Ah, the gentle signs of spring (isn’t this summer?)

Yes, this is a gladiolus. No, I didn’t buy it at the store. Yes, it’s a current photo. It bloomed this week in my garden. It’s early July, in the hottest, driest Summer since the dust bowl of the ’50s. (I’ve deemed this year Summer of Hell II, acknowledging that we are doing this yet AGAIN this year. I’m not good with recidivism, I prefer Change, thank you very much to Whomever might be listening Up There.)

It’s such a sweet bloom, with all its soft yellows and gently curving petals. Just like I would expect to see in May. It bloomed in dappled shade in my back garden. I decided to rescue it, and snipped it and brought it inside to more temperate climes.

On another note, this dragonfly decided to fly into the house today when I opened the back door. I’ve never seen one so huge, have you? To give you a perspective, the tile it landed on is 4″ wide at that point. I’m used to dragonflies under 2″ or so, this one shocked me. Fortunately, I was able to coax it back outside, no harm done.

Welcome home, Mom!

I recently took a lovely trip to North Carolina to visit a friend in Wake Forest. We started in Asheville, drove the scenic route along the Blue Ridge Highway, and ended up at her home. I’ll blog about that soon (oh my god that’s what plants are supposed to look like? Who knew?)

Flash the Wonder Cat always misses me when I vacation.

The day after I arrived back home, he proudly presented me with this amazing gift (in his opinion, anyway). He’s never brought me a snake before, and this one is huge. The scale seems off in this photo, but it is over 2 feet long.

Yowsa! Fortunately, when I found it, laid so beautifully as it was on the step off the deck where I always walk, it was in this non-threatening pose.

He must love me lots to have worked so hard to find a unique gift for me. And especially to share it and not keep it for himself. What a guy!

It’s time to think about moving (again)

Temps reach 107 at airport today
Thursday, June 25, 2009, 05:16 PM

Austin recorded its second-hottest June day in history today, with temperatures reaching 107 degrees Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and 106 at Camp Mabry.

LCRA meteorologist Bob Rose said temperatures have reached that high in June only once — on June 14, 1998, when the temperatures at the airport reached 109 and the high at Camp Mabry was 108.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Many Austin bloggers have mentioned that their gardens are mere shadows of their Springtime selves, given that March is their “bloomiest” month. In my garden, at least at this point in its young life, June is the bloomiest month. With extensive shade, young plants, and an inexperienced gardener, I have few blooms until the direct overhead sunshine of May begins. So my garden actually looks pretty good this month, given that everything is parched for a drink. I can only imagine what it might look like someday when we once again get consistent, plentiful rain like the olden days of my youth. (Sound like an old fogie, don’t I?).

My favorite thing in the garden right now is the combination of the Mexican Oregano and white Agapanthus.

It makes me smile every time I get into the car, as it is located right by the driveway. (My purple Agapanthus didn’t bloom this year, after five years of blooms. Why not?)

Another dramatic bloomer that just won’t stop blooming is the passalong rose, Citrus Splash. The blooms start with this appropriate splashy variegation of orange and yellow.

By the next day, they have turned into an mostly-pink rose.

One of my favorite tough plants, the BiColor Iris, is in bloom in several locations in my yard. I love the sculptural quality of the evergreen grassy leaves even when not in bloom. But these fun blooms in May and June are icing on the cake.

A few more of my daylilies have their last blooms. Some of these plants are called “rebloomers”. I’ll let you know if they bloom again in the fall.

Here’s Awash With Color:

Mango Mango, with its double bloom, is done for the season after this.

One of my favorites, Beyond Riches, has one more bud left. I wish I had planted more of this one.

In the same bed, the Rose of Sharon is completing its Spring bloom season. It will have a few more blooms again in early fall. In its second year, this deciduous shrub is one of my favorites. I want to plant another in a different color.

I’m using a photo of the Rangoon Creeper (below) that was taken about 3 days ago. It now has many more blooms. I wanted you to see how the blooms start off white, then turn dark pinkish-red, so that the plant has blooms of different colors at the same time. I fell absolutely in love with this plant when I saw the huge one growing at Great Outdoors last year. Planted during Summer of Hell I, this is the first time it has bloomed.

