Diana C. Kirby, Author at Diana's Designs Austin

About Diana C. Kirby

Diana Kirby is a lifelong gardener and longtime Austinite, who loves the Central Texas climate for the almost year-round opportunities it offers for active gardening and seasonal splendor. Known as an impassioned and successful gardener, Diana began by helping friends design and implement their landscapes. Soon, she was contracted as a professional designer by a popular local landscaping installation firm, where she designed landscapes for residential and commercial clients for several years. In 2007, her new passion blossomed with the launch of her own firm, Diana’s Designs. ... Diana is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, the Garden Writers Association of America, and she writes a monthly gardening column for the Austin American-Statesman. Diana teaches the Landscape Design classes for several county Texas Agrilife Extension Service Master Gardener certification programs and speaks about gardening and design for garden centers and other groups. Learn more about presentation topics, availability and speaking fees.

Puget Sound Gardeners Fling – People, Plants, and More

Last month 100 garden social media influencers met in Puget Sound WA to tour gardens, share meals, and make new friends. This was the 15th such annual gathering, called the Gardeners Fling. We meet in a different city each year (except for 2 Covid-fraught summers) and the host city gardeners plan a 4-5 day outstanding garden experience.

Our time in Puget Sound was magical. Each garden, private and public, wowed in so many different ways.

I’ll start my virtual tour with the garden of one of our hosts, Camille Paulsen, @tahomaflora .

She has crafted her space to frame and enhance the many gorgeous views of Mount Tahoma, also known as Mount Rainier. The mountain enjoys almost mystical status around Seattle and Tacoma. The days start with an assessment about the visibility of the mountain and end on the same note. How fortunate her family is to have this National Geographic-worthy sight from their deck, their paths, their hills, and so many other vantage points.

We were there on a clear day, and the mountain was glorious.

This little secret seating area on the edge of the hillside had a special view, too.

I can imagine sneaking away to to escape here.

Several paths wind through the property, all of them welcoming and interesting. And many of them with an eye to the view.

On the back deck, a bit of whimsy highlights the distance of treks to similar mountain hot spots.

The light was striking as it poured in between the leaves of a collection of Japanese maples and other wispy trees.

Camille’s artistic flair extends beyond the curating of plants to include an interesting assortment of art in the garden. Various carefully crafted vignettes were tucked throughout.

Sharing the adventure with so many long-time and new gardeners was as fun as discovering the garden itself.

So many unique details caught my eye.

Sweet spaces scattered everywhere.

The pool area was a lovely gathering spot filled with interesting pots and plants.

Tucked down the hill in the forest, koi languished in a beautiful pond, suprised by all their guests.

Enjoying some pats, Camille’s cat seemed unfazed by all the garden gawkers.

Thanks, Camille, for a great tour of your lovingly created garden.

Another post to come soon highlighting other beautiful sights from the 2024 Puget Sound Gardeners Fling.

By Diana C. Kirby|2024-08-18T09:27:49-05:00August 18th, 2024|2024 Garden Bloggers Fling, 2024 Gardeners Fling, 2024 Puget Sound Fling, Blog, bloggers, blogging, cedar tree, Crocosmia, cypress trees, decor, Fairy, ferns, Fling, focal point, foliage, Garden, garden bloggers, garden bloggers fling, garden decor, garden photography, garden statues, garden tour 2024, garden travel, garden visit, garden whimsy, hanging pots, Japanese garden, japanese maple, landscape design, leaves, Mount Ranier, Mount Tahoma, path, paths, pathway, patio, people, photography, plant, pond, pool, rock wall, Sharing Nature's Garden, statuary, statue, succulents, Tacoma, tour, travel, Uncategorized, water feature, water features|9 Comments

Blooms abound in the spring garden

My morning walk through the garden brightened my day. My garden is still young, compared to my previous 16-year-old garden. Filling in holes where plants have been lost and adding layers over time has paid off. This spring the garden feels full and lush. Today. (Check back with me in August!)

We’ve been fortunate to have had a little bit of rain lately in our part of Austin. Because of our topography, it’s not uncommon for different parts of town to have dramatically different rainfall.

It’s been a rough couple of years. Snowpocalyse Uri in 2021, another terrible freeze in 2022 and multiple days at 110 or higher last summer.

This spring feels like the garden is coming into its own. Things are filling out and look like my vision for the space.

Jerusalem sage is one of my go-to plants. It doesn’t mind our heat and it’s evergreen and deer resistant.

