Blog Archives | Page 9 of 116 | Diana's Designs Austin

Dazzling color in the spring garden…

We all love the spring garden — the awakening of plants that herald the arrival of spring and provide a foreshadowing of more to come.

As the sun shifts in the sky and the breezes begin to warm up, I’m enjoying some rejuvenating time in the garden.

I bought these sweet glass daffodils to bring a pop of color into the garden before the daffodils were ready to open up.

The ‘Kate Izzard’ irises are loaded up and several of them are opening every day. You can tell that I should have divided them last fall, which I fully intended to do, but I seriously need to do that this fall.

Just gorgeous.

Even though traditional tulips aren’t in our Central Texas plant palette, these species tulips, cluisana ‘Lady Jane’ are sweet substitutes in my garden.

This little patch of phlox disappears entirely in the head of summer, but I can count on it to emerge in spring with loads of little blooms.

My cemetery irises are also popping open all over the garden. Our winter clearly made the irises happy.

Bluebonnets are covering my decomposed granite path, and even Kallie’s playground filled with pea gravel. Fletcher enjoys a peaceful moment with them here.

While most of the buds on my monster wisteria were frozen in our last freeze, there are still some opening up and draping delicately from the fence.

And then there is the homestead verbena. What a powerhouse. In the cooler spring and fall, they thrive and liven up any spot in the garden. They will shrivel and look poor in the heat of summer, but just shade your eyes and pretend not to see them until they return again in the fall. Even though many of our bloomers start now and run through the fall, homestead verbena is well worth it’s little summer break.

Now that the threat of freezing is past (I have my fingers crossed as I type this), it’s time to fill in the rest of the garden with new and exciting plants that will herald the summer.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:38:53-05:00March 29th, 2015|Blog, bluebonnet, daffodils, Fletcher, garden art, hideous bed, homestead verbena, iris, iris 'Kate Izzard', phlox, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring, spring bloomers, tulipa clusiana, verbena, wisteria|0 Comments

Tropical plumeria has a sweet surprise in the greenhouse…

If you ask me to envision myself in my happy place, you’ll find me on a beach somewhere, enjoying balmy breezes with a book in one hand and an umbrella drink in the other.

So when the weather warms up, I spend my time creating a similar happy place in my own garden. Around our pool, I plant things that are lush — some tropical, some native. The tropicals typically live in very large ceramic pots that overwinter in the greenhouse.

For many years, I’ve been growing plumeria, or frangipani. I’ve been given some by my parents, who brought them back from Hawaii, and from friends who have passed along pieces of theirs.

And, I’ve bought a few at the annual Zilker Garden fest from a vendor that has has an array of exotic plants that I am always enticed to bring home with me.

A deciduous shrub, Plumeria spp is a tropical plant native to parts of Central America. Most of mine are yellow, though I do have one or two pink varieties. The yellow blooms fill the air with the most amazing lemony goodness.

Mine are all still in the greenhouse, thanks to our late cold spells. While I was watering in there this afternoon, I discovered two giant seed pods. I haven’t seen them forming because this pot is in the very back corner of the greenhouse and I have to step up on some step stones to even see it. They are the two elongated brownish pods going to the left and up of the main green stalk and then down to the right, cutting the photo diagonally. Cool, huh?

The plumeria tree blooms in the summer and features waxy, showy flowers consisting of five petals in a funnel shape. When the flowers begin to wither, they are replaced by long, slender fruit. A nonedible seedpod, the plumeria fruit reaches lengths of between 6 to 12 inches. So, I must have had a bloom in the greenhouse over the winter that I didn’t see and now … voila!

You can propagate a new plumeria tree from seeds stored in the ripened fruit. It takes 9 to 10 months for the seedpods to fully ripen. Then you can pull them from the tree and harvest the seeds.

So, if you think you’re in the market for some plumeria seeds in about 7 – 8 months, leave me a comment here!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:38:53-05:00March 6th, 2015|Blog, frangipani, overwinter, plumeria, seed pods, seeds, Sharing Nature's Garden, tropicals|1 Comment

Winter warm up — hot colors in the garden…

Even here in Central Texas, our winter’s freezing temps and cold, damp, grey skies are hanging on. I’m done with it. And I know my gardening friends to the north are exasperated by the volume of snow that continues to plague them.

