Oh, it’s a glorious Earth Day here in Austin. The sun finally decided to make an appearance and it’s 86 degrees.
After visiting a sick friend, I came home through a neighboring community and stopped at a local nursery. Beautiful stuff. I bought this bougainvilla for the corner of the day lily bed. I plan to train it up a small trellis so that it has some height for the corner.
And after enticing you with the beautiful blooms, here are two sad sights, but with the full promise of the future. This is a volunteer white Crape Myrtle that I dug up and replanted in a sunny spot along the fence in the woods. I lovingly trudge over there every few days to water it with a watering can. (wonder how long THAT will last?!)
And this is a mystery sage, left by the previous owner. It’s tall – 3-4 feet, and has beautiful light blue blooms. But it didn’t belong next to our front pathway. I pulled it all out 3 years ago, but it came back this spring, so I decided to try transplanting most of the shoots to a place where they can be as tall and invasive as they like. If they grow all along the fence, that’d be fine with me.
And now I’m off to mess with the chicken wire to keep out the bunnies. So, I hope you have enjoyed your Earth Day and got to spend some time in your garden or connecting with the Earth.
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Great post. Happy Earth Day.
Debbi
I guess that Earth Day makes my afternoon of dirt-moving even more appropriate. God, it’s hot out.
Time for ice cream!
Thanks, Aunt Debbi. Same to you.
Lori – it IS hot. What dirt did you move today? Ice cream sounds perfect!
Diana – The huge Arizona Ash in my front yard was dead this spring, so I ripped it out and am now installing big raised beds around the perimeter of my front yard. Since the yard slopes and I don’t want to have to dig in caliche, I put in a retaining wall of lame-but-cheap landscape bricks. 10 cubic yards of composted manure and Hill Country Garden soil from The Natural Gardener wasn’t enough to fill it, so I had another 10 cubic yards delivered this afternoon. I’ve already gotten my trees (crape myrtle, wax myrtle, anacacho orchid, pomegranate, and kidneywood), so I’m trying to get the dirt where it needs to be as fast as I can so the trees can go in the ground. It’s way too hot for this kind of work already, but last week was perfect. 🙂
Wow, Lori – that is a BIG project. Makes my little chicken wire job pale by comparison! You’ll have to post all the pictures so we can see.
Diana – It IS huge. And as usual, I underestimated the time, effort, and expense it was going to take. On the other hand, I know it’s going to be super-awesome when it’s done, and I’ll actually have a reason to sit on the front porch, which is lovely and cool in the summer no matter how stifling the heat. 🙂
When we first moved in here, there were bunnies. But we brought cats to live here, too. Voula! No more bunnies.
Well, yes, Christine. I could let the dog out there, but not wanting dead bunny babies brought into my house, and a dog horking all night and at the vet the next day, I think I will just hope they hop away when the food source is tougher to get to. Cross your fingers for me!
You had a busy earth day, Diana! I hope your little white crepe myrtle likes the new spot – white blossoms would be pretty against the fence.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Annie – yes, I thought the white blooms would be good back in the woods to lighten things up. I wouldn’t have chosen white Crapes for myself, but they came with the house – 6 of then along the drive, and they really are quite beautiful. When those volunteer came out with such nice tap roots, I had to try to plant some. I got 3 and I gave several to neighbors. Let me know if you want some!
Thanks for the offer, Diana, but my house came with nearly two dozen hot pink crepe myrtles so I ripped some out and added 2 white Acomas.
Someday I’d like to take out another pink ones and add one with lavender flowers – some of them almost look like lilacs.
Annie