Gardens on Tour this weekend
‘Best of Friends’ daylilies with the stock-tank planter containing silver ponyfoot, squid agave, Manfreda ‘Macho Mocha,’ and Hinckley’s columbine
Spring and summer are vying for dominance in Austin this week. One day it’s in the 70s and a cool north wind is blowing. The next, it’s a muggy 84 degrees F, and the mosquitoes are abuzzing.
Despite the fact that forecasters are predicting mid-90s on Saturday, I want to remind those of you in the Austin area about Gardens on Tour 2008, a self-guided tour of five private gardens presented by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Showcasing Texas native plants and demonstrating sustainable-gardening practices, the gardens range, as usual, along the west side of Austin, up and down Highway 360 and MoPac. Spring Flinger and fellow garden blogger Tom Spencer will be opening his garden gate for the tour, and I plan to visit his place first thing. By the way, Tom’s garden recently aired on KLRU-TV’s “Central Texas Gardener.” It was wonderful to hear him explain the personal meaning behind each of his garden spaces. Watch it for a preview of the tour.
If you’d like to see my photos from past Gardens on Tour, click here for 2007 and here for 2006. Meanwhile, summer color is appearing in my garden this week, with daylilies, rock penstemon, and salvias blooming.
‘Best of Friends’ daylilies
‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (Agave ovatifolia ) with ‘The Fairy’ rose
Engelmann’s daisy (Engelmannia peristenia ) and a lone winecup (Callirhoe involucrata ) next to the birdbath filled with green glass
Winecup (Callirhoe involucrata ) with skullcap (Scutellaria suffrutescens )
Rock penstemon (Penstemon baccharifolius )
All material © 2006-2008 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
All your pictures are beautiful as ever(-: Your stock-tank and daylilies are really looking great!!! Sounds like its warming up there…(-:
I can’t wait to see the pictures of the garden tour(-:
Oh, yes, it is definitely warming up. Thanks for your kind words, Cindee. Stay tuned for photos from the Saturday tour. —Pam
I just must say it again, you take beautiful pictures in a beautiful garden. I´m speakless.
Ken
Ken, thank you so much. I’m glad to know you enjoy them. —Pam
Your garden is looking so pretty with some of its summer color beginning to sparkle. I can’t wait
to see your impressions of this years garden tour. Have fun…
Thanks, I hope to! —Pam
I don’t know which I like more Best of Friends or the penstemon, both! Your gardens looks wonderful
Gail
Thanks, Gail. The penstemon is subtler in reality than it appears in a macro photo. The plant is mostly green with sparkles of red scattered through it. It’s pretty. But ‘Best of Friends’ makes a bigger impression, literally. —Pam
I really admire how you are able to pair up colors so well in your garden. I can only wish I could do the same. I’m able to pair up colors on a canvas but when it comes to plants I get so lost and scared. I love the peach Daylily against the bluish metal pot and up against the dark purple leaves. So jealous! Darn I really wish that my job didn’t always need me the most on Saturdays and the weekends. Yet again another event I would love to go to but just can not.
Thanks for the compliment, Priscilla. But so often good plant combinations are a matter of luck. I did carefully select for color and shape when I chose those plants in the stock-tank container. But the ‘Best of Friends’ daylily was already there, and it was just fortuitous that the color worked so well with the purples and silvers of the planter. So many times, I think those great combinations that we see in other people’s gardens are simply a matter of their willingness to move plants around until they strike gold. —Pam
Lovely! Do you remember where you purchased the green glass, and do you have drain holes drilled into your bird bath? I’d like to replicate this idea, each time you post a picture of it I think it’s so clever and pretty.
Thanks, Becky. I got the green glass at Garden Ridge about 10 years ago. No, I didn’t drill holes in the bird bath because it sits in a very hot and sunny part of the garden, and any water evaporates really fast. Which is the main reason I gave up on keeping water in that bird bath and decided to go for an artful substitute. I think blue cat’s-eye marbles would be a neat effect too. —Pam
It sounds like a wonderful tour. Your garden looks like it is certainly thriving in the warmer weather. 🙂
We’ve had a fairly cool and rainy spring these last months, and the garden is grateful. So am I! I’m hoping that we’ll continue to have rains even as the weather heats up for summer. —Pam
YOUR garden ought to be on that tour! Enjoy and “bring back” lots of pictures for all of us to see.
