Garden tour, Mousies, & Mom
Bulbine
A busy weekend approaches. My mom is in town, having chosen this weekend so that we could do Gardens on Tour 2007 together. Presented by the Wildflower Center, the tour features five private gardens that “showcase Texas native plants and demonstrate good gardening practices.” We’ll also get to see an all-native green roof on a commercial building.
I went last year and remember vividly a couple of beautiful gardens, including the one pictured above. The rest were, for me, overshadowed by expensive and extensive hardscaping and architecture. This year, however, a couple of more modest addresses are listed, and I hope to see gardens that talented homeowners have tended themselves. Plus, I’m quite looking forward to seeing that green roof.
Mexican snapdragon vine
Friday is the last day to vote in the Mouse & Trowel Awards for gardening blogs. Winners will be announced on Sunday. Win or lose, thanks to everyone who voted for Digging.
Plus, Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is coming up soon, and I need to go outside and start sweet-talking my summer perennials into blooming ASAP so I’ll have something to show. See that patch of daylilies just north of the stock tank in the photo below? They’re all in bud, and maybe some will bloom for me by the 15th.
Cattle trough planter
As I said, it’ll be a busy weekend, but it promises to be full of beautiful gardens and garden blogs. And Mom, of course. What could be nicer on Mother’s Day?
Happy Mothers Day to you!
I’m going on a garden tour this Sunday too. I’ll be checking back with you to compare notes.
*Loooove* that picture from last year’s tour… )sigh(
Thanks, Chuck. Enjoy your tour. I’m sure you’ll have lots of beautiful pictures. 😉 I’ll look forward to seeing them. —Pam
I know what you mean by expensive landscapes on tour. You know that the owner probably doesn’t even know where the clippers are. I, too, much prefer a garden with a hands on gardener because their love of plants always shines through! Have fun with MOM. No one loves you like your mother and time spent together is the best gift!
Yes, when the plants are loved, the garden shines. —Pam
What a lovely idea to go with your mom on a garden tour on Mothers Day. Wish mine liked that sort of thing but no she wants tea towels!!!Mindboggling, don’t you think? 😉 Be sure to take lots of lovely pics on your tour so we can all enjoy it too!
What a lovely picture of a very beautiful garden from last year’s tour. It’s simply stunning!
BTW Commenting is much easier now. 🙂
Tea towels over garden tours? That IS mind-boggling. I will definitely be taking photos if allowed. Last year several of the homeowners on tour declined to allow photographs. Luckily, the couple who created the beautiful rock garden shown above didn’t object, plus they were on hand to answer questions and bask in our admiration.
I’m glad commenting is easier now. I may try another spam guard in the future, but for now I’m happy knowing people aren’t being turned away from commenting. —Pam
What a wonderful plan for Mother’s Day, Pam ! I hope the weather’s good for you and that the gardens have some fun elements in them, more like what we saw when the Garden Bloggers visited Jill Nokes’ garden rather than some of the Ta-Da types I’ve toured. You’ve used natives to make a garden that’s beautiful but not pompous, and the glimpses we’ve had of June’s garden tell us she has a lively sense of color and style.
Oh, I forgot about the Mexican snapdragon … that vine and the feather grass from the Howdy post are going on my ‘someday/somewhere’ list.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
How I wish Jill’s lovely garden were on this tour! I’d love to see it again.
I’m trial-testing the Mexican snapdragon vine and will let you know how it does over the summer. But the Mexican feathergrass is tried and true. —Pam
Happy Mother’s Day, to you and your Mom, Pam! Hope you both have a great time on the tour. I’m still hoping to go as well if I can talk my son into the idea.
I always learn something helpful from your blog and today I learned about Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. And looks like it’s on my birthday this year, so ‘Woohoo!’ We’ll see if my short list of plants decide to cooperate.
Have a great weekend!
Dawn
Hi, Dawn. Happy Mother’s Day to you too—and an early Happy Birthday! I can think of worse ways to celebrate a birthday than by taking pictures of all the pretty flowers in bloom in the garden. Enjoy! —Pam
Pam,
So does your husband like the all native, no lawn look? If it were up to me, we wouldn’t have a lawn and it would be totally native —- however, I have a wife with a strange, conventional lawn fetish. She has this thing about our kids being able to run through the grass and play. I say that is why we support the parks. I have managed to reduce the lawn greatly, but it isn’t totally gone yet. Thoughts on this?
Tim in Leander
Hmm, does he like it? It’s kind of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” around here, I suppose. He graciously allows me free reign over the yards to do with as I please. The most-important caveat is not to ask too many “under-gardener” tasks of him. I think it works out pretty well for both of us. I garden as I like—and have become pretty adept at wielding my own shovel, mixing concrete, using a saw and drill, etc.—and he never has to mow or edge a lawn ever again. If he enjoys looking at the flower beds, all the better.
If my garden were bigger (if, if, if), I would probably have kept a decent-sized lawn for the kids. But it isn’t, and I didn’t. However, I did devote half of the back yard to the kids’ play space. Initially it was covered in pea gravel, but last fall I converted it to mulch. At the same time I added a small, ornamental lawn I call “the lawnette.”
FYI, my garden isn’t all native by a long shot. I use quite a few well-adapted non-natives. Not to mention the poorly adapted non-natives I’ve tried and lost. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way. —Pam
Pam… while you are sweet talking perennials into blooming, I’m telling my lilac to hold back just a bit so it isn’t all done by Tuesday! Sounds like a wonderful weekend for you and your mom, and I look forward to seeing pictures!
If only I could smell your lilac, and not just enjoy the photos. You know, I’ve never seen a lilac in bloom, or smelled one. Am I missing out on one of life’s greatest joys? —Pam
Pam… Yes, if you have never smelled a lilac in bloom, you are missing out on one of life’s greatest joys, at least in the garden. Ask Annie!
Carol at May Dreams Gardens Where the Lilacs are Blooming
I’m looking forward to seeing your garden tour pictures. I enjoyed seeing the pictures from the tours last year. That was one of the things I thought was so unique about your blog. Not only did I get to enjoy your beautiful garden but I got to tour other gardens via your blog.
I’m working on it, Robin. I took nearly a hundred photos today in six gardens, and I’ve got to whittle them down to a manageable number, crop them, and write a tour post. I’ll have something ready in the next couple of days. Stay tuned. —Pam