Because we actually had 1″+ of rain last week, amid tornadoes and hail, the rain lilies are making their first ever appearance in my garden. I love them!
These sweet pink blooms are nestled in the silver-leafed Powis Castle Artemesia, and I love the combination.

A new lantana is enjoying a spot out by the street in full sun.

Back in the shade, the Indigofera is finishing up its bloom season. I really like the delicate bloom and leaves of this deciduous plant, but after it’s about 3 years old, it can become a thug. I completely removed it once (I thought), and this is it returning. I’ll let it go for now.

Another shade plant, Clerodendrum Ugandense, or Butterfly Bush, has a few blooms. The plant has grown a lot in size, however, and hopefully next year it will bloom much more. I adore these blue blooms with the butterfly shape, in the shade no less.

Look at this. Last year, I planted a cheap budget-challenged Hosta from Home Depot (you know the rule: I never buy plants from there, except for when I do). It actually came back this year (without any winter water, or much Spring water, either, now that I think of it) and it is sprouting a bloom. The bulbs that I bought from a fancy-schmancy online Hosta nursery “guaranteed to grow even in our heat” never even sprouted. It’s a nice place filler while my natives grow.

Other plants in bloom today:
Several colors of Verbena
Impatiens
Bulbine
Zinnia
Purple Heart
Butterfly Iris
Several varieties of begonias
Several varieties of Geraniums
Petunias
Shrimp plant
Copper Canyon Daisy (yes, now)
Plumbago (just getting started)
Lantana of other colors
Society Garlic
Salvia Greggii (red)
Salvia Coccinea Coral Nymph
Salvia Coccinea Molly Ivans (struggling)
Salvia Majestica (not much)
Double Delight Rose (prolific)
Abutilon

As always, thanks to Carol, May Dreams Gardens for creating and hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Daylilies Galore

Daylilies with Yarrow

Last fall, I decided that I wanted to give it a try to grow daylilies in my garden. With partial sun/shade throughout, these hardy flowers might be just the ticket for flower-drama without much high maintenance demands. I ordered several species online, and picked up a couple locally, and crossed my fingers. Advised by everyone in the know, I only purchased Evergreen varieties, which withstand the heat better than dormant varieties.

It seems to be working so far! Today I counted 16 new flowers, of over 7 different species. And many species still have buds that I haven’t seen yet. Recently, I had the chance to visit a daylily garden in North Austin, that contained over 800 varieties of daylilies (I can’t imagine keeping those straight). While it was gorgeous to witness, the most exciting thing I learned from the visit was observing the amount of shade the grower had in his yard, and how well his plants were doing. I believe I might have chosen the right plant for flowering in my back yard.

By far the most prolific in my garden so far has been Byzantine Beauty, a huge flower almost 6″ across when unfolded. Below, it begins to open after the lovely rain (yes, real rain!) the other day.

Byzantine Beauty

These less-than-one-year-old plants still have plenty of buds to go.

Byzantine Beauty

While a slightly smaller flower, Beyond Riches (below) has gorgeous dusty coloration that works well with Byzantine Beauty. It is slightly less prolific, but perhaps it gets a bit less sun where it is planted. As much as I like this flower, I believe I’ll move it in the fall.

Beyond Riches

In a different bed, Mango Mango is sometimes a double-flower Daylily and sometimes not.

Mango Mango

After it bloomed, I realized the color of Mango Mango goes perfectly with my Souvenir de Bonn Abutilon, and once it is finished flowering, it will get moved closer to her in the fall.

Mango Mango

Souvenir de Bonn Abutilon

A new purchase from the daylily garden I visited, this Chevron Spider isn’t planted yet but still puts on a show. Its coloring will complement the new Marilyn’s Choice Abutilon that hasn’t begun to flower. They will be planted together also.

Chevron Spider

Another spider species, Heavenly Breezes hasn’t flowered extensively, but I enjoy the few blooms it has had so far. Again, it is in more shade and probably would like a bit more sun. This plant probably gets less than 2 hours of sun a day, so the fact that it blooms at all is amazing.

