Plant This: Dwarf firebush ignites the fall garden
November 01, 2013 I’m trying a dwarf variety of the popular firebush (Hamelia patens ‘Compacta’ or ‘Glabra’) in a mostly sunny spot in my neighbor’s garden that I help tend, and it’s performed beautifully all summer and into fall, requiring little water once established and blooming its head off through ...
My favorite photos from Digging in 2012
January 02, 2013 Les at A Tidewater Gardener, an excellent nature photographer, always ends the year with a look back at his favorite photos from the year, and he invites other bloggers to do the same. Without further ado, here are my favorites from 2012. The first two happen to ...
Seeing the garden anew through a photograph
January 01, 2013 I included this photo in my upcoming book, Lawn Gone!, to illustrate how a simple water feature like a stock-tank pond can be used in place of lawn. This is the main focal point of my back garden, formerly a nondescript swath of St. Augustine. My 16-year-old ...
Fun foundation plants for Foliage Follow-Up
December 16, 2012Potted plants add popIn the hubbub of the upcoming holiday I nearly forgot to post for Foliage Follow-Up. But recently I’ve had some fun adding colorful potted plants to my entry garden, and since I chose them for their shape and color, not blooms, here they are. I’ve ...
Plant This: Jaws agave bares its teeth — Rawr!
December 13, 2012 Doesn’t everyone want a plant with a sharky grin in their gardens? I know I do, and Agave gentryi ‘Jaws’ obliges with half-inch-long thorns that leave shadowy “teeth marks” on each emerald-green leaf as it unfurls. I planted a 5-gallon ‘Jaws’ agave last summer in a bottomless ...
New retaining wall eliminates hard-to-mow slope
December 09, 2012 Before: October 2008 We almost didn’t buy this house because we didn’t like the front exterior. We’d read the listing online and drove by but were turned off by the bland, 1970s style and the way the heavy-browed garage wing in front appeared to be sinking into ...
Last blossoms before the first freeze
December 07, 2012 We’re expecting a low around 30F (-1.1C) early next week, so we may be enjoying the last flowers for a little while. ‘Twinkle Pink’ cuphea is still glowing rosily in the afternoon light, but a frost will crisp it for the season. Will it happen? Who knows ...
Plant This: Mexican heather
December 05, 2012 I confess: I used to be disdainful of Mexican heather (Cuphea hyssopifolia), that sturdy, prolifically blooming sub-shrub offered on the summer-color tables at the big-box stores and plugged into many a planter at local shopping centers. I often saw plants that were leggy and a bit sun-crisped ...
Plant This: Blonde Ambition grama
December 02, 2012 Does the ubiquitous, blonde-maned Mexican feathergrass have a worthy rival at last? I’m beginning to think so. ‘Blonde Ambition’ grama (Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’), a statuesque cultivar of our native blue grama, is a bunching, blue-green grass that grows to about 12 inches tall and wide. In ...
Globemallow lurker
December 01, 2012 I leaned in for a close-up shot of the ruffled, frosted leaves of the orange globemallow (Sphaeralcea incana) and didn’t notice until I sat at the computer that a camouflaged hunter lay in wait amid the silvery leaves. Thank heavens for being human-sized. All material © 2006-2012 ...
Buttery trees signal fall, at last
November 28, 2012 Even though it was in the mid-80s F just a couple of days ago, it’s chilly today, and the suddenly yellow leaves of the Mexican buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa), visible from my kitchen window, tell me the trees believe autumn is finally here. I couldn’t resist including another ...
Updating the old homestead and lawn-removal “after” pics
November 28, 2012 Giving our aging ranch house a facelift has been an ongoing project since we moved in four years ago. The house is comfortably proportioned and liveable on the inside, but the exterior is, well, homely, so we gave it a brow-lift earlier this year with a gabled ...
Plant This: Copper canyon daisy
November 27, 2012 Copper canyon daisy, gopher plant, and ‘Color Guard’ yucca Like warm sunshine on a chilly autumn day, copper canyon daisy (Tagetes lemmonii) brightens the garden in late fall, just before the first frost nips central Texas. In full sun the plant becomes a 4 to 6 foot ...
Winterizing a stock tank pond
November 22, 2012 “How to make a container pond in a stock tank” is consistently one of my most-viewed posts, and many readers have written to tell me they’ve made their own ponds by following my instructions. Recently two people asked me how to winterize their ponds, so I decided ...
Plant This: Chinese mahonia for Foliage Follow-Up
November 16, 2012 I inherited two Chinese mahonia (Mahonia fortunei) when I moved into this house, a plant previously unknown to me. In all my frequent nursery visits for 2-1/2 years, I never saw another one offered for sale, and it wasn’t until I visited the Rister-Armstrong Garden in Dallas ...
Plant This: Gulf muhly grass
November 03, 2012 Southern gardeners, are you growing Gulf muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)? Autumn is its cotton-candy bloom time, and it’s an unforgettable sight. From a distance you see a pinkish-purple haze floating above deep-green foliage. (That’s purple fountain grass in the foreground.) Come closer and the splendor of this native ...
