LUCINDA'S GARDEN

On the Saturday and Sunday of this year's Austin Garden Bloggers' Fling I joined the group of 93 flingers to visit a broad selection of Austin gardens. Both days began with a cool sunny morning and progressed to hot sunny afternoons. Visitors were often seen taking advantage of the homeowners' swimming pools by dipping their toes. It seems it has become quite a tradition at the Fling to see this kind of happening.
I loved all the gardens we visited but have to say that there are some gardens which positively announce the vibrant personality of their creator. "Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are" the words written long ago by the English poet Alfred Austin.  This photograph of Lucinda Hutson outside her front door says it all.

In an area of Austin that was once a grove of pecan trees, on a pleasant leafy street with many pretty cottage homes, built in the 1930s and 40s, is one particularly charming house. I remember the first time I visited it was quite easy to pick out the 'purple house' of Lucinda Hutson.  Not quite so easy today as the ginkgo tree has grown taller and fuller casting some welcome shade, and a kumquat, which shades a delightful seating area in front of the house, soften the brightly colored purple walls of her house.

It truly was the most perfect morning for our visit.

A delightful seating area beneath the kumquat tree.

Her front garden is cottage style with an amazing variety of plants and herbs, the ginkgo tree casting just enough shade to make a comfortable place for them to grow well. I couldn't help but marvel at how Lucinda's selection of plants knitted together so well with not the least air of untidiness.

And the hell strip is similarly planted with native heart leaf skull cap, Scuttelaria ovata, hesperaloe and spineless opuntia. In the Mexican tradition the name of her precious cat has been carved on one of the cactus pads.

Hesperaloe flowers in the hell strip

I asked Lucinda if she had any schooling in art and was surprised to hear she had not. She certainly has an artists eye. Look at this pretty selection for her lavender pot.

Years ago there was a driveway alongside the house which led to a garage at the back. (That garage today is just used for overwintering tender plants). A gardening friend suggested Lucinda should build a wall across from the house to create a private area. They built it together.

And leading up to the archway to the side garden several Tuscan pots with, of course, Salvia 'Amistad' in her signature color.
I remember years ago there were iris growing here, which she shred with us. I think every gardener in our group now has that iris and we refer to it as Lucinda's iris. We may have to share it back as she now sh has only one small patch at the end of the driveway.

Through the gateway looking back outside is a reminder of times in Lucinda's youth which she spent in Southern California at her grandmother's.

 And now the story really begins and Lucinda is there to share, with bountiful joy, all the special areas of significance in her garden. She grew up in El Paso and with travels into Mexico with her father and subsequent travel on her own she came to love the Mexican culture and particularly their use of color.
Behind the wall lies the mermaid grotto and mermaids will feature not just in this part of the garden but also in her house.

Mermaid grotto

And the the shrine to Our Lady of La Tina was once a claw foot tub, now decorated and set in stone. La Tina is a play on words as la tina means bath in Mexico.

Look up, look down, with every glance something new. How many things did I miss? Plenty I am sure. And in so looking I ended up missing taking photographs for many things.

Haitian steel oil drum carvings

In her surprisingly spacious back garden there is room to sit, a colorful serving area and a log cabin work retreat.

No doubt she spent many hours in her 'creative cathedral' writing her books, The Herb Garden Cookbook and Viva Tequila!

And things didn't stop with a garden visit. The back door of the garden opened onto the 'stairway to heaven'. Notice Sancho's special doorway. He must walk theses stairs many times. But we were requested to enter the house by the front door.

I don't think I have been on many garden tours where a house tour was included, but Lucinda has an unusual and very special house. Her collection of Mexican folk handicrafts may rival that of any museum. It put me in mind of Charles Wade who bought Snowshill to house his incredible collection of exquisite handicrafts.

Every inch of her house is decorated with the utmost care and creativity.

And time in the kitchen being very close to my heart, a few photographs of where Lucinda perfected her many recipes.

And libations!

After all Lucinda is an expert on Tequila.

Thank you Lucinda for inviting 93 Flingers and their cameras into your garden and home. It was a special and memorable morning for us all.

