Spring Flowers Abound

This spring in Central Texas is the most colorful that we have had in years. Not only are there greater numbers and a larger variety of wildflowers this year, they are also much larger and more deep in color than I have ever seen. Every day brings new discoveries and more brilliant displays. We have [...]

El Nino Showers Continue

Thanks to the el nino effect, this has been one of the wettest fall and winter seasons that I can remember since I moved to Central Texas over twenty years ago. The results of all this rain on the gardens and wildflowers is remarkable. The late winter, early spring blooming plants, such as the Carolina [...]

Sizzling Summer in Austin

Every summer for the past ten or so I have said to myself, surely this summer won’t be as hot and dry as last summer, but unfortunately that just hasn’t turned out to be the case. According to Jim Spencer at KXAN, the summer of 2009 has already been the hottest summer on record so far, with more than 30 days over 100 degrees F. Add to that the fact that we have also had almost no rain for the past six weeks (see the drought map below), we remain in the worst drought that we have seen here for years. All in all, this makes for some terribly challenging growing and gardening conditions.

Transitions

This native Texas clematis has benefitted from the nice spring rains that we have been having. It has more blooms on it this year than it has had in the past ten years.

Native Texas Passiflora Tenuiloba

As I was pruning the native plants that surround our deck; agarita, evergreen sumac, Texas persimmon, grape vine, Mexican silk tassel, and escarpment cherry, I glimpsed a small flower out of the corner of my eye.

Early Blooms in the Courtyard

We planted the first plants in the courtyard raised beds late last winter, so this is the first real spring for them. I am watching with great interest to see when each plant begins to bloom as I have tried to group plants according to sun requirements, complimentary color and form characteristics, water needs, and I also want continuous blooming from early spring to late fall. So far I am happy with how the courtyard gardens are progressing. The most prolific bloomer in the courtyard at the moment is the pink Laura Bush petunia, which has been blooming since late February, and is starting to choke out the Texas Sotol cactus. I’m going to have to cut it back soon so as not to lose the cactus.

Trellis Bed Tree and Vine Planting Completed

We finished installing the trees and vines in the beds at the base of the new trellis yesterday, and now I am praying that we don’t have a hard freeze tonight or tomorrow night. That would be unfortunate. We don’t usually get hard freezes here after March 15, so it would be kind of unusual, but the weather has become reliably unpredictable the past few years. I’m thinking about wrapping the vines and small trees in row cover just in case.

First Trellis Plants Purchased

I sent Ron to the Natural Gardener and Barton Springs Nursery today to search for the trees and vines that I selected to plant in the upper trellis beds. Much to my delight, he was able to find everything I wanted. We didn’t have time to plant them this evening, but we placed them in [...]

Copper Canyon Daisies and Giant Swallowtail

The Copper Canyon daisies in the front courtyard are blooming profusely now. I planted them last spring and was surprised when they started blooming about a month after I planted them. I thought they only bloomed in the fall, but perhaps I was mistaken. There are only three plants, but they have gotten quite large [...]

Rain is Coming

The most reliable predictor of rain here in Central Texas is the Texas sage, Leucophyllum frutescens. When this plant blooms, rain is on the way. There has been many a time when the local weather forecasters are not predicting rain, but my Texas sages are all blooming like crazy, and within a couple of days we will get rain. It is almost uncanny how reliable these plants are. Anyway, they are all blooming now in anticipation of the rain we are expecting from the tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas Native Volunteer Plants

There has been a morning glory, that I did not plant, growing under the bird feeder in the courtyard. I haven’t been able to identify it up until now because there were no blooms on it, but yesterday I noticed that a couple of very small white blooms were appearing. I did a Goggle search on white morning glory and identified this plant as a White Star morning glory (Ipomoea lacunosa). I was delighted to validate that it is a native species. It is working well as a ground cover in the spot that it is growing, is tolerating full sun and 100+ degree temperatures with very little water being applied. Although the blooms are not large and showy, they are quite beautiful.

New Spring Blooms

This is the first time I have tried direct seeding poppies. I planted them in the fall, and they are finally rewarding me for keeping them alive through the winter.

California Poppy

The ice plant over-wintered well and I expect it will produce many blooms this year. I am planning to take some cuttings off this plant [...]

Front Yard Project: Part 5 – Planting Has Begun!

Planting has started!! I wanted to get some of the main architectural plants installed first so I could begin to visualize other aspects of the planting bed designs. I have a high level plan that we are working from, along with a plant list, but there are many detailed elements that are yet to be [...]

The Front Yard Project: Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post. We have started to work on a landscaping project in our front yard. We built a cedar fence to define the space last year, but we just recently began the rock work that will form the raised beds. We are filling the raised beds with Geo Growers [...]

More Condo Project Photos

These pictures show a bit more detail of the features that were installed at the condo project. All of the plant material is native or well adapted to this area. Much of it is deer resistant.

Lantana with Monarch

Bamboo Muhly and Crepe Myrtle on Side Yard Path

Front Steps

Variegated Ginger

Variegated Miscanthus

Desert Willow

More to come soon.
Happy Full Moon!