August garden planning & fall anticipation
August is a waiting game for central Texas gardeners—waiting for fall rains to arrive, waiting for the muggy blanket of heat to lift and a cool breeze to blow in from the north, waiting for nurseries to fill up with their fall shipments of new plants, waiting for October, the beginning of our best planting season.
Yesterday we got a teaser of fall goodness, with rain showers and a cooling cloud cover. Between showers I went out to look at the sodden garden and pull a few weeds from the softened decomposed granite, and I snapped these pics to remind myself of how much everything has grown this summer, even though at this point in summer the plants don’t look their best. Pictured above is my neighbor’s streetside garden, which I designed and planted to blend with mine. We share a decomposed-granite path that runs between our garden beds.
Here’s how it looked right after I planted it in early February.
And even before that. Now it’s a lawn-gone garden, and in another month or so the salvias and grasses will burst into fall bloom.
Panning to the right, to my own streetside garden, you see a ‘Pink Flamingos’ muhly grass that’ll be blooming in another month or so. (According to Plant Delights, ‘Pink Flamingos’ is a hybrid, from Peckerwood Garden, of Muhlenbergia capillaris and Muhlenbergia lindheimeri.) Behind it is an expanse of shady St. Augustine lawn that I plan to convert into a simple Berkeley sedge lawn. But first I need to have a retaining wall built up by the house, and that’ll have to wait for a while.
Garlic chives are blooming along the curb—yay, a sign that summer is on the wane!
And this eryngium that I grew from seed shared with me by Michael at Plano Prairie Garden is starting to “purple up”—another sign of fall.
The island garden—a live oak-studded berm that was marooned by the circular drive when the house was built—is wearing the tawny shades of a long, hot summer, but plenty of silvers are there to cool things off visually. Year-round structure is provided by ‘Color Guard’ yuccas, a wavy-leafed spineless prickly pear (shared by Jean of Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog), and a big softleaf yucca. Without them, the garden would be a blurry mass of fine-leaved perennials and grasses.
I simply adore the ‘Color Guard’ yuccas. But the plant I get asked about by every person who stops to look at the garden is the silver-blue gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida). Do the deer bother it, they ask? Only once—the irritating latex sap inside the stems taught them to leave it alone. The gardener needs to use caution as well—i.e., gloves and maybe eye protection—when trimming it.
To appreciate how much this garden has grown in 2-1/2 years, here’s how it looked in March 2010, right after planting.
And before that—just tangled Asian jasmine, purple lantana, and a few scraggly nandinas. Easy-care, certainly, and nothing wrong with that, but it was not going to satisfy this plant-a-holic.
Let’s see—other gardens in transition. Here’s the brand-new gravel garden by the front door. An ‘Alphonse Karr’ clumping bamboo hides some pipes in the left corner. Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) will add purple flower spikes on the right in another month. Agave gentryi ‘Jaws’ occupies the circular planter, toothless sotol (Dasylirion longissimum) the pipe planter. I found the tall, green pot on sale at Natural Gardener recently and plan to add a ‘Red Star’ cordyline. The little pot in front contains a pretty but vicious dyckia.
But what the heck is going on in the deck bed? (This is the view straight down from the deck.) I have struggled with this space for four years. At first it was a dumping ground for many of the sun-loving plants I brought with me from my previous garden. And then I realized that it didn’t have enough sun for many of them—doh!—but it did seem to get blistering part-sun, so shade-appreciative plants suffered. I’m happy with the recent semicircle of ‘Color Guard’ yucca that echoes the lines of the curving path around the stock-tank pond. But the mishmash of flowering perennials and a few holding-bed agaves behind the yuccas is just a mess. I think I’m going to move all those this fall and plant a curving line of yellow-green bamboo muhly to echo the yuccas.
Nearby, the ‘Blue Ice’ Arizona cypress is simply stunning. I can’t believe how much it’s grown since I planted it three years ago.
Here’s how it looked then. Whenever you think nothing’s happening out there, it pays to look at old photos.
So are you making fall garden plans too?
All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I am indeed making fall plans. August is a waiting game here in the PNW too. We are still in the middle of our regular summer drought, so I can’t do any actual planting, and any plants that were installed this year have to be regularly watered till established, so I’ve been dragging the sprinkler around to areas that need it. I’m waiting till the rains return to plant, and right now, just doing lots of planning and research. Thanks for the look at your front gravel garden. I enjoyed the look back at how your beds looked when first installed. It really doesn’t take that long for things to look lush. I think maybe we all have at least one area that is kind of an orphan bed, that we don’t know what to do with.
