A TOUCH OF COLOR IN THE DECEMBER GARDEN

Fall has been a very short season this year. The heat continued through to late November making it impossible to move the plants I would normally move in the fall. I put in winter annuals-they fried. I planted fall vegs. they were eaten by caterpillars and a huge hatch of tarnished plant bugs.
This weekend winter arrived, with a cold rain and promise of a heavy freeze later this week. It will not be the first as we have already had two frosts between those 80º days. Such is Texas weather. I began to cut back many of the last blooms of the season to tidy up the garden for winter. Now, all that remain are the plants that add a touch of color in the winter garden.
It has been a hard summer for the Felicia rose. Although she continued to bloom throughout the spring and summer, the fall blooming has been a disappointment. Thrips! But on Friday a beautiful rose with the fragrance that no other rose can beat.

And this pretty little flower on the donkey ears kalanchoe, Kalanchoe gastonia-bonnieri. A native of Madagascar it blooms at the same time as it would be blooming where it comes from. I have moved it into the greenhouse for the winter.

The winter window box on the potting shed is filling out. Never mind that when I planted it up, on the ground, I planted it the wrong way around. By the time I realized it it was too late to change so the snapdragons are on the front rather than the back. I love the color on the ornamental cabbages but in my garden a window box is the only appropriate place for these plants. If only I could be more successful with cabbages in my vegetable garden. I tucked in a few seeds of nasturtiums but they probably won't survive a heavy freeze.

There are even a few new blooms on the flowering senna tree, peaking over the wall into the vegetable garden. A seedling tree that needs relocating.

Even the ghost plant, Graptopetalum,  in the sunken garden is showing tinges of color from the cooler nights.

and of course, the Euphorbia tirucalli Sticks of Fire, is also responding to the cooler nights with flashes of red on the new growth.

and here's one of the Philippine violets,  Barleria cristata, seeded alongside the pathway, starting to bloom. What am I going to do with them all? There are at least 6 growing in the wrong places which I will need to relocate when they go dormant. I already have 3 potted up in the greenhouse.

But the real splash of color comes from the Yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria.

The bird planted pyracantha espalier on the bathroom wall.

It's time for the gardener to take a break!

A DIFFERENT KIND OF FALL

Finally we are through all that summer heat madness and can look forward to cooler days ahead. It is beginning to feel like fall but, alas, fall in my garden doesn't bear much resemblance to the falls I remember growing up in England or when we lived in Canada. With mainly live oaks and junipers and few deciduous trees there is little in the way of those vibrant oranges and reds.
My fall color comes from the berries on the pyracantha which have turned color almost overnight. Paired here with the mock orange, Philadelphus 'Natchez' The mock orange has become a reliable re-bloomer in recent years.

More red berries on the ornamental pepper, Capsicum annuum 'black pearl' which, with its deep burgundy leaves pairs well with the lighter leaves of sage and columbine.

The fruit is beginning to ripen on the calamondin orange. It will be perfect to bring into the house for the holiday season.

And there are certain flowers which wait until the fall to bloom. Mexican mint marigold, Tagetes lucida.

Gomphrena decumbens 'grapes' This is a perennial variety of gomphrena which dies back during the winter but has returned for 3 years. It is a large, airy sprawling plant which, even though planted in full sun, requires the whole growing season before it flowers.  I grew it from seed gathered from a friend's garden.

Copper Canyon daisy, Tagetes lemmonii

And of course the lovely Philippine violet, Barleria cristata.

All week Keats poem has been going through my head. Just the first passage takes me back to my homeland and those fall days I remember. I love my Texas garden but the atmosphere is quite a different one from that generated by this poem.

To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and pump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel;to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er brimm'd their clammy cells.

John Keats

DECKS THE HALLS

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, tra la la la la,  la la, la, la. 'Tis the season to be jolly, tra la la la la , la la la, la.

Bring your garden into the house to celebrate the festive season. Make it an all natural Christmas celebration. Go out into the garden and pick holly or other evergreens, tie together and fasten on a raffia bow. What could be more simple.
Gathering greenery from the countryside and bringing it into the house during the dark days of winter was how people celebrated years ago. The evergreen branches were an important sign that life carried on despite most plants and trees shedding their leaves. At our house sprigs of holly were hung over the mirrors, picture frames, sconces.

Why not brighten up your indoor arrangements with berries and garlands.

A couple of months ago I decided rather than buying flowers for the house I would make up a basket of potted plants. I had picked up this basket at a garage sale for $1. I bought $10 worth of green plants, added one or two of my own ( thanks for the Kalanchoe, Diana). Now I am adding some pine cones, leaves and garland to dress it up for Christmas.

At the front door some holly and pyracantha in this planter made by our blogging, gardening friend Bob at Draco Gardens who makes the most incredible metal work. You name it, he can make it.

In the family home mistletoe was hung over the light just inside the front door. It was a way to welcome people into the house with a kiss! I remember going to parties as a teenager when the boys would carry a sprig of mistletoe to steel a kiss. What they didn't seem to care about was the fact that for each kiss they must remove a berry and when all the berries were gone then no more kissing. Because mistletoe was not easy to come, and therefore most had only a small sprig, you can imagine there were more kisses than berries. How they would have loved my branch of mistletoe. So many berries. There is no problem finding mistletoe in Texas, but our mistletoe is a different species from the one I grew up with in Europe. The Texas species, Phoradendron, meaning 'tree thief' in Greek, is almost always found on Spanish oak, elm and hackberry. Easily visible in the winter months, the plant, which is a parasite, rarely kills the tree but a heavy infestation might cause the demise of an already weakened tree.
Although most of these customs have their roots in pagan rituals they have become associated with the Christmas season.
Just a few simple decorations are all it takes to make the houses festive during December.

GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY NOVEMBER 2011, A SEASONAL LOOK

Happy Bloom Day, everyone. Please join Carol of Maydreams Gardens in celebration of November Bloom Day.
Nothing really new blooming in my garden this middle of November, but something interesting. At first glance it may look a little like the Holly and the Ivy, but in fact it is the pyracantha and the chile pequin.

This variegated chile pequin showed up this year and I really like it. Variegation is caused by the inability of the merstem tissue to produce chloroblasts. The tissue is unable to make chlorophyl resulting in the light colored tissue.  Chiles grow all over the garden because the mocking bird drops the seeds from his perches high up on the walls. To maintain this plant I might have to take cuttings. I think it's worth a try to keep this one going.

The espaliered pyracantha has scaled the kitchen wall as far as it is allowed to go.

When we see the branches through the high windows we know it is time to get out the ladder and do some trimming.
This year the plant has been particularly fruitful, much to the mocking bird's delight. We'll see whether he permits the cedar wax wings to feast there in the spring.

A VARIED DIET

I caught the mocking bird flying out of the pyracantha today. He likes a varied diet.

Having eaten all the American Beautyberry berries he now has lantana as an appetizer, pokeweed as a main course with a side of chile pequin and pyracantha for dessert.

I'm certainly glad he hasn't stumbled on the pomegranates. They have all taken on this ruby red appearance, standing out like beacons. The strange thing is that you never know what they will look like inside until you cut into them. This one had rather pale seeds. They taste just as good as the ones with really luscious red seeds.

But I like it much better when I cut into one and see this.

For years we struggled with a way to get those seeds out. It was always a supremely messy job and we always had red fingers and seeds all over the place. The last year a friend bought me this simple device. It really work well. Halve the fruit and put it over the grid. Tap the back of the pomegranate with a spoon and all the seeds drop into the container.

We have them on our breakfast cereal/oatmeal every morning. They add a tangy crunch and I know they must be good for us.

POPPY FRENZY

This certainly is the year of the poppy in my garden. Even the normally single petalled poppy are turning up with can can like frills.

Not that the bees like these new frilly ones. They couldn't find their way in to find the pollen even if they tried. It's fun to watch them as they revel in the multiple numbers of pollen loaded stamens. This bee couldn't stuff more into his pollen sacs if he tried.

The corn or Flanders poppies must be thinking they are in Europe this year after the cold winter and all the rain.

What do you think of your cousins, California poppies? They don't need the sun to shine to open up! After all you can't rely on the sun to shine over the pond. We haven't had much sun over the last few days.

So many of my flowers didn't get a chance to join bloom day this April because there were so many. The mealy blue sage for one. Not in a good spot because underneath is growing the blue flax and flax took pride of place on bloom day.

The yellow mound of basket of gold, Alyssum saxatile. I started from seed last year and wish I had done more this year. I hope it likes its new home in the English garden.
Talking of English, this is an English daisy. Not the pom pom pink flowers that were on the seed packet. I am often disappointed by the picture on the packet. Even so it's a nice little flower.
Rose campion, began to flower last week. This area of campion, heart leaf skull cap and gulf coast penstemon got together to form a completely different planting from last year. They pushed out the yellow columbine that was growing there last year.

This year the pyracantha espalier and the philadelphus flowered in unison. Not good planning. I really need to put in a purple clematis to break up the white. Nevertheless, I am starting to train the pyracantha round the corner of the wall. keeping up with the pruning is a big job.
I think the philadelphus could cope with a pretty little Texas clematis twining among its white flowers. I have just the one, purchased at the Wildflower Center plant sale last Friday and still looking for a new home.

DEATH OF AN AGAVE

While the icy tentacles of winter were spreading over Central Texas last week, I was on a ship in the Sargasso Sea. Almost home after a Transatlantic cruise. I happened to catch the news on TV and it was all about the cold blast of Arctic air that had dipped down as far as Houston. I could only imagine what the temperatures were like in Austin and particularly in my garden, which seems to be the coldest spot in Austin. Arriving home on Monday evening it was too late to see anything out in the garden. This is the kind of scene that greeted me the next morning. All my A. desmettiana, in the ground and in pots, were hanging limply in the morning light.

Even those in the Spanish Oak garden, where high walls offer good protection, had succumbed to the same fate.

Just the week before, my neighbor had picked zucchini from this plant. Beans, peppers and tomatoes had met a similar fate.

The Mexican lime tree was not safely tucked away in the greenhouse as in previous years. Will it ever bear again I wonder?

Surely I could find something to cheer me up among all the destruction. This tiny native cosmos, just a couple of inches above the gravel, survived because it was so tiny. Just like alpine flowers.

The leaves of the heartleaf skullcap had no problem with shaking off the cold. They will surely give a great display in the spring.

The alyssum is not about to wait for spring. What a tough little trooper.

Among all the frozen wilted plants there are signs of the year to come. Bluebonnets, poppies, coreopsis, nigella have germinated in the fall rains.

But winter is all about berries and we certainly have plenty of those.