squid agave Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

Creative kid & adult garden projects during Corona virus

With Covid-19 virus protocols in place across the country, staying home for an undetermined length of time may be daunting. As time goes on, the walls may start to close in a little. Working, learning, and playing together at home can raise anxiety and frustrations for everyone.

If you need a respite, how about a mini-makeover for your backyard so you can relax and rejuvenate outdoors? Need a restorative garden project to engage the kids? We’re lucky to live in a part of the country where we can enjoy the outdoors many months of the year. Now, more than ever, the benefits of fresh air and a safe change of scenery can make a big difference.

Here are a few simple ideas to freshen up your outdoor space and engage your kids in interesting projects while you and your family are spending most or all of your time at home.

Shop in your own house and garden

Do you have empty pots sitting in your garage or your shed? With a little bit of soil, you may be able to create something new and pretty to set on the table. Other containers can also be used, as long as the plant is in a container with a hole in the bottom for adequate drainage.

Many of us have plants that produce pups or offshoots that can be planted into a new pot. Think airplane plants, succulents, agaves, pothos ivy among others. Walk out into the landscape and look for mini-me plants. Dig them up carefully and be sure to get as much of the root as possible.

This is a great time to engage your kids. Have them help with clipping and filling the pot with soil and ongoing watering. Have them do the research about the plant’s light and water needs. Once the plant takes root and starts to grow — voila — instant home science lesson!

Pillows and other decor

You don’t need fancy outdoor furniture, to perk up your patio or yard. Move a few indoor pillows outside (when it’s not raining) to add some cheer and make your space more inviting.

Add a little side table or t.v. tray or whatever you have sitting around inside — it can even be a crate with a tray on top of it and a placemat. Add a cup of coffee or a cocktail and take a deep breath.

Light up the night

No outdoor lighting? Not a problem. Chances are you have some holiday lights stuffed in a corner of the garage or up in your attic. Pull them out and tape or tack them around a few lawn chairs. A simple string or two of miniature lights draped from the ceiling or a pergola or even run along the fence can be very quaint and inviting. Or, find a few empty glass jars from the back of a kitchen cabinet and help the kids stuff most of the little lights into the jar and plug in the other end. Take the kids outside around dusk and tell stories sitting in the yard.

Make eating fun

If you don’t have marshmallows in the house, think about other goodies you could put on the end of a skewer or cleaned-up stick and pretend to roast marshmallows around a fire. Kids won’t care – they’d be just as happy playing make believe and eating a skewered cupcake or bite of banana bread. Heck, even a piece of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Creativity is key.

A little night music

What better to add to the calming effect of your new instant backyard paradise than the sound of bubbling water? Google meditation music with water sounds and sit together and listen to the sound of waves on the beach somewhere. Or, find some soothing music to provide background sound to sit and watch the stars

There are lots of ways to spruce up your yard and patio to create your own family retreat during these uncertain times.

Landscape Designer Diana Kirby provides landscaping tips on Facebook at Diana’s Designs and writes a gardening blog at www.dianasdesignsaustin.com where she is also available for social distance consulting via photos and phone. You can also sign up for quarterly email tips and online DIY workshops.

By Diana C. Kirby|2020-03-26T12:36:57-05:00March 26th, 2020|Agave, Articles, children, children's garden, planters, pots, projects, propagation, squid agave|1 Comment

Spring flowers scattered around my garden on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

We’ve had a tumultuous winter and spring. Well, it isn’t officially spring, but here in Central Texas, spring starts in February. We’ve already had a 91-degree day, then a week or so after that we had a low of 21. It was the first hard freeze of the winter in my garden. Of course, everything had already started to sprout and put on buds. We love the warm days, but then we pay for it.

Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, so we can see what’s blooming around the world today.

I covered for the 21-degree freeze. I normally don’t do that any more — it’s just too much work. But we’re getting things ready to put our house on the market and move up to northwest Austin and I’d really rather not have to replace plants and fill holes. (And, I want to take some of the great plants with me!)

Nonetheless, there are things blooming in the garden, in spite of the yo-yoing weather. I planted these Ostespermum, African daisy, late summer last year and I’m getting another round be beautiful blooms.

