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Sunshine sprouting in my garden…

The days may be gray outside right now, but the promise of spring is sprouting in my garden. Many different bulbs are peeking up out of the earth.

Most of my bulbs are daffodils. I love that bright yellow against the backdrop of winter. And since there are deer roaming here, this is one of the bulbs that they generally leave alone.
This is a fragrant yellow Muscari, Muscari macro ‘Golden Fragrance.’ While I strayed from my daffodils on this planting, I did choose a unusual yellow muscari to keep with the color theme.
Welcoming seasonal surprises is part of the fun of gardening for me. (Sometimes it’s part of the frustration as well!) I don’t remember what I planted here. Though I wrote down all the bulbs I planted in this whole bed last year, I don’t remember what went in this specific spot.
I do know that these are passalong irises from one of my many garden blogging friends.
These are my new favorite daffodils — they are teeny-tiny and the blooms are just precious. They are Daffodil Jonquilla ‘Simplex.’ I wrote about them last spring in this post.

So while I am bundled up inside reading seed catalogs and planning the vegetable garden, my bulbs are outside, getting ready to shower the spring garden with a little sunshine.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:25-06:00January 13th, 2011|Blog, bulbs, daffodils, Jonquilla Simplex, Muscari, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Blooms bursting out…

This Bloom Day, the Bluebonnets are bursting forth here in Central Texas. Even though we are behind in our blooms this spring, it seems things are finally waking up this month. All those fall rains are finally paying off. You can thank Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, for inviting us all to share our beautiful blooms with our friends on the 15th of each month.
My Tangerine Crossvine is absolutely out of control.
I’m very excited that I finally learned to plant Spiderwort INSIDE the fence so the deer don’t eat it and I get to enjoy it’s lovely blooms.
This pretty purple Vinca won’t be around long…it’s leftover from the previous owners (and we’ve been in the house almost 7 years!) and keeps popping up where I don’t want it – in my Abelias. But it is pretty…maybe I will try to move some…
I bought this perky Hinkley’s Columbine at the Wildflower Center Sale last weekend. I hope I have better luck this time – I’ve been unsuccessful with columbines so far.
My ‘Maggie’ rose has a hundred blooms on it, easily. And they smell heavenly — can’t you smell them?
Okay – back to the Crossvine – see how out of control it is? It’s climbing from the ground all the way to the top of this big oak tree.

These two photos are the Carefree Beauty or Katy Road Rose. It’s full of blooms, too and is competing neck and neck with Maggie for the best scent ever!

These sweet little Cosmos are in the cutting garden. They’re only a few inches tall. My last Cosmos were the tallest ones – probably 3 feet tall!
Here’s another little Spiderwort.
The Damianita are starting to bloom and this one of several little pups that I’m going to dig up and move to expand my collection! I love it when I make new plants in my own garden — well, not me personally, but my plants.

One of many different colors of Alyssum…
Texas Primrose sundrops are so perky in the rock path.
The Homestead Verbena is a sea of purple in the path.
Carpet thyme in the path.
More Alyssum…
and more…
My tall winecups are blooming, too. The foliage is up to my knee.

The profusion of Maggie Roses again.
The Desert Rose is so happy with our nice spring weather.
The Phoebe Hellebore is still blooming – all the blooms have turned from pink to green now, but sadly, none of the other plants have any blooms. Next year.
I have lots of Dianthus scattered around the beds for winter filler — the deer don’t eat them and they perk up the garden when everything else is brown.
One of several salvias I didn’t label (bad blogger, bad blogger!).
The Four-Nerve Daisies are all blooming like crazy right now.
The itsy-bitsy, teeny-weenie Daffodils are still blooming. The stalks are like standing pieces of twine, they are so thin and delicate.
The first blue Salvia bloom opened today in the front garden by the driveway. This is Mystic Spires – which is a compact, clumping form.
Another Salvia…
A leftover Tete-a-tete Daffodil – I will definitely plant more of these in the fall – loved them.
This was supposed to be Homestead Verbena — hmmm…someone (not me) was color blind. I just made the mistake of buying them with no blooms and trusting the nursery owner!
The infamous Cleome Senorita Rosalita, made famous by Pam of Digging‘s trial and rave reviews last summer.