THERE'S A DRAGON IN THE GARDEN

There's a dragon in the garden and he's breathing his fiery breath over my plants.

The dragon was a chance find at an estate sale and as things are at the moment I thought he deserved a place over here.

Can it just be a 6 weeks ago that I was lamenting that 3" downpour on the day of the Fling visit to my garden. Since then we have been completely dry. While other gardeners were recently blessed with another 3" downpour, the storm passed to the north and left nothing here. My stock tanks are empty. This summer is wearing thin-wait a minute it isn't even summer yet. High nineties have been the order of the day for weeks now with a few 100s thrown in. The second flush of flowers, Monarda, Echinacea, Rudbeckia, day lilies have all had a pitifully short season this year. I'm sure I am partly to blame because the soil is poor and drip irrigation has minimal impact when it is so dry.

Who needs flowers anyway? Rocks look pretty good.

and there are plenty of the tough green plants.

The Liatris doesn't seem to need any additional water. In some places it is growing out of the rocks. It is growing everywhere in the front courtyard, having seeded freely, and will bloom with incredible purple spires in the fall........or will that be sooner this year.

Everything has gone quiet in the front courtyard. But that's OK. Less work for me.

Thank goodness for some very tough plants out in the front. These are the plants that manage without additional water although they may not look their absolute best.

And I have moved a few plants into the only shade I have in the side entry courtyard. Even cactus and succulents need a break and I shall be ready for one myself soon.

I have added a battery powered drip irrigation system in here for the summer to water a few plants that need a daily water when I can't be there to do it.

Including the asparagus fern by the garage door. Even the fish have moved into the shade.

There is rain in the forecast for this next week but then we know how that goes.

TROPICAL CONDITIONS FOR A TROPICAL PLANT

 We are experiencing a heat wave. Having just tolerated the warmest May on record and with summer not even started we are all feeling mighty nervous about what is to come. My second red flowering plant of the month is feeling right at home. Variously named the Japanese lantern flower, spider hibiscus, fridge flower, Hibiscus schizopetalus, hails not from Japan but tropical East Africa.

They are the most exotic of all the flowers I grow. The ephemeral frilled flowers with their lacy curved-back petals and their dangling stamens certainly don't look as though they belong in Texas. And don't be fooled by their dangling over my water feature. The plant is in a pot and barely 2 years old.

The first time I came across the plant was in a greenhouse at the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens  in Grand Junction, Colorado. Then again in the garden of a San Antonio friend. She very kindly brought me two cuttings both of which took. I overwinter the plants in the garage where they remain semi evergreen. As they bloom on short spurs on last years wood pruning must be kept to a minimum. One plant I pruned to a single trunk and the other has three long stems arising from the base. . Every day new blooms open and bring a little touch of the exotic to my garden.

At 2:30 pm the temperature outside is 96º F and with the humidity feels like 109ºF.

STANDING CYPRESS

Just look at the standing cypress, Ipomopsis rubra, reaching for the sky. Isn't it a stunner? Worth the wait for this biennial flower. It's just a beacon for hummingbirds and is lapping up today's temperature in the high 90s. That's because it has a very long tap root which not only helps it tap into moisture deep within the soil but also allows it to grow to 5' or more and sway in the wind without being uprooted.

 This is one plant that likes my poor rocky soils and manages well with a minimum of water. I will cut it back after blooming in the hope of another round of flowers in the fall. Seeds germinate in the fall when the temperatures are in the 60s and need light to germinate. They found good spot here as I see several seedling plants in the same area which will provide me with a good showing next year. In the past I have had plants with yellow flowers but this year they are all red. Gone are the days when I would have banished red flowers from the garden. They re certainly a match for our current fiery weather.

This is how the plant looks in its first year of growth.

 This one has seeded just at the foot of the steps going down into the veg. garden. I won't be able to move it for fear of not being able to get out the whole of the tap root. Not a good location but I will let it stay. I'm certainly planning on having more if these next year. 
Look for the small ferny plants in 4" pots in the fall.

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