Nosed Fliers” yard art! In the background you can see the Koosh-ball form of the Yucca rostrata and the yellow bloom spike of the Peckerwood dyckia.

I didn’t have to replace any plants in the succulent wall after our mild winter. Still, the cardinals have been nipping at the ghost plant and other fleshy-leaved succulents lately. (Please don’t ask how I keep soil in the blocks that stick out; read my how-to post, and all shall be revealed.)

I’ll end the tour with the view from the upper patio—there’s good old Moby, my beloved ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (Agave ovatifolia)—which is also the view from my office window. It’s awfully hard to be tied to a desk at this time of year, don’t you find?

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

No, I’m not looking for a Mildred or Louise to eat bugs and lay eggs in my garden. But I couldn’t resist buying a ticket to Austin’s 5th annual Funky Chicken Coop Tour after watching a recent Central Texas Gardener episode (below) about Dani and Gary Moss’s charming and playful garden in southwest Austin.

Located on Westview Road, the garden is a homegrown creation by the retired but hard-working owners, who clearly can create anything they set their minds to. Dani envisions projects like their whimsical Chicksville hen house, and Gary builds them. He also welds metal into flowery stair railings, arbors…

…and decorative accents placed throughout the garden, like this metal heart inscribed with Dani’s nickname. How adorable is that?

Their chicken coop is sturdily constructed of wood and wire, with a metal roof for shelter from sun and rain. A ramp leads up through a hen-sized doorway in the stone foundation…

…into the colorful hen house itself, which also offers storage space for food and other supplies. It looks more like a lucky little girl’s playhouse than a hen house, doesn’t it? A tiny chandelier even hangs from the porch ceiling.

Similarly, the English-style conservatory that Gary built for Dani is dressed up inside with two chandeliers.

In the garden, roses were in bloom—lots of red Knock Outs plus a climbing pink rose and this flaming orange-and-yellow beauty.

Gary’s metal flowers provide nonstop blooms along the fence.

As does a bottle tree set in a garden bed near another of Gary’s heart creations.

What don’t they have? There was even this metal giraffe, cheekily wearing Mardi Gras beads…

…and a banded armadillo made of scrap metal.

Everywhere you looked, there were more of the couple’s creations, as well as lush plantings of evergreens and flowering perennials.

I’m glad I had a chance to see it, along with these two docents wearing hilarious chicken hats.

Happy Easter and happy spring!

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Yes, I do in fact have a water lily blooming at the moment. January was mild, and it remains beautiful in Austin this week, with sunny days and highs in the 70s, and the ‘Colorado’ water lily in the stock-tank pond has responded with a pale apricot version of its usual salmon-pink flower. Which only reminds me that I need to get in there soon and muck out the bottom of the tank and divide the lilies and other pond plants.

Back at the castle…and regally unchanged by the seasons, Queen Victoria agave (Agave victoriae-reginae) looks handsome in her deep-green robes with white piping.

And the succulents in the cinderblock wall-planter are still looking pretty good, unfazed by the several freezes we’ve had. I do throw a sheet over them when a freeze is predicted, and they enjoy the shelter of a live oak canopy and close proximity to the house.

So, is spring coming early to your garden, or does winter still have a firm grip?

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.