At the Garden Bloggers Fling in Portland last spring, I was struck by the overwhelming use of color in the gardens there. Plants, pots, furniture, you name it, vivid colors perked up each and every garden. With a climate filled with its share of grey days, these pops of color their gardens not only brightened up the space, they brightened my mood.

As I’m sure they were consciously or subconsciously intended to do.

So for everyone who is exasperated by the lingering blanket of winter that covers our souls and our gardens this year, here are some of my favorite photos of tropical style gardens, plants and decor.

A little garden statuary can help to enhance your garden style.

Even if you’re in a drought, a pretty rain chain can make it seem like you might be having a late afternoon tropical shower.

With only a few exotic-looking plants and the right leaf shapes, textures or forms, you can create your own resort-like retreat in your back yard.

Hot, contrasting colors embody the tropical style.

Bananas, crotons and coleus are true tropical plants.

Even if your design doesn’t include many tropical plants, you can add some pops of color with garden art and decor.

While most coleus are shade plants, there are new sun-loving varieties that you can use in sunny spots.

Texture, second only to color, typifies traditional plants of the tropics. Big, bold foliage with exotic patterns and texture abound in this section of the world.

Elephant ears can set the mood in your island oasis.

Giant planters filled with eye-popping color can seem tropical, even if the plants in it aren’t.

Tropical style is all about big, bold design that packs a punch. Simply looking at these hot colors warms me up and gives me the itch to garden.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:38:53-05:00March 5th, 2015|banana tree, Blog, coleus, elephant ears, garden art, garden statues, ginger, rain chain, Sharing Nature's Garden, shell ginger, statuary, texture, tropical color, tropical style, tropicals|0 Comments

Ice in the garden…

Baby, it’s cold outside…

Central Texas gardens are being slammed with ice and even snow in some parts. I feel for our northern friends who have it so much worse than we do. We’re feeling very deprived of our “normal” warmer early spring temperatures.

Iris, wisteria, and Texas Mountain laurel buds are being sabotaged. Delicate new shoots on perennials have bitten the dust. And, our evergreens will once again be slow to start their growth.

Here are a few signs that it’s really cold in my garden.

This Japanese aralia will recover, but isn’t this one of the most pitiful things you’ve seen in the garden. It’s hard to believe that it will perk back up when the temperature warms back up.

After several years, the pump on the birdbath fountain died. I replaced it a few weeks ago with one that was the same size – to fit in the reservoir – but much more powerful. It has a great bubbler. If you look carefully, you can see that the majority of the water is frozen, except for the bubbling center, announcing loudly to the bird world that the water bar is still open for business.

Luckily, both the plum tree and the loropetalum were already in full bloom when the ice hit, so I am still enjoying this sight in the back landscape.

It’s 31 degrees and raining this morning, so I guess it’s time to settle in with the seed catalogs for a little bit longer around here.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:38:53-05:00February 28th, 2015|Blog, fountain, frozen, ice, Japanese aralia, loropetalum, Mexican Plum, Sharing Nature's Garden, winter|0 Comments

Adding dimension and bones to the winter garden…

Now is a great time to plan for NEXT winter’s garden. When the blooms and the perennials have come and gone, what’s left in your garden? With many of the plants dormant, you can truly see the bones of your landscape and assess your needs.

Is there a wall of green — several sets of medium-leafed glossy green shrubs that all blend into one another? Does your garden lack definition?

Now is the perfect time to think about what you can add to the garden this spring that will give you depth and texture and form when you look out of your window next winter. Below, you’ll find some ideas and tips to help make your garden great to look at when next winter comes around.

r

I’m planning what I will add to my garden tonight. We’re under and winter weather advisory and I have the fireplace on and I’m thinking about all the ideas I shared on the show today … off I go to find pen and paper and a cup of hot tea. Happy planning…