A GARDENER MUST DO THIS EVERY DAY

Every morning, before the heat of the day sets in, I take a stroll around the gardens. Most times I am carrying a cup of tea and not infrequently I put it down, pull out my phone and take a  photograph of a particularly pleasing view. Early morning is the best time which captures plants refreshed by cooler night temperatures.

View from the vegetable garden over the wall into the pool garden

The Monarda 'Peters Purple' and the tall spires of mullein, in the sunken garden, just looked perfect this morning.
I have no control over where the mullein place themselves. In fact I tried to transplant one this year and it didn't like the place I put it. But these just add a little drama to the back corner of the garden. Gone is the sadness of losing the Rosa Zepherine drouhin rose that once sprawled over the wall.

This spring we removed much of the planting along the back of the pool and replaced it with Mexican river rocks. I only left a few grasses and echinacea. On my morning walk I made a note that the wall looks a little stark. Maybe a taller grass behind the rock or maybe a mullein will plant itself there. I am definitely much happier to have the rock rather than the bare soil and I like the variety of colors in the rock.

Just a few more weeks to enjoy all 'this' in the herb garden. Soon it will be time to remove the parsley and cilantro gone to seed, and the seed heads of nigella.

And the Confederate rose agave clump, on the center pedestal, with the mother plant sending up a flower stalk. I will probably have to redo the whole pot because the mother plant is going to leave a big hole. Will the youngsters stay in there or will I have to make a completely new planting?

Two things took me by surprise in the herb garden. The flowering of the dill. Rather like parsley it makes a pretty umbel worthy of a place in any garden.

And an unusual variation in the color of Coreopsis tinctoria. Among all the yellows a beautiful burgundy. Now if that isn't a reason not to pull out all those seedlings. You never know which will be a surprise. I must remember to collect seeds.

I like this clump of self-sown echinacea in the English garden. If only it bloomed all summer!

But I need to remove this pink self sown lantana nearby. It just gets too big and requires too many cut backs during the summer.

This walk around the garden is not just a pleasure but an important part of noting changes you need to make. What works and what doesn't. Now on with the day's work

WE MET IN A PARKING LOT

It was a cold December day when I met Daphne Richards, our Travis County Extension Agent for Horticulture, in the parking lot of a local store. We transferred a couple of chunks of a dormant plant into the trunk of my car. Monarda, Peter's Purple, was the new sensation and Daphne had plenty to share among the Austin gardeners. Monarda, more commonly known as bee balm, suffers greatly from our hot, humid summers but this one, a cross between two southern varieties, was supposed to stand up to such conditions without developing mildew. It is much showier than our native bee balms Monarda punctata and Monarda citriodora, whose blooms vary from white to pale purple and bloom about the same time.

I and my fellow gardeners began sharing until we could share no more. I even sent some up to a gardener in Dallas. Then I took a clump and put it above the sunken garden between the sunken garden and the pool. Because this plant spreads by underground runners the second year it grew into the yellow iris. What I great idea, I thought, the two can bloom together or if the iris is slightly ahead the monarda will take over. Indeed. The monarda has taken over to the point where this year I will be pulling it all out and finding a new home for it. My yellow iris didn't care for its companion.

It is such a pity because a photograph of the plant in my garden, very similar to the one above, was chosen by Nancy Ondra to be featured in her recent book, The Perennial Matchmaker.  Monarda, Peter's Purple, purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, and Rudbeckia hirta do make for a very pleasing combination.
And there is no surprise as to how the bee balm acquired its name because all manner of bees are attracted to the flowers.

And what great long lasting cut flowers they make. So when I began pulling some of the clump out last week I brought a huge bunch of flowers into the house. They are still going strong.

Never fear. I have this plant growing in two other places in the garden and I will likely find a new home for some of the one I take out. But if you live in Austin and would like to meet me in a parking lot this winter. Let me know and I will put you on the list.

GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY JUNE 2014

Welcome to my garden on this special day of the month, when Carol of Maydreams hosts gardeners everywhere showing their June blooms. Here is what is blooming in my garden at the moment.

This day lily is a special bloom today. Among all the other flowers growing in the sunken garden I spotted  flash of color I had never seen before. It has taken 4 years and a move to get the plant to bloom. It was one of those sad looking plants on the sale table at Lowes. I gave it what I thought was a good home but when it failed to bloom year after year I finally moved it last fall. I think I have to do that with all my day lilies which have not done well this year.

The recent rain has been good for my flowers. The sunken garden is my most colorful garden with many self-seeding flowers.

Rudbeckia, Rudbeckia hirta, and cone flowers, Echinacea purpurea, and Monarda Peter's purple are among the most showy this year.

I think they are partly responsible for the day lily failure as they completely crowded them out.

My two jasmine plants, this first one on the pool wall, the white Trachelospermum jasminoides, and the second by the front door, with a more dominant yellow center, were badly damaged during that late spring freeze, when the temperature dropped as low as 18° Many of their stems split and the plant died back to whole wood. They have made a good comeback and are now blooming, probably the latest we have ever seen. Their fragrance fils the air in the early morning.

In the raised bed in the vegetable garden California poppies, both orange and white are blooming. Their blooms get progressively smaller as the plant ages but still make a welcome swath of color.

Wall germander, Germander teucrium is one of the few plants which I left along the pool edge when I cleaned and mulched this spring. I must remember to take more cuttings this winter.

In one of my hypertufa pots in the front courtyard, the balloon cactus, Notocactus magnificus, responded to rain by putting out 3 blooms. To bad this cactus is marred by the hail we had one day this spring.

Verbena bonariensis in the herb garden. Goldfinches love their seeds.

Clouds of pale pink blossoms on the showy oregano, Oregano pulchellum.

The Chaste tree, Vitex agnus-castus. There has been a lot of talk recently about this plant being invasive. It does seem to seed around my garden quite often so it is advisable to cut of the spent blooms.

Square-bud primrose, Calylophus drummondianus.

Water lilies are blooming in my stock tank water garden.

Wishing you a great bloom day, wherever you garden, and thanks for visiting.

BEFORE I REALLY GET GOING

Can you imagine how much I have to share about the gardens I visited on my travels? But wait, all in good time. I have my own garden and there were one or two nice surprises waiting for me when I got home.

I can have a little bit of England in Texas. Old Foxy foxglove, Digitalis sp. was blooming her head off. I have tried for years to grow this plant and finally this year opted to grow it in a pot. Count on me trying that again next year.

Monarda, Peter's Purple is a mass of blooms. There is a frenzy of bees and other insects around the plant. This plant should be in every Texas garden.

The lily pads had just about covered the stock tank pond and there was a bloom. This bloom is the hardy water lily, Nymphaea 'Colorado'

The twist-leaf yucca, Yucca recurvifolia,  was flowering. I moved this one into the garden a few years ago because there is no way a flower survives out in deer land.

And while I was gone tomatoes, Celebrity, Yellow pear, Black Krim, Yellow boy, Sweet 100. and peppers, Pinot noir, were ripening. Mmmm, nothing like a home grown tomato.

What a nice welcome home, garden.