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Monday, May 3, 2010

PLANTS GROW QUICKLY IN TEXAS

It took a harsh winter to get me moving and redo the planting in front of the dining room window. In late February we removed everything. I did a complete turnaround on the plants replacing the old Indian Hawthorn and Butterfly iris with Red Yucca, Salvia greggii, Mexican feather grass and Whale's tongue agave. See how quickly they are growing. I purchased one gallon red yucca and quart salvias. Feather grasses were transplanted from the granite pathway at the back. I also popped in some ice plant I grew from seed this year and several ruby crystal grasses, also from seed. A few Mexican ruellia and skullcaps round out the rest of the planting. I'm really happy with the outcome. It has a much neater appearance which I hope will stay that way.

6 comments:

  1. I love the trickle fountain and the neat new design. I, too, often feel claustrophobic and have the desire to rip out overly exuberant plants. The resulting tidiness is so calming.

    I think plants, even the drought tolerant ones like red yucca, really like more water than they typically get here in central Texas. I'm glad your new plants are settling in for you.

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  2. I think this design fits in better with the overall look of your rocky entry garden. It looks terrific, and like MSS, I really admire your fountain.

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  3. Thanks MSS and Pam- Yes, what a find that old post support was. It actually looks much better than the original rock with a hole. We are getting a lot of evaporation though, or we have a hole somewhere. That wouldn't be surprising as the sump used to be a planter and had several drainage holes in the bottom which were filled. This is a difficult spot which gets only the sun later in the day , when it is blasting down. I'm sure the plants say to themselves " here it comes" as the shadow starts to disappear.

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  4. It looks really great and I too like the clean, almost spare, look.

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  5. Beautiful design.

    Would love to know more about your fountain!

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  6. Thanks for stopping by, Kathleen. Maybe I should go into the business! Actually, we were up in Dallas visiting our son. Out in the back alley we found this lump of concrete. It had once held a 4x4 post. The nails were still in the center, the post long rotted. It was just dumped out there half buried in a pile of soil. A light went on in my head. Water feature. We already had a water feature in this spot, made from a natural stone which happened to have a nice hole in the center. It took two of them to hoist it onto our truck and then we used it in the same spot as the stone. Just a simple planter buried in the ground and a small pump, now 10 years old. The stone rests on some bricks washed up on a Florida beach, with a sheet of wire over the top. I'm such a scrounger. It is just perfect for the setting and the birds come there to drink.

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