Path, pipe planter, and palmetto
March 10, 2017 This vignette caught my eye in the lower garden as I was blowing a bazillion live oaks leaves (yes, it’s live oak leaf-drop season!): a culvert-pipe planted with squid agave, ‘Sizzling Pink’ loropetalum (I love that burgundy foliage), and a stepping-stone path leading up to the slabs ...
New flowers opening each day
March 08, 2017 Regular readers know that my shady, dry, deer-infested patch of dirt is not a flowerlicious garden. And yet even I have, oh, at least 6 or 7 flowers in bloom as spring kicks off here in Austin. Like this sweet, nodding Chinese ground orchid (Bletilla striata). I ...
New galvanized wall planters hold succulent cuttings
March 03, 2017 Spring fever has hit! For me, that manifests as refreshing my many pots of succulents, some of which have been inside all winter, others huddled against the house, and others (too big to move) left to weather as they will. If they took a winter hit, I’m ...
Early flowerliciouness in Austin this spring
February 23, 2017 Purple oxalis flowers delicately echo its purple leaves Texas redbuds, Texas mountain laurel, spiderwort, and even some bluebonnets are surprising Austinites this spring with early blooming. I can usually count on sniffing the grape Kool-Aid-scented blossoms of Texas mountain laurel well into mid-March, but they may be ...
Sunshiny sedum and oh deer
February 19, 2017 The late-winter garden cut-back continues, but spring has sprung as far as pretty Palmer’s sedum is concerned. Honeybees have been busy among the flowers, although I managed to miss them in this closeup. While working in the lower garden, I heard a rustling in the greenbelt just ...
Planting an agave is a thorny endeavor
February 17, 2017 Last weekend, after creatively wrestling this bad boy out of the car, my family helpers and I slid it onto a utility cart and rolled it into the back yard. This new whale’s tongue agave to replace Moby, while far from mature-size, is still large enough at ...
Garden clean-up in progress for Foliage Follow-Up
February 16, 2017 The pond patio garden is mostly evergreen, so the big cleanup here occurs later, in March, when I muck out the pond and divide the water plants. With our brief winter segueing right into spring, February is a transitional month here in Central Texas. We may yet ...
Pre-spring nursery shopping
February 12, 2017 Stacked pots of pansies, ornamental cabbage, and other annuals at The Natural Gardener Even though the weather’s been terrific for gardening, I’ve been under the weather for about a week, keeping me from my annual late-winter cut-back of the garden. I really need to get that done ...
New sedge lawnette planted, dry stream spiffed up
February 11, 2017 While the death of a tree — or any plant, really — is disappointing, even angst inducing, there’s always an upside: the opportunity to redesign and replant! One of our live oaks (pictured front and center) succumbed to hypoxylon canker last December, and after its removal I ...
Install low-voltage outdoor lighting and create a welcoming glow
February 01, 2017 It’s only taken us 8 years to install outdoor lighting along the foundation of our house, and now that it’s done I’m wondering why on earth we waited so long. I love the warm, welcoming glow that a few wall-washing low-voltage lights creates. What a change from ...
Rainy-day winter garden
January 17, 2017 The weather may be dreary, but I like it. Cool (but not freezing) temps and a gentle rain give me a reason to get stuff done indoors while the quiet garden just soaks it all in. The Moby spawn — Agave ovatifolia babies — are looking good ...
Hello, winter — you’ve zapped my garden
January 16, 2017 Hello, winter! We’re not used to seeing you here in Central Texas. Despite predictions of a mild winter, with the warming influence of a La Niña, we’ve already had two multi-day stretches of hard freezes, with a couple of nights dropping into the upper teens. The result? ...
Deer antlering damage to my agave
January 13, 2017 The bucks have been at it again this winter, rubbing their antlers on agaves, yuccas, hesperaloes, and small trees throughout my neighborhood. I always cage my small possumhaw holly in early fall through early spring, but I was hoping I could get away with less structural deterrents ...
