japanese quince Archives | Page 2 of 2

Fall color in the Central Texas garden

The fall color in my garden this week isn’t from autumnal leaves on trees, it’s from a nice 1.5 inch rain last week and a few days and nights of cooler temperatures.

These zinnias have a whole fresh set of flowers.

All the perennials shrubs and wildflowers are flush with blooms. Not just fall colors – all colors.

The firecracker gomphrena I planted just a month ago is spreading and has made the transplant with flying colors.

I guess the change of seasons is making them happy and giving them some relief.

These wildflowers just popped up in my cutting garden. They reseeded from somewhere into a mass clump of perky yellow blooms.

My carefree beauty rose is dotted with pretty pink blooms and the deep purple indigo spires make a lovely contrast.

I was surprised to find the Japanese quince in bloom – it must have happened over night when I wasn’t paying attention.

The lackluster purple hyacinth bean vine, which has struggled all summer long – is finally showing off.

The change of seasons makes me happy, too.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:34-05:00October 7th, 2012|Blog, carefree beauty rose, fall, fall color, forecracker gomphrena, gomphrena, japanese quince, purple hyacinth bean vine, quince, Sharing Nature's Garden, Wildflowers, zinnia|0 Comments

Spring bulbs are starting to bloom…

Ah…the promise of spring.

When renewal is in the air and the garden begins to awaken from a long winter’s nap. Well, not really this year. It was more like a quick cat nap.

I love it when the early spring bulbs start coming up and making buds. The daffodils, the muscari, the irises … they are are all putting on their finery.

These are the true harbingers of spring.

And they are some of my favorite favorites in the garden. (I really have too many favorites to count.)

I’m especially fond of the daffodils – there are up to 200 different species of them. I just have a handful of the different varieties, but it’s so much fun to see how unique they can be.

Japanese quince is another reliable plant that signals the arrival of spring. I think of it as an nice old historic plant – you often find very large ones in the gardens of older homes in central Austin. I imagine them being lovingly planted decades ago and being cared for by successive families over the years.

Mine is still small, but those delicate salmony-rose blooms are sure to bring a smile to my face every time I pass by.
These sweet little peeks are traditional muscari (grape hyacinths) that came home from the grocery store with me in a mixed bulb pot and then found their way into the garden to bloom another day. And bloom they do. This will be their third year to perk up the mulch on a drab day.
These are very special little specimens — muscari golden fragrance. Unlike most muscari, these are not the tell-tale purple, but rather a soft yellow and they have a wonderful scent. They are very low to the ground – about 5 inches high – so I literally have to get down on the ground to get a whiff of them. But it’s worth it!
Are you enjoying any early season bloomers in your garden yet?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:40:02-05:00January 27th, 2012|Blog, bulbs, daffodils, hyacinth bulbs, hyacinths, japanese quince, Muscari, quince, scented blooms, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring|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?