Fantasy gardens at Paxson Hill Farm, part 2
February 11, 2022 The gardens of Paxson HIll Farm, which I explored during the Pennsylvania portion of my road trip last October, started out good and got even better. In my last post I shared the farm’s nursery, Shade Garden, Katsura Garden, and Temple Garden. Let’s move on to a ...
Bee balm, daylilies, and fawn season
June 13, 2021 I’m grateful for the past two weeks of off-and-on rain, which helped my garden rebound from the epic February freeze. Early June may be hot and muggy now, but the garden is full and flowery. And the driveway border is back, baby! ‘Peter’s Purple’ bee balm (Monarda ...
Spring sights in the garden
April 29, 2021 ‘Frazzle Dazzle’ dyckia My spring planting is done, and I think all my post-freeze cutting back is done too. There are still brown shrubs and dead-looking small trees (like a pomegranate coming back from the roots, with a few leaves here and there on upper branches) taking ...
A critter season like Where’s Waldo?
July 27, 2020 This summer I’m living a Where’s Waldo? book. Every time I step into the front yard I can count on a fawn and myself mutually scaring the bejeesus out of each other. I’ll obliviously walk by or close a car door or pull out the hose, not ...
Deer noshing on my dianella
June 26, 2020 Getting into my car last week, I was surprised to see a doe walking steadily toward me, ambling down the driveway like she owned the place. Did she have a fawn stashed nearby, I wondered? (I saw twin fawns in the garden soon after, so maybe.) I ...
Yellow spider lilies at peak and agave weevil death
October 23, 2019 First the good: my yellow spider lilies (Lycoris aurea) are at peak bloom. Every flower has opened and seems filled with golden sunlight. They thrill me every time I look though my office window or step out onto the back patio. Shazam! Cosmo had to get in ...
More melanistic deer and a Texas-sized slug
July 01, 2019 Driving at dusk through my northwest Austin neighborhood requires a sharp eye for unwary deer ambling or darting across the street. Last evening, my husband and I spotted the usual groups of does and fawns as well as a few rare melanistic deer too. Their dusky coats ...
Deer antlering damage to my agave
January 13, 2017 The bucks have been at it again this winter, rubbing their antlers on agaves, yuccas, hesperaloes, and small trees throughout my neighborhood. I always cage my small possumhaw holly in early fall through early spring, but I was hoping I could get away with less structural deterrents ...
First oxblood lily, tree cavities, and last Moby
September 10, 2016 The majority, I think, are waiting for that first fall rain. But two oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida) are trumpeting red in my garden, including this stray in the sedge lawn out front. I transplanted the bulbs from the front to the back last year, after the deer ...
Corten potager beauty in Rhonda Fleming Hayes’s garden: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling
July 24, 2016 I’m dubbing this summer Escape to the North. In the space of two months I’ve made three trips to the northern, cooler half of the U.S., starting with the Philadelphia area; then Providence, Rhode Island; and finally Minneapolis, where the 9th annual Garden Bloggers Fling was held ...
Darn deer! Why I cage woody plants in fall and winter
December 19, 2013 My 6-year-old nephew, who was here for Thanksgiving dinner, asked why I’d put cages around some of my plants. Isn’t it the silliest looking thing? Wire cages are not exactly my idea of fine garden decor. But short of ditching agaves, yuccas, and other stiff-leaved or woody ...
Happy about these garden blues
May 07, 2013 I’m singing the blues with majestic sage (Salvia guaranitica)… …with a blue bottle tree, purple skullcap (Scutellaria wrightii), and ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (Agave ovatifolia)… …with Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis)… …and with more purple skullcap and bluebonnets, plus velvety mullein. Another view of the purple skullcap and mullein, ...
Garden Designers Roundtable: 5 Ways to Spice Up Your Garden with DANGER (just a little)
October 23, 2012 Is the scariest thing in your garden the risk of stepping in a pile of fresh dog doo? While real danger isn’t good—rotting deck boards, a spiny agave leaning out over the front walk, or a heavy piece of statuary that isn’t secured in place, especially if ...
Hot potted plants for hot summer days
August 07, 2012 During the lazy days of summer, the last thing I feel like doing is standing for an hour with the hose in my hand while the Death Star beats down on me or mosquitoes suck me dry. So I skip right over all those magazine stories about ...
Garden Designers Roundtable: Gardening with Deer in Central Texas
December 13, 2011 If only all deer were as welcome in our gardens as Santa’s… But they’re not—at least not for most of us who want an attractive, diversely planted landscape around our home. Despite Bambi’s cuteness in the wild, in the garden deer are chomping and antler-rubbing pests that ...
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 ...
