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

Summer gardening with nice weather and good soil…

Every year, we travel to Indiana to visit Jeff’s family. About an hour north of Indianapolis in farm country, it’s like a breath of fresh air.

The weather is cooler, the soil is blacker, the life is simpler. I feel the stress of life back home drift away as we whiz by field after field of corn and soybeans. Each visit includes some exploration into native plants and unfamiliar gardens filled with peonies, lilacs, conifers and other plants that would turn to toast in Central Texas.

My mother-in-law’s planters are always stunning. The feathery grass between my toes provides a sharp contrast between the no-bare-feet-ever policy I adhere to at home to protect myself from biting fire ants.

And then there are the tomatoes. Oh my. Seriously delicious. Real seasons, rich soil, cooler summer nights … I don’t know why, but Eleanor’s tomatoes seem better than any others here on earth. And we ate them, along with fresh sweet corn, morning, noon and night. Yumm-o.

Jeff’s family also raises Belgian draft horses – gentle giants that punctuate the landscape. Four mares are making their home there this summer, but 20 years ago there were 28 in the lots and barns around the farm. One of the highlights of our summer visit, the Indiana State Fair Draft Horse Show has been run and worked by Ellers for four generations now.

Jeff, his sister, Lisa, and nephew, Ashton.

I’m also a junk food junkie, and I avail myself of every opportunity to eat something fried, greasy, or sugary. This year, I had a beef sundae for breakfast at the beef producers’ tent. Tender, pull apart roast beef, covered with mashed potatoes, corn and gravy. Mmmmmm. So good. My nephew, Ashton, who is on the State Fair Board, took us to breakfast in his golf cart and then we toured the Agriculture and Horticulture building, which he helps oversee and run. He opted for a hotdog — the $2 Tuesday special that day. Two lemonade/iced tea shake-ups and some cheese fries found their way into me before we left for the day.

My favorite in the Ag/Hort Building? The giant cheese sculpture! How. I could really make some queso with that!

Can’t forget the midway.

Look at that HAIR!!!!

Our last event of the day — the dog show. These wonderful rescue pups performed daring feats of acrobatic skill and delighted the crowd. And the cute factor was off of the charts!

One morning we woke to a cool, damp 57 degrees, with a whisper of fog settling over the fields. This photo captures the peaceful, picturesque countryside of Indiana farmland.

Back home in Indiana, 2015.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:01-06:00August 22nd, 2015|2015, Blog, container gardening, containers, fair, farm, Indiana, planters, Sharing Nature's Garden, State Fair|0 Comments

Dramatic Danger Garden makes a point to welcome visitors from Portland Garden Bloggers Fling

The Portland Garden Bloggers Fling this summer delivered on every level. I love visiting gardens all around the country and getting to know so many of the garden bloggers that I follow online.

Learning about new plants from different zones is sometimes a double-edged sword. After falling love with them, I realize they are not appropriate for my garden, and I’m forced to walk away from them at local nurseries because they don’t make the survivability cut for my suitcase.

But not so in Danger Garden‘s amazing landscape. Filled with agaves and yuccas and cacti that will not only grow but thrive in my Central Texas garden, it was dangerous indeed. The danger – that I will come home inspired to search for many of the fascinating plants in her garden.

Garden bloggers prepare for the big tour – cameras at the ready!

Succulents like these like plenty of drainage — pea gravel and decomposed granite make excellent growing mediums for them.

We were welcomed to the garden with refreshing cold drinks and snacks. A blistering hot day (for Portland and an outdoor garden tour) seemed appropriate as we ooohed and aaahed over Danger Garden’s heat-loving plants.

With space at a premium in this garden, container vegetables lined the driveway.

Pavers and bricks and patio stones created unique design angles to lead visitors through the garden and provide contrast to neighboring plants.

Leaving no area empty, trendy and perky hanging planters were scattered throughout the garden.

A riot of color and form, many non-succulent plants provided a softer foil to the more dangerous elements in the garden.

A small square of grass provides a place for the eye to rest while feasting on all the delightful plant specimens that surround it.

Agaves, yuccas and … hostas? Yep – these water and shade-loving plants work side-by-side in this garden.

So many unique succulents to see.

Tucked in the back is a Zen-like covered patio area for relaxing.

These shiny metal planters give height and interest to the sea of succulents.

And pots — pots everywhere. Each and every one different.

With clean lines and a contemporary feel, the patio offers a peaceful respite from the sun.

No empty spaces, here, either…

A unique horizontal fence is flanked in the back corner of the garden by tall plants of every conceivable kind.

Even within a bed, containers showcase specimen plants.

Little pops of color make me smile.

This bed looks like a miniature forest of tiny succulents.