Heavenly Breezes

And I’m not sure why (It must have made sense at the time), but I bought more of Princess Ellen than any other variety. While beautiful, I could have mixed it up a bit more. Since it is very prolific and happy, I’ll be moving some of the plants to surround the Pink Sunburst Canna. The warm pinks of the two will work nicely together.

Princess Ellen

A view of the bed; again, this bed was created only last fall, so I’m very pleased with the amount of blooms I’m getting on such young plants.

In the front yard, with only slightly more sun, these two dwarf (less than 18″) daylilies were purchased locally at Natural Gardener.

Dwarf Stella D'Oro

These two are planted together and complement my purple and yellow color scheme in the front of the house.

Little Grapette

I still have several species left to open. Many of you wanted to know how my varieties were going to work out, so keep watching and I’ll let you know as they show up. Thanks for visiting. To those in Chicago today for Spring Fling, have fun and take many pictures!

I leave you with one last look at Byzantine Beauty.

Byzantine Beauty

Update on LAHRGHDT Day

Last fall, I posted a plea for help with redecorating my deck, Let’s All Help Robin Get Her Deck Together Day. Many of you offered great ideas, and though it has taken me a few months to pull it together, I think I”m done for now.

Here’s what it looked like when I first asked for your help:

I needed the gazebo to feel more incorporated into the space, and I needed it to be more cozy.

First, I added curtains, which helped a lot. I painted a small table white, added white impatiens in a container that was my color inspiration, and found a rattan covered chair at the goodwill that I turned into a white footstool. I stuck with those changes for a while, sitting in it mornings and evenings to feel what else it needed. I soon realized it needed a space-defining rug to help connect all the different legs from gazebo, chairs, table and footstool.

I priced outdoor rugs in the size I needed, and determined that wasn’t in my budget right now. With the unexpected surprise of Colorado Summertime weather this past week, I took advantage of the cool air to paint a faux rug onto the deck.

First, I removed everything and taped off the area.

In keeping with my beach theme, I decided to paint beachy-stripes. That was also the easiest design – to just follow the deck strips. I had outdoor paint colors in my storage closet already, from past projects. (I’m a project queen; I always have to have a project going on or I’m bored out of my head).  Here’s where I started:

Okay, I liked it so far. When I removed the tape, though, I realized it needed an edge to define it. I opted for “faux fringe”. It’s my first attempt and it looks okay. Not great, but I can live with it. If I had had some stencils  on hand, I think a stencil-patterned edge would look better. Here’s what I had done after about three hours:

A closer look at the fringe:

I decided, as long as I had the paint out and I was covered in it, to paint a few pots to tie in throughout the yard with my color scheme:

So here’s the final product. Since the chairs are a bit too big for the space, I either need new chairs or I need to use a stencil to extend a pattern beyond the stripes so that the chairs’ back legs will all fit onto the “rug”.

And from the other side:

This entire gazebo project was very low budget, and I’m quite happy with it right now. I used regular indoor polyester curtains from KMart that were $5 each. We’ll see how they stand up to the summer heat and sun. If they last a year, then I’ve gotten my money’s worth.

It’s calm, serene and I love sitting out there with my morning coffee and watching the sunset. Flash the Wonder Cat approves, since he considers it to be his anyway.

Thanks, everyone, for your ideas.

Is this September or May?

After a lovely brunch at Olivia on S. Lamar, we took a drive through the wonderful SOCO and Bouldin Creek neighborhoods; yes the 78704 attitude is still Keeping Austin Weird in a wonderful way. The ancient plants in bloom were amazing to see, and the old gingerbread homes intermingled with the ultramodern redo’s  is intriguing to me.I know there is a lot of controversy in that ‘hood about the changes happening, but from this outsider’s point of view, the charm of the neighborhood is enhanced by the variety.

But this really blew me away; everywhere I went, I saw Pride of Barbados in full bloom! I can’t recall ever seeing it bloom prior to late August or early September before. Is it because they didn’t freeze back through our recent mild winter?

It’s one of my favorite plants, and I finally managed to clear a spot in my yard with enough sun for it to grow and planted a baby plant a few weeks ago. Perhaps I’ll get a few blooms at the end of summer, while I can enjoy others’ plants all summer long, hopefully. I mean, look at this!

