Early spring in Hyde Park cottage garden

February 09, 2021

Spring has arrived early at this sweet cottage garden in Austin’s Hyde Park neighborhood. I was passing by on Sunday when the dark-pink roses rambling along a picket fence caught my eye. A sunburst-shaped wheeler’s sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri) and clipped germander bush (Teucrium fruticans) add pretty foliage color and strong form.

And look what’s blooming in front of the pink rose — bluebonnets!

This is quite early, about a month and a half early, but really only a few bluebonnets in this patch are flowering. That’s good since we’re supposed to get our coldest weather since 2018 this weekend — boo!

For now it still looks like spring.

Yellow irises are blooming too.

I’m sure many of my fellow Austin gardeners are preparing for sub-freezing temps, as am I. Let’s hope it doesn’t really stay below freezing for a day or two, as forecasters are now suggesting. Brrr!

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Digging Deeper

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9 responses to “Early spring in Hyde Park cottage garden”

  1. Mark and Gaz says:

    So nice to see all that spring colour, especially from here where we’re in the middle of a cold spell.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      I saw your snowy pictures. Some serious cold is coming to Texas this weekend, so springy scenes like this will be blasted back for another month or two.

  2. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    It will be a shame if these beauties are frozen. Love seeing them. We are covered with snow and cold here. That cold front is coming here too. I am glad my garden has a blanket of snow. We usually are that lucky.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      I’m glad you have a good snow layer to protect your plants. Austin may get a second snowfall on Monday. It’s a strange winter for us!

  3. Fair says:

    Thank you Pam for keeping us encouraged, I love the changes you have made in your own gardens and getting to see them.
    Would love to know how she grows the big bush of beautiful roses.

  4. Kris P says:

    Wow! And here I thought we were off to an early start.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      This garden is an outlier — definitely earlier than anything else I’m seeing in Austin — and Mother Nature is about to show us why. Serious cold is coming down from the Arctic. I saw 10F mentioned in the forecast for Austin, and I’m trying to bury my head in the sand.

  5. […] Beyond the stone arches, people were picnicking on the lawn and playing with their dogs. This was during the warm week before the Texas snowpocalypse, and flowers were blooming in a pretty garden down the street. […]