A curbside garden for pollinators and all-year interest
Yellow sulphur butterflies flitted among zexmenia (Wedelia hispida) flowers last evening in this curbside garden in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood. Yellow on yellow!
Honeybees joined the pollinator party too.
Behind all the activity, an architectural whale’s tongue agave (Agave ovatifolia) made a powder-blue backdrop.
What a beauty of a whale! And wow, isn’t that zexmenia blooming early?
Another sulphur
And then there’s this: starbursts of big blue nolinas (Nolina nelsonii). How did these bad boys survive our past few winters, which melted mine to mush? I’m so jealous.
There’s a lot to admire in this curbside garden: drought-tolerant, architectural plants for year-round interest, pollinator-attracting flowers, grasses for movement, and place-setting limestone boulders that help with drainage and set off the plants to perfection.
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Digging Deeper
April 6: Come out to Austin’s Mayfield Park on 4/6 for the Mayfield Park Gardening Symposium & Fundraiser, 8:30 to 11 am. This annual benefit for the park includes a raffle, plant sale, and garden speakers.
May 4: Explore “brilliant backyards, perfect pools and pergolas, and outdoor rooms and gardens” on the ATX Outdoor Living Tour on 5/4, 10 am to 3 pm. Landscape architects, designers, and builders will be on hand to answer questions. Tickets are $33.85 for adults, $17.85 for kids age 10-17.
May 11: Save the date for Austin Home’s Great Outdoors Tour on 5/11.
May 18: Pop up to Dallas for the 2024 DCMGA Garden Tour on 5/18 from 10 am to 5 pm. Tickets are $18 if purchased online prior to 6 pm on 5/17, or $22 after 6 pm on 5/17 or at the event. For a sneak peek, click here.
June 1-2: Take a self-guided, 2-day tour of ponds and gardens in and around Austin on the annual Austin Pond and Garden Tour, held 6/1 and 6/2, 9 am to 5 pm. Tickets are $20 to $25.
Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!
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The whale’s tongue and zexmenia is my new Must Copy combination!
It’s a good one, isn’t it?
Color me envious. My zexmenia isn’t blooming yet.
Her garden must be in an especially warm pocket of Austin.
My zexmenia is going crazy right now, but I’d prefer not to think I’m in an especially warm pocket, given what that might mean come July! Zexmenia is one of the plants I’m adding more of, since it’s survived both the freezes and the hotter summers with ease.
Maybe mine is just slow to come back from its late-winter cut-back because it’s in a lot of shade.