Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Giving Thanks

Here's a little photo journal of what's blooming here at CG this Thanksgiving holiday!

Yum...and so pretty!
Greg's greens garden is coming along. He decided to try 'no till' method of planting and it seems to be a slow go.
Nasturtium are coming up all over the place and the Rosemary is in bloom and covered with bees!
Mums from Julie's yard.
The flower on the Silverado Sage is so lovely and often overlooked because when it blooms the entire shrub is purple!
Cone Flower looking a bit pale...this is the last one left!
The delicate veins of the Arugula flower...so simple and elegant.
Thyrallis in her new location!
The Fall Aster is looking a bit haggard after being cooked and ignored this summer...but she's still shining like snowflakes!
The sage is also a big bee magnet!
We've had quite a few butterflies this fall, but nothing like we have in the past.
All of the roses are blooming, but none smell so sweet as Cecille Bruenner!
Hopefully we won't get a hard freeze before the Loquats arrive...we didn't get any last year.
Mexican Honeysuckle
Shrimp Plant
Butterfly weed still covered in blooms
And there are two favorites for Thanksgiving in my yard, Mexican Tarragon and Copper Canyon Daisy...I've always made a big yellow bouquet for the table of them...but alas the daisy didn't make it this summer...neither did the kids so things just didn't seem quite right.
Nevertheless, we woke to find screech in his box and he made a very fine guest! I hope your holiday is fantastic! I for one, and thankful for tiny flowers that brighten my day....yearlong in Tejas!
Happy Gardening!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

CBC Update

Even in a horrible drought year...somethings are improving in spite of neglect...Mother Nature prevails!

This is one of the before shots, taken in 2008...horrible ugly square building. My goal was to improve our street by making it tree-lined and help the awful heat island effect caused by the massive concrete parking lots of the two churches across the street from one another.
It was two projects over the course of a year...one, a 17 tree planting session and two, the rose garden with pergola. The largest tree an evergreen oak for the corner, that was designed to be the most efficient by shading the building and hanging out over most of the street was butchered in April and is permanently stunted. The cypress, that was to be decorated for Christmas...is growing by bounds due to the sprinkler system...and the roses are amazing.
Only one tree actually died and has been replanted, all the oaks, butchered I suppose will become shrubbery.

This Saturday is the fall workday for Brentwood Park where over 100 trees were planted last year. Over the summer we added mulch and we will be adding more, as well as pruning. It is such a joy to care for the environment, I hope everyone who reads this participates in their own community in some beautiful way!
Happy Gardening!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Miraculous Recoveries!!!

So, this was yesterday...I got home from work and popped open a RangerIPA, headed out to my favorite spot in the back~back yard. I sit in that green chair in the middle, It's my favorite view of the yard and where I sit with my bestest~besties. The only thing missing is the chickens.

I had my journal and I was drawing blind contours of a Mockingbird that was going to town with his song when he dropped down and I saw something fabulous...
And realized that the yard was full of minor miracles! Like this Patricks Abutilon...that came up from where I lopped its...what I thought was a 'dead' body off. I stuck the sign in the "Good Times Spent" wall art. I'm so excited...and check it out...BUDS!!!!
Can you tell what you're looking at? That's black bamboo, with 3 new baby shoots!!! It's spreading Hallelujah! I've been wanting to make stuff with it since I put it in the ground 3 years ago...why would it choose to send out new shoots on a year like this?
The last year I worked at Zilker's Green Garden I transplanted this Cherry Barbados pup and this is the first year it bloomed! Why????
A few posts ago I commented that out of 6 spots where I'd planted Oxblood Lily, only 2 had come back...guess what??? They are ALL coming up!!! Whoop, Whoop~whooooo!
This Red Beauty Rose died DEAD the ground and I snipped that crunchy brown crap off...and from the mulch she rises, she's a Zombie RoooOOooose!
So, what you are looking at is truly amazing...these are baby Lady Banksia Roses...they chose this spot on their own...blew me away, I thought it was weedy herb thing and then she put on blooms. I'm letting her get a little bigger while I wait for Bob Pool to make me an arbor for her highness!
What you're looking at here is my front arbor with the skeleton of my Anniversary Wisteria, 9 years old...never got a bloom, dead, with a coral vine going wild in the bramble.
And here is a new sickly plant coming up from her toes!!! I had plans...PLANS!
This is one of just a few transplant survivors...Thyrallis, stunted, but blooming!And this is a much happier transplant, not stunted but filling out Russian Sage!
Best bird shot of the day...Orange Crowned Warbler! This is a danged lucky shot because she's a flittery thing!
And...back inside to blog. All and all, a terrific Autumn...I love this time of year....