Have fun making your own fall gardening plans, Alison. It was news to me that you must wait for fall in the Pacific NW, but waiting for fall rains is what we do as well. —Pam
Everything is looking great! It’s an especially impressive look back considering two of those three years were extreme drought, record heat, and record cold years all at once.
I have so many plans for fall that I’m going to have to prioritize.
Yes, the past years have been difficult, to say the least. I’ve treasured this relatively mild summer. Haven’t you? Good luck prioritizing your gardening plans! —Pam
Outstanding post! I`ve been very busy for six weeks building new beds and planting. I know that the rewards will come this fall and especially next spring. Love it, Come on Fall !
Only one more month and a half, and it’ll be here. I can’t wait either. Happy gardening this fall, Randy! —Pam
I completely agree with you about taking photos to see the progress in the garden. Does Color Guard spread like other yuccas? They are sure pretty in their early life…but when they get older and send out pups? Do they die back? Love the contrast with the blue euphorbia.
‘Color Guard’ does appear to produce pups. One in the island garden produced its first one this summer. I removed it to keep the clean look of the solitary yuccas, but I’m curious to see how much they’ll end up pupping. They do not die back, even in colder climates, so they make a great evergreen (and evergold) accent. —Pam
Just seeing your before and afters makes me want to start doing something in the garden. I am awaiting a change in weather that I think will stay.
Me too, Lisa. I succumbed to plant lust the other day and bought a few new grasses and other plants, but I won’t be planting them until it cools off into the 80s on a regular basis. —Pam
You may think your deck bed is a mess, but I really love the hardscaping and water feature.
Thanks, Jason! Those parts make me pretty happy too. 🙂 —Pam
We are also waiting for September, and cooler weather to plant our fall gardens. (I don’t really think September will be cooler and rain might come at the end of October) I love your different grasses and that grey cypress is beautiful. I have never seen one that color.
Here’s to the fall rains, Ruth! —Pam
Nothing more encouraging than these glimpses of how far we have come.
Yes, it’s always a good idea to take pictures of the “before” so that you can really appreciate the “after.” —Pam
Wow…those street-side plantings are looking better and better, Pam! I just love how you’ve influenced your neighbors. I can’t wait to see ‘Pink Flamingo’ bloom…I’ve seen it in a few catalogues and it looks amazing! I’m waiting anxiously for fall as well…I have so many plants I want to move around…but not until the rains return 🙂
Scott, my ‘Pink Flamingos’ muhly would be happier in full sun (or which I have little), but it bloomed pretty well last fall, its first year in my garden. I neglected to get pics, but I’ll try to do better this year. —Pam
Lovely!! Thanks for sharing a progress shot. It’s so nice to see how much things fill in. I’m terrible about planting things too close and then have to move things around in a year or two, sometimes even months later.
Do you think your AZ cypress will get too big in diameter? It’s sooo gorgeous. –jane
It’s possible, Jane, and I planted it with my eyes open—but I just had to have it, and that’s the only place it would fit! 🙂 I’ll enjoy it for as long as possible and could possibly remove some lower branches if necessary (though I’d hate to do that). —Pam
I hope the AZ Cypress stays narrow for you. 😉
I just looked at the Revised Landscape Rebate from Austin Water. What are your thoughts on weed barriers under mulch and gravel areas? It is one of their requirements. After putting in 4 inches of crushed granite in my back yard to extend the patio and solve the problem of grass-won’t-grow here, I see that weeds grow in the granite, not from under the granite. Also my neighbor put in a beautiful brick walk way and used the tan weed barrier and he has supper weeds! They seem like added cost and hassle for no benefit. Is there a weed barrier that works?
Love your idea of a berkley sedge lawn. I’m totally stealing that.
Jane, my advice to clients is that weed barrier is helpful if you have oak sprouts that want to pop up (although they may not be held back for long by any type of barrier so long as I can tell) or Bermudagrass coming back from the roots. However, it will NOT prevent weeds from germinating in the top several inches of gravel, as you found out. In fact many plants, including our native wildflowers, LOVE to grow in a gravelly mix. So I don’t generally advise spending the money on weedblock unless you have oak sprouts or are covering an area formerly infested with Bermudagrass. —Pam