Louisiana Blue Phlox & Dianthus
Phlox – pink something or other!
Primrose Jasmine.
Potato Vine.
Mexican Flame Vine – I am trying a new one. First year I had one it did great, then I think Mexican Mint Marigolds stole its water. Gonna make sure it gets a little more this year.
One of my favorites – Blackfoot Daisies.
A volunteer Bluebonnet that seeded across the driveway from last year’s plants.
Diamond Frost Euphorbia. Look quick – I have 3. One has been eaten to the nubs. One is on its way out. This one’s days are numbered unless I rush out and move it to the back!
Prairie Verbena that I got at the Wildflower Center last weekend.
Something I planted and didn’t write down — rats!
Another something I planted and didn’t write down — rats!
Bletilla Striata – I now have 3 of them dotting the shade along the river rock bed and it is just beautiful.

This unusual spring has enabled me to inter-plant early and late spring/summer plants and to see where the holes will be when bulbs and early bloomers die back. For me, this is the biggest challenge — keeping the garden going year round with seasonal bloomers and interest.

Happy GBBD!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:29-06:00April 15th, 2010|blackfoot daisies, Bletilla Striata, Blog, blue bonnets, Cleome, daffodils, Diamond Frost Euphorbia, Dianthus, GBBD, Mexican Flamevine, mystic spires, Potato vine, Prairie Verbena, primrose jasmine, salvia, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Crazy Mixed-Up Garden World

What is up with Mother Nature? Last year on February 18, I had beautiful grape-soda-scented Mountain Laurel blooms all along the driveway.

Today, the Mountain Laurels are not even forming buds yet. The caterpillars are eating them already, but no buds. I wonder if the recent freezes killed them entirely.
And, yet, a month behind in our blooms, we already have May flies! This is a lousy picture (YOU try capturing a flying May fly on film (well, not film, either). And I saw a 3″ long grasshopper on the back of the house today. By all rights, he should have DIED in the big freeze. Sigh.

But there are a few reliables in my garden, even if many things are topsy turvy. Ms. Phoebe Hellebore’s two sisters joined her yesterday – one pink and one with a greenish tint.
And since I am so infatuated with the Hellebores, I did order another from Springhill — see her here above in her little cage? Her name is Ice Wine, and she’ll make a nice contrast with the Phoebes, don’t you think?

Does this look suspiciously like someone forgot there were already a different variety of bulbs planted in this very same spot? Hmmmm…
I was lying on the driveway to take this picture for you. Sure wish you could scratch and sniff your screen. It is Yellow Grape Muscari “Golden Fragrance” — a variety very different from the traditional grape-y muscari, known for its scent, which is said to smell a bit like a mix of gardenia and banana. I stuck my nose in it and WHAM! So full of scent – what a wonderful smell, though I had forgotten how it was described. As I smelled it, I thought it smelled like pineapple and cinnamon. Interesting, huh? But boy was it great.
And here are a few of the different Daffs popping up all around the garden. Dutch Master, Tete-a-Tete, and Yellow Fortune.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:42:34-05:00March 9th, 2010|Blog, bulbs, daffodils, Hellebore, May flies, Phoebe, Sharing Nature's Garden, Texas Mountain Laurel|0 Comments

A few early bloomers showing their colors…

This Garden Bloggers Bloom Day finds my garden rather sad, covered with the dreary blanket of winter that’s covered us for quite some time this year. In spite of that, Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, invites us to brave the cold and see who’s popping up in our gardens for a little bloom.

This Autumn Joy Sedum really should be named, Winter Joy, because she seems to love this winter weather. In spite of a freeze last night, today she’s still bright and perky and posing for me.
My grape hyacinths from last year’s indoor arrangement are still blooming strong, with lots of other bulbs yet to come from the original 3.
Ms. Phoebe Hellebore is still a sleepy little bud, but she’s so close, I decided to stretch it a little and let her join in our bloom day fun.
Several more Daffodils have opened up, but the best is yet to come.
The Japanese Quince is in full bloom and beautiful.
The Leather Leaf Mahonia still has the most interesting blooms on it — even more unusual with a reddish spent bloom on the stalk when the yellow bells are done blooming.

That’s all that’s blooming outdoors in my garden.

