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Striking waterwise garden a hidden gem in the heart of the city…

A gardening road trip beckoned this weekend as I joined my friend and fellow blogger, Pam Penick, for a visit to Houston for the Garden Conservancy’s Open Day’s Tour.

 This was my favorite garden in Houston, and it wasn’t even on the tour.  We were leaving the last house on the tour and lo and behold around the corner we happened upon this amazing display.

This garden is so uncharacteristic for Houston, where most of the gardens we toured were filled with azaleas blooming in a riot of pinks, nestled in with boxwoods and other manicured evergreen shrubs.

We parked immediately and hopped out to oggle the space and take some photos.  Hearing us from the balcony above, the owner, an architect, popped her head over and asked if we’d like to come in and see the rest of the garden.

“Oh, YES, please.”   (You don’t have to ask us twice!)

The front was filled with soap aloes, sedums, cacti, agaves, and silver pony foot – cascading and winding its way in between an ocean of water wise succulents.

Rustic pipes added an element of elevation to one end of the garden and put this blue glow agave on a pedestal for display.

These succulents arranged in the shallow pipe created a cacophony of color, echoing the colors of the other plants in the garden.

At the corner of the front gate, we get a little peek into and out of the front courtyard.  The fencing is entwined with a dragon fruit, giving the view both ways an interesting perspective, almost as exotic as the fruit itself.

Since it IS Houston, we weren’t surprised to see this planter with a beautiful aeonium, a succulent that I have found a little hard to grow in the dry environment in Austin.  It seems happy in Houston.

This beautiful current pool is both refreshing to the eye and great for exercising, in spite of its location in a smaller courtyard.

Adjacent to the pool inside the courtyard is a lush vegetable garden.  As we were visiting with the owner, who designed the garden and the house herself, she shared with us that the house is sustainable and filled with eco friendly features, from rainwater collection to solar panels and many other cutting edge elements.  We went around the side to get a good look at their rainwater collection tank, which holds water funneled down from the house roof.

Overflowing with hospitality, she then invited us up to see the balcony, which gave us a wonderful view of the courtyard below.  She and her husband also have a home the lake near Austin, where she was inspired by the more “Austin-esque” aesthetic she incorporated into their Houston home.

The back patio area was serene and minimalist, with a cool, almost Asian feel to it.

Pam and I couldn’t believe our luck.  First, in finding this gem, and second, in the opportunity to visit at length with an architect and designer who created this amazing space.

By |2017-11-29T23:27:11-06:00March 30th, 2014|aeonium, agaves, aloes, Blog, lap pool, pipe, planters, rainwater collection, Sharing Nature's Garden, succulent bloom, succulents|0 Comments
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Bumper crop of coneflowers promising a colorful summer…

Newsflash: I’ve decided to see the garden as half full. Instead of crying over the spilled milk atrocities of our winter, I’m going to focus on the positive. Sure, things died. And buds got zapped. And agaves turned to mush. I can’t do a darned thing about it.

 I’m chanting my garden mantra: “I am NOT in charge.”

Ok. Enough said. So, what’s going to be beautiful in my garden this year?

Cone flowers. Echinacea purpurea is one of my favorites.  It’s just so perky all the time.

And from the looks of it, it’s going to be a banner year for them.  This is a cluster of cone flower plants that’s jammed packed — there’s just foliage growing in the garden right now, but soon they will be beautiful like the picture of last year’s in the pictures above and below. 

I need to thin them out and spread them around – I love being my own nursery!

While the most common color around here is the purple, I also have some of the white variety in the garden, too.   Don’t they just make you want to smile?

Here’s to a wonderful week!

By |2016-04-14T02:39:26-05:00March 16th, 2014|Blog, cone flower, Coneflower, echinacea, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments
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Eagerly awaiting surviving bletillas in my garden …

When we had the icy freeze last week, one of the things that panicked me was the potential damage to the emerging bletilla striata, or ground orchids.

I bought them several years ago after falling in love with them in my dear, departed friend Eleanor’s garden.

The three plants each put up one bloom the first two years.  Last year I had about two blooms each.  But this year, I’d already seen about 10 stalks peeking out of the ground – waiting to wow me with fabulous blooms. 

