Thirsty bees need water too
September 14, 2011 The drought is taking a toll not just on plants but wildlife too, including already imperiled honeybees. As in the hot, dry summer of 2009, bees are visiting my stock-tank pond all day long for water, which they use to regulate the temperature of their hive by ...
A hellish summer but the garden still lives
September 12, 2011 The most difficult gardening summer I’ve ever experienced is stuttering to an end. We still have triple digit temperatures. We still have no rain. We have smoky skies from devastating wildfires. And yet the garden continues to give joy. It helps that I’ve planted a lot of ...
Got pipe dreams? Try a culvert pipe planter
September 08, 2011 I have a thing for using galvanized steel containers in the garden, as you may know from my collection of stock-tank planters and ponds of various sizes. So naturally, when I first saw galvanized culvert pipes put to use as planters, I knew I’d have to have ...
Plant This: Whale’s Tongue agave
July 18, 2011 Moby, my ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (Agave ovatifolia), sails through hot summer days in part-sun/bright shade, perched above most of the garden in a terraced bed. It’s a ghostly white whale of a plant, about 5 feet in diameter, an iconic presence in my former garden and in ...
Fierce & fine Foliage Follow Up
July 16, 2011 It’s Foliage Follow-Up, a day of celebrating leafy beauty in the garden. After I took my photos, I noticed that they fell into one of two categories: the fierce, pointy leaves of yuccas, agaves, dyckias, and mangaves, and the fine texture of various grasses or grass-like plants ...
Two summer lovers for July Bloom Day
July 15, 2011 Water lilies, Turk’s cap, sweet almond verbena, globemallow, catmint, Mexican oregano, hymenoxys, flame acanthus, Mexican honeysuckle, golden thryallis, plumbago, agastache, Salvia coccinea — all are blooming in my garden this Bloom Day. But you know what? After 31 days at or above 100F so far this summer, ...
Plant This: Sweet almond verbena
July 14, 2011 Looking for a flowering, sweet-scented shrub that can take the heat and drought dished out in a central Texas summer? Then try sweet almond verbena (Aloysia virgata), an Argentinian deciduous shrub with a strong vanilla almond fragrance. Mine grows at the base of our elevated deck, and ...
Massing of Color Guard yuccas
July 12, 2011 When it doesn’t rain and temperatures soar into the 100s every day for weeks, the garden can look a bit…shall we say…parched. I recently responded by ripping out a mishmash of crispy plants, a lot of onesies and twosies brought along from my former garden, and replaced ...
Foliage Follow-Up: Pond plants & plants that ignore drought
June 16, 2011 For Foliage Follow-Up today (always on the day after Bloom Day), I’m celebrating plants that don’t require my standing over them with a hose. I have to admit, central Texas’s extended drought is taking a toll even on my xeric garden. Coneflowers are drooping. Daylilies are shriveling ...
Smokin’ hot June Bloom Day
June 15, 2011 Our wretched heat and exceptional drought continue. But plenty of plants love the oven-like temps and flaunt blooms despite dry conditions. Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) is a summer favorite, with red flowers and contrasting blue-green leaves. Echeveria likes to stay out of the Death Star’s beam, but it ...
Fawning all over the garden
June 07, 2011 Spotted, knobby kneed fawns are taking their first wobbly walks through the neighborhood, even in broad daylight under a strong, noonday sun. This doe and fawn strolled through my neighbor’s yard a few days ago, enjoying the cool green of the grass, I imagine. The fawn stopped ...
Succulents basking in the heat
June 03, 2011 The succulent wall pleases me to no end, and from unexpected angles of viewing. I particularly like this view from below, as I climb the steps to the upper patio. I even love the gray, matte color of the blocks juxtaposed with the soft mauves and cool ...
Flowerlicious June morning
June 02, 2011 Here’s a virtual bouquet for my mother, who was named for this June day. Happy birthday, Mom! ‘Colorado’ water lily, up close and personal (also pictured at top) Nymphaea ‘Colorado’ is a total knockout from any angle. ‘Lavender Lady’ passionflower looks like an alien life form. Each ...
Morning light & heartleaf skullcap
June 01, 2011 The heartleaf skullcap (Scutellaria ovata) is going to seed against a backdrop of chartreuse bamboo muhly (Muhlenbergia dumosa) and burgundy cordyline (Cordyline australis ‘Red Star’). Tough plants, every one. Heartleaf skullcap is the spring-blooming native. Cordyline is a cold-tender but dry-shade-tolerant subtropical that I replant every year ...
Peter’s Purple monarda, meet purple coneflower
May 31, 2011 ‘Peter’s Purple’ monarda, which I ordered from Plant Delights last fall, is the first bee balm I’ve tried. In its description, Plant Delights quotes Jimmy Turner, director of research at the Dallas Arboretum trial gardens, as saying that ‘Peter’s Purple’ is “the only Monarda that doesn’t die ...
The birds and the bees: Garden is abuzz
May 29, 2011 A madly singing mockingbird wakes us up most mornings. Through another window I can hear a nest of new chicks peeping for breakfast. Though no morning person, I headed outside with the camera to see what has all the birds in a tizzy. Well, it’s spring, of ...
