I'VE GOT A LOVELY BUNCH OF...POMEGRANATES

I know, it's supposed to read "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" Much as I longed to win a coconut when I went to the fair as a girl, I think I would rather have my bunch of pomegranates these days. The thought of all that delicious juice, so much better than that watery coconut juice. There is a bountiful harvest again this year, which will make it all the more difficult to pull out the tree!

A TOBLERONE KIND OF MORNING

The wonderful smell of chocolate was on the air this morning, emanating from the chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata.

Then I noticed the alyssum was sending out its sweet honey fragrance and I could think of only one thing, Toblerone. My favorite chocolate in the whole word!

I only have one chocolate daisy, growing in the sunken garden. It seems to be long lived as it has been there for over 5 years. Flowering from time to time throughout the season, I cut it back at least 3 times a year and up it pops again. I have had no success in growing it from seeds collected from the plant. I have masses of alyssum which reseeds itself with abandon. I'll be looking out for the daisy at the Lady Bird Johnson fall plant sale Oct. 8-10th. This plant was featured in their recent Wildflower magazine so I imagine there will be others looking for the plant.

Incidentally, the fragrance is not enough to stop me buying toblerone!

MAKING THE MOST OF THE RAIN

Anyone who lives in central Texas knows that we have a few plants that respond immediately to rain. The day after the rain I saw the slender stems of rain lilies, Cooperia drummondii poking through the ground and within 2 days they burst into flower.

They don't always grow where you want them to grow, even though you try to grab those seeds as soon as they are ripe and put them where you want them.

I have them growing between the pavers in the vegetable garden and in the herb beds. Even more than ever this year. The flowers don't last long and this year they were pounded into the ground by the 10" of rain that fell, in one day, in my garden.

Nevertheless, here come the seed heads. They must be self pollinated. Now if I can just remember to keep my eye on the seeds.

Another plant that responds immediately, but this time to late summer rain, is the oxblood lily. Nothing showing above ground last Thursday but by Sunday, after 3" of rain, I photographed them in full flower. The flowering was short lived due to Tuesday's torrential downpours. I'll have to wait another year to see these ones again.
I don't think these two make good companions. Even though I moved all my cactus, succulents and agaves out of the rain, the second time, there was enough moisture to get things moving in the toadstool world.

Finally, roots appeared overnight, along the stems of the Huernia. Time for some repotting.

MAKING USE OF NATURE'S TRELLIS

While Central Texas is being hammered by the effects of tropical storm Hermine there is no chance to get out in the garden. The rain is welcome to our dry parched gardens, but I'd rather be out there working. In the meantime here's an idea for an easy grow it yourself trellis.

Morning glories show up every year in my garden and so does the amaranth, which can easily attain a height of 6'. This year the accidental happy marriage of these plants.

I might just use this combination in other places next year. In fact I can see they might make a good arbor. These two have joined together at the top. Where will they go now?

ANY SURPRISES?

"Any surprises?" David asked me, as we sat down to dinner on our first evening home. I had been working in the garden all day. "You mean more than dead plants?" I replied. Of course that was all that was on my mind. That and weeds. I know what he was thinking. Back to 2 years ago, when we returned from our summer trip to find squatters in the garden. No such luck.

A day later I couldn't wait to tell him that I had found a really good surprise. In the middle of an enormous clump of tomatillos, which I was about to pull out as all the fruit had mysteriously disappeared, a single pink flower. Wow! What's that? I rushed in the house to look in my Wildflowers of Texas book (thank you, Michael, this is the best little Texas Wildflower book). Organized by color and right there on the very first page, announcing the red-pink flowers, was my flower. Now identified as Hooker's palafoxia, Palafoxia hookeriana.

To think, but for that flower in bloom it would have been yanked. The rather lanky foliage does look rather weed like.

Described as one of the state's most beautiful wildflowers I can expect a terminal cluster of flowers which will resemble a bouquet. Long blooming, as long as I remove the seed heads, allowing only the final flowers to set seed to ensure another flowering next year. Not in the vegetable bed.

The plant was named in honor of Sir William Jackson Hooker, first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Yes, what a surprise.

YARD SALE FINDS

I probably spend as much time thinking about my garden when I am away as when I am at home. Usually, making plans for what I am going to do when I get home. I visit as many gardens and nurseries as I can. This year it was Denver, Red Butte in Salt Lake and Sawtooth Botanical Garden. As well as that, if we are in a town on a Saturday we will make a point of going to a few garage sales. Not something we ever do at home but it is fun to do it while on a road trip.

These were my finds this year along with a few gardening books.

A stainless steel kitchen compost container, complete with filters. Already I am enjoying using it. I used to be a bit lazy about the small stuff but now I have the container right in front of me it is easy. I think it was a bargain at $5.

3 terra cotta pots, made in Italy.

A sun and moon wall hanging.

A ceramic frog.

A leaf shaped plate which could serve as a bird seed holder or I could just use it at the table.

I rounded off the composition with a vase of Texas sunflowers. I said I wasn't going to let them grow in my garden this year but they didn't listen to me. I came back to a 6' tree. Where do they get the water from? Have they tapped into my water supply?

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

As we pull into the neighborhood I have butterflies in my tummy and trepidation in my heart. The two Vitex agnus-castus trees at the end of the driveway have shriveled, burnt to a crisp leaves.

