OH NO! NOT THESE GUYS AGAIN

Glad I spotted these guys this morning but it looks like mama has already done some damage.

DON'T DO THIS, PLEASE!

This morning I was very foolish. I was out gardening wearing flip flops. Standing on the rocks in the front garden I was removing columbine seed heads. In order to reach some at the back of the bed I put my foot onto the soil. Yikes! What was that, as a huge pain went through my big toe. As I looked down at my foot I saw blood pouring out. I had trodden on something really sharp which had punctured my shoe and gone right into my foot, almost right through. D helped me into the bathroom where I washed and dressed the wound and he came back into the house with this piece of rusty wire. It was buried in the ground held in by the right angle and sticking up along side the rock. Obviously some piece of construction metal.

Do you keep your tetanus shot up to date. My doctor had advised me about 14 years ago to have a booster every ten years, so I was up to date and didn't have to rush down there for a shot. Meanwhile, my foot is propped up and I'm getting on with some genealogy. Too hot to work outside, anyway.

MEXICAN HATS Ratibida columnaris

I don't think many would consider putting this member of the aster family in their garden, despite the fact that it is a profuse bloomer even during brutally hot weather. These flowers are currently growing on my septic field and along the roadsides and in the fields of central Texas. They are incredibly easy to grow, from seed, from root cuttings or transplants. What I love about them is the variety of colors.

This one has a double layer of petals.

We have restricted their growth to the edges of the path where they have formed quite hedge.

Deer don't eat the leaves or flowers and they never seem to get diseases or be pestered by bugs. They thrive on neglect and they would make a great addition to any wildflower garden.

Native American Indians used to boil the leaves to make a tea which they used externally to treat the rash caused by poison ivy.

GARDENS ON TOUR 2009

4662, Rockcliff Rd

This morning I left the house at 8:30 am to be sure to arrive at the gates of Rockcliff Rd by 9am. I had exactly 3 1/2 hours to visit all the gardens on tour before reporting to my volunteer post after lunch. I had watched the preview of this garden on Central Texas Gardener, a couple of weeks ago, but nothing could prepare me for the extensive nature of pathways and water features. As I walked down the pathway I couldn't help but wonder at the variety of native plants growing under the trees. In my garden deer eat every shoot that appears. Here high fences keep the deer at bay and permit the growth of such plants as this unusual white cone flower, Echinacea augustifolia, along with wine cups and heart leaf skullcaps. All native plants and thriving in this most wonderful setting.

 
The pathways opened onto the back of the house and the origin of a stream that threads its way down through the trees. Collaboration between the architect Paul Lamb and landscape architects Environmental Survey Consulting was obvious.

Here, stepping stones lead into the grotto where the sounds of water echo around the walls.

At a lower level maidenhair ferns and native columbines enjoy the cool stream side setting.

The placement of stones is so natural that the stream looks as though it has been there forever.

What dog wouldn't be happy with this special setting for his weekly bath.

When I first saw this area I thought it was a gathering area but then I saw the doggy door and remembered that someone had told me about the dog bathing area..

A row of olive jars breaks up the basketweave paving.

Another water feature at the front of the house.

It was here I caught up with  David Mahler and Troy Nixon who were the masters behind this wonderful system of trails, water features and native plantings.

5801 Kempson Drive

The next garden was quite a contrast. In this small suburban back garden the owners asked for one side of the garden to be left in its natural state; a wooded area with cedars live oaks and understory plants. Careful removal of invasive species and the introduction of more native plants created a natural, shaded wooded area with cedar mulched pathways. 

The other side of the garden, in full sun comprised large limestone ledge rocks from the area and decomposed granite gravel underfoot. 

Mounds of pink skullcap nestled among the rocks.

Mexican feather grass wafted in the breeze.

Agaves and yuccas complete the xeric planting. This was a delightful low maintenance garden.

A SECOND FLOWERING

Just when the other larkspurs in the garden have finished putting out their final blooms a new crop has started to flower. I noticed a week or so ago that there were some new seedling sprouting among the day lilies and cone flowers. It made me wonder whether we can really extend their season by doing a late seeding. Or is this just an unusual year? Well, it certainly is here. With copper canyon daisy already in flower and the promise of the worst tomato crop ever but the best pomegranate crop, things seem a little topsy turvy.

It is a big week for the cone flowers. Despite having pulled them out by the hundreds this year they are still growing all over the place.

These ones are growing in the pathway behind the pool and are such a pretty clump I can't bring myself to pull them out. My big weakness.

