Mid-spring garden
Bulbine in bloom
The garden closes on early spring and transitions to mid-spring this week. The Carolina jessamine, daffodils, hyacinths, early irises, and crossvine are done. The late irises are in bud, and the antique roses are absolutely covered in buds; a couple of roses have opened already, just enough to give me a taste of things to come. The bulbine offers up summer in the form of sunset-colored flowers, and the Salvia greggii are ready to pop. Damianita’s scrubby, evergreen foliage is studded with lemon-yellow flowers that promise sunshine along the curb in a few days. The purple coneflowers have grown tall and set buds too.
In short, though the early flush of spring has faded from my garden, the second wave is building. Faded flowers hang on the vine, but I won’t notice them in a couple of days. Today a gentle rain falls—could Austin’s drought be in remission?—and, gratefully, the garden unfurls, alive and impatient.
Bulbine and Parry’s agave. Lately I’ve seen pics of other agave parryi, and I’m wondering if that’s really what I have. It was so labeled, but I have my doubts. Any agave experts out there?
Nolina texana displays a stiff, white spray of flowers amid its grassy leaves.
A close-up
‘Carefree Beauty’ is ready to pop with loads of these roses. Here’s an early blossom. This rosebush looked so poor in February that I worried it was going to die. Its leaves had dropped, and the whole thing looked sickly. I doctored it, along with my other antique roses, with a handful of Rabbit Hill Farm rose food and a spray of Bioform Fish & Seaweed mix, an organic foliar and soil fertilizer. It perked up immediately, releafing and now budding.
‘Belinda’s Dream’ rosebud
A garden resident. This anole hadn’t yet disguised himself by turning brown to match the iron pole he clung to. Perhaps he’d recently leapt off a bush when I spotted him trying to be one with the pole.
Purple smoke tree, purple spiderwort, and early red flower spikes of Texas betony make a rich combination.
The new pomegranate tree is in bud! This little tree is living up to its name: Wonderful.
Pam,
That combo of tangerine (bulbine) and the grey/blue/green of the agave is so beautiful!
Lots of pests are duking it out with me for the rose buds!
j.
I hope you win! —Pam
I think I’m in love with Belinda in bud. I’m starting to realize that you Texas gardeners get your whole season in by the time we reach ‘mid-spring’ here in the Northeast.
She is a beauty, isn’t she? Yeah, our non-summer seasons in Austin are decidedly speeded up in comparison to the more-leisurely seasons of the northeast. We’re often in the 80s by now, though at least through April we usually enjoy a good number of cooler days (70s) as well. By May it’ll be hot, summer will be upon us, and it won’t let up until mid-October. So we have to get our springtime in now while there’s still time. —Pam
Your mid-spring looks wonderful. So much going on in your gardens. And, will you actually get a pomengranate to ripen and eat?
Thanks! I certainly hope I’ll get a pomegranate or two this first year. But I’ve never grown one before, so I’ll have to wait and see. —Pam
So beautiful… as always! 🙂 Now I want to tear out my garden and redo everything in orange, blues and purples…
What colors dominate your garden, Kim? I have to admit, mine has a lot of clashing hot pink and orange because I love both of those colors. And a lot of purple and red thrown in for good measure. It sounds like a crazy quilt, doesn’t it? I don’t have many pastels because they look washed out in our intense sunlight, though silvers look good. I look forward to seeing all your colors too. —Pam
I love that Nolina texana. I saw that in random garden catalog that came in the mail recently, and now I wish I bought a couple. It looks excellent in that pot with the fine spray of leaves spilling out. You are a brilliant garden master!
Chuck, you are way too kind. Brilliant? I wish. I’m just experimenting and learning from my mistakes, same as anyone. Many thanks for the compliment though. You made my day. Oh, and I found it interesting that Nolina texana appeared in a garden catalog. A humble but versatile Texas native, making its way in the world. You can find it growing wild in the hills around Austin. —Pam
Oh, my gosh—your Smoke Tree plant combinations are just gorgeous! I’ll have to get a smoke tree now…..
Ahhhh yes…. pomegranites…
My mama had several of these in my youthful yard and she always wanted us to eat them. But, alas, being ungrateful kids, we used the large round fruit as grenades and wailed them at one another. They can really fly if you wing ’em correctly. And then, when they hit an unsuspecting brother up the street, they EXPLODE. And the red nodes (like blood and gore) splatter. AWESOME STUFF. (And they hurt too.) They’ll knock you off a bicycle… they get BIG.
Of course I was the youngest. So I was always the target and not the grenadier. When I was finally old enough to give a good a wahoo back at my brother, he looked at me and told me to grow up. And then he chased me down the street.
Well I remember seeing pomegranite buds and knowing that doom was not too far in the future.
Believe it or not, this is a good memory.
I love your Texas garden.
I love hearing people’s childhood associations with certain plants. That’s a good story, Hank. We used to chunk pinecones—painful! —Pam
Roses already? Lucky you! Love that glazed pot, very nice.
At least 3 varieties of A. parryi are commonly sold (parryi, truncata and huachensis). The thing to do is get a copy of Irish and Irish and bring it out to your plant.
Thank you! I wondered why agaves labeled as Parry’s could seem so different. —Pam