And even though most of the newbies were burned in the freeze like this one in the foreground – take a peek behind it at that newer, smaller lime green shoot. 

Thank goodness.  I think covering the plants with a blanket that miserable night probably helped those that were just at the surface, even though the taller ones didn’t survive.

It’s amazing what Mother Nature can do — both good and bad. 

Now I am eagerly awaiting some of these blooms in the garden.  And I know that I will appreciate them even more this year. 

By |2016-04-14T02:39:26-05:00March 12th, 2014|bletilla, Bletilla Striata, Blog, freeze damage, ground orchids, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments
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Hope in the winter garden…

After a bout of self-pity stemming from an ice storm the night before last, I decided to venture out in the 39-degree morning in search of hope in my garden.

And I found it.

Of course, I’m not surprised that this hellebore is still stunning.  Hellebores grow happily in the snow up north, so our cold snaps this winter probably invigorated mine.

This one, Helleborus ‘green gambler,’ is a fast grower and usually has some burgundy spotting, veining, or picotee on each bloom.   The picotee is the edge that is a different color than the flower’s main color.

Because they droop, it’s almost impossible to get an upright photo of the blooms.  I wasn’t able to get one this morning – I was afraid I’d snap the stem while trying to push it up far enough for a good picture. I think this is the most stunning part of the bloom, anyway. And there is another bud right behind this bloom, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on it.

I have 4 other kinds of hellebore in my garden.  Other than ‘Phoebe,’ which is the most established,  they haven’t all been consistent bloomers.

I hope our harsh winter reveals a silver lining of hellebore blooms in my garden this spring.

That is, after all, what gardening is all about, isn’t it?

By |2017-11-29T23:27:11-06:00March 5th, 2014|Blog, Hellebore, hellebore green gambler, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring bloomers, winter|0 Comments
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Mourning the garden – post ice storm

It’s a sad day in the garden. Last night’s freezing thunderstorms decimated all of our signs of spring.  All the beautiful new buds and blooms we’ve been enjoying in the warmer weather over the last few weeks are gone. 

This plum tree’s tender new blooms are all toast.

This is what she looked like two days ago.

The blue bonnets will probably perk back up, but they are drooping under the weight of ice this morning.

The aralia looks miserable, but it will come back – it always does.

Even the winter-hardy quice blooms are all brown and wilted.

This ice looks very sculptural on this yucca rostrata; luckily it will be fine once it warms up.

I know we aren’t suffering like our friends up north in the real polar vortex, but it’s been a rough winter for us here, relatively speaking.  And it’s a sad time for Texas gardeners.  Our spring won’t just be late this year, we’ve lost most of the buds and blooms of spring for the year.

By |2016-04-14T02:39:27-05:00March 4th, 2014|Blog, freeze, freeze damage, ice, ice damage, Sharing Nature's Garden, winter, winter 2014|0 Comments
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Delicious garden kale — it’s what’s for dinner

While I was out in the garden this morning figuring out what to do about the impending freeze and miserable weather, I decided to bring in some things from the veggie garden for dinner tonight.

I covered a few things – the lettuce and the chard that I just planted. 

I brought in some parsley and sage and lettuce and the whole head of red Russian kale.  (Kind of liked thinking of the punitive theme for the Russian in my garden.)

Isn’t it just gorgeous?  I admit, I plant this one year after year because of its colors.  I looks beautiful in the garden.  The red colors disappear when you cook it, though.

I sauteed a little bit of onion with a smidge of bacon drippings and then just steamed the still-wet leaves after cleaning.  They cooked for about an hour on low heat with the lid closed.  I seasoned them with truffle sea salt, pepper, a little poultry seasoning and a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar upon serving.  Delish!

Oh – and notice my pretty new ceramic olive oil bottle and spoon rest – birthday gifts from my Mom and Dad.  It was all color coordinated on the stove tonight!

What are you eating out of your veggie garden right now?  Any kale on the menu?

By |2016-04-14T02:39:27-05:00March 2nd, 2014|Blog, kale, lettuce, parsley, Red Russian kale, sage, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden, vegetables, veggies, winter vegetables|0 Comments
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