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?

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day- April, 2009

Many thanks, as always, to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for creating and hosting this monthly event in the world of garden blogging.

Many of you read my recent whine about feeling like my yard  looks just like the local Whataburger, so I set out today to prove myself wrong. With this bloom from a passalong rose from Lori/Gardener of Good and Evil, I think I achieved that!

Double Delight Rose is gorgeous, with a scent to match.
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The Primrose Jasmine is at its peak.

The Mock Orange is just beginning. It will probably peak next week, especially if we get the “promised” rain in the forecast.

I didn’t even know that this recently planted Pittisporum bloomed, but it was covered with buds a week ago and these sweet, light yellow blooms have a fragrant scent to boot.

And I’m still loving my Double Ranunculus. It is going strong, with more buds to follow. These were bulbs picked up on a whim at Barton Springs Nursery last fall.

This most recent bloom on the same plant, though, is a single form.

This is my latest Ivy Geranium, a winter hardy geranium if I protect it from cold.

Another look at Double Delight from the front.

I finally got a decent photo of the bulbine.

The Abutilon is blooming. I love the variegated leaves with the busy, veined blooms.

And yet another Ivy Geranium. I love how you can see a bloom through the sheer curtains of the gazebo.

The Byzantine Gladiolus, an indulgence purchase from Southern Bulbs. Great color, aren’t they?

Coral Nymph Salvia Cocciniea. Molly Ivans is blooming in the front yard as well.

White Salvia Greggii, Pink Sunburst Canna, and The Flash peeking at me.

The Bottlebrush is just about to burst into blooms all over. I’m anxiously awaiting that, it’s a sight to see every spring.

Spotted Dead Nettle with Impatiens; a nice shade combo in a container.

A close-up of the Gladiolus.

Verbena is blooming in several colors now.

And this newly blooming plant just popped up as I was strolling through the garden taking pictures.

Other blooms are a kolanchoe, an aloe, ice plant, ajuga, red salvia, pink salvia, purple heart, and society garlic, bicolor Iris and butterfly Iris are just beginning.

Happy Dirt

Seratonin-booster Mock Orange is beginning to bloom.

My decades as an alternative health practitioner leads me to varying reading that might not be readily available, and sometimes I find priceless little tidbits. A study in the Neuroscience Journal from 2007 found that exposure to the bacteria found in dirt boosts Seratonin levels in the brain. Gardeners already know this, even if they don’t know the science behind it.

Seratonin is the neurotransmitter that boosts feelings of serenity, peace, joy and happiness. Seratonin also balances Dopamine, the excitability neurotransmitter that makes us nervous, edgy, irritable and sharp. Digging in the dirt literally is an anti-depressant. Studies also have shown that kids that dig in the dirt are exposed in a healthy way to bacteria that improve their immune systems. You don’t have to dig barehanded; sitting, kneeling, and as you know – scooting and crawling sometimes – will do it. Once you start digging and planting, the bacterium spores are available airborn as you breathe.

But no need to tell anyone reading this blog; if you are having a bad day, go out into the garden! No wonder sending kids outdoors to play helps so many things. And perhaps the dramatic rise in antidepressant medication prescriptions might have to do with the urbanization of our culture, travelling in vehicles, using electronics instead of playing outside, and the lack of connection to the earth. Many times I would ask a patient: “When was the last time you walked barefoot on the earth?”, and many times that person couldn’t remember. Amazing!

Even when I didn’t have time to “garden” and only planted annuals, containers or the occasional hardy evergreen, I couldn’t get through the day without sitting outdoors and breathing the plant-cleansed air. I think if I hadn’t been in the healthcare industry for so long, I would never have realized just how many people don’t do these basic things. People go on vacation to rejuvenate; oftentimes these vacations are the only connection people get to the earth and mother nature. I can’t imagine living in a city like New York or Hong Kong, where asphalt, conrete and dirty air is a way of life.

And though I haven’t yet seen a study on it, I’m convinced that water, especially ocean water, contains the same seratonin-boosting qualities. I’m never as happy as when I’ve spent a week on the ocean. I think I need a vacation!

it’s hard to be unique when everyone is hip

Pink Ranunculus (Double buttercup)

I love this bright pink flower of the Double Ranunculus bulbs I planted last fall. It began its bloom season a couple of weeks ago, as the Amethyst Flame Iris was winding down. It seems that everything else is in between cycles (okay, except for the sweet Primrose Jasmine, it’s going strong), so this has been the sole bloom of any drama over the past week. And even though I planted it in the “yellow” bed, I’m going to leave it just where it is, because it’s very happy in this spot. I have five more buds on the way, and hopefully they’ll open this week while I have company. And yes, there are more blooms in my yard, but this is the most unusual right now.

