Clean Up Time

At long last, our agave americana (so called, even tho it has red spines instead of black) got the pruning it needed.  And what a pruning it was.  It now looks like a giant pineapple.  But hey: it's alive.  That's all I care about.

The drought last year wasn't the only peril the succulents found themselves in.  The other was an infestation of snails...to a nightmarish degree.  Fertile Ground Landscaping who came yesterday did a terrific job putting diatomaceous earth (crushed shells) around replanted pups of our agave celsii and americana.  The earth cuts the snails' flesh, so they stay out.  Cayenne pepper also helps.

The team also planted some cat mint to replace ponyfoot that suffered last year.  We added a carolina jessamine vine to the amazingly resilient bougainvillea that sprouted up at the last minute from what I thought was a dead plant.

The back around the playhouse got lots more mulch; and our kids loved helping with their own wheelbarrow.

And we put two new African bulbines in the back.  They were some of the only plants that didn't survive last year, amazingly.

And we put a potato vine next to the garage to grow up over our old metalsmithing frame.  To my amazement, Julie, owner of Fertile Ground, showed me where my old Passion Vine was in fact resurrecting.  So we'll have the two vines meet in the middle of the framework.

I think that's all, but it sure wore us out - the kids took exceptionally long naps yesterday after the crew left!

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 "New" Driveway

After 3 years, we really needed a top up for the driveway - decomposed granite for the level part, slightly larger, similar rosy-colored granite rocks (Fairland pink) for the slope, to hold up to rain runoff.

Geo Growers in south Austin delivered it in a huge dump truck, to the glee of my kids. And one of their own, Samuel, stayed to help us shovel and rake it out. After three hours of that work, my back is reminding me that I am no longer 25.

I spread it straight to the walls behind the plants along our house, so it would serve as mulch for a climbing rose, grasses and the ponyfoot and bougainvilla I'm hoping will all resurrect in the Spring.

We even had enough to use for the back perimeter bed around our back porch. It was like getting a Christmas present in February. Yeay!

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.

No Rain but Rain Lilies

It's not like I'm watering things much, but these rain lilies I learned about from Pam at Digging truly are a miracle. They don't need much water it seems and they just pop out at the hint of it.

They are so refreshing in a yard where everything else that could bloom is just looking plain tired.

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.