Stock tanks

September 02, 2008 The shorter days and cooler nights of late summer make this hot-climate gardener giddy with anticipation of fall, which around here means a return to the garden, to enjoying the outdoors, to our best planting season. While I sympathize with my northern friends who sense their gardening ...

August 15, 2008 If you’re visiting because of my article on the gardening page of the Austin American-Statesman, welcome! Regular readers of Digging know that I’m a huge fan of using stock tanks in the garden, and I can never resist the chance to show a few more pics of ...

May 20, 2008 Earlier I posted about the loss of a favorite plant, Manfreda ‘Macho Mocha,’ also called mangave, to the agave snout-nosed weevil. I’d planted the mangave to show it off in a yellow-green glazed pot by the front door, but once the weevils got to it, the effect, ...

May 20, 2008 Earlier I posted about the loss of a favorite plant, Manfreda ‘Macho Mocha,’ also called mangave, to the agave snout-nosed weevil. I’d planted the mangave to show it off in a yellow-green glazed pot by the front door, but once the weevils got to it, the effect, ...

May 06, 2008 ‘Best of Friends’ daylilies with the stock-tank planter containing silver ponyfoot, squid agave, Manfreda ‘Macho Mocha,’ and Hinckley’s columbine Spring and summer are vying for dominance in Austin this week. One day it’s in the 70s and a cool north wind is blowing. The next, it’s a ...

April 30, 2008 This month’s topic for Garden Bloggers’ Design Workshop, hosted by Gardening Gone Wild, is Front-Yard Gardens. Unlike many people who start gardening in back and work their way out front, I took the opposite approach. Before I’d even moved into this house, before I gave thought to ...

April 30, 2008 This month’s topic for Garden Bloggers’ Design Workshop, hosted by Gardening Gone Wild, is Front-Yard Gardens. Unlike many people who start gardening in back and work their way out front, I took the opposite approach. Before I’d even moved into this house, before I gave thought to ...

March 29, 2008 Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis ) in blue and pink combine with succulents and a writhing variegated agave to make a springtime scene the out-of-town Spring Flingers are not likely to see at home. “Amen!” they may be thinking. I’ll admit, I didn’t plan for those pinkbonnets to ...

March 27, 2008 Squid agave (Agave bracteosa ), silver ponyfoot (Dichondra argentea ), Manfreda ‘Macho Mocha,’ and Hinckley’s columbine in my first stock-tank planter. Over at Gardening Gone Wild, they’re talking about container plantings for this month’s Garden Bloggers’ Design Workshop. You know what that means here at Digging—cattle troughs! ...

March 14, 2008 Remember that Yucca flaccida ‘Bright Edge’ I bought while shopping for pond plants (how does this happen?) at Hill Country Water Gardens? I’d stuck it in a glazed pot until I could decide where to plant it. Here is its new, permanent home—I hope. I hope it ...

March 14, 2008 Remember that Yucca flaccida ‘Bright Edge’ I bought while shopping for pond plants (how does this happen?) at Hill Country Water Gardens? I’d stuck it in a glazed pot until I could decide where to plant it. Here is its new, permanent home—I hope. I hope it ...

February 05, 2008 Front garden, Early Summer 2007. Purple coneflower and ‘Belinda’s Dream’ roses harmonize, while silver artemesia and chartreuse Salvia greggii foliage add a little punch. Like many gardeners, I love color in the garden. Pinks reign in the front, reds and blues in the back. At this time ...

February 05, 2008 Front garden, Early Summer 2007. Purple coneflower and ‘Belinda’s Dream’ roses harmonize, while silver artemesia and chartreuse Salvia greggii foliage add a little punch. Like many gardeners, I love color in the garden. Pinks reign in the front, reds and blues in the back. At this time ...

January 21, 2008 ‘Whale’s tongue’ agave (foreground) and Agave americana ‘Marginata’ in sunken stock tank (background) I’ve already sung the praises of stock tanks and cattle troughs as striking yet easy vessels for container ponds and planters. Sold at feed-supply stores like Callahan’s in Austin, these galvanized metal tanks come ...

January 20, 2008 This not-so-gentle giant—my arms still bear scratches from transplanting it last week—takes center stage in my new foundation planting. I fell in love with this variegated agave’s writhing arms and green-and-yellow racing stripes last spring after I spotted one sprawling out of a simple concrete trough at ...

November 08, 2007 Berries are reddening on the weeping yaupon holly. Yaupon holly is so versatile, with varieties ranging from little, round balls to the punctuation marks of ‘Will Fleming’. But the weeping yaupon remains one of my favorites. This is one of the very few plants I didn’t plant ...