I’ve worked hard in my yard – ‘garden’, now; it used to be a yard, right? – to display my personality. Gregarious, simple lines, no clutter, a bit tropical. With the plant choice constraints that seem to exist in Central Texas due to alkaline soil, clay, rocks, extreme heat, no winter, lots of rain and then drought, and did I mention the heat? – I rely heavily on natives and adapted natives in order to hopefully get something that lives, or even thrives.

But you know what discouraged me today? I realized driving around that all the commercial areas near my home are hip to the native plantings, too. I’m sure the locally published Landscape Guide has created this monster, but even the Whataburger has some of the same plants that I’m growing. Everywhere I go, I see Esperanza, Plumbago, Bulbine, Knockout Roses, Mountain Laurels, Agaves, Grasses and Salvia Greggii. My health club has a gorgeous expanse of yellow daylilies and knockout roses together. Why am I complaining? It’s great to see beautiful blooms and not just Bermuda grass in commercial parking lots and medians.

It’s just that, I want my yard to be unique to me. I want it to be MY expression. I guess I just want more choices than what seems to work here, that I also like. There’s a lot of plants available that I could use, but they just don’t appeal to me. I like lush and bold, bright flowers. That’s pretty rare around here. Sigh. Maybe I’m just tired. Maybe I’m just annoyed cause Whataburger got my order wrong, yet again.

I love Austin, don’t get me wrong. I love keepin’ it weird. I love the whimsical attitude that permeates everything, from the Capitol 10k to the hubcabs and Velvet Elvis paintings at Chuy’s. But it’s hard to be hip, when everyone is cool.

If you build it, it will come

Previously, I mentioned this new bed that was calling out to be created once I moved my fenceline last year. As the vision came together finally this spring, the hardscape was completed with much digging of grass, removing of rocks, amending of dirt, and adding Benda-board edging.

I’m letting the bed tell me what it wants. I’ve done this same process with all my planting beds so far; each one has its own personality and color scheme, and each one was created as a blank canvas germinating inspiration.

While far from complete, the color scheme is underway with warm pinks and creams contrasting sweetly with the greens and purples of the leaves.

Warm pink is a color I adore but for some unknown reason haven’t yet put anywhere else in the yard. With the unexpected purchase of the Canna Lilly Pink Sunburst and a few gorgeous pink/cream Tropical Sage (Salvia Coccinea) for shade, I was off and running.

Canna Lily Pink Sunburst

Tropical Sage (Salvia Coccinea) Coral Nymph

I found this little Ivy Geranium (a tender perennial) with blooms that are cream with warm pink edges.  The purple in the leaves also echoes the color in the Canna leaves.

Since I’ve fallen in love with my other lavender Ivy Geranium, I thought this was a good addition that I will enjoy. However, I put this one in the ground while my lavender version is in a container that gets protected in the winter. Perhaps I’ll uproot this one and pot it for the cold weather as well.

Two white Salvia Greggii blend easily in the small part of the bed that gets a bit more sun. I’ll see as the year goes on if they get enough hours of sunshine to be happy or will need to be moved to a sunnier location.

A Mardi Gras dwarf Abelia was in another bed and not doing well, and I realized its pink-edged leaves would work in the new bed, so up it came and changed neighborhoods to the warm pink zone.

Pink Turk’s Cap went into the shady areas, of which there are many. An aggressive grower, it should flourish and cover many of the shady spots fairly quickly.

A few annual pink-blooming begonias fill in the bare spots while I wait for the perennials to grow. Bamboo Muhly is getting started in a part shade location for background interest.

Evergreen shrubs are next on my list, and again, I’m waiting for the bed to talk to me. So far, I’m loving this one a lot. It has been fun, and the color is soothing and exciting all at once.

What do you suggest adding to this bed? I need shade-loving evergreens of varying heights, and perhaps some new warm pink blooming plants that I don’t know about? I’m considering adding a Rose Mallow. What would you use for contrast? I would love some winter-blooming warm pinks, but I can’t think of any. This bed is under deciduous Cedar Elms, so winter plants would get full sun, while spring and summer plants are morning sun or shade only. Suggestions please, everyone?