Notice the flowering Mimosa tree behind the Pride of Barbados. A tree that I grew up with (my favorite climbing tree, with its smooth bark and low lying branches), that only blooms in the springtime. The soft pink blossoms clash with the intense orange of the Pride of Barbados, a color that can hold up to the extreme August/September  heat.  What’s up with that?

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day May 2009

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day has become an international hit on the fifteenth of each month; created and hosted by Carol; May Dreams Gardens.

Double Delight, a fragrant passalong from Lori, Gardener of Good and Evil, gave me double the fun for bloom day.

The Bicolor Iris is getting going, and should last through June.

The Butterfly Iris have had a few more blooms than this, but nothing spectacular really. I may end up taking them out.

So far, 2 of my new daylily purchases have bloomed. After agonizing for weeks over what to purchase so that I would have a variety of colors, so far everything looks just alike. Pretty, but not much difference really.

Here’s Byzantine Beauty:

and the slightly pinker, Princess Ellen. Both are very large blooms, which is nice.

The Pink Sunburst Canna is starting to bloom in the bed. I hope it continues all summer, I love it.

I’m beginning to love geraniums. They are one of the few dramatic flowers that really like the dappled shade of my yard.

A new purchase, Clerodendron Ugandense, also known as Butterfly Bush, has a spectacular bloom in mostly shade here. It’s a tender perennial, and supposedly I can cut it back in the fall and mulch over it for winter protection.

Citrus Splash, a passalong from Pam/Digging has given me several blooms in this first year. They start with yellow streaks in orangish-pink, then fade to an all-rosy color. Quite fun!

Moss Verbena is hardy and happy in several places in the garden.

And I have several colors of yarrow, another plant I’m loving. I’ve heard it’s very aggressive, but so far it isn’t in my garden. Once it blooms, I can cut off the stalks and it leaves a hardy, yet fern-like, groundcover that attracts beneficial insects.

And here’s the red yarrow. I didn’t picture the white.

A neighbor gave me a passalong 5-gallon Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow plant. Hers have been in  her yard for years, and are spectacular every spring. This one looked a better a couple of weeks ago, but here’s the last blooms.

Stella D’Oro Daylily, with Molly Ivans Salvia Coccinea in the background.

Why is Copper Canyon Daisy blooming now? It’s normally a fall bloomer.

I like how this shade container is turning out. Annual impatiens give bright color in the shade, and this is the first time I’ve used Spotted Dead Nettle as a trailing plant. I don’t know how it will fare through the summer heat, but I’ll let you know.

I like the bright red of this Salvia Greggii against the white rattan.

Persian Shield isn’t a bloom, but I love the purple color in the deep shade. If it were in brighter shade, the purple is almost neon bright and gorgeous.

Other blooms, not pictured, are Verbena in various colors, Purple Heart, Lantana in various colors, Bulbine, dwarf Pomegranite, Bottlebrush, Pink Salvia, Oxalis, Pink Turks Cap, Petunias, Nemesia, Begonias and Society Garlic.

The Tale of the Bottlebrush Tree

When I was but a wee lass, I was uprooted from my Australian home and whisked to lands far, far away. Finding myself in Austin, Texas, and homeless to boot, I felt comforted that my foster home, Cornerstone Hardware (which no longer exists, sad to say) had adult versions of me growing in the great out-of-doors, and these big parental units were quite beautiful in the late spring and early summer. And I had a a couple of siblings with me, which made me feel quite taken care of. We were all quite young, maybe 2 feet tall at the most.

Imagine my surprise when early in April of 2000, my true mom found me and it was love at first sight!  Well, I think she actually fell in love with the parental units, and she could see the potential in me. She seemed to handle the adoption speedily enough, and apparently in the US of A, the most important paper for plant adoption is something called a “credit card.”

Though my new mom was pretty clueless about me, she knew she loved me and treated me that way. I told her I needed lots of sunshine, so she found the sunniest spot in her yard and put me in the dirt. (Well, really it was Blackland Prairie clay, but I didn’t tell her otherwise). She didn’t know she was supposed to give me food, so I managed to find enough to get by from the dark, gummy clay.   She forgot to ask about how I do or don’t like the cold (I really don’t), so she left me on the northwest sunny corner of the yard without a winter coat. I learned to be tough, even when I was iced over a couple of times.  She came by and talked to me every day, and I loved her despite her clueless, blond behavior. I know she meant well.

