Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Zilker Garden Update

Susie, Tom, Me and Mary Ann after the first planting day.
We finished putting in the new garden today at Zilker. A task that has been months in the making. I took over the gardening position in June and have been clearing/cleaning/planing this one area for awhile now. It's a small corner that lost a large tree last spring due to the hailstorm.

We decided that this area would feature some of the new plants on the '09 Grow Green Guide for Austin...and some other bling! The glass mulch I picked up from the City's Recycle Plant off Todd Rd. You have to call ahead, but it's FREE. Bring a pick-up, and buckets when you go.

We put in three glass rings, two with Agave Americana or Century Plant from my home garden and one with a baby Queen Victoria. Both features in the Yucca/Agave/Succulent/Cacti/Sotol section of the new Guide...which should be out in February '09.

Susi has been my most devoted and hardworking volunteer this Fall, I don't think she's missed a Tuesday yet! Today I had 6 wonderful helpers!
Tom's another regular, he's a fellow brewer and devoted gardener!
When I asked Zilker to remove some of the trees in the area (I later found out had been poisoned by an attempt to control root growth on other nearby trees) I was told that this area was once an Indian Burial ground. I would love to know if this is true...I haven't found any hard evidence but in respect to lore, we used all of the rocks (and there were many) to make 3 large mounds...which I think is one of the more interesting features in the new space.
Agave Victoria Reginae in glass mulch.
Beautiful brown butterfly (if anyone knows the species please fill me in!) on Century Plant.
Butterfly Weed
Lions Tail
Polygunum ground cover.
There's a lot of space to let the babies spread. We've got Wooly butterfly bush, Gulf Muhly Muhlenbergia...the purple fuzz on top grass, Engleman's Daisy, Calylophus and a Spanish Dagger in the corner.

That's little Firecracker Fern around the Spanish Dagger.
Sotol's have been added and we also planted a few Nolina's elsewhere.
I just love the way the glass sparkles in the sun!
This was my favorite shot of the space...room for shadows. We also added more plants to other remaining beds. There is now a rose section beyond Rock Rose, so we added a Belinda's Dream and a few Martha Gonzales...two tried and true Texas performers but there are many new additions on the list. There will be a Grow Green Festival at Zilker Park this coming February and I hope you'll come out, pick up the new guide and check out our space. I couldn't have done it without my dedicated volunteers, Thank you so much! You make my time in the garden even more special! Happy Gardening!

9 comments:

Lythrum said...

Wow, looks like you guys put in a hard days work. I think that the glass really looks interesting, I would never have thought to use it for that purpose. Nice job!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Just beautiful! Keep up the awesome work!

Sunita Mohan said...

What an amazing blog! I love the plants that you're posting about. And I love the idea of glass mulch.
I crave some lithops too but they just arent available here :(

ConsciousGardener said...

I hadn't noticed lithops before and then all of a sudden it seemed like all the little boutiques had them...not the box stores though...

Anonymous said...

I have had one of those butterfly / moth thingies around my yard a couple of weeks back. I tried and tried to identify it but could not seem to find a good fit, primarily due to it's wing structure. Check it out:

http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/14030.html

is it the same chap?

You guys have been busy, looks like a lot of fun though!
Keep up the good work.
I can't wait to use that glass mulch in the spring!
Regards,
ESP.

ConsciousGardener said...

Thanks ESP...I'm checking on it now~

Anonymous said...

The glass mulch is great! I can't help wondering, though, whether it might contribute to heating the soil? Individual glass pieces do, but maybe piling it on like this makes it different. I'd love to hear--I'd like to try this myself, it's beautiful.

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

I think it's great you can get the glass mulch FREE. In Ann Arbor, you can get compost and mulch at cheap prices, but not for free. The glass mulch is unknown here. I understand the edges are rounded, so it's not dangerous, but I'm wondering about how hot it may get and how much heat it might radiate?
Thanks! Monica

Pomona Belvedere said...

CG, I'm doing a series on water-saving container gardens; the current post is on mulch (yes, mulching containers) and I've got a link to your recycled-glass mulch so people can appreciate its beauties.