Dreamy kitchen remodel

I dream of the beach frequently. Whether in daydreams or night dreams, I am often thinking of those turquoise waves in the Caribbean. So when I got the opportunity to remodel my kitchen following a water faucet breakdown, the beach and sea were the obvious choices for inspiration in my new kitchen.

I’ve previously posted the “before” pictures here, and showed you the horrible tile floor being removed. Once the new cabinets were in place, I could finally clean the house up a bit and empty out boxes that were taking up room everywhere. Another month has passed, and I am down to tiny touchups left. It’s finally time for the “after” photos!

To give you the maximum shock value, I’ll post the “before” pictures again, along with a shot from a similar angle of the new kitchen. I wonder if you’ll be as shocked as I am when you see it?

The old kitchen, with the horrible tile floor, ancient cabinets, stained formica and rotting out fixtures

What can I say? Can you believe this is the same place?

The broken Saltillo tiles with inch-wide grout are gone (some made it into the garden path), replaced by a Teak hardwood floor (you know, Teak, like they use on sailboats). The stained formica that ran up the wall to also become the backsplash has been replaced by glass subway tiles in the colors of my beloved Caribbean Sea and Granite countertops that remind me of sand dunes. While the refrigerator is in the identical place in the room as it was previously, it now has a context by being contained by a new walk-in pantry on one side, and overhead cabinets above. The sink and dishwasher traded places, to give me a long working countertop space. And while I lost a bank of upper cabinets by taking out the wall separating the kitchen from the living room, I gained it back with the tall upper cabinets, lower drawers, and oversized pantry. I’m not missing that bank of cabinets at all, believe me!

The old view of the kitchen, looking at it while standing in the living room. The old seventies style pass-thru window definitely aged the house.

Instant modernization happened when I created a "great room" concept by opening up that wall.

I haven’t yet found the right piece of art for the wall in the dining area to the left, but I have some ideas brewing. If you can imagine it, when I bought this home 9 years ago, there was a 7′ ceiling in the dining and kitchen area, with drop down fluorescent lighting. The pony wall to the left was topped with those twirly-wood posts that ran from the top of the half-wall to the 7′ ceiling. It was a cave! I wish I had pictures to compare to, but I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture of it back then.

I never liked eating at the table, because it felt so claustrophobic to me.

It doesn't feel claustrophobic now! And yes, that's the same light fixture. I painted it turquoise (of course) and gave it a new life.

I love the wood floors and the feel that it adds to a space. By using all natural products, the kitchen and dining room has an energy that it lacked previously. While it’s not my usual style to stick with off-white walls, I like how it opened up the space this time. I hope to get new dining chairs that are less busy, but all things in due time, right?

I’ve been wanting a Margaritaville machine that shaves ice, not only for the requisite Margaritas, but for smoothies as well. I found a display model on sale for half price, and I snatched it up. It’s now in a place of honor on top of that gorgeous exotic granite.

Now while standing at the sink, I can look directly out into the garden and deck. Okay, and yes, I can watch TV, too.

It feels like the beach, doesn’t it?

I wonder how long I can keep it looking so new and shiny?

And the under-cabinet lighting makes it look pretty at night as well.

And my first ever Ranunculus bloom from my garden!

Sometimes I surprise myself

It was too beautiful last weekend not to head to a nursery. Surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one who decided to go. Okay, apparently the entire town decided to join me at Natural Gardener. Can’t say that I blamed them.

I was shopping for plant ideas for my newly created bed. Walking around, I let the ideas flow until the right thing showed itself. When I walked by this Canna, I stopped in my tracks.

I don’t always love Cannas. However,  many varieties have a striped leaf that is great foliage in the garden, sometimes so great that the bloom becomes insignificant.

This one, however, is all about the bloom and the leaf both. I’ve never seen a Canna with a pink bloom like this with accompanying pink stripes.

Canna Lilly Pink Sunburst is now a feature in the new bed,  which is beginning its life as a home for plants that have either leaves or blooms in warm pink tones. I mentioned previously about a purchase that surprised me; I never expected that a Canna would go into the new bed. Much less one that cost almost $20! The full post about plantings in the new bed is coming together and will be up soon.

I’ll leave you with an image of the new catmint I also picked up at Natural Gardener. It is still in its pot here, waiting to be planted…