Few things perk up the spring landscape like shasta daisies.

While I have a large swath of bluebonnets along my creek bed, this year I ventured out and bought a few of the cranberry-colored ones to add into the garden.

They look so interesting compared to all the blue ones.

We won’t talk about the idea that they were bred to represent A&M University, the arch rival of Austin’s University of Texas!

A fabulous border plant, purple skullcap looks great trailing over my street-side boulders. This soft, mounding perennial blooms reliably from spring through fall.

This scrappy little Damianita grows throughout the tough landscape of the Texas Hill country in the most difficult conditions. Another great border plant, it grows about 18 inches tall.

The bluebonnets are almost done. I’m just waiting for the seed pods to dry out and start to open before plucking them. In November, I will plant all of this year’s seeds, so we have an even bigger show next spring.

The ditch lilies and the coreopsis intermingle and blow in the breeze together.

Heartleaf skullcap is another of my spring favorites. The luminescence of the tiny blooms is enchanting atop the velvety-soft leaves.

Lemon mallow makes a striking statement against the nearby Henry Duelberg salvia.

It’s 90+ today, but we are all holding out hope that this summer isn’t as brutal as last. Spending as much time in the garden now as we can!

By Diana C. Kirby|2024-05-08T13:18:48-05:00May 8th, 2024|blooms, blue bonnet, blue bonnets, bluebonnet, coreopsis, cut flowers, Daimianita, daisies, daisy, day lilies, daylily, ditch lily, Garden, golden coreopsis, lily, mealy blue sage, sage, salvia, Sharing Nature's Garden, shasta daisy, skullcap, spring, spring bloomers, tall coreopsis, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Spring in full swing at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

It was a beautiful morning. Drizzling, foggy, chilly and damp. But, I was at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center spring plant sale with my friend, Laura, of Wills Family Acres, with a smile on my face and money in my pocket!

Modified for Covid protections, reservations were required and the sale has been stretched out over multiple weekends. While there were less plants in a smaller space, that wasn’t surprising given the winter we just had and the spreading out of the event time.

As is often the case in the spring, we were greeted by one of the baby owlets that are hatched each year. For the last 10+ years, the entrance to the center has been home to a pair of great horned owls. The mom’s name is Athena, and she and her little ones can be seen high above the entrance arch for 6 to 7 weeks in spring. Can you see the little one peeking over the ledge just under plant on the right side? Learn more about our iconic feathered friends here

They still had lots of great natives in 4-inch pots and gallons. Sun plants, shade plants, trees, agaves and grasses and yuccas. As always, I was fascinated to learn about natives new to me, and a few of them ended up in my cart. (Surprise, surprise!)

I’m trying Geum canadense, a woodland herb that grows as a ground cover in a woodland setting, it has strawberry-like evergreen foliage and a sweet little white bloom April – June. Also new to my garden, I bought a Solidago – I admire them every fall and have said for years that I’d like to have one. Well, now I do!

I also picked up several of my annual sale favorites – Helianthus maximus, calylophus, Henry Duelberg salvia, and Datura. Having a new garden helps me rationalize my purchases these days.

After our retail therapy, we treated ourselves to a leisurely walk around the grounds. The spring wildflowers and other bloomers blanket the beds, filling them with a patchwork of colors and textures like a beautiful quilt.

Engleman’s sage clusters brightened the beds all through the grounds.

Winecup makes a beautiful border.

Several windows create a secret garden effect, allowing visitors to peek from one part of the garden into another.

I’ll try to keep up my blogging momentum and post the rest of my pics this week, so pop back over!

By Diana C. Kirby|2021-04-19T11:09:05-05:00April 19th, 2021|Engelman's daisy, geum, hardscape, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring, spring bloomers, spring planting, winecup|5 Comments

Diana Explains Dead or Dormant in Interview by The Best of JB & Crew On Austin 360 Radio

Now that the crisis is over..we are looking at our landscaping and wondering how to save the plants! JB and Whitney talk with landscape designer Diana Kirby of Diana’s Designs. She gives us the critical tips to help us figure out how to save our plants!

By Diana C. Kirby|2021-02-26T09:36:47-06:00February 26th, 2021|Austin 360 Radio, dead, dormant, The Best of JB & Crew|2 Comments

Dead or dormant? How to tell if your plants survived Texas’ winter blast

Last week Central Texans watched as snow and ice blanketed landscapes in a series of storms rivaling Northern blizzards.

