1st garden–2007

September 28, 2007 I can’t resist a little Texas-style bragging. When Carol commented on my post about our meeting with Kathy Purdy, “That’s quite a concentration of garden bloggers. Perhaps a new record of six together at one time? Can anyone beat that?”—well, I just had to remind her (and ...

September 27, 2007 Annie, MSS, Kathy Purdy, and me during a morning tour of my garden. Many thanks to Kathy’s friend Cynthia for taking our group photos. Blowing in from the northeast, Cold Climate came to Austin today. So how come the weather was so danged hot?! Despite the heat ...

September 26, 2007 The Harvest Moon is riding high over my garden right now, growing smaller and smaller as it rises into the cloudless, black sky. It shines brighter than last month’s—beautiful to the naked eye, but making for a flatter, less interesting photo. Almost a paper moon. But who ...

September 23, 2007 Lycoris radiata at sunset A little later than usual, but already putting on a better show than last year, when the garden was struggling through a long drought, the spider lilies have sprung up seemingly overnight. In the morning light, the lilies are a cooler red. Also ...

September 20, 2007 Last January’s ice storm damaged this Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra ), breaking some of its branches while bending it almost to the ground, and burning all its evergreen leaves. Its northernmost native range is South Texas, and it can be damaged by temperatures colder than 28 degrees ...

September 19, 2007 Blue mistflower (Eupatorium coelestinum ) glows in the evening light, another sign that fall is on the way. Butterfly vine, or gallinita (Mascagnia macroptera ), shares a low trellis with the resurgent sweet Autumn clematis (below). They’re duking it out for growing room, and periodically I give ...

September 18, 2007 Miscanthus sinensis ‘Adagio’ Several garden-bloggers who live farther north have posted beautiful photos (and videos) of their ornamental grasses in recent weeks, and invited others to do the same. I’ve held off because here in Austin the grasses still aren’t at peak bloom. But then I thought ...

September 17, 2007 You won’t find any bougainvillea—or many other tropicals—in my garden. It looks gorgeous in this *San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, garden, however. Kim at A Study in Contrasts offered this challenge recently: What design style, plants, decor, etc., do you say “Not in my garden” to? Kim ...

September 14, 2007 Sweet Autumn clematis Our second spring has arrived in Austin, and the garden is abloom. This Bloom Day, salvias are the stars of the garden, but plenty of other perennials and vines are strutting their stuff too. Bees and butterflies, including a few monarchs early on the ...

September 14, 2007 Sweet Autumn clematis Our second spring has arrived in Austin, and the garden is abloom. This Bloom Day, salvias are the stars of the garden, but plenty of other perennials and vines are strutting their stuff too. Bees and butterflies, including a few monarchs early on the ...

September 12, 2007 This hummingbird seemed to flirt with me yesterday. I saw him (or her) buzzing all around the gardens yesterday, front yard and back, but every time I lifted my camera he rocketed up into the trees. Lurking in the doorway, I finally shot a few pics of ...

September 11, 2007 Conserving water is integral to “green” gardening in central Texas. Although Austin receives an average of 32 inches of rain a year, much of our rainfall is concentrated in spring and fall and in heavy showers that run off quickly rather than soaking into the soil. Yet ...

September 09, 2007Neighborhood photo-strolls have become the latest garden-blog meme, thanks to Chuck and Kim. Since I always enjoy the local flavor that comes through on these tours, I thought I’d join in. Tag along, if you’d like to see more of my north-central Austin neighborhood. Leaving my house and ...

September 07, 2007 Autumn color is reappearing in the garden, and not just the dark-red of the oxblood lilies. Here’s a look at the south side of my front garden. The roses are flaunting new pink blossoms, the miscanthus grasses are hoisting their seedhead flags, and the salvias are tipped ...

September 06, 2007 At summer’s end, Pride of Barbados ( Caesalpinia pulcherrima) steals the show at the entrance to the Botanical Garden, paired with butterfly weed and a tall ornamental grass. On a business trip in San Antonio last week, I lucked into an hour to spare before I needed ...

September 05, 2007 Photo by Mary R. Vogt, courtesy of MorgueFile If you’re a regular reader, you might have noticed that I often post photos of people on my blog. People exploring a garden. People enjoying a festival. People just doing what people do when they’re out in public. I ...