However, this week there was plenty of pulling out. The peas came out, and along the cucumber trellis the sweet peas and the cross vine. I don't think May dreams believed me when I said "after it flowers" which are words I often use. I pulled out the peas and David got the job of the cross vine and the lantana growing at its foot!  This vine had completely covered the greenhouse, which, I have to say made for a much more pleasant interior during the summer. We will be back to melted plastic containers again this year.

I also decided to get rid of all the alyssum. It harbors the harlequin bug and I am tired of squashing them. 

The pomegranates are really growing quickly. The flowering this year has just been beyond all expectations and I was beginning to worry about how many I was going to get. Nature has saved me the job of culling, as many have fallen to the ground. What a relief.

Here's the Meyer lemon doing the same thing. Such a pity as those lemons are the most wonderful of all the lemon varieties. I could never have enough of these fruits. 

Lemon curd,  just like my grandma used to make.

WILDFLOWER CENTER GARDENS ON TOUR

                                                              Mexican hats, Ratibida columnaris

On May 9th the Wildflower Center will be holding its Gardens on Tour. It is a chance to see how well native plants can be incorporated into the landscape. This year I will be working at 518 Buckeye Trail. I chose this garden because it was designed by Jill Nokes, and just a week ago the Austin garden bloggers had a personal tour of her own garden. Jill is a talented designer who uses native plants in her designs. 

Plan to enjoy a day of touring these special gardens and learning how you can incorporate native plants into your own landscape.

DAYLILIES TAKE CENTER STAGE

Just this past week the daylilies have come on in leaps and bounds. It must have been the rain.

Three varieties have opened their flowers in the past two days. This pale yellow with maroon markings is the tallest.

This one the shortest at barely one foot. Unfortunately, something, and I would probably be right to say slugs, is partial to the pigment on this one and has stripped the color from the surface of the flowers.

This salmon pink one is loaded with buds. All these day lilies were a gift from a colleague of Ds. It is their hobby to hybridize daylilies and just after we moved into the house they invited us down to see the little ranch where they grow their daylilies. I was to leave there with quite a selection and with names of each. Alas, the tags are long gone and the only one I remember is Tiny Pumpkin which is in the front garden and yet to flower.  I haven't moved them since they were put in but they have not become overcrowded, probably because they are in rather lean soil.

NEW FLOWERINGS

I'm easily sold on a pretty plant and wandering around the Natural Gardener last week I spotted this plant. It was growing in a pot, covered with pretty bicolor, straw flower looking blooms. "This plant not for sale" said the sign next to the pot. Smaller one gallon pots of the plant, not in flower, were for sale. I bought one. Talk about impulse buy. I was there to look for pepper plants and left with none.

The plant is Drosanthemum bicolor and like many of the ice plants it hails from South Africa. I have found the ice plant does well in my rocky alkaline soils so lets see how this performs. For now this specimen has been potted up and I intend to take cuttings which will be planted outside next spring. I have had tremendous success with propagating ice plants and other succulents from cutting. The best medium for their propagation has been pumice.

The plant surprised me with its first bloom today and of course I rushed out there with camera in hand to take its pretty picture.

GAZANIA GLORY (Treasure flower)

Gazanias are one of my favorite flowers in the summer garden. They are so well behaved and nothing seems to phase them; be it sun, wind, humidity or heat. They come in all kinds of sunny bright colors. I prefer the shades of yellow and orange as they seem to tolerate the sun better and do not fade, but they do come in paler shades of pink. Their foliage is dark green and they stay compact throughout the growing season. Just about perfect.

Several years ago I added this perennial variety to my rock garden. It has a silver leaf with fine coating of hairs. The flowers are yellow and although no blooms appear during the winter the foliage adds a bight spot to the garden.

This year I added a third variety. This one has a more lemon colored flower but the same fuzzy foliage. It seems a little more open than the original one which makes a tight spreading clump.
I may have to strike a few cuttings in the fall. 

A MISTY MORNING

The rest of the world must think that the gardeners of central Texas are obsessed with weather. We have to shout to the world when we get rain, as we did yesterday. Our rain gauge measured 1.1" and we are over the moon. This morning it is still cloudy and misty but the garden is completely refreshed. My plans for cutting back and pulling out have been sidestepped. Do I really have to do the ironing!

Doesn't take long for the fungi to show up. They have to take immediate advantage of any moisture.

I probably wouldn't have noticed the young persimmons on the Texas persimmon, Diospyros texana, if it had not been for many littering the path, knocked down by heavy rain. Fruit drop is quite normal and hopefully there will be enough left to reach maturity. This fruit is high on the diet list for foxes during the fall. 

In 2004 I saw this fox in the same tree helping himself to the fruits. What a surprise that was.