1st garden–2006

September 06, 2006Reading a comment on R. Sorrell’s blog, I discovered that there’s a new garden blogger in town, with a lovely, in-full-bloom garden. Newcomer Susan, of South of the River, lives and blogs in South Austin—that’s Zanthan territory. (M. Sinclair Stevens, you’re not alone south of the river anymore.) ...

September 04, 2006 The toad is back in the container pond tonight. I caught him staring intently at the metal frog anchored in a container of star grass. I have to surmise that the toad, like that leaping metal frog, is an extraordinary jumper. Check out the height of the ...

September 02, 2006 ‘Valentine’ rose Zanthan is posting about her gorgeous, red oxblood lilies. I’ve just planted some of those, and they aren’t blooming yet, but my back garden isn’t feeling shy right now either. In fact, a few spots are blazing with red too. Valentine, my red, red rose, ...

September 01, 2006 Purple prickly pear (Opuntia macrocentra) Here’s one plant well suited to this summer’s extreme weather. You won’t see a prickly pear give up the ghost easily, even one in a container that got watered maybe three times all summer. One of the Austin American-Statesman‘s front-page stories today ...

August 30, 200687 degrees. That was the high temperature here yesterday. That’s an early October high, y’all. Today, the joy continues with a north breeze keeping the air dry and comfortable, even though it’s expected to be in the 90s again. Ahhh, it feels like fall can’t be far off ...

August 29, 2006 At last, rain. After teasing us with the smell of rain and the boom of thunder just to our northwest yesterday, the skies opened up this morning and drizzled about 1/4″ of rain over an hour or so. Not much, but I’ll take it. Even so brief ...

August 29, 2006 At last, rain. After teasing us with the smell of rain and the boom of thunder just to our northwest yesterday, the skies opened up this morning and drizzled about 1/4″ of rain over an hour or so. Not much, but I’ll take it. Even so brief ...

August 26, 2006 Yellow bells at sunrise I was out in the garden at sunup this morning to put in a few hours of trimming work. I tried to beat the heat, but it beat me instead. By the time I was finished, around 11 am, I looked and felt ...

August 25, 2006 ‘Duchess of Albany’ clematis seedhead Duchess of Albany’s seedheads are nearly as beautiful as the flowers, though less showy. With whorls of feathery tan “arms,” they look like some sort of sea creature. It’s been a cruel summer for the garden, but I trust we’re nearing the ...

August 22, 2006 American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) If brown is the color of summer in Austin (see Zanthan’s recent post), purple is the color of fall, at least in my garden. American beautyberry gets a head start with its late-summer purpling berries. In the photo above, you can also see ...

August 16, 2006Austin’s drought continues. Today’s high is expected to reach 103 degrees. My excursions into the garden these days bring me up against two unpleasantries: watering cans (and hoses) and mosquitoes. Reality bites! Precious water from the second rain barrel. The other rain barrel is running dry after a ...

August 13, 2006 One of the three goldfish in my stock-tank container pond. She’s at the surface slurping up mosquito larvae, no doubt. While I was taking a closer look at the fish, I noticed a brown, speckled leaf behind the horsetail and moved to flick it out of the ...

August 09, 2006 The only thing to do is huddle up in the air conditioning with books. Or at least with a book meme. I was tagged by Annie of Austin to do this meme. I’ve never been one to pass along a chain letter, but this caught my attention ...

August 09, 2006 The only thing to do is huddle up in the air conditioning with books. Or at least with a book meme. I was tagged by Annie of Austin to do this meme. I’ve never been one to pass along a chain letter, but this caught my attention ...

August 07, 2006 A green dragonfly visited my garden this morning. The big-eyed bug let me approach very closely to snap this photo. Perhaps it felt so friendly toward me because I was attracting plenty of mosquitoes for it to eat. The feeling was mutual. Go get ’em, dragonfly! The ...

August 02, 2006 Springtime view of my garden from the street My rambunctious, lawn-free, front cottage garden sticks out like a green thumb (I just hope my neighbors don’t privately think “sore thumb”) on my street of older homes, most of which have small St. Augustine lawns, a row of ...