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with the new Diana Cam!

Here’s who came to visit our yard last night — little Mr. Buck and Emmy and Lulu.


This is too fun — it’s so neat to see when they were there and who came to check things out.

No gardening going on here these days. My brother and sister-in-law and their spouses are here enjoying our nice Texas weather (75 when they arrived on Monday, 60 and breezy today), and some great Mexican food.

My husband is making dinner tonight — yummy appetizers and then prime rib, risotto and salad with a champagne punch with a kick.

Tomorrow we recuperate and my Mom and Dad will come over and I’ve made a giant pot of chili and black eyed peas and greens for good luck.

And in honor of the new year, my mantra for 2009 is “gentle.” A scrapbooking mentor of mine got me started with a theme for each new year — a little goal — as opposed to a mostly unrealistic list of resolutions. Last year, my theme was “flexible“, so I tried to be more flexible in my life last year. I think I made some progress and it’s always good to strive for improvement.

I am hoping for some quality gardening time next week…maybe some scrapbooking, too. My two hobbies that have to compete for my attentions.

Peace, happy gardening and best of luck to you in the New Year.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

You’d think this was Minnesota the way the weather acted tonight!

Wow. Isn’t it pretty?

A huge Thank You goes out to my wonderful DH who made my Christmas Greenhouse a reality.

It’s up and running – and several of my largest tropicals are happily sitting in their new winter home — the Duranta, Plumeria and Mexican Lime Tree.

And it’s perfect timing. The low Saturday night is supposed to be 38.

That’s definitely not warm enough for most of the tender tropicals that are scattered around the back patio.

Those two sure take up a lot of room! I didn’t quite realize how big they’ve gotten this summer. We may be jockeying for position with each other in there!

I can’t wait to fill those great cedar benches–they will be mostly full by Sunday!
The bed surrounding it, however, will be keeping me awake at night as I mull over what to put in there….I know there will be cutting flowers there, but what else?
See how happy Mr. Mexican lime is?
And these little ones are just waiting their turn to move to the new house!
A huge Thank You goes out to my wonderful DH who made my Christmas Greenhouse a reality. It’s up and running – and several of my largest pots are happily sitting in their new winter home.

Some of the Austin Garden Bloggers set out on Friday on a field trip to see the infamous Peckerwood Gardens. About 2-1/2 hours from Austin, 7 of us hit the road at 7:30 in the morning in a two-SUV caravan on our garden road trip.

Peckerwood Gardens was established in 1971 by John G. Fairey. We were greeted at the garden by Mr. Fairey, who was delightful and gave us the background tour of the garden and shared with us his history.

The garden enjoys the benefits of three climatic zones and covers 21 acres. It is a collection of rare plants native to the United States, Mexico and Asia. He has an amazing collection of trees, and told us that there are more than 250 different types of oaks native to Mexico, where he was gone on almost 100 plant discovery expeditions. The trees included beautiful and unusual oaks, maples, cypress, magnolias, conifers and palms.

We saw such unusual specimens — some of them extremely rare, and some even as yet unnamed. I couldn’t possibly remember the botanical names of all the thousands of plants we saw, and I don’t know how our guide, Chris, can retain as much infomation as he shared with us. He was able to identify exact plant names, where they came from, when they got them and how they were planted. (And I can’t remember anything about the 3 plants I bought 2 weeks ago!)

I can’t identify the plants in the photos I took, so I will just let you take a little mini-tour here and enjoy the beauty of the garden. Enjoy!

Many of the trees had beautiful trunks and wonderful shape.
Our tour guide, Chris, explaining every little detail and patiently answering all of our questions.

For the first 6 months after plants are taken from the greenhouse and into the garden, they are protected with their own little shade cloth!
This beautiful wall and water feature marks the end of the garden. Mr. Fairey’s house lies beyond the fountain and pond.

Two little frogs greeted us at the water feature!

Several of the Century plants on the property were in full bloom against the beautiful blue sky of our lovely fall day.
This allee of Cypress trees lines a creek and is a lovely oasis.


Cypress knees come up when the trees live in a moist environment.

Hope you’ve enjoyed these photos and will look at the other 6 blogger’s perspectives as well.

We started our morning by exploring the Heidelberg Castle, which is a huge structure that overlooks the river and most of Heidelberg. The weather held up with only a little mist and we enjoyed ourselves at a leisurely pace.

This was a little patch of garden that must belong to someone who works in or around the castle. We could see it from the edge of the castle, and it was so interesting to see that right there.

Fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables outside a shop on the main street in the old city of Heidelberg.
And, as always, lovely windowboxes overflowing with bursts of color.

Then we drove on to Trier, the oldest city in Germany, deep in the heart of the Mosel Valley and home to GREAT wine.

Trier is my mother’s home, and where I remember spending time with my Oma and Opa as a young child when we spent 10 years living in Europe. (Germany, Belgium & the Netherlands) So this is like coming home for me — the city evokes wonderful memories and a sense of belonging that is as strong as the current of the river that runs alongside it.

This first picture is of the Porta Nigra, the largest surviving Roman city gate north of the Alps. Trier dates back to the first century B.C., when Gaius Julius Caesar conquered Gaul and integrated the Mosel region into the Roman empire.

Amazing, isn’t it? That something so ancient stands today and serves as a reminder of all the history that has come since then. The city is full of ancient and beautiful wonders and I’ll post some more of them tomorrow.

And, amongst all the ornate buildings, more flowerboxes to brighten our sometimes cloudy day.
And I just had to get a shot of these pretties adorning the bus stop in the heart of the city.