This gardener has been absent from her garden for over 6 weeks. The garden has been on its own at the mercy of a somewhat inadequate drip watering system and with a bit of luck some rain from heaven. It doesn't look like the latter happened.

Here's a good plant to describe what I see as I enter into the front courtyard. The Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia, Torch( growing alongside the sunken garden) Nothing in here is blooming, Blackfoot daisies, four nerve daisies, skullcaps all dried up but still, I am pleased to say I think I see a little life. My neighbor tells me that some areas close by did get nearly an inch of rain, during our absence, but in our neighborhood not a drop. Most of the front courtyard has no irrigation, relying on a little rain from time to time. Even those areas with drip lines looked little better.

The sunken garden fared a little better although the blooms look stunted. The large sandstone pavers protect the roots of the plants somewhat. Even so, the narrow leaf zinnias and skullcaps, so prevalent between the stones, are withered.

I won't even share pictures of the vegetable garden before I began the morning. The weeds there were beyond belief. Some the size of trashcan lids. Some as high as as the plants they have infested. I began my onslaught by removing 2 trash cans of weeds.

By lunchtime I am starting to feel a little better. I can see the pathways again and there are some narrow leaf zinnias to brighten the, now empty, beds. Notice the lemon grass plant. I grew a plant like this once before and after it 'ate' all the soil it had to be removed with a chain saw. This is looking like deja vu.

This was a 4" plant in May. I need to get out the Thai recipes.

'Senorita' I'm impressed. One plant to test this year and who knows how many next year! You're a winner.

Gomphrena will always have a place in the summer garden.

Along the back raised bed in the veg garden the drips have done a better job keeping the zinnias and gomphrenas alive. Who cares about colors that clash!

What the garden needs now is a serious infusion of water. I think it will save this Mangave.

But maybe not this lamb's ears.

It's all in a gardener's day.

PICTURE THIS PHOTO CONTEST, ON THE ROAD AGAIN

This month's gardening contest, hosted by Gardening Gone Wild, asks us to share a photo from our travels. My camera is never far from my pocket when I am traveling and my eye is constantly drawn to every flower along the roadside and on every hike.

"On the road again" That's where we are right now and have been for several weeks. I am posting this from the campsite. Wifi! amazing.

Choosing an image was no easy task, especially when it came to ones with native flowers. In the end I chose this one, taken in the Sawtooth mountains of Idaho, where this year, a late spring gave us the opportunity to hike among splendid wildflowers. Close to my heart, as a Texan, this clump of lupins growing at 9ooo' Their fragrance was wonderful.

Apologies to this nearby Indian paintbrush.

GETTING A GARDEN FIX WHEN AWAY FROM HOME. DENVER BOTANIC GARDEN

This time it was with a visit to the Denver Botanic Gardens. There were so many memorable places and vistas but I begin with one of my favorites. Is it because I am English born that this garden reminds me of so many of those wonderful English gardens?

Our visit coincided with "Moore in the Gardens" Presenting 20 of the British sculptor Henry Moore's monumental works. Here a long shot of the same garden seen through his Oval with Points.
We had reached this garden, the Schlessman Plaza and fragrance garden, by walking down the perennial walk. But for the fact that the walkway was paved rather than grassed I thought I was at Wisley. The long perennial walks, which originated in Europe, were designed as a rebellion against the formal gardens of the Victorian era. This was more of a mixed border with annuals mixed in among perennials but providing color and texture through all seasons.

Rest a while among the achillea.
Watch the barracuda leap by the wall of water.

Or take a minute in the shade of one of the two summer houses. Always a feature in many English gardens; a must on even a nice summer's day.

My granddad built a sunken garden in his garden. Like the walled kitchen gardens, a sunken garden would afford protection against the harsh winds, providing a microclimate. Here in Denver another garden which was to remind me of my long ago home.

From the English style of garden to a garden across the other side of the world; the Moongate leads into the Chinese garden. It represents the full moon and happiness.

A pebble pathway leads through the lush planting..

To the Ting, which in Chinese means 'pause' inviting the visitor to stop and rest and enjoy the scenery. Not a hard thing to do on a hot day in Denver.

This interesting vine was Lonicera reticulata, Kintzleys Ghost Grape Honeysuckle.

The South African Garden displayed many of the plants I am familiar with. The succulents were beautifully displayed in various levels of planters.

Or raised on gravel beds

The rock alpine garden with the cactus and succulent house in the background.

The gateway into the Japanese garden.

Stone, water and plants brought together in such a way that we would recognize this garden immediately.

A stop for lunch at the cafe. Great paninis.

Overlooking the potager, or kitchen garden with its giant headed alliums. I think I should change the name of my vegetable garden to 'potager'. It does sound so much nicer.
More Moore. Mother and child.

Daylilies in full bloom.

Please someone tell me what these flowers are and will they grow in Texas. They were stunning en masse.
More places to sit in the shade.

I would love to grow this frilly cosmos too but have never had much luck with any but the native orange variety.

And if you find the idea of a tank in your garden too 'Texas' then here's an idea with a softer look.
there is a little bit of everything in the gardens. Here a style that might be a little closer to home.
A green roof, although I am not sure how this would offer much of a cooling effect.

A recent bond, to fund parks, means that new gardens are being added all the time. I was given a peek at the new Mordecai children's garden which will open later in August. Here children were helping with the planting.

One thing is for sure. I won't pass through Denver gain without spending a day at the gardens. Members of the Wildflower Center enter the garden without charge.