Happy Gardening!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Baby Greens

I'm going to try to be more present with my idea of an online journal about my yard and ideas. So, last blog entry I mentioned that we were planting without disturbing the soil in our raised beds. Below is the the image of the baby greens that are coming up amongst the okra stalks that were not removed but simply cut off. We poked one inch holes and dropped the seeds in and they've come up...without tilling. We did sprinkle a fine dust of our own compost and have kept the babies moist.

Here's a shot of the other bed...arugula, Swiss chard, cilantro and something else...I can't remember.
Here is the pathetic Fall Aster in the back yard...
And here is how it looked in '09.
The fabulous Philippine Violet and mini-Pomegranate, with the Persian Lily all confused and coming up like it's spring.


Ooops, I forgot how many School house lilies I planted...some may be under the pot...oh well.
Autumn mums that I planted after the garden show in '09...still plugging along, I love that Autumn burst of warmth!
The fresh green of new growth on the sago palm!
Purple Mexican Petunia...so fresh!
Loving spouse planted beans in pots...they came up first, I've planted them all over the yard...in the ground to try and reinvigorate the soil with nitrogen...nada...but he did plant a few weeks ago...
One more thing, I had the most luxurious bath with my luffa, jeebus...it smelled delicious and left my skin fresh and not dry. I will never, ever buy a damn loofah again! All the B.S. with the bleaching and perfume...remove the vegetable oil that make it wonderful! Plus it reminds me
of "Caddy Shack," only those of us who have all the words memorized will get this. Don't you
just love how many ways there are to spell sponge?

I hope you all are enjoying this most delicious planting season! I'm so happy to be in the yard and not in the classroom! Have a great day!

Happy Gardening!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

October Update!


It's been so long since I blogged, mainly because I've gone back to teaching art...temporarily that is. Anyway, the summer nearly killed us all, the hottest one on record...since record taking began and between last winter and this summer I've had to say goodbye to a lot of plants that I thought were tougher and came to find out that "drought tolerant" is really an iffy idea. I have been looking at my fellow bloggers list of survivors and I feel like I have lost a lot but that my intuition early this spring to water deep and mulch 16 cubic yards did more than abundant watering could have. I watered minimally, only on my days, and kept hand watering to things in pots, transplants, roses and food only. So, the natives and supposed "drought tolerant" plants I lost have left me puzzled about this name. The other thing that seems to go against my nature is this idea that we should be planting now. Every time I think of digging up and turning the earth...this poor earth that has been baked hard and is so depleted of nutrients, microbes and structure, I feel uncomfortable...a little sick. I am very sad for the independent nurseries, but I have to be true to my intuition; stop and consider history.

My yard art homage to everything we've lost from the coldest winter in 50 years...last winter to the hottest summer on record. We love you lost souls of the soil!

Emily Wilson, my sweet friend and neighbor gave me a luffa she grew for Christmas last year, complete with seeds, so I planted three of them. I had blooms and vines galore, but for some reason only got one...but it was full of seeds!

I was surprised as all get up when I squatted down to catch a photo of a bloom and saw three eggplant, yahoooo!

This is one of our two 4 foot square gardening boxes we built after loosing last years winter greens crop. Greg and I have been working our way through Gaia's Garden and changing a lot of the way we used to do things. The photo shows what's left of the spring crop of Arugula, we're hoping it'll go to seed, and he just cut down the stalks of the okra and planted new greens in small holes he made with his finger, not turning or disturbing the soil.

Two of the 6 spots I have been working on spreading the Schoolhouse Lily survived. Both I'm sure were just fortunate to be near other things that got regular water...I had totally forgotten about them.

Autumn color among the onions!