These pass-along white cemetery iris bloom first among all the iris in the garden. They’ve made the rounds among most of the Austin garden bloggers so they brighten gardens all around town.

I can always count on the bulbs and love the daffodils in my garden.

I’ve had these in the garden for a long time. It’s called yellow fortune. The contrast of the almost orange cup with the bright yellow makes a colorful display. I’ve taken to collecting different varieties of daffodils over the years. It’s fun to see who comes up each year.

These ice follies have naturalized and definitely need to be divided. Hmmm…a good opportunity to take some with me to a new garden once we find a house.

The flowering quince makes a lovely backdrop for these frilly, delicate daffodils, called double campernelle. She’s getting lost in the quince and the primrose jasmine beside her, so I may have to rescue her and bring her with me as well. (See how I keep adding to my list?)

The native Texas Mountain Laurels continue to bloom – only the open blooms succumbed to the cold.

Some of the trees hadn’t even produced buds yet, so I will get to enjoy the Kool-Aid, grapey-goodness scent of these beautiful evergreen trees for weeks to come. And, when brought into the house as part of a cut flower bouquet, I can continue to appreciate Mother Nature’s air freshener!

It was hard to cut back the roses when I had several blooms on Archduke Charles, but I brought them inside and pruned the rest.

The four roses in the new rose parterre aren’t all the same height at maturity, so keeping them similar requires careful pruning.

Livin’ easy, grandma’s yellow and ebb tide show no signs of emerging buds yet.

Catmint remains one of my garden favorites. Mostly evergreen with a compact, clearly defined form, it stays orderly in places where I want a small mounding plant.

‘Walkers low’ makes a pretty, reliable border plant, getting only about 12-14″ in my garden. Advertised as getting up to 24″ tall, that’s not my experience and I’ve had them for several years.

I’ve enjoyed them in the front bed and last year expanded their reach into a few other beds as well.

The Mexican honeysuckle on the trellis behind the green goblet agave is awash with coral-y/salmon-y blooms. They grow up into the air and over the fence, draping delicately onto the side of the greenhouse roof.

Hinkley’s columbine has started blooming and brightens up the woodland path garden.

The prairie verbena loves this spot by the street. Hot and dry, this bed bears the brunt of the full, scorching Texas sun. The perennial verbena provides a beautiful, soft contrast to the ginormous squid agave next to it.

I think we’re finished with freezes here in Central Texas.

I’m ready to start working in the garden and soaking up the spring sunshine.

How ’bout you?

By Diana C. Kirby|2019-03-15T12:51:34-05:00March 15th, 2019|bulbs, columbines, daffodils, double campernelle, green goblet agave, iris, irises, Mexican honeysuckle, mountain laurel, narcissus, passalongs, Prairie Verbena, rose, roses, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring, spring bloomers, squid agave, Uncategorized|2 Comments

One for me, one for you, one for me, one for you…

Passalong. One of my favorite words. This simple word represents the cornerstone of gardening. Just as heirloom vegetable seeds, carefully preserved and handed down from generation to generation, passalong plants represent the intricately woven past of our gardens.

I’m fortunate to be part of a group of more than 50 other gardeners in the Austin area that write garden blogs. While not everyone in the group is active, a core group of gardeners meets once a month at someone’s garden to oooh and ahhh, commiserate, eat, drink, teach, and share in the joy of gardening. Oh, and we pass along plants.

The plant swap gives us the opportunity to trial new things in our gardens and to share extras with those who are building or rebuilding in their landscapes. I feel blessed to have been the recipient of so many wonderful gifts.

And, yes, sometimes plants even make it full circle.

For a while, I was sharing off shoots of my ‘grandfather’s pipe’ plant (not as in MY grandfather, but the grandfather’s pipe plant that I was growing – confusing right?) After I had handed out pieces for a few years, others began to bring them to the swap to share theirs, because the plant is so prolific and easy to grow. “Wait a minute,” I said, “you can’t ditch your extras of my plant here – that’s mine to push on everyone.”

