2nd garden–2010

August 05, 2010 Do you remember the online discussion of a few years ago? Carol at May Dreams Gardens, among others, started a conversation about naming one’s garden. It got me thinking, and after a tongue-in-cheek shed remodel, I dubbed my former place Green Hall Garden as a play on ...

August 03, 2010 The beautiful, powder-blue leaves of Wheeler’s sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri) show that garden color need not be all about flowers, even in summer. Its soft blue is the visual equivalent of a tall glass of ice water on a hot day. Similarly, the glaucous foliage of these xeric ...

August 02, 2010 Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) is downright pettable at this time of year. Each inflorescence starts out raspberry colored… …then softens to a reddish brown. Diminutive ruby grass (Melinis nerviglumis ‘Pink Crystals’) blooms are a soft pink…. …but very pettable too. See how small and cute ...

August 01, 2010 Two agastache cultivars are doing particularly well in my hillside sun garden. Agastache ‘Acapulco Salmon & Pink,’ pictured here, has tripled in size compared to last year, its first year in my garden. The morning sun incandesces those tubular pinkish-orange flowers. Although I need something more structural, ...

July 31, 2010 Looking out my living room window toward the stock-tank pond, this caught my eye: dozens of sugar-sweet rain lilies (Zephryanthes ‘Labuffarosea’) blooming with abandon after our recent rains. Because they celebrate the rain, I feel a kinship with them. Summer rain is always welcome here. I also ...

July 30, 2010 It shows an incredible amount of restraint that I have not planted my entire garden with nothing but ‘Color Guard’ yucca (Y. filamentosa ‘Color Guard’). That color! The starburst form! Those curly, white filaments threading through the sword-shaped leaves! This deer-resistant, drought-tolerant “shrub” will grow in full ...

July 28, 2010 I’ve been touting the delights of ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome since trialing two in my back garden last year. Through terrible drought and heat, those cleomes grew bushy and full and bloomed nonstop until fall. Last winter killed them off, but naturally I bought two replacements this spring ...

July 27, 2010 Image courtesy of morgueFile Do certain gardens remind you of high school, where everyone orbits around the popular girls—Rosa (KnockOut), Stella (D’Oro daylily), and Myrtle (crepe)—simultaneously admiring their peppy beauty and begrudging their general domination? I’m not talking about mean girls. After all, Rosa, Stella, and Myrtle ...

July 22, 2010 Surprise, surprise—my pond lily really does flower. I found this generically labeled bog plant last year at Hill Country Water Gardens and had to have it for those strappy, burgundy leaves. It never bloomed, but I loved the leaf color, so when it croaked during last winter’s ...

July 21, 2010 Dozens, maybe hundreds, of brown, cicada-shaped husks are clinging to walls, fences, plants, and furniture in my garden this summer, showing where the buzzing insects sloughed off their old skins. Those unpromising looking shells would make anyone think the cicada an unlovely insect. But a chance encounter ...

July 07, 2010 Pink rain lilies (Zephryanthes ‘Labuffarosea’) open their eager faces to the sky after a rain I’ve hardly been home lately, and I only unpacked my suitcase this time in order to do laundry. But I’ll be repacking it tomorrow because it’s time for the 3rd annual garden-blogger ...

June 27, 2010 Ruby grass (Melinis nerviglumis ‘Pink Crystals’) is blooming, its pink-tinged inflorescence glowing almost white in the late-afternoon light. At most times, it looks more like this: a pinkish burgundy that looks lovely paired with… …purple coneflower… …and the ripening red berries of ‘Black Pearl’ ornamental pepper. (For ...

June 24, 2010 A pond makes a wonderful garden feature at any time of year, but in summer it’s where the action really is, from plants to fish, birds, insects, and other wildlife. A sunny location allows you to grow water lilies, jewels of the summer garden. The yellow flowers ...

June 24, 2010 A pond makes a wonderful garden feature at any time of year, but in summer it’s where the action really is, from plants to fish, birds, insects, and other wildlife. A sunny location allows you to grow water lilies, jewels of the summer garden. The yellow flowers ...

June 23, 2010 What joy in the completion of a long-delayed project! I’m not speaking of the narrow side garden itself, which is quickly filling in under the blazing sun’s heat, but the gravel-and-timber pathway that leads you through the sloping garden. I rarely pass up a chance to show ...

June 21, 2010 Fellow buccaneers, ‘Black Pearl’ ornamental pepper (Capsicum annuum ‘Black Pearl’) is not a phantom of the garden, dark and mysterious though her leaves be. Nay, she’s a rare treasure worth many pieces of eight—which needs must be paid every year, as she be not winter hardy. Beautiful ...