trumpet vine Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

Spectacular signs of Spring

Here she is, Miss Tangerine Crossvine in her full spring splendor. See how gracefully she climbs up into the nearby Live Oak tree?
Her blooms are cheerful and bright – bringing a cacophony of color into the shady corner bed.
And she just keeps on cruising down the fenceline, spreading her beauty.
Out front the little Anacacho Orchid tree that I planted last year is living up to her full expectations with a profusion of delicate white blooms.

The variegated lemon tree is chock full of pink buds, ready to burst into lemony goodness very soon. The bees are eager for the buds to open, too, as they were hovering around just like me!
Green beans peek out of the ground in the veggie garden.
The tomatoes planted before we left for our Indiana Spring Break trip were damaged by the 1 cold night in Austin last week. I think it got down to the mid-30s and the tomatoes all have leaf damage, but they will be fine. See, this one has a BLOOM!!!!! A wannabe tomato…the plants may not be pretty any more, but they are growing and developing, so I won’t complain.
These are the White Icicle Radishes shown in the sidebar photo above. Tasty – and spicy.
Here’s another Bluebonnet blooming in the greenhouse bed. I gave in a planted plants this year as I have not had luck with seeds — we just have too much mulch where I want to plant them, so I carefully amended the soil and pulled back the mulch and put in 15 plants this spring.
The Mexican Plum tree is full of blooms this week, too.
Aren’t they pretty?
This, however, is NOT so pretty. Witness, please the GAZILLION Live Oak leaves that are cascading from my trees. If they were white, you’d think it was snowing in parts of my yard. And they aren’t even 1/2 done with their littering of my beds.

I’m itching to get out there and blow them elsewhere, but more will fall right into their place, so I will wait a week or two. I know, for instance, that there are dozens of wildflower seedlings under here waiting to get out…and I can’t wait to see them…next week maybe!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:44:38-05:00March 20th, 2009|anacacho orchid, Blog, blue bonnets, green beans, Mexican Plum, oak trees, radishes, Sharing Nature's Garden, tomatoes, trumpet vine|0 Comments

beans, beans, and a potato…

In spite of the heat that’s bearing down on us and our plants, Mother Nature has a job to do, and do it she does. They might be thirsty and hot and sweaty, but my plants continue to bloom and amazingly, have enough energy left over to make seeds for the next generation to go on.

Pretty amazing, to me.

So, here are some of the lovely seed pods that have just popped up in my garden in the last week or so.

The first is the stunningly beautiful Pride of Barbados that is one of my very favorite plants. It’s exotic and delicate and hot and colorful all at the same time. It’s hearty and fern-like and it brings a smile to my face when it finally shows its true colors late in the summer.

These are my Hyacinth Bean Vines, with their leather-y purple pods that look good enough to eat!

My prolific Coral Trumpet Vine makes these huge seed pods, but then again, this specimen is pretty darn big and woody, and I think it would take over the cabana if I let it.
This, gardening friends, is a real bean! A green bush bean in my veggie garden. I liek to call the seed pods beans and take a little license with gardening lingo, since they do look like beans!
This Esperanza or Tecoma Stans, is full of slender, little green pods – hundreds of them – waiting to drop and start life all over again deep under the mulch this winter.

Ok, THIS is your laugh for the day. I kept seeing this big, smooth pink orb poking out of the potato vine in my front pots. Thought it was a river rock from the dry bed, wondered if I’d stuck it in there for some reason when I planted the vine.

Seriously.

I thought this for weeks!

Today, as I was removing dead plants and adding a few fresh ones, it hit me like a V-8 POP on the forehead!

It’s a POTATO!!!!!!!

Duh.

Double Duh!

Sigh….I am not only not in charge, I am clearly clueless!

I never saw an actual potato on a decorative potato vine that I’d planted before.

I mean, there are some plants that are named after things that they are not, right?

Well, at least I get points for posting it out there for you all to laugh WITH me about!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:10-05:00August 26th, 2008|Blog, green beans, hyacinth bean vine, potato, seeds, Sharing Nature's Garden, trumpet vine|0 Comments

Spring has Sprung

Signs of Spring are everywhere.

Before my outside bulbs started to open, I’d ordered this little Spring planter from a catalog.

It’s a little wooden picket fence with potted bulbs in it. Very festive to have in the house over the Easter holiday. I set it outside for some fresh air and sunshine today. It was 64 here today and breezy. Supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow.

I’m amazed that the daffodil bulbs I planted in January opened up today. And I’m thrilled to report that two of the allium I planted in the fall have poked up through the mulch. I’ve always wanted some and this is my first attempt.

If you look VERY carefully, you’ll see a tiny, lime-green bud in the middle of this photo. It’s the first sign of life on my coral trumpet vine.
This is the full vine – so much of the woody stalks cut back and it’s still huge. It takes over the whole fence and it’s beautiful when it’s in lucious bloom.

A little structure here – these are my fabulous Gardener’s Supply Co. square, foldable tomato cages. They held up even the 7 foot tall and unwieldy tomatoes last summer. I love them.
These are strawberries, mustard greens, swiss chard, cilantro, peppers and in the back, green beans.
I had to show you my little wooden tee-pee trellis. I got it at the Natural Gardener – paid way too much for it, but it was so beautiful I just had to have it. I can just imagine beans dangling from those cute little wooden sticks!

After all, part of the fun of gardening is shopping, don’t you think? It is for me.
Look closely, high up in the tree that’s behind the bi-color irises and the iron fence, and you’ll see my crossvine – going exactly where I don’t want it to go. (The story of my proverbial gardening life!)
And, finally, this is where the day lilies, a vine, some annuals and something I’ve yet to decide on will go — maybe even this week. I’m going to plant in an arc from the left front around to the back right. Just above this photo is one of our two breakfast room windows, so it will make a pretty sight when we’re eating.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:47:51-05:00March 24th, 2008|Blog, bulbs, cross vine, Garden, Sharing Nature's Garden, spring, trumpet vine|13 Comments

trumpet vine

Spectacular signs of Spring

beans, beans, and a potato…

Spring has Sprung

Escape in the garden