Testing the Creek & Catch-up on Spring Activity

Our Spring started out with buckets of rain.  It was a good chance to see if the run-off would flow the way I wanted it to down the creek I'm digging out.  Mostly it did.  It also went UP, overflowing the banks.

 A more recent photo of the Spring explosion of flowers.  This is a star jasmine vine I've been coaxing along for several years.  No help needed this year.  It smells awesome.

 We potted a poinsettia last Christmas to see what would happen.  All the red flowers dropped off, it stoically stuck out the cold snaps, and sprung back in the spring; and, voila, new red flowers (which I used to think were leaves).  My kids wondered why it would do that now...at Easter?  It's always been a Christmas plant for us.  Nice to see it do what it does naturally.

 Here's some catch up on the front yard, where grass used to be. Hooray!! No more sprinklers!!

 I topped off the granite mulch around the perimeter, and added some winecups a neighbor gave me; put in a new century plant and a plumbago where we had lost our old ones; relocated some pale leaf yuccas, and copied my neighbors by adding some trailing (purple) lantana.  I just want to put in native plants I have witnessed survive through both tough summers and tough winters...so we'll see how these do.

 That space down by the road I'm proud of - did a lot of weeding around the bluebonnets coming up, so  by the peak of our Spring, I had mostly blackfoot daisies, a big sunflower plant, and plenty of bluebonnets.  See result in last photo of this post.

 The mountain laurel, like everyone's this year, just burst out in purple blooms (hard to see here I know).

This Mexican dagger plant (two actually) I had to capture in pictures - saw them on a dog walk.  This was back in March.  One had bloomed, one was on its way up.  Each plant was at least 5 feet tall.

 This photo was from a few weeks ago.  The Mexican feather grass seedlings have really filled out in the empty spaces since then, making parts of the perimeter beds sort of "wave."  What a great season Spring is in Austin!

Fall Joys

Here are some of the reasons I love our second Spring here in Austin.  Especially one that began, at least, with a lot of rain.

Esperanza (hope) or Yellow Bells - at last!

The giant Muhlys have never looked more spectacular

American Beautyberry - mockingbirds love these berries, and you can make jam from them.

Mexican blue sage - velvety soft and plentiful

I just couldn't believe how these things erupted in purple once fall hit

Yeay! My Yellow Bells or Esperanza finally bloomed and bloomed and continued to grow taller...

The star attraction, clearly, for me! 

Where's the yellow in this picture?

Howdy, Garden bloggers,
Check out these yellow bells ... but wait, you say, where's the yellow?  In fact, where are the bells?  These are two plants that just love the space and sun, clearly.  But seem to not want to bloom.  I planted them last Spring, so I figured, surely by now.   Maybe I'll call the Natural Gardener and see what they can tell me.

What blooms in over 100 degrees?

Here's what: Pride of Barbados (by far the winner); catmint (in purple, tho not prolifically now; but our cat does love to roll in it);

sunflowers (we took most of them out of our median, but it was amazing how long these guys lasted);

morning glory (of course they curl up during the day);

society garlic (just keeps on going, unlike the rest of us who are all wilting),

and beds of yellow lantana, which get almost no water.

Here's what's not making it: our banana plant (actually, too sad to show pictured).  Too much pm sun and I'm unwilling to pour water on it, which it begs for; I'm debating whether to just let it die, or move it somewhere else, but where?
So the quest continues: what to shade the west side of our screened in porch with?  I'm thinking a crossvine, but I have to look for a simple grating, and be handy enough to install it next to a screen wall, that will need replacing now and then.

Still Life

My still life photos are rare, especially now my life is faster than ever.  This scene practically made itself, I did a double take as I walked past the dining room table.  Roses from the side of the house, with purple verbena.  

Hail to the Survivors

I'm amazed at how plants can make it through a drought as tough as we got in 09.  Two Mexican blue sages I was sure were dead, along with some plumbago plants are back, albeit taking their time, justifiably.


The bluebonnets in our median are stunning.  They came out in late fall 2009 (no blooms) and lay real low during the winter.  Maybe that's what gave them the base to rise to great heights--that's my totally unscientific take on the bluebonnet phenomenon this Spring all over Austin.


The rest of the photos show off the beautiful, blooming survivors, including the crossvine, the best Spring it's had so far.

 Our kitty loved the photo opp...

And I forgot what ground cover this is...anyone know?  It just keeps spreading and looking wonderful.

 The feather grass has never looked better...

 Our poor agave americana is another survivor, but barely.  Fertile Ground is coming to prune it back to a stick next week.

A cold front! 96 high today

I'm proud to present my first Pride of Barbados bloom, which would have done well in the drought anyway, but did better because it's right where the outdoor faucet is, which leaks a little.

Garden by dog has meant that dog-owner has had to find ways around dog's destructive ideas. So here is the back perimeter bed that I fenced off with stakes and fencing I bought at Lowe's. Half-chewed skullcap and rosemary lie recuperating in there. Much is empty, and I'm eager for the fall planting season. Ideas welcome.

(BTW, that's an original incinerator in the background from the 50s, when the house was built, not a smoker, though someone creative could convert it, I bet).
I'm thinking: turk's cap, more mexican oregano and mexican honeysuckle, yellow lantana. I'd just like color, but even more ideally, living things in there, safe from dog.

Here's our crossvine, now with orange berries everywhere instead of orange flowers. It loves this color. So do I.

Spock, don't sniff it

The sproinging agave celsii finally started blooming, and boy is it freaky and wonderful.  It reminds us of the old Star Trek episode where Spock takes a whiff of an alien blossom, and goes "mellow."  We haven't wanted to venture too close to this thing not knowing what was going to happen!

The blossoming finally started from the bottom (about 5 ft up the 10ft stalk) and it is working its sweet, slow way up to the top.  It's like watching green/yellow fireworks in very slow-motion.  

It also reminds me of a cell phone tower.

Still Sproinging

Our middle of three Agave Celsii is still shooting up its bloom stalk.  It must be around 10ft high.  Each "bud cluster" is a little trinitarian unit.

I keep expecting to come out and find them blooming, but they're all still closed.  The anticipation is high high high.