Sharing is a wonderful thing. So, today I will be digging some more in my garden – planting little plants that I bought to put in pots — yes, more plants and more pots. My latest collection is gathered in the wooden box on the little table in the photo above.

And, on the ground below it are all of the plants that I am passing along. Today, I will continue digging up some pups and reseeded plants to share with a friend who needs to fill in her garden and to share with some of my clients who are avid newbie gardeners and are eager to try new things.

Plants that will be finding new homes this week include: squid agaves, quadricolor agaves, lamb’s ears, datura, echinacea (coneflower), catmint, silver ponyfoot, pale pavonia, Mexican feather grass, and Nuevo Leon salvia.

In my own garden, I know that I have enjoyed the beauty of so many passalongs. To name but a few, Green goblet agave from Pam of Digging, white cemetery iris from The Transplantable Rose, a lovely peach iris from Robin of Getting Grounded, agave pups from so many of my blogging friends, larkspur seeds from Zanthan Gardens and Caroline of The Shovel Ready Garden, Klondike cosmos seeds from my neighbor Holly, a collection of seeds brought to me by my friend, Maria, from Monet’s garden at Giverny, and countless other plants from other gardeners.

These Klondike cosmos are a riot of hot summer color, but watch out, they reseed like crazy!

I love the blue hues of larkspur in the late spring garden.

The green goblet agave has a unique color, and I love how the dark emerald green leaves contrast with other grey-green plants in the dry garden, like this euphorbia rigida.

Strolling around the garden infuses me with a sense of peace and serenity, and it reminds me of my good friends, enjoying the some of the same plants in their gardens. My garden blog turns 8 this July — it hardly seems possible. I’m so thankful to have it and all the friends, both near and far, that it has brought into my life.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:01-06:00May 3rd, 2015|Austin bloggers, Blog, green goblet agave, Klondike cosmos, larkspur, passalongs, Sharing Nature's Garden, squid agave|0 Comments

Agaves – which ones were hardy enough to survive the surprise winter?

Have you been adding xeric agaves to your garden in an effort to be more water-wise in light of our extreme heat and drought?

Adding native and adapted xeric plants to the garden is the perfect solution to reducing your lawn and your water bill.

But, as with all plants, it’s important to do your research and know what you’re getting.

This cold and early winter weather had been hard on some agaves that can take the heat, but can’t handle the cold.

I’m always pushing the edge of the envelope (and not just in gardening, but we won’t talk about that here). So, that means I trial many plants in my garden that might not be a perfect match for our climate. And, sometimes it kicks me in the …trowel.

Here’s what did and didn’t make it at this winter’s current low in my garden:

The squid agave, pictured above, is always a tough cookie. They have survived for me down to 17 degrees in the icebox winter of 3 years ago.

The giant franzosini agave handled the cold with aplomb. It’s big and bold and still making way too many pups! Let me know if you want one! I’ll even ship! Seriously!

This was an experiment. This octopus agave is stunning when it’s alive. Trust me. However, I knew that experts report it hardy only to between 26 and 28 degrees. And that’s in the ground. Plants in a pot are much more tender because their roots get colder above ground faster. Sometimes it doesn’t even freeze here in the winter, so I was taking a calculated risk, knowing I might simply have to replace it when it warms up next spring. And I will replace it. I love the look and the sculptural shape so I will just take my chances and treat it like an annual in cold years.

This Arizona star agave looks pretty ugly now, but I think it will come back from the crown — it will just take a while to be big and beautiful again.

This standard weberii agave seems to be tolerating the cold just fine. It’s been scraped up by the deer, roaming around looking for places to rub their antlers, but that’s just a cosmetic problem for this agave.

I’m very surprised that this variegated agave Americana made it through. I’ve lost some in previous years’ freezes and I fully expected to lose this one at 24 degrees. There are a few ugly spots on the back side, but it’s doing great. Those that died in previous years were much younger, so I think this one did well because it’s well-established now.

This wicked sharkskin agave in the back xeric bed is hanging on just fine.

I think this sweet little quadricolor agave has struggle with some deer munching and the cold, but a little pruning will help it shine again in the spring.

