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Loving my lush Central Texas garden

My garden is reaping the fruits of Mother Nature’s labor. Our wonderful spring rains have reinvigorated the gardens here in Central Texas, especially mine.

Lush isn’t a word I typically use to describe my garden. Hardy, drought tolerant, hot…those are the terms that come to mind most often.

But after this morning’s rain, I took a walk to look at all the lush hues of green in my garden.

I hope this means that the deer have plenty to eat elsewhere — I’d like to enjoy all this juicy foliage for a while.

Before the sun gets blistering, it’s nice to enjoy this mottled shade.

Columbines, fatsia, ferns, hellebores and Greg’s mistflower are happy with all the rain.

And I found a beautiful Hummingbird moth enjoying my larkspur in the cutting garden.

What’s lush in your garden right now?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:36-05:00May 9th, 2012|Blog, hummingbird moth, rain, shades of green, Sharing Nature's Garden|2 Comments

Cauliflower harvest makes delicious dinner…

The winter vegetable garden came bearing gifts yesterday.

I ventured out into the rain to harvest our first cauliflower.

It was big and beautiful in the garden — and it had been calling to me for several days.

With a nice roast, mashed potatoes and roasted beets waiting as accompaniment, I brought it in.

Of course, we took a few pictures of it first.

I cut it up and put it on a baking sheet with some olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Then I sprinkled a little shredded Parmesan cheese on it and topped that with some bits of garlic from the garlic press. After 30 minutes at 425 it was a nutty, cheesy, crunchy batch of yumminess.

Jeff checked online and learned that the beautiful leaves that I cut off of the cauliflower are also edible like greens. I cut and cleaned them and set them aside. Tomorrow I’ll steam them and toss them with some bacon, onion and sea salt … maybe a little balsamic vinegar, too.

There are three more heads of cauliflower growing in the garden, but they have a few more weeks to go so we have something to look forward to.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:17-06:00March 10th, 2012|Blog, cauliflower, drought, rain, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden, vegetables|0 Comments

Replenishing, rejuvenating rain in the garden…

We’ve been given another gift of rain this week. Tied up in a lovely wet bow, our gardens are drinking it in, happy to have the thirst-quenching relief from our frightening drought.

We’re not out of the woods yet in Central Texas — we’re still in an official drought. But our fall and winter rains have reduced the severity of the drought. It has been down-graded from the most critical level of last summer — exceptional — to moderate. (There are five levels outlined by the U.S. Drought Monitor – from abnormally dry to exceptional.)

A brief bout of garbanzo bean-sized hail at our house yesterday gave me quite a scare — I was cringing for the daffodils, blue bonnets and vegetables. But they’ve all weathered the storm and are doing fine. They are a little droopy today, but not damaged. (I realized after tweeting that yesterday that only a gardener would describe the hail as garbanzo-bean sized, since it was bigger than pea-sized. It only occurred to me later that non-gardeners might have called it marble-sized!)

The mountain laurels are in full bloom here, and the row along the driveway is looking green and juicy with all the rain. And I can’t seem to get enough of their wonderful grape-like aroma, which conjures up summer Kool-aid memories for me.

My rain barrels are all full — which is great — but it’s still raining. I wish I had more of them, but we’re talking about getting a rainwater collection system. Maybe that needs to move up on my to-do list for next week so we don’t miss any more of this precious spring rain.

Are you enjoying some rejuvenating rain in your garden today?

By Diana C. Kirby|2019-07-15T19:14:40-05:00March 10th, 2012|Blog, bulbs, drought, rain, Sharing Nature's Garden, Texas Mountain Laurel|0 Comments

What a happy garden looks like…

My garden is pretty darn happy these days.

A little rain, a little break from the heat and the promise of a fall break has most plants beaming.

Plants that had almost disappeared have made a remarkable recovery and reappearance. And, those without blooms are now showing off.

It’s amazing what a little moisture can do for the garden!

I hadn’t seen this Bat-faced Cuphea in a while, (the deer munched it to the nubs earlier in the summer) but now it’s bursting with color, even giving the unflappable Lantana a run for its money!