After 9 years, I’ve given her many years of delightful blooms. And the neighbors! Oh, my, the neighbors are always asking about me this time of year. I must be quite the rockstar around here. So this year, she told me she wanted to honor me and tell the world about how I tease her every April with thousands of little buds all over. She checks me daily, to see how the buds are doing. I love to slowly draw out her anticipation.

This is how I started this year, with just a hint of things to come.

With all the new stuff happening in the yard over the past year, my mom has been really giving me the spa treatment. I got a great haircut last fall, and then she let me have all the chocolate, I mean compost, that I wanted.

I’m pretty happy about all that.

I slowly let her start to get a peek of what to expect; very, very soon now.

I invited a few friends to join in. This year, I have lots of showing off to do.

And then? It rained! Glorious rain! Oh, it’s been so long.

See what good can happen to those who wait?

Because I’m nearly 12 feet tall now, I invite hundreds of my closest friends over for dinner constantly. They are quite the little gluttons, but I don’t mind. I have plenty of food to share.

Now everyone is happy. I love my home, and have rewarded my mom with years of this show every May, June and sometimes into July. Often, I’ll do it again in September or October. A couple of years ago, we had lovely rain all summer long, and I just kept on blooming all summer long. It was fun! And I still have a blast watching the neighbors stop their cars and gawk when I’m in full plumage. Everybody wants to know my name, which is really Callistemon rigidus. But since ya’ll are my new friends, you can call me Babe, the Bottlebrush Tree. Drive by and check me out sometime!

Through the Garden Gate, Monday

Cindy, at My Corner of Katy, suggested to me that we start a tradition of posting a picture each Monday of a panoramic view of our garden, typically from the same vantage point each week. I love the idea, so I can see how my baby-garden progresses and grows. We would love for everyone to join in that wants to, so that we can all share in the seasonal changes and growth habits of our outdoor worlds.

Cindy has been doing this for several weeks now, and I’m just now joining in. And a day late, at that. I did take the photos Sunday evening, but didn’t get a chance to process pictures until Monday night. So here is my garden, standing at my gate, with my Path of Choices. You can see that it is filled in a bit more from when I did the hardscaping and added a new bed a month ago.

I’ve been wondering why my plants seem to be behind in growth compared to other Austin gardens. I know of one reason – lack of sunshine. Because of the nature of the trees and houses around me, my southside backyard doesn’t get much direct sun until the sun climbs higher into the sky nearer to summer. Usually in May I can claim one area of the yard to have almost 6 hours total sun off and on throughout the day, which qualifies as a sunny bed. Plants that really enjoy the sunshine just won’t work here, but I can coax blooms from Esperanza and Hibiscus, even if they aren’t as prolific as they might be in more sun. Other parts of my yard will get about 4 hours per day – qualifying as partial shade. But prior to May, I just don’t get that much direct sun, so the plants are slow to get started.

I also end up sometimes overwatering, despite my desire to conserve. Because so many of my plants are new and our drought is so severe, I have to water enough to keep those shallow baby roots growing. But then the clay underneath absorbs all that moisture, and my older plants with deeper roots don’t like the constant wetness. It’s a balancing act right now. And again with the drought, the plants are being watered with city water instead of rain, which doesn’t help the nutrition levels. Last year I lost several plants – some to drying out and some to drowning. You can tell I’m not so good with that balancing act just yet.

However, things are looking a bit chlorotic, so I decided to do a home soil test. Despite compost, seaweed and fish emulsion, my soil is nitrogen depleted. It is clay, after all, with lots of mulch. Both of these things suck the nitrogen out of the soil. And then suck the life out of the plants.

I went to Natural Gardener and picked up John’s Recipe in the liquid form. I’ll spray once a week until things get more established, then back off to every 2-3 weeks. Next season I’m going to have to break down and remove the mulch and put John’s Recipe in the pellet form directly into the soil to keep the soil fertile. And by then, hopefully the plants will have a bit better root system and I can water a bit less frequently.

It will be interesting for me to watch the progress as my soil improves, the sun gets higher in the sky and my plants get older. Won’t you join us?