Pond watch & path work
October 05, 2009 Still ponds act as mirrors, reflecting the sky and the trees above. But this ghostly mirror image is of dwarf papyrus (Cyperus papyrus ‘Nanus’), a potted plant in my stock-tank pond. You can see the papyrus on the right. The ‘Colorado’ water lily is still blooming, and ...
Pineapple guava's fuzzy fall fruit
October 03, 2009 When the pineapple guavas (Feijoa sellowiana) bloomed in my garden last spring, I posted about my distaste for the flowers. But now that fruits are forming, I find I’m rather fond of the fuzzy, silver-green pods with tall, elegant hats. The fruit is edible, and while bitter ...
Pineapple guava’s fuzzy fall fruit
October 03, 2009 When the pineapple guavas (Feijoa sellowiana) bloomed in my garden last spring, I posted about my distaste for the flowers. But now that fruits are forming, I find I’m rather fond of the fuzzy, silver-green pods with tall, elegant hats. The fruit is edible, and while bitter ...
Flowery Fall Friday
October 02, 2009 ...
Fab foliage
October 01, 2009 As a tribute to Steve Silk’s Fab Foliage Friday (I know, I know, it’s only Thursday), which he initiated on his blog Clatter Valley, I offer this tropical-looking combination: variegated shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet ‘Variegata’) and purple heart (Tradescantia pallida). I don’t usually go for the tropical ...
Silver and gold coloring the garden
September 29, 2009 Over at The Grackle, Lee sees his garden bursting with purples and yellows. I miss my former garden’s fall purples like Mexican bush sage, mistflower, and ‘Indigo Spires’ salvia. But I am enjoying a flush of silver and golden yellow and orange in my new garden right ...
Prayers answered by early, wet start to autumn
September 24, 2009 The garden responds to the rain: Mexican heather (Cuphea hyssopifolia), foxtail fern (Asparagus densiflorus ‘Meyersii’), and softleaf yucca (Y. recurvifolia) As if in answer to the desperate prayers of wilted Austin gardeners, the first days of autumn have brought us several inches of rain and unseasonably cool ...
The garden that will be
September 23, 2009 Are you a gardener who remembers what was, and takes pleasure in all you’ve accomplished since then? I wish I could be like that. Instead I tend to look at what is, and think about all the things I must do to make the garden the way ...
Garden turmoil
September 19, 2009 Gaillardia ‘Goblin’ Turmoil in the new-baby garden this weekend. My neighbor and I agreed to replace the falling-down fence between our properties, and yesterday the fence-building crew knocked down the old fence and set the new posts. Deer came nosing around the previously secure back garden at ...
Agastache update
September 18, 2009 Agastache ‘Ava’ At the end April I was the happy recipient of a collection of Agastache, or hummingbird mint, from High Country Gardens. I planned to post regular updates as I trialed them in my garden, but the unspeakable conditions of our recently departed summer sapped my ...
Galvanized planters gone wild!
September 17, 2009 It all started because I needed a place to plant my little ‘Bloodspot’ mangave, which I picked up at Bob Barth’s Oracle Gorge Nursery sale. No, it really started when I moved the blue pots off the upper patio into the raised beds below (yes, the raised ...
Plant This: Oxblood lily
September 16, 2009 Our red-hot summer has faded into an unseasonably cool and, so far, rainy September. Now come the red-hot oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida). I wonder if MSS of Zanthan Gardens has any idea how much happiness she has sown among Austin gardeners who delight in seeing these bulbs ...
Rain relief Bloom Day
September 15, 2009 ‘Radsunny’ Knock Out rose is back. I love its lemony scent too. What a difference a month and several inches of rain make. Last Bloom Day there was a hint of desperation in my post, and I noticed that many of my fellow Austin garden bloggers didn’t ...
Container plants make a focal point
September 13, 2009 The kids and I lived in the pool this summer, trying to stay cool, and when they let me float around on my own, did I gaze peacefully up at the sky or the trees or even what I’d made of the new-baby garden during its first ...
Rain lilies rejoicing
September 10, 2009 The rain lilies are rejoicing, as I am, over the definite shift in our weather pattern. And I know you are too, dear reader, if you’ve stuck with me through this summer, after I’ve droned on and on about the tiresome Dr – – ght and H ...
Oxblood lilies in bloom
September 08, 2009 My first oxblood lily (Rhodophiala bifida) opened this morning. They go so fast from sprout to bud to blazing bouquet of flowers. It’s fun to see the oxblood lilies, also called schoolhouse lilies, blooming on so many Austin garden blogs right now, thanks to the Johnny Appleseed ...