As power is restored, water becomes safe to drink and the process of repairing damage has begun, it’s time for garden assessment.

It’s ugly out there. Finally able to walk my dogs, I found downed tree limbs or cut brush at almost every house in our neighborhood. Prized agaves, sago palms and other specimen plants turned to rotting mush. Tough-as-nails rosemary bushes sport black branches. This unprecedented freeze damage has left even seasoned gardeners wondering what will return and what’s gone for good? Is it dead or is it dormant?

We normally only have a few weeks left until the danger of frost has passed. According to the USDA Hardiness Zone map for the Austin area, our average last frost occurs between March 1 and March 31. It’s usually the middle of March. But it hasn’t been a typical winter.

Cacti that are mushy and seeping probably won’t make it to summer after the winter snow and ice.

The most important thing right now is to wait. If you prune a dormant plant right now and warm weather stimulates growth, the new leaves will be highly susceptible if we have another freeze, and it will then die. If you wait until the danger of frost has passed, you will give your dormant plants a fighting chance.

The center of this sago palm should be checked. If it is still hard, it should make it.

Palm trees

Native Sabal minor palm trees tolerate freezes in most years. Most other palms won’t make it. If the center bud is firm, the plant might survive. Cut off drooping, dead or damaged leaves. If your palm has a rotting crown, or you can easily pull fronds out of the trunk, it won’t come back. If you’re unsure, however, give it plenty of time to recuperate.

Cycads – Sago palms

Many Austin gardeners enjoy the drama of large Sago palms in their landscapes. Not actually palms, Sagos are cycads. They generally tolerate temperatures down to 15 degrees. Frost-damaged leaves turn yellow or brown and should be removed. If the trunk and leaf crown are hard wood, it should recover. If the trunk turns soft, your sago might be damaged beyond recovery. After the freeze of 2010, Sagos across town were devastated but most had no crown damage. By summer, new leaves emerged and the plants thrived.

This rosemary has survived 20-plus years, but not the winter storm of 2021. It probably won’t come back.

Shrubs and woody perennials

Rosemary normally does fine in our mild winters, even handling a few light frosts for short periods. Days on end of single-digit weather and wet snow spelled the end of the road for even the most established plants. You can remove them at any time — they won’t be coming back.

Salvias range from cold hardy to tender. Some Salvia Greggiis even survive to 0 degrees. If you don’t know your exact variety, the best approach is to cut them back to green wood. Once you see green inside the cut, stop. If you don’t see any green, simply cut it back to the ground and be very patient. It may come back from the roots, given a few months.

Salvia can be cut down to see if there is green in the branches.

Take the same approach with shrubs and other woody perennials that appear dead like pittosporum, loropetalum, lantana and boxwood.

Succulents

We know some plants simply aren’t cold hardy. Many agaves, cacti and other succulents won’t survive after the prolonged deep freeze and snow. A handful of species might have weathered the storm, and you’ll know if there is hope if you have a firm center inside the collapsed outer leaves.

Sotols, Yuccas and Nolinas are usually Texas tough. Many in my garden and elsewhere are looking great after the winter assault. Whale’s tongue and havardiana agaves are reported to have survived in some landscapes as well.

The plants might look bad right now, but some of them might surprise us by summer.

Cacti

Crumbled mounds of mush, prickly pear cacti simply disintegrated all over town. There might be hope for some of them, however, depending on the species. Some varieties of Optunia are hardy to 15, 10 or 0 degrees.

Agave might look very bad right now, but some of them might survive.

Cacti are very sensitive to the timing of pruning. While their dying pads and stems look terrible, it is important to wait until it is really warm to prune them. Then dust the big cuts with sulfur to help dry out the cuts. Jointed cacti regenerate really well, but the columnar ones should be cut back to the base or you will just end up with a permanent stump. If the plant is oozing, you can remove it now.

Our plants took an incredible hit. Those that survive will need much longer to recover than milder years.

Once, after a terrible freeze, I advised my clients repeatedly to wait longer before pulling out plants. I ignored my own advice and ripped out a very small Anacacho Orchid Tree only to find the tiniest green growth at the base of the plant that was hidden by mulch. So, wait, wait, and wait some more.

By Diana C. Kirby|2021-02-26T09:36:05-06:00February 26th, 2021|Articles, Austin American Statesman, cacti, cactus, dead, dormant, palms, perennial, Sago, shrubs, succulents, woody perennial|0 Comments

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Diana C. Kirby