The biggest danger in this garden? Falling in love with the wonderful plants and the delightful design.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:06-06:00August 3rd, 2014|agaves, Blog, color, container gardening, containers, garden decor, hanging basket, planters, pots, pottery, Sharing Nature's Garden, succulents, yucca|0 Comments

Time for garden container planting…

New soil, mulch and plants in last week’s post means it’s time to move on to the other things on my garden to-do list. At the top of the list? Pots.

Every year, I vow not to plant so many pots. The heat makes taking care of them unbelievably time consuming. But they add so much to our patio space.

So this year, I’ve thrown caution to the wind and actually gone out searching for more large pots to buy. Crazy, I know.

In the meantime, this is what my patio looks like — a war zone!

More pots!

Untersetzers. This is one of several words that I just think of in my native German. I don’t even know what you call them in English!

Online plant orders!

This is my favorite pot so far — a dracena, potato vine, diamond frost euphorbia in the background and a hot pink variegated bougainvillea.

This pot with only the amaryllis was given to me by a friend when she moved. I added the plumeria (stick on the right – just now putting on a leaf) and a succulent, potato vine and in the back a burgundy curly-leafed basil.

The two giant pots back by the pool have mystic spires, Mexican honeysuckle (not showing yet), homestead verbena, sun coleus and a lemon ball succulent.

Have you planted your pots yet?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:25-05:00May 5th, 2014|Blog, container gardening, containers, dracena, planters, Potato vine, pots, potting, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

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 Diana C. Kirby|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

Flora Grubb delights bloggers with pots, plants and garden design and decor

Come on in.

Where to start?

Our 6th annual Garden Bloggers Fling in the San Francisco area this year was phenomenal. The Fling crew, Kelly Kilpatrick, Andrea Fox, Charlotte, Claire and Maggie, did an amazing job of crafting a program filled with beautiful private gardens, public gardens and nurseries. They babied us and fed us well and it was so fun to gather with friends, old and new, and join together to discover the Bay area.

As we began our Fling, we all laughingly said that they can grow everything in California. After these garden tours, I think it may be true!

I’m starting my blog posts from the end. After numerous problems with my computer and iPhoto (all self- created problems having to do with TOO many files – 18,000 photos – even after moving 5 years worth of photos elsewhere), these are the photos I’ve uploaded so these are the photos you get to see!

Our last stop – a shopping tour and reception filled with wonderful food and drinks – at the well-known nursery, Flora Grubb. Wow.

The nursery had me on garden overload with its unique plants, bursts of hot color and just plain old cool stuff. Creative vignettes like this classic car overflowing with ferns and phormium captured our attention.

This exotic staghorn fern makes me think of Medusa as it spills out of this Buddha head planter.

The pruning of this palm tree created a live piece of sculptural garden art.

Endless bromeliads – loving the heat and humidity of the Bay area – and paired with hot pots.

Or succulents sitting side-by-side in cool concrete.

Flora Grubb did the landscaping for nearby gardens, and we got a walking tour of the area, which included these great yuccas.

I loved this plant – tibouchina – and was pondering its viability here in Austin, Texas, when Kelly came along, laughed at me, and said:

“No, it won’t grow in Austin, but it will grow in my garden!”

Then she snatched one up and sauntered up to the cash register! I had to laugh. I had a case of serious plant envy by this point without a doubt.

Inside the store, we were surrounded by more beautiful pots and decor.

As things were winding down, and I sat to chat with friends, I almost didn’t notice the cool trenched table inlaid with succulents. I knew I couldn’t get this in my suitcase. Think I could make one? Hmmmm…

Each year at the Fling, there seems to be one specific plant that’s in its full glory in almost every garden we visit. In Buffalo, I remember the mondarda, in Chicago, I remember the alliums. From the San Francisco fling, I will always remember the over-the-top phormium we found in almost every garden. We’re a little too hot and a little too dry to grow them here, but you can bet money I’m gonna try! Maybe in a pot, in a carefully chosen spot and lots of TLC. (No work involved in trying to grow this plant!)

Here’s a glimpse of what I brought home in my suitcase – a succulent, a fern and a few tilandsias along with a trio of metal planters and some red long beans. I would have liked to fill a truck with so much more and drive it home, but that would have been impractical.

This was a spectacular ending to a wonderful Fling. Thanks to everyone who helped by working, hosting, opening their homes, and sponsoring our special event.

By Diana C. Kirby|2019-07-15T19:14:41-05:00July 14th, 2013|2013 fling, 2013 Garden Bloggers Fling, Blog, bright edge yucca, bromeliads, cacti, Flora Grubb, garden art, garden decor, garden tour, nursery, phormium, planters, pots, Sharing Nature's Garden, staghorn fern, succulents, yucca|4 Comments

planters

Summer gardening with nice weather and good soil…

Dramatic Danger Garden makes a point to welcome visitors from Portland Garden Bloggers Fling

Time for garden container planting…

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

Flora Grubb delights bloggers with pots, plants and garden design and decor

Escape in the garden