I'll take it
At last, rain. After teasing us with the smell of rain and the boom of thunder just to our northwest yesterday, the skies opened up this morning and drizzled about 1/4″ of rain over an hour or so. Not much, but I’ll take it. Even so brief and slight a shower as this filled my two rain barrels, topping them off in a matter of minutes and sluicing the overflow into the dry creek, which delivered it to my rain garden. I can almost hear the plants saying, “Ahhhhh.”
When the excitement was over, I went outside just to look at raindrops on leaves again and pat the rain barrel with satisfaction. Here are a few pictures of the refreshed garden.
Detail of a toothy leaf of ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave
Parry’s and Whale’s Tongue agaves
Bee on ‘Indigo Spires’ salvia
‘Indigo Spires,’ coming into late-summer bloom. Like all salvias, Indigo Spires will flower repeatedly if you prune it back by 1/3 after each bloom cycle.
Kidneywood tree in flower. I hope the rain will bring out a flush of blooms on this young kidneywood. The blossoms smell heavenly, which is one reason I planted this feathery, rather rangy native in my front garden. When a mature tree is in full bloom, you can hardly remove your nose from its vicinity.
The anoles were making the rounds in the rain-washed garden too. I saw them everywhere: scrambling into plants, leaping out of grasses, clinging to the house, darting across the path. This one posed for me on the screen door to the greenhouse.
Hooray for rain! One of the most disheartening things in the world to me is to get that strong cool scent of rain and then have it pass you by.
I have to ask what kind of camera do you use? Your photo’s are always so clear and wonderful.
I use a Canon PowerShot A80. Thanks for your nice words about my photos. My camera’s macro focus is wonderful for close-up detail. I do take about 10 photos for every one I put on my blog. The blurry ones—and I take plenty—go into my trash folder.
Pam, you’re always sending me to Google! I didn’t know about Kidneywood Tree – most sites say it’s under 10-feet tall, so it’s an accent tree rather than for shade, I guess.
It’s also amazing that such a little shower could fill the rainbarrels.
Yes, though there’s a kidneywood at the Wildflower Center that must be 15-20 feet tall with a large canopy. Even so, it doesn’t provide much shade—it’s an airy tree.
Annie, I like to Google plant info too. But if you don’t already have a copy, I really recommend picking up the free Native and Adapted Landscape Plants publication that is distributed by the City of Austin’s Grow Green Program. You can find it at most local nurseries. It has detailed information and color pictures of the best plants for Austin.