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Got a little garden bling?

I love bling.

I loved bling when bling wasn’t even cool.

Don’t know what I’m going to do when clothing styles change, because I’m taken with the swirls and the sequins and the glitter that are so popular right now.

Then I got to thinking, I like a little bling in my garden, too.

And I don’t mean gazing balls (I’m not so fond of them, actually).

Like this ginger I recently planted — it’s kind of like bling in my garden.

What’s garden bling, you ask?

You know — it’s those one-of-a-kind specimens, the exotic plants or the plants that perform amazingly. The plants you and your gardening friends ooh and ahhh over time after time.

So here is an overview of the plants I think of as bling in my garden. For starters, there’s this Carara Ginger — a tropical perennial with reddish bracts with pale purple to greenish tips. It blooms for several months and like part shade. It’s new to me, and I don’t know if it will do well here, but it called my name at the nursery.

This “Phoebe” hellebore is another delicate favorite that is a shining star in my garden. It never ceases to amaze me that she almost disappears in warm months, but comes back in the cold of winter like a pale princess.
Even though the foliage is less than attractive at times, when it blooms, this Night-blooming Cereus is stunning. Sadly, you have to catch it late at night or first thing in the morning to enjoy its one-night bloom.
The cassia, with their tall, exotic structure and candle-like blooms is always a thriller in the garden. Especially the year before last when they didn’t die back in the winter and grew to be about 12 feet tall in its second season.
Then of course there is the Moy Grande hibiscus — phenomenal blooms as big as plates. On a mid-summer day, there were as many as 12 giant blooms open at once. It’s a real show-stopper.
These irises are really exotic, but I’m so enamored with the color that I eagerly await their bloom every spring. It’s a Louisiana iris, “Professor Neil” and one of my favorites.
The Bletilla Striata, or ground orchids are defnitely bling. Just the thought that I have “orchids” growing in the ground amazes me!

The plumerias definitely are exotics, but they love it here. It’s been a particularly good year for them this year. They’ve liked the extra moisture in the air.
But on the same note, I’ve had to pull this Desert Rose out of the rain many times this summer because I wants to be dry, dry, dry. And it rewarded me with these great blooms.
These? No exotic at all, but the giant patch of wine cup that completely covers my rock path each spring is another jaw dropper. I walk around the path for months, because I can’t bear to cut it back one little bit!
And this ia a perfectly ordinary Wisconsin ditch lily, brought to me in a bucket by car by Lori, the Gardener of Good and Evil . Hemerocalis experts frown at these common ditch lilies, but this amazing plant bloomed for me ALL summer long and at times had a dozen hot tangerine blooms at once.

I had a hard time limiting my choices because there are so many plants in my garden that I think are special. So, these are just a few of my favorite things.

Which plants are the bling in your garden?

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:25-06:00October 10th, 2010|Bletilla Striata, bling, Blog, Cassia, desert rose, ditch lily, ginger, Moy Grande hibiscus, night blooming cereus, Phoebe, plumeria, Sharing Nature's Garden, special plants, winecup|0 Comments

Too much of a good thing!

This week we were blessed with three quenching inches of rain. It came with a vengeance, bringing with it clashes of thunder and bolts of lightning too intense to ignore, even at 3 a.m.

Living in perpetual drought (Okay- I exaggerate just a smidge, but not much!), we welcomed the storm and the resulting drink. But today, I saw the flip side of all that rain at once. Just like our tomato skins will split with too much surprise moisture, my first crop of plums burst at the seams from the rain.

Let me tell you, though — it was like nectar of the Gods when I ate the rest of it! It’s a little small and a little too tart yet, but I LOVE that I have plums. I thought this was an ornamental tree until Dakota (the dog) ate her first fallen plums a few weeks ago.

Then I had to cut back the monstrous overgrowth of Wine Cups that have obliterated the rock pathway and begun taking over the lawn. All that rain just fed the monster!
So, THEN, I had to go through the beds and get some cutting flowers for make a lovely posey for the kitchen.
That makes me happy. Who said you can have too much of a good thing?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:42:31-05:00June 11th, 2010|Blog, cut flowers, cutting garden, Mexican Plum, posey, Sharing Nature's Garden, winecup|0 Comments

Plants in a time of freeze…

Welcome back and Happy New Year!

I’ve been AWOL for the holiday-travel-birthday-holiday-travel-holiday-birthday season. (Technically, the last birthday isn’t over. Our 7-year old daughter and 12 little friends will be tumbling and eating pizza and cookie cake at the gymnastics center tomorrow afternoon!) But tonight is close enough!

I have so missed blogging. And I miss visiting other blogs, too. But I have to swear off entirely or I will get sucked into the vortex. (You know the vortex, don’tcha?!)

