viburnum Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

Some color in the winter garden…

The sun came out today and I took a tour around my garden, basking in the warmth. As I passed each plant, mental notes began to form.

Cut this one back in a month…this one fared really well in the last freeze…oh no, I should have covered that one…and, best of all…hey — this one is blooming!

Against the backdrop of grey and brown, several bright spots dotted the landscape.

If you were a bird, wouldn’t you love spending the winter here?

Although the roses have turned to hips, the tips of the branches remain alive with budding color.

Apparently, the cold weather agrees with my viburnum.

My absolute favorite spring bloomer, Japanese Quince, has begun showing off bright flowers against it’s spiny, sculptural branches.

And next to it, the primrose Jasmine is bursting into blooms and buds as well.

The variegated ascot rainbow spurge has been transformed from the lime and yellow stripes it sported in summer to this rich, dark green and burgundy.

And the sight of yaupon holly berries brings the woods to life with their shiny fruit.

While I’m certainly eager for the budding days of spring, it brings me a sense that all is right with the world as I watch the garden unfold across the seasons, as it is surely meant to do.

Transformation…

Well, the wonder guys came and did my big project work yesterday and boy did I (rather, we) clear out some stuff! It’s hard to tell, but now there is nothing behind the pool wall until you get to the line of cedars outside our fence. There used to be huge overgrown vines encroaching on the wall and covering up the Hibiscus pots. I dug around and found an old before picture to give you some perspective — two or three years ago I planted two primrose jasmines on either side of the back of the pool. And they grew into monsters!

Can you see the HUGE vines behind the 3 pots and how tall they were? And they went all the way across to the other side of the pool.

So this is all the space I’ve opened up. And I’m really excited about it because I’ve come to realize lately that many of my garden beds are becoming shadier. Which is hard for me because I haven’t historically been a shade gardener.

The is the new bed out behind the wrought iron fence that I meant to put in last Spring and instead I let the heat beat me down. So, on the left side is a variegated Agave that is a passalong plant from my neighbor that has a big agave collection. The lovely pot is flanked by two trailing Lantanas. There are three pink Skullcaps in the front, three little Blackfoot Daisies on the right in front of a Sago Palm, and there are also three Feather Grasses scattered about. In the pot, I have a toothless Texas Sotol. I also plan to put in some Aloe pups that were given to me by Pam at Digging

This is the back corner bed where I had them pull out the three Viburnums. They were just taking over the bed and I wanted some more room to plant other things, so I passed them along to Robin, at Getting Grounded, where she has given them a good and loving home.
This is what they hauled out of here!!! Plus a truck bed full of stuff and the 3 Viburnum that went to Robin’s.
And, besides the empty spaces and clean beds, they left me 350 pounds (yes, 350 pounds!) of crushed granite for me to refresh my pathway because every time I weed I throw about granite bits. And since I can’t carry all that, they put it in buckets for me all along the path so I can put it out as I weed. So, now I have another job to do!

Whew, I’m tired just looking at all that!

viburnum

Some color in the winter garden…

Transformation…

Escape in the garden