brugmansia Archives | Page 2 of 2 | Diana's Designs Austin

Hi from my hiatus…

No photos today, but I’m going to try to snap some tomorrow.

I’m thrilled to report that the Double Pink German Brugmansia is growing new leaves like crazy already! She likes the greenhouse and adapted faster than I’d have ever guessed, give the roughshod way I handled getting her out of the ground. I thought she was a gonner for sure.

And while I was spreading out 3 flats of green tomatoes to ripen in the sun out there, I had to rescue 5, yes 5, butterflies in about 10 minutes. They were all interested in checking out the plants but couldn’t find their way out. They would have eventually — the 4 windows and doors were open, but I hated watching them all aflutter.

It dropped 21 degrees while I was running errands this afternoon in about 2 hours’ time. And the gusty-gale-force winds are back, too. Sigh. I really could live without the wind.

Tested chicken salad to go into the puff pastry shells for the party today – yummy. With craisins, pecans, and some grainy mustard with the mayo. It will be really tasty. And I made two pans of Buckeye Bars. They are essentially homemade peanut butter cups in the shape of a bar. Omigosh. They may not make it to the party 🙂

I’ll try to post some party pictures if I don’t get anything photographed before Saturday.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:44:43-05:00December 9th, 2008|Blog, brugmansia, christmas party, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Phase one – Texas style, or Brrrr!

Carol of May Dreams Gardens told us about all the complicated preparations for winter that they undergo up north before the snow comes and the ground freezes.

She wrote of bringing in bird baths and patio furniture and lots and lots of, well, work.

Here in Austin, the ground doesn’t freeze. But sometimes the air does,and so there are a few things we have to do to protect our plants, pipes and pets (as the weather folks are fond of saying!)

Last night is was 30* at my house. Brrrr.

The plants were already in the greenhouse, so I took some sheets out to cover my lettuce and my leeks, and I picked all the remaining green tomatoes and lemons.

I brought in an overflowing bowl of tomatoes, probably 80-90 of them, and 25 more variegated lemons.

While I was picking the fruit, I talked to the plants — thanking them for their bounty and letting them know how much we enjoyed our harvest. (It seemed the right thing to do, knowing the tomatoes at least were facing imminent death).

While carrying the haul in, I realized with horror that the Brugmansia – German Double Pink, was still blooming and I hadn’t yet dug it up for potting and overwintering in the greenhouse.

GASP.

So, I put on my clogs and got out the shovel and dug ‘er up. (Boy, did she have some roots for a 9-month old.) And she almost didn’t make it into the greenhouse, she cleared the peak of the ceiling by only about 2 inches! I hope she survives so I can find a better home for her next year. Her blooms are a pretty color, aren’t they?

I ordered her from ebay (I know, don’t laugh!)

I found her on a google search and fell in love with the picture, so I forked over way too much money for one big ‘ol bulb and clicked, “BUY NOW.”

She’s my first, so I had no idea what to do with her and I just stuck her in a hole where I could see her and where I had some room (and safe from deer).

I put her next to the Datura, as they are similar, but it turns out that was much too sunny a spot for her to be happy. I watered her by hand daily in the 100 degree heat and she looked very sad many days.

Then someone (probably a grasshopper) ate all of her leaves all the way up the stalk. How rude!

There’s Tanner, in his favorite perch, watching over his property as I prepare to dig.

I’d hardly call her blooms pink, though. They are very peachy. And now they are full of beetle bites. These little yellow and black beetles the size of lady bugs have been having their Thanksgiving feast on her.

After being overheated and too hot in the sun all year, she has to suffer the indignities of bug bites just as she’s finally coming into her own. Oh well, maybe it will make her stronger! Ha ha.

But my Christmas Cactus is about to burst into bloom. Just in time for our humongous holiday party. Oh, and I made two pans of ginger bars today. Tomorrow I’m testing out some chicken salad filling in puff pastry shells…I’ll let you know how it goes!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:51-06:00December 5th, 2008|Blog, brugmansia, Christmas cactus, freeze, Sharing Nature's Garden, tomatoes|0 Comments

Cause and effect…

I walked all around my garden beds this morning, inspecting the cause and effect of the recent rains. So many things are just jumping up and down in the garden, saying, “look at ME, look at ME!”

So I thought I’d share my observations with you today.

Fellow Austin garden blogger Lori, of The Gardener of Good and Evil, just posted lovely photos of all her blooming Datura plants. She has six of them and I can’t imagine how huge they must be.

The recent rains have brought dozens of buds to my two plants (one planted, one volunteer), so I thought I would share the promise of blooms.

This is a Mealy Blue Sage that has been sad and pasty-colored all through this hot summer, bu today it is a vibrant blue-purple color. It clearly likes temperatures that are only in the 90s and it loves the rain.

The Verbena is always more colorful after a nice rain.
The trailing Lantana and the Blackfoot Daisy are checking out each other’s neighborhoods!
This Cape Honeysuckle that I insist on keeping in a pot for orange on the deck (which isn’t really the best way to try to grow it!) LOVES the rain and just explodes with color afterward.
This is my mutant Brugmansia – German Double Pink. I can only report that from the order I placed, since I have yet to see it bloom and some critter has been EATING the leaves all the way up the stem. I hope it survives. I haven’t seen anyone on it.