Early summer garden scenes in Austin
On my walks around the neighborhood, I’m admiring Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), the star of Austin’s summer gardens.
It’s so beautiful, both leaves and flowers. For whatever reason, I haven’t been able to get it established in my own garden, darn it.
It loves heat and sun, and deer don’t bother it in the least. It just needs room to get big.
My favorite pale-pink crape myrtle is also flowering at a neighbor’s house. They have a row of these stunning crapes, which you can see more of in this Instagram video I took. I’d love for you to follow me there, by the way, if you enjoy pics of Texas plants and gardens!
In my own garden, dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) is flowering. The tiny, ivory flowers appear on 10-foot-long stems bent like fishing poles.
After the flowers fade, black berry-like fruits appear on the stems.
Bees find the delicate flowers to their taste.
In the back garden, success! The bronze fennel I planted in the spring has attracted swallowtail caterpillars. You can see two in this photo. Someone asked me if I do anything to protect them from hungry birds, and the answer is no. It’s pretty much live and let live (or get eaten) in my garden. Birds gotta eat, like snakes and armadillos and everything else. But I do hope some of the caterpillars make it to the butterfly stage.
The circle garden has moved into its serene, silver-green/silver-blue phase, a cooling color scheme for a hot Texas summer.
In the central stock-tank planter, whale’s tongue agave (Agave ovatifolia) presides over woolly stemodia (Stemodia lanata), which is dominating the yellow four-nerve daisies (Tetraneuris scaposa) that were so prominent last year. Purple coneflower adds a dash of pink on one side.
Viewed from above, the big whale’s tongue — I’ve named her Ursula — shows off her moonlight-yellow variegation.
Combined with the bottle tree, blue shed doors, and silver mirror, it’s a cool view to get me through summer until fall.
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Everything’s looking good, Pam. I think about adding a Caesalpinia to my garden every year about this time but, given its space requirements, I remain at a loss about where I’d plant it.
It’s hard to shoehorn in plants of this size. I keep trying, but I’ve killed three of them so far.
so THAT is what woolly stemodia is supposed to look like??! who knew?!…i covet the whole stock tank extravaganza & also the fennel and palmetto…look the other way when i show up to visit with a REALLY big purse…?
Ha! That woolly stemodia is starting to have take-over-the-world designs, I think. It’s quite vigorous in that tank. You’ll see when you come visit.
Looking cooling and serene, Pam. Hope you get more swallowtail caterpillars! I’m seeing so few butterflies this year its distressing. Actually, pollinators in general. And I plant for them! The only one I see in abundance is Eastern bumbles.
Isn’t it frustrating when a plant we really want just doesn’t want to live in our garden!? The pride of Barbados is a bright, bold beauty.
The circle planter is looking great.
I was just noticing that I’m seeing the most pollinators ever on my new ‘Mystic Spires’ salvia. Are you growing that one? The bees are crazy for it in my garden.
I found 6 big, fat caterpillars on my Dill plant this morning! Who cares if I don’t make the pickles yet!
Love your serene garden!
Thanks, Shelley. And hooray for caterpillars, soon to be butterflies!
Everything looks wonderful and I’m envious of the caterpillars. Is bronze fennel a perennial in Texas? I rarely see it sold in the Rio Grande Valley where I live, so I’m suspicious it might not take our heat and humidity.
I don’t really know what it does, Lisa. CTG says it’s perennial here, but we’ll see. https://www.centraltexasgardener.org/resource/bronze-fennel/
The Whale’s tongue agave planter is amazing Pam. I thought the surround was a sage hedge at first glance in the first pic!
The colors blend in nicely with your landscape and hardscaping.
P.
Thanks, Philip! That woolly stemodia has surprised me with its vigor. It may swallow us all up eventually, but for now I’m liking its foamy sea for Ursula (the whale’s tongue) to float in.