Rain and Moonflowers

At long last we got measurable rain last night. We are still in an extreme drought condition, and it looks like that will not change any time soon, but the half an inch of rain that we got yesterday was extremely welcome.

The moonflowers were opening this evening just before sundown, and I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of the huge snow white blooms. I love the contrast of the white against the dark green foliage.

Texas Hill Country Garden Art

The previous owner of our house was a collector of many things, among them was old farm implements and tools. When we purchased the property we inherited these items. They have been scattered about and moved around over the years we have been here, but I just recently decided to use some of them as garden art. To be honest, my decision was prompted by a spot I saw a couple of weeks ago on Central Texas Gardener. They were featuring a Hill Country garden that included alot of garden art, some of which was old tools and farm implements. I got inspired and asked Ron to rustle up any artifacts that he could find laying around the property that looked interesting.

Watering and Weeding

It’s been five or six weeks since we have had a measurable rainfall. Add to that temperatures in the upper 90s and winds at 15-20 mph every day, and that equates to spending a whole lot of time watering just to keep everything alive. Even though almost everything I grow is either native to our area, or well adapted to the dry conditions and high temperatures, they still require a bit of water to keep going, especially when they are first getting established which many of my plants and trees are.

More Roses - Featuring Caldwell Pink

I spied a butterfly on a parsley plant this morning, but by the time I grabbed my camera and got out to the herb and vegetable gardens to take some pictures of it he was no where to be found. So I took the opportunity to take a few pix of the Caldwell Pink rose [...]

Can’t Get Enough Roses

Pictures and brief discussion about the progress of the front courtyard landscaping project.

Front Yard Project Continues

Well, it has been a while since I posted an update on our front courtyard project so I thought I would share a few photos showing the progress that has been made over the past couple of months. It has been very hot here for the past few weeks and some of the plants are [...]

As Good as it Gets

The weather here in Central Texas has been ‘as good as it gets’ for the past few weeks. The temperatures have been a little below normal, and the humidity has been low. Even the wind has been more gentle lately. All of this means that the gardens are growing rapidly. I am struggling to keep [...]

Flowers and Fellowship

The long awaited Garden Bloggers Spring Fling took place this weekend, and it was well worth the wait. It was a picture perfect spring day in Central Texas. There was only a slight chill in the air when we met the group at 9:00 am at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and almost no [...]

Just Another Day

There is so much to do in the gardens at this time of the year it is easy to get engrossed in the work and to forget to step back and observe the miracle of spring happening everywhere. The whole valley behind our house is literally turning green before our eyes. New wildflowers are sprouting [...]

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 [...]

Almost Feels Like Spring

Although the mornings are still quite cool here in the hill country, there are definitely signs of spring showing. Our new redbud tree started blooming several days ago. The golden leadball tree that we planted over the winter is also just starting to bud out. Narcissus and gladiolus bulbs are sprouting. The larkspurs that I [...]

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 [...]

Front Yard Project: Part 4

We are well into filling the new raised beds with dirt. I don’t know how many tons of dirt we will end up using for these three beds, but it is a lot of dirt. The second truck full of dirt was delivered yesterday, and another large truckload will be delivered today. With the help [...]

Front Yard Project: Part 3

The cold weather has finally arrived, just in time for Thanksgiving. We went from a record high 89 degrees to 50 degrees in about two hours on Wednesday afternoon. The rain is forecast to commence late this afternoon, and then to continue all weekend, and the temperatures are going to stay in the 40s. Brrrr.
The [...]

Front Yard Project: Part 2

Removal of the primrose hedge on the east side of the house is moving along quickly. It is surprising how much of a difference it makes to the view of the front yard from the house to have this hedge gone. Even though I tried to keep this hedge well trimmed, these plants grow so [...]