This Pitcher Sage that I bought at last year’s Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center plant sale has finally come into its own and is blooming profusely in this pretty, dusty cornflower blue.
The Senorita Rosalita Cleome that Pam of Digging trialed last year sounded perfect for our hot, dry summers. All this rain has made mine very leggy. But, in spite of that, she’s still putting out delicate blooms.
This Pale Pavonia passalong, shared with me by Robin of Getting Grounded, is finally blooming after several months of adjusting to the transplant.
And, not so pretty, but very active thanks to the rains, our resident fire ants. This mound rises 3-4 inches high at the base of my Bi-color Iris.
And their monstrous mound has all but obliterated this little decorative rock that reads, Peace. (Well I can tell you that I didn’t leave them in peace, I sprinkled a nice little dose of ant bait all around their pretty little hill!)

How does your garden grow these days?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:40:12-05:00September 28th, 2010|Blog, Cleome, cuphea, pavonia, pitcher sage, rain, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Rain, rain, come again!

The last few weeks we’ve had an uncharacteristic amount of rain here in Austin. No real relief from the heat, mind you, so it’s been a tropical sauna.

Since it’s such an unusual occurence, I had to capture some of the beauty of the water in the garden.

A lovely, long cool drink in the garden. And this week, fall will really arrive — tonight’s low is forecast to be 58 gloriously cool degrees!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:40:12-05:00September 26th, 2010|bird bath, Blog, Moy Grande hibiscus, rain, river rock bed, Sharing Nature's Garden, water restrictions|0 Comments

Still going strong for Bloom Day…

It’s been a strange year in the garden.

We had a cold, rainy winter, a wet spring and a late summer.

My garden was at least 3 weeks behind for the better part of spring and summer.

As we head into fall, things are still not quite right.

Some of our native sun-loving plants just aren’t performing the same this year.

And some of my plants are showing the stress of several hard rains in the last few weeks – a real anomaly for September here.

Their feet were very wet and they don’t like it.

This Double Purple Datura has fought off caterpillars or grasshoppers all summer.

I’ve had few blooms and holey leaves, but when it does bloom – it blows me away. It’s like a beautiful ballgown.

This isn’t technically a bloom, but a Magnolia bud – but I wanted to share it with you because it’s just so wonderful. Doesn’t it make you want to just reach out and touch it.
Second set of blooms down low on this Echinacea — the tops have already gone to seed which I am leaving for the birds. It got a slow start too this spring. The deer ate the first TWO sets of blooms before I got to see them.
But the second set is barely holding onto it’s petals.
This is a happy Blackfoot Daisy. Hermine killed two others that were this wonderful until last week. They REALLY don’t like the rain.
The Moy Grande Hibiscus is stunning again this summer – some days sporting 8-10 plate-sized blooms. It has a few yellow leaves, but it liked the rain and is blooming profusely to say thank-you.
The rain also prompted a second set of blooms on the Bottlebrush tree.
And it’s the season for the out-of-control, totally invasive, I-swear-I-will-never-plant-again Cypress Vine. Of course I will never need to plant it again because it comes up all over my garden every year — especially where I don’t want it!
And the amazing ditch lily brought to me by Lori, of the Gardener of Good and Evil, is STILL blooming. Seriously. I love this plant.
The morning glories that were invisible for most of the summer have started to pop out all over the place. There’s just something about them that just makes me smile.

Special thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for inviting us all to share what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of every month. It’s like we’re all chatting together over the garden fence!

Happy Bloom Day!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:26-06:00September 15th, 2010|blackfoot daisies, Blog, Bottle Brush tree, cypress vine, datura, ditch lily, echinacea, GBBD, Moy Grande hibiscus, rain, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

rain

Loving my lush Central Texas garden

Cauliflower harvest makes delicious dinner…

Replenishing, rejuvenating rain in the garden…

What a happy garden looks like…

Rain, rain, come again!

Still going strong for Bloom Day…

Escape in the garden