You can see that the green goblet agave has some freeze damage on the lower leaves, but the rest of it looks healty. Another haircut and it will be pretty as a picture again.

And, finally, my whale’s tongue agave is hanging tough and looking good in the cold.

Just to set the record straight, I have learned some lessons from previous freezes. I have several desmettiana agaves in pots in my greenhouse – staying toasty warm for the winter. I use to have a nice one along the front walk and it died in a slight freeze. They are so pretty that I reserve those for pots now.

As long as this is as cold as it gets this winter, most of my agaves are safe. Hint, hint…. How are your agaves faring in the winter vortex this year?

Next post I’ll talk about how and when to prune out the rotting stuff.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:12-06:00January 10th, 2014|Agave, agave Americana, agave webberi, Arizona star agave, Blog, Franzosini agave, freeze, freeze damage, green goblet agave, octopus agave, Sharing Nature's Garden, squid agave, whales tongue agave, winter 2014|3 Comments

Toughing out the drought, agaves abound in my garden…

Like many Central Texas gardeners learning to cope with the drought, I have a growing collection of agaves in my garden.

The common misconception about agaves is that they are giant monsters and that they all die after they bloom. Most agaves are monocarpic, but a few of them are not. What many call a century plant – a common name often used for many different varieties, doesn’t actually live for 100 years before its first bloom. Most bloom at about 40 years old, primarily because of the soil, water and environmental conditions in which they are grown in landscapes.

This agave ‘Americana’ does get large – typically 5-7 feet tall by 8-12 feet wide (including its offsets, or pups).

There are many much smaller and manageable species that can be used as structural focal points in the landscape and beautiful potted plants. A few of the more compact agaves suitable for small gardens and containers that do well here include the squid agave, quadricolor agave, Parry’s agave and the regal Queen Victoria agave.

These agaves above are quadricolor agaves and they stay quite small. Mine is about 18 inches tall. It does create offsets, or pups — creating new plants through underground runners/roots. This variety makes a great potted plant.

I believe this is a Webberi – it will get very large and it’s growing in a very xeric bed outside of my back fence.

This beautiful, deep green agave is ‘green goblet,’ a passalong Pam of Digging shared with me. I love the uncommon color on this one, but be careful, the spines on this one are absolutely unforgiving!

This is an agave parryi truncata, which typically grows 2-3 feet tall and 2-4 feet wide – a very manageable size for a smaller garden.

This is what I believe to be agave ovatofolia, or ‘whale’s tongue’ agave. Frequently confused with parryi agaves, they are sometimes mislabeled. It is one of the agaves proported not to pup, and it grows to 3-4 feet tall and wide. Because of its neat and uniform growth, it makes a wonderful focal point in the garden.

This agave is called “blue glow” and it’s easy to see why.

This variegated agave has fine spines and is quite happy living in partial shade with very little water.

One of my favorites is the “squid agave” with it’s delicate tentacles curling out into the sky. After several years in this bed, this one is starting to produce quite a few pups.

These prolific pups belong to my Agave franzosinii — a beautiful and graceful piece of sculpture that is the centerpiece of the raised bed at the entrance to our home. They are a lot of work – removing them is a regular chore because I don’t want a mass tangle of unruly agaves, I just want the one focal point. But it’s worth it.

And here’s the mama Franzosinii from afar in its bed. The Spanish dagger in the foreground had to find a new home, though, because it was stealing the show from the blue agave! Can’t have that.

With the dire forecasts of this unbearable drought, I’m pleased with these xeric additions to my garden. There are many more wonderful varieties to try, and many of them are on my list.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:13-06:00October 7th, 2013|Agave, agave Americana, agave blue glow, agave parryii, agave webberi, agaves, Blog, Franzosini agave, green goblet agave, octopus agave, quadricolor agave, Sharing Nature's Garden, squid agave, whales tongue agave|0 Comments

squid agave

Creative kid & adult garden projects during Corona virus

Spring flowers scattered around my garden on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

One for me, one for you, one for me, one for you…

Agaves – which ones were hardy enough to survive the surprise winter?

Toughing out the drought, agaves abound in my garden…

Escape in the garden