Sometimes life interferes with gardening and blogging, but boy I feel it. I miss the creative outlet and communing with nature and my blogging buds. I’ve been itching to garden, too, but our deep freeze is making that unlikely — this week, at least!

So I walked through the garden before last night’s 24F freeze to see what I could see.I know you will NOT believe this, but this is a Winecup that is STILL blooming from last Spring on the Rock Path! We have had frosts and light freezes already, and yet it still survives!
These are Daffodil bulbs peeking up to see what’s going on out here.
This is the very sad Agave desmettiana variegata. It did NOT fare as well through the light frosts of earlier Fall. In fact, it looks like mush. And last night did it in. Chalk one up to a lesson learned. I did not know it was so tender. All the other new Agaves in the garden this year seem to be weathering the storms ok.
This is my salmon and pink Acapulco Agastache – dead on top, but already bursting with new foliage from the base thanks to some recent sunny 50F days.
This Aralia is officially dead now. Totally wilter – I wonder if it will come back? Do you know?
This is the giant bowl of radishes, lettuce and Swiss Chard that I picked before the freeze. We ate the chard tonight with some bacon and balsamic vinegar and had radishes to eat by themselves. I pulled a 1015 onion and they are nowhere near forming bulbs. Think they are gonna bite the dust. Strawberries seem ok so far.

If they’re right (the mysterious “they”), tonight will be the true test if it gets down to 19F. (But then again, they said it might not get above freezing all day today, and I hit 39 and very sunny late afternoon here, so go figure!)

Be warm. Wherever you are, I’m sure it’s cold tonight!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:35-06:00January 8th, 2010|aralia, Blog, freeze, frost agave agastache, Sharing Nature's Garden, swiss chard, winecup|0 Comments

We’re back!

I’m back to blogging after a few weeks of taking care of family, and what to my wondering eyes should appear?

No, not eight tiny reindeer!

But a slew of new plants and blooms popping out in the garden — back after the winter’s hiatus to show off for me.

Above, a full 3 months ahead of schedule, I have a beautiful blooming Pride of Barbados. Our incredibly mild winter kept it from dying all the way back and so it got a big jump on growth. Which is great with me, because I just love those wispy, exotic blooms.

Caladiums are popping up in the shady beds in between other things.

This tiny Lobelia is a volunteer that decided to grow in the crack on the edge of the steps to the rock bed.
This is a salmon/pink Gladiola that is growing with a cluster of others behind the greenhouse and in the cutting flower bed. It’s the first one to open and I can wait to CUT it!
Here we have a cluster of Larkspur, given to me by MSS of Zanthan Gardens. In spite of my late planting of the seeds, they have proven to be winners and are so pretty — the first seeds to bloom in the cutting garden.
Here is a new bloom on my Carefree Beauty rose, also known as a Katy Road Rose.
Another shot of the amazing and HUGE display of Winecups in the rock path. They are growing so much that they have obliterated the entire pathway! I am happy to step out of their way and into the grass, though my DH thinks it’s quite foolish.
This Sago palm is very excited that it’s spring and that summer is on its way. This male is producing its cones, which are torpedo shaped and produce pollen. In the wild, the male pollen is spread by wind or insects to the female cycads, which produce a cabbage shaped reproductive organ with seeds that receive the pollen. Cool, huh?!

The Mexican Oregano is blooming profusely. It loves our sunny climate.
The black Elephant Ears are happy right now, but they may have to be babied some in the heat of the summer.
I love the orange bloom on this purple canna that showed up this week.
And these daylilies are lining one side of the pool bed with their deep, burgundy, velvety blooms.
Some Esperanza or Yellow Bells, have already been blooming around town, and mine have caught up. But it’s still pretty early for them.
My Rock Rose is showing her pretty flowers, too — next to the Indigo Spires Salvia.
These little Veronicas are growing nicely in their second year.

So, these are all my new friends that are back in the garden this year. So nice to be able to see them while walking around.

And my Mom is home and healing nicely ~~ thanks for your kind thoughts and prayers.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:45-06:00May 18th, 2009|Bird of Paradise, Blog, caladium, cannas, carefree beauty rose, elephant ears, esperanza, gladiola, larkspur, lobelia, Mexican Oregano, Sago, Sharing Nature's Garden, veronica, winecup|0 Comments

My favorite Native Plant for the contest~

Here’s my entry for Gardening Gone Wild’s native plant photo contest.

This is my very favorite — it’s Winecup, or Malvaceae, in the Mallow family. The vibrant blooms are stunning against the spring backdrop of green foliage and they just seem to pop right out of the landscape when you see them. And, as a bonus, it’s a spreading, drought-tolerant perennial, which makes it perfect for me here in Central Texas.

I actually have two different varieties in my rock path. As you can see from these two close-up photos, the leaves on these two are dramatically different.

I never tire of these, but some years I do lose them to a bunny salad!