Thanks, Carol. But I’ll be enjoying a much less stressful weekend since it’s not. 😉 I promise to bring back some photos. —Pam
Pam,
Your garden looks beautiful, as always! I especially enjoyed the manfreda with dicondra in the galvanized planter…great! I’m looking forward to your photographs of the tour, as we’re in Houton attending my son’s graduation from grad school. Thank you so much for sharing the beauty of the gardens with all.
Janet
Thanks, Janet. Congratulations to your son, and enjoy your visit to Houston. I should have pics from the tour up next week. —Pam
That is quite the daylily. The color looks different in all the photos! From tangerine to peach. All pictures are great as usual. Penstemons love hummingbirds and vice versa!
I’m still watching for my first hummingbird. I’m sure they’re here already, but I just haven’t caught a glimpse yet. Since I don’t use feeders, I rely on plants like the penstemon to attract them. —Pam
I always look forward to your garden tour pictures!
Thanks, Robin. I hope to get a few decent photos of Tom Spencer’s garden, as it’s our first stop. The early-morning gardens always get the best coverage, while the light is soft and the crowds are thin. However, it seems a foolish pursuit to try to shoot Tom’s garden, as he already takes the most gorgeous photos of it himself. —Pam
Oooh, how funny. I just blogged myself about cutting out the garden tour section in our local gardener newsletter. Of course our tours don’t start until June in Colorado. I’m a garden tour devotee! Aren’t they fun? It’s so interesting to see what clever things other people are up to in the garden. I always learn something. Enjoy the day!
I absolutely love garden tours and am looking forward to the one this weekend. But I do wish it were going to be cooler. How nice that in Colorado you can tour in June. —Pam
Hi Pam, your photos of the garden tours each year are a highlight of my blog reading, before my blog began even. Your whale’s tongue agave has to be the most photogenic beauty in your garden. The color and form and those spiky points on the leaves make it other worldly. Have you ever been on the garden tour there? I was surprised at your comment on Melanie’s daylily post that you have trouble growing daylilies, yours look so healthy. Our Houston garden had very alkaline soil also and they did great, I wonder what is different about Austin? We did have a sprinkler system there, maybe that, and we were in the woodlands, more shade, maybe. Looking forward to your report of the tour.
Thank you, Frances! I’m glad you like my “tours.” No, I’ve never been on a garden tour. The closest I’ve come was the visit by all the Spring Flingers.
I always thought Houston had acidic soil, but you’d know better than I. My guess is that the dryness of our summers makes it harder to grow daylilies than in Houston, which gets those tropical afternoon rain showers. —Pam
I just love the Whale’s Tongue agave! I have three agaves that I ordered from High Country Gardens, and they’re very, very small right now, but I know they’ll grow. The ones I got are hardy to our area. How quickly do they grow, Pam?
The Texas Bluebonnets I started inside from seed are growing and now look like my lupines, although small yet. I know they’re similar. Time will tell if they bloom by summer’s end.
Congrats on your agave order, Kylee. I hope they grow splendidly for you. I planted this ‘Whale’s Tongue’ in August 2005 from a 5-gallon pot. It was tiny! In nature, agaves grow very slowly, but I find with a little extra irrigation (make sure they have excellent drainage!) they grow much faster.
How fun it will be if you can grow Texas bluebonnets up there. Summer bluebonnets sound different ; they finish here in late April, early May at the latest. —Pam
I love that agave! I find that more and more I am drawn to sedums and succulents. The textures just fascinate me. I went on the local garden tour last weekend. It was so much fun.
Brenda
Me too, Brenda. Besides their wonderful shapes and textures, agaves and sedums often have otherworldly flowers, plus they’re evergreen. Or ever-silver. —Pam
Love the shot of the penstemon — and the stock tank looks great. I’m thinking of stealing your idea (you know, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!) for a very native garden bed outside the fence. I’m still mulling … I suppose you water it by hand?
Take that idea and run with it, Diana! I don’t actually know if the manfreda and the squid agave are Texas natives, but they are happy here. One note: I think the manfreda and the squid agave actually prefer light shade to full sun. And yes, I water the tank by hand, but only once or twice a week. I think it could go longer without damage. —Pam
While all your plants look wonderful, I’m entranced by your ‘The Fairy’ Rose. It’s pink makes it look like yummy candy. I’m going to have to find a space for a Rose because my daughter asked me to grow one. I’m not sure I like gardening on demand. :^)
What little girl wouldn’t like a rose named ‘The Fairy,’ right? I hope you both find your rose soon. I think your daughter’s request is both sensible and romantic. You definitely need a rose! 🙂 —Pam