rudbeckia Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

Gorgeous gardens dominate 2016 Garden Bloggers Fling in Minneapolis

I just returned from a wonderful 5 days at the annual Garden Bloggers Fling, held this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a long weekend filled with good friends, good food and gorgeous gardens. It’s always so fun to spend time with long-time friends, some of whom came to the very first Fling in Austin, and to meet new Flingers and get to know them.

Our first stop was the Eloise Butler Wildlife Garden and Bird Sanctuary
. The garden includes 500 different plant species and more than 130 bird species.

It was a cool morning — which felt like heaven to this Texas girl who left behind temps in the 100s in Austin. We began walking through the most amazing wildflower prairie, walking through narrow paths with beautiful blooms up to my waist and higher. We brushed by many plants I knew, and many that I didn’t. Peaceful, serene and natural, the garden provided the perfect start our day.

I didn’t many photos in this garden, as I focused on being in the moment, truly able to reach out and touch the garden with every step.

These were some of my favorite blooms in the garden.

See how high the wildflowers were?

This is just a short, teaser post. Many more are percolating in my head, so check back soon!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-11-11T21:30:25-06:00July 18th, 2016|2016 garden bloggers fling, Eloise Butler Wildlife Garden and Bird Sanctuary, garden tour 2016, Minneapolis, prairie, rudbeckia, Sharing Nature's Garden, Wildflowers, Yellows|0 Comments

Catalog shopping spree for the spring garden…

Thanks to cool nights by the fire, flipping the pages of glossy catalogs filled with stunning photos of the swimsuit edition versions of new plant offerings, there are exciting new additions to my garden.

Pictured here, Aralia ‘sun king,‘ Heucherella ‘gold zebra,’ Rudbeckia ‘prairie glow,’ and Eupohorbia ‘rainbow ascot.’

In light of the chilly temps, they are all still hanging out together in a tub trug – going out in the morning and coming in at night. They are jockeying for prime places in the garden — each of them whispering to me: “I’d look fabulous paired with the verbena or calylophus or salvia…or whatever!” They speak to me when they think the others aren’t listening.

I feel like they are the judges on “The Voice.” Pick me, pick me, pick me.

But I haven’t picked yet — I’m still ruminating about the best spot for each of them — determined not to just plop them somewhere willy nilly. This I do know, because of it’s color palette, the rudbeckia will be embarking on an adventure of its own — off to a very different part of the garden than the other shade or semi-shade plants. It’s going to find its own hot spot in a yellow/orange themed bed.

Have your catalog weaknesses …(oops)…orders arrived yet? Who will be joining your garden this spring?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:31-05:00March 26th, 2013|aralia, Blog, catalogs, euphorbia, gold zebra heucherella, Heuchera, Heucherella gold zebra, plant order, prairie glow rudbeckia, rainbow ascot euphorbia, rudbeckia, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring, sun king aralia|0 Comments

The dog days of summer …

I was wandering around this morning, feeling remiss for not having posted for a while, and looking for things of interest in the garden.

But since it was 104 yesterday and we’re months into our summer, I had a hard time finding anything new to write about. And then I saw Tanner sprawled out in the sun and it hit me … July 3rd or no, in Austin, Texas, it’s the “Dog Days of Summer” already.

According to Wikipedia, the term “Dog Days” was used by the Greeks and the Romans (who called these days caniculares dies) after Sirius, the “Dog Star,” Latin. The dog days of summer originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise, which is no longer true, because of the precession of the equinoxes.

Here’s the icky part: The ancients sacrificed a brown dog (look out Tanner!) at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

Dog days were popularly thought to be an evil time “when the seas boiled, wine turned sour , dogs grew mad and all creatures became languid, causing man to burn fevers, hysterics and phrensies” according to Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813.

I don’t think my wine is sour and I’m not sure if the seas are boiling, but I will definitely be on the lookout for mad dogs and hysterics at my house!

But, I can see how the oppressive heat could make you believe in all those things, don’t you?

Here are a few bright spots in the oppressive heat … Esperanza.

Desert Rose

Duranta

Coneflowers

Pride of Barbados

The mixed pot by the front door with Mexican Heather, Rudbeckia, Hibiscus, Zinnias, Potato Vine and Snapdragons.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:44:33-05:00July 3rd, 2009|104, Blog, Coneflower, desert rose, dog days, esperanza, heat, rudbeckia, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Sweet Surprise …

What a lovely surprise. The deer ate a few of the first native and cutting garden-type plants I put in what I’m calling my wild bed.

I was most saddened by the loss of the tops of my three delphinium plants. There’s just something about Delphinium and Larkspur that I find so beautiful and free-spirited (as if all flowers weren’t free spirited!).

So imagine my surprise this weekend when the Delphiniums were back — more blue and beautiful than before.

I didn’t capture the rich blue hue very well because I took the photo too late in the day, but I like it nonetheless.

And their neighbors, the mail-order Rudbeckia Prairie Sun with no brown are blooming and multiplying profusely. And they’ve been joined by Texas Betony blooming red and Mexican Oregano with it’s lavender blooms.

It’s so exciting to see something you’ve sweated and toiled over come to fruition. And while the Blackfoot daisies don’t seem to be happy there and several of the 5 transplanted Lantanas failed to come back, I’m calling it a huge success.

And Ms. Artemis is oh-so-happy to have the pretties for company!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:13-05:00May 27th, 2008|betony, Blog, deer, delphinium, rudbeckia, Sharing Nature's Garden, wild bed|12 Comments

rudbeckia

Gorgeous gardens dominate 2016 Garden Bloggers Fling in Minneapolis

Catalog shopping spree for the spring garden…

The dog days of summer …

Sweet Surprise …

Escape in the garden