Sweet Cecile Brunner! My favorite little tea rose smelling beauty!


Miniature Pomegranate flowers!

The Autumn and Texas Sage are blooming profusely with the little rain!

The bees are loving this!

Skullcap blooming under the American Elm.

Tropical Sage and Gregg's Mistflower are keeping the butterflies happy!

Gregg's Mistflower with several herbs coming up inside the patch.

One lonely Cross Vine flower lying on the ground.

Late bloomer, Mexican Honeysuckle.

Possumhaw Holly for the birds; I planted one in the front yard early this past spring.

The best, most healthy looking rose through the drought was no doubt Martha Gonzales.

Of the pink and purple varieties of Mexican Ruellia, the purple blooms last longer.

Pink Mexican Ruellia Island looking the healthiest she has in months! Thank you rain!!!

It was so shocking to see the Heartleaf Skullcap come up even before the rain, she's tough.

Another shot of the Shallots we forgot to dig up, coming in around the Autumn Mums.

Tick weed, so cheerful!

This is one of 3 Chili Pequin, and I always avoid white flowers...but noticed this morning that I have quite a few....

Pigeon Berry, going strong. This is a super easy plant to propagate...I just break a piece off, pinch off the blooms, scratch up the base and stick it where I want it. She faints for a few days then perks right up!

Philippine Violet, the only one that survived the freeze of last year...now the drought!

Datura, Moon Flower, Jamestown Weed, Jimson weed....whatever you call her, I'll always keep at least one of these deadly dreamers in my yard...so fresh and lovely!

My neighbors have the traditional Red, orange, yellow Lantana blooming like crazy in their yard...but the white and purple are the ones thriving in mine. In fact, my New Gold didn't bloom once this summer. I think it's because it's on the hell zone, and this year they repaved my street and the hell zone plants that have always thrived pretty much pooped out...including Four Nerve Daisy, she's shriveled up with nary a bloom in sight.

I put my Almond Verbena in the wrong place and this year she took off...mostly because she's in the shade. Anyway, whenever I step next door to visit my neighbor I brush past her for a delightful scent!

We've got several vines that fight for the sun space in the back yard, but the
Autumn Bridal Veil Clematis made it to the top and is lighting up the corner.

She lives! The Sago Palm never fails to impress me, she's died back completely several times but she always prevails!

This little Crown of Thorns is blooming, but her leaves are so pale it's hard to see her brightness...I need to give her a jolt!

RIP...the hops never came up. We were at Austin HomeBrew Supply yesterday and I asked some of the folks in line if they'd ever had success growing them in Austin. One dude said he planted 6 this year and 4 were thriving, covered in flowers. Pisser. Then, it turns out...he ordered his online from an organic grower in Oregon, he said they were monster rhizomes...ping...thank you sir!

Over half of the Iron Plant baked in the sun...

This is so sad to me, the Fall Aster is barely holding on when at this time, it should be a mound of purple blossoms. I'm going to hit it with some compost tea...hopefully that'll help.

Yuck...the grass has really suffered...even though we regularly watered this area since this little patch is the center of several drip zones for our backyard trees.

If I put the camera down and shoot the grass from this angle, you can't see the horrid brown spots!

We only got one wheel barrel of compost...which is pathetic. Also, due to the extreme heat and probably lack of food, for the first time ever, we found a rat in the pile! So shocking, it scared the crap out of me!
This is one of the most exciting summer gains...I bought this little plant a few years back at Peckerwood Gardens and have been watching it carefully for a few years now, and I finally broke them down and transplanted them and they are thriving!

Here are a few things that are blooming but not pictured here:
Coral Vine
Fern leaf Verbena
Mexican Oregano
Purple Cone Flower
Passionflower Vine
Chocolate Plant
Turks Cap
Blue Mealy Sage
Flame Acanthus
Mexican Sage
Russian Sage
Cherry Barbados
It's been a horrid summer here in Texas, but the cool weather is on it's way...today it's only supposed to hit the mid 80's and the mornings are delightful. I hope to blog again...before Christmas, I hope. Oh, and a shout out to the Garden Bloggers on Bloom Day! Thank you Linda at May Dreams Gardens for puttin' this here blog roll together!

Happy Gardening!