But I haven’t shown you the greenhouse this winter, so I thought today would be a good day for a little tour of what’s blooming there.
This Rose Kalanchoe has sent up a giant stalk and is blooming like crazy! And I have thousands of babies — that fall off the ruffle-edged leaves into every pot I own. (Austin gardeners, if you want one I’ll be bringing a bag ‘o them to our design event.)
This is the annual impatiens plant that my Mom and Dad gave me 2 years ago in March when our beloved Sierra dog died. I’ve managed to keep it alive this long and it is amazing to see it in bloom like this.
This is the Bougainvillea given to me by Robin, of Getting Grounded, so it would have a sunny home in which to bloom. It misses you Robin, but its happy!
This is a Cowslip that I bought a few weeks ago at the Natural Gardener. I have no idea if it will survive the heat or the deer in my garden, but I had to have it.
Here’s another close up of the Rose Kalanchoe – look at all those blooms!
And now we’re indoors. This is the bouquet that my son (26) brought me for Valentine’s Day. He came over yesterday and took his little sister (7) out to dinner for Valentine’s Day — just the two of them — as a special treat, and they brought me back flowers. So sweet, those two.
And this is a rose from the stunning bouquet I got from my husband for Valentine’s Day, along with chocolates and a singing card. I’m eating my chocolate right now as I post! I am so blessed.

Our temperatures have been about 10 degrees below normal on average here this winter, which put us down to freezing for several nights this week. Spring may be a little slower arriving here this year, but we have so much to look forward to.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:42:35-05:00February 15th, 2010|Blog, bougainvillea, cowslip, daffodils, echevarria, GBBD, Hellebore, hyacinths, impatiens, japanese quince, leatherleaf mahonia, sedum, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Hope Springs Eternal…

Japanese Quince

Hope springs eternal was the first thing I thought as I captured a few more early spring blooms in the garden this afternoon.

Then I wondered, does this saying have anything to do with the spring season?

Sadly, no. It originates from Alexander Pope’s ‘An Essay on Man’ (1733-4), and speaks to human nature in general.

Nothing about gardening or bulbs popping up to surprise us.

Oh well. Hope really does spring eternal for the gardener, though.

And those of us in Central Texas are holding onto our hope with both hands these days. Just waiting anxiously for the official thaw to evaluate our gardens and determine which plants we can dare to hope might survive this brutally cold winter.

Mid March is our official last average freeze. (Average being the key word here, in a season and a state where we have seen nothing average for several years, in fact.)

Then we have to wait for things to grow. And many of these plants that were so damaged by the cold, may also be very slow to come back.

But we’re holding onto our hope, by golly. I have many plants for which I am holding out hope — my biggest concern is my Eureka Variegated Lemon tree.

For which plants are you holding onto hope?

Daffodils

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:42:36-05:00February 9th, 2010|Blog, daffodils, freeze, japanese quince, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Plants with interest in Winter

With yesterday’s beating rain, and last night’s predicted freeze, I decided to cut my first two daffodils and bring them inside to enjoy.

It was just too painful to watch the only flowers in my garden lying prone on the ground in a puddle.

So I rescued them.

Now I can sit and look at them beside me this morning while I enjoy a cup of tea and blog by the fireplace.

They seem to be enjoying my company inside!

While looking around the garden at all the dead, dying and dormant plants, I found a few bright spots.
Like this native Yaupon Holly, Ilex vomitoria, growing wild in our wooded area. It’s chock-full of beautiful berries – a splash of bright red against the palette of browns that’s overtaken the garden.
And then there is the Leatherleaf Mahonia, Mahonia bealei, which is most interesting in winter. In some other states, it’s been declared invasive, but not in Texas. It’s not for everyone, or everywhere, with its upright and prickly form, but does provide unique structure in the garden. Its new winter growth erupts into a few dozen spires of tiny yellow bell-like flowers.
Although the sedum in the hanging planter is long-since dead – a few little Hens and Chicks found their way into the pot and seem to be quite happy.
I kept hearing the Woodpecker outside this week and finally got a picture of him as he landed close to the breakfast room window while looking for his bugs.
This — not so pretty, huh? On the left – a big HOLE! On the right? the roots of a previously chewed up Agapanthus that have now been ripped out of the ground. I moved them all from the back so Dakota wouldn’t eat them, so now the deer are eating them! And if that weren’t enough, then they are coming back to rip out the roots! Argh.

So the big question is, will I try to plant them around the pretty bird bath in the front again or will I give in a go another route to spare myself the aggravation? What do you think?