End-of-summer garden
Austin is eager to bid a less-than-fond farewell to summer after a record-breaking hot and dry September. I can already see a change in the light, and my garden got a bit of rain last week. With any luck, by next week temperatures will finally drop 10 degrees into the upper 80s. But everyone going to ACL this weekend is going to bake.
Pond plants like this crinum have the right idea. Sit your fanny down in a tub of cool water and wait it out.
Looming in the background, bristle-headed Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’ not only doesn’t mind the heat but thrives on it. Same with ‘Colorado’ water lily in the foreground.
Brave soldiers! Clusters of oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida) are blooming in the raised bed along the back of the house. The vanguard, spent by the heat, have already withered, but their tardier comrades-in-arms still wave their crimson banners since we finally got a little rain.
Another sign of fall: deer antlering damage on my big, beautiful ‘Green Goblet’ agave in the front garden. I thought I could wait until early October to cage this agave, two giant hesperaloes, and a young possumhaw holly — favored rubbing posts for bucks with itchy velvet on their antlers. But after seeing the deer graffiti and puncture wounds from one overnight visit, I got out my rolled wire fencing and wrapped it around the plants to protect them through next spring.
Who else has a 12-foot flower in their garden? Sure, agaves can go higher, but they bloom only once. I’ve been enjoying this sky-high bottlebrush bloom on one of my Texas sotols (Dasylirion texana) since early summer. Everything’s bigger in Texas, right?
__________________________
Digging Deeper
Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!
All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Your yard is looking beautiful, and is such a fine example of how to make it through a central Texas summer with style. I absolutely love the third photo down, with the crinum and water lilies, and the path leading you past the yucca rostrata and the Arizona cypress. What a gorgeous composition you’ve put together!
Thanks, Maggie. That’s one of my favorite views too. Soon fall aster will be blooming at ground level by the yucca, adding purple along with the silver-blues.
That will be even more beautiful!
Your garden is made for your weather. It looks fabulous even now. Love that water lily. The deer are rascals. I think you are lucky not to have rabbits. Rabbits are the nemesis in my garden. I have become Farmer Mcgregor with all my fencing and angry shouting that some may find comical.
Ha! I do have rabbits, actually, but they don’t seem to do much damage. Occasionally they will munch the tender inner leaves of small yuccas, which is annoying.
One would not know how hot it has been from looking at your garden. It looks beautiful: composed, calm and (dare I say it?) cool. Like you, I am discovering deer antler damage in my Astoria garden. I don’t have any agaves to protect there (yet) but they did some significant damage to a young Japanese maple. Here’s to cooler weather in ATX and sunny, dry days in the PNW for the coming season!
Selective photo choices, Jane! And a reliance on tough shrubby plants and woody lilies, rather than lots of flowering perennials. But with fall’s cooler temps and rain (hopefully!), my garden will enjoy a second spring, and I’ll have more flowers soon.
I hope you get an Indian summer after your early cold snap in the PNW!