Aloe-leujah! Aloes bloom against sky-blue doors
Miraculously, my two large soap aloes (Aloe saponaria) in the raised beds behind the house survived last winter’s deep freeze. They are each celebrating their narrow escape with a fantastic, muscular stalk supporting torches of buds about to flame into bloom.
I particularly like seeing them against the backdrop of the new shed. Those sky-blue doors (not really turquoise, as I originally considered them) are growing on me!
In fact, they’re downright foxy. Don’t you agree?
This fox doorknocker was given to me a year ago by my sister and her partner. I held onto it, waiting for the shed to be finished. And now it looks perfect on the sky-blue door—just for fun. No, I don’t expect anyone to be knocking on the shed.
More garden goodness against that lovely spring color.
Continuing the (lighthearted) blue mood, a handful of Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) are beginning to flower in my garden, and even more along the roadsides. What a beautiful time of year to be in central Texas.
All material © 2006-2011 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Those doors are a very nice blue.
Thanks, Marc. It’s definitely growing on me. —Pam
Wow, love those plants and you’re right, they look phenomenal against the blue shed.
I’ve always loved red with blue. It’s so all-American, like a summer picnic on the 4th of July. —Pam
I love the blue! I painted my entire shed cobalt blue with a yellow fountain in front.
Sounds very striking, Michelle. Got a link to a picture? I’d love to see it. —Pam
Sweet. The doorknocker is perfect. Good job, sis & co!
I know. She’s good. —Pam
The aloe blooms are fantastic! They look huge and wonderful.
They are, Leslie! I’m waiting anxiously for them to open. —Pam
The blue doors are looking good with all that color in the garden.
Love the door knocker too. We collect foxes, yes, really you would never guess why!
Well, I guess you would! Did you ever see the fox statuary in this Chicago garden that I visited? It’s near the end of the post. —Pam
Really pretty!
Thanks, Linda. —Pam
I finally saw your shed – LOVE it! Like the fox too. Oh, and the aloe!
Thanks, Jean. You’ll see it for yourself soon. —Pam
Looks awesome to me! Those aloe blooms are great, can’t wait to see them open!
You and me both, Candy! —Pam
Oh I miss the bluebonnets!
Time for a Texas visit then, Greggo. —Pam
Hmm…i would swear those doors are Carolina blue, Pam! 😉 Very pretty, especially with the red-orange aloe.
It’s pretty close, Daricia. Did you know I used to work in Chapel Hill? Maybe it got fixed in my subconscious. —Pam
Love that blue in the garden. My aloe are about to bloom also. I really need to re-pot them. Do you use a cactus medium to plant your in? I was afraid that the cold had gotten them but they are doing fine.
No, I just planted them in garden soil amended with decomposed granite. —Pam
I went to buy some “periwinkle blue” paint today to paint some outdoor stuff for my garden. Ace Hardware said they have never heard of that color…is it just me? I ended up buying a very similar color, but..??
Periwinkle blue has a bit of lavender in it, right? I can’t believe they hadn’t heard of it, even if they didn’t know exactly what color it was. —Pam
I just decided to use blue in my backyard too. So great to see and love it in your blog! I love the bird obelisk I just found some like them at Tuesday morning yesterday in San Antonio!
Good find, Kelsey. Mine is a hand-me-down from my mom’s garden. —Pam
Aahhh love seeing those bluebonnets gearing up. The fox is a sweet addition to the shed. I could just see one digging a den in your hillside.
Something HAS dug a small den (too small for a fox) under one of the limestone boulders in the backyard. It’s probably a large tarantula! —Pam
So lucky on so many birds…We have a couple of bully mockingbirds that claimed our yard as theirs last year…this year we had some swallows scouting our yard…guess who ran them off? The mockingbirds. We also had a male cardinal and a female cardinal come by and hang out looking around…before they could even wet their beak, guess who came to drive them off? Yep..the mockingbird…. Guess its just us and the mockingbirds again this year! On the aloe front, my 2 have their stalks all the way up, and one already has the bottom flowers open….PLUS…banner year for me…for the first time, one of the aloes has TWO stalks!! YAY!!!
You have some very territorial mockingbirds, Alma! They share the space nicely in my garden, although the blue jays have tried several times to run off the owl. Whenever I see them harassing him I run outside and chase THEM off. Yay for the aloes in bloom! Mine have second bloom stalks coming up too. —Pam
I love the Fox garden statue in Trudi’s Chicago Garden, very nice. Thanks for the link, I’ve been reading old posts as I get time and hadn’t seen that one yet.
My pleasure, S. Fox. —Pam
I love the owl pictures! Your garden is just beautiful! I am from Texas so I love the bluebonnets too! A matter of fact we are going “wildflower hunting” today. We travel along back roads and take pictures of the wildflowers. We are armed with a bag full of books to help us identify the flowers. We do it every year and have a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing your garden with us!
Thanks for reading, Jenny, and have a great wildflower hunting trip! —Pam