Salvia celebration
We picked a good time to sell our garden—er, home. Thanks to the recent rain and slightly cooler temperatures (though it’s still in the upper 90s today), the garden has responded with a flush of new flowers. Best of all, the Autumn sage (Salvia greggii ) that marks the garden entry is a cloud of hot pink, creating quite a stir among resident hummingbirds and passersby.
Let’s bask in images of salvia splendor, shall we?
Salvia greggii with softleaf yucca (Yucca recurvifolia ), purple prickly pear (Opuntia macrocentra), and bat-face cuphea (Cuphea llavea ).
Salvia greggii backed by ‘Adagio’ miscanthus grass and ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (Agave ovatifolia )
Salvia greggii, miscanthus, and ‘Whale’s Tongue’ along with, curving to the left, Blackfoot daisy (Melampodium leucanthum ), bulbine (B. frutescens ), hymenoxys (Tetraneuris scaposa ), and Agave americana ‘Variegata’
Salvia greggii framed by the blue-green leaves of softleaf yucca (Y. recurvifolia )
Salvia greggii from a hummingbird’s viewpoint
If only I could share with you the minty fragrance of the crushed leaves as well!
All material © 2006-2008 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I can’t imagine that place not selling v-e-r-y quickly! One look at that yard and they’ll fall in love.
Brenda
I sure hope so, Brenda! —Pam
What an incredible surprise to find you are moving on- but what an exciting time it will be with a new garden to plan. I wonder if the climate will be a little different from your sheltered spot in the heart of Austin? I’m so glad I had the chance to visit your garden because I loved your design ideas and the planting combinations. Keep us up to date on the move.
I’m glad you visited too, Jenny. It was a pleasure to give you a tour of my garden after all the enjoyment I’ve received from yours. I expect it’ll be a bit colder at the new place. It’s up on a ridge and a little farther from downtown, but it is sheltered by a tree canopy. Time will tell. —Pam
Beautiful. I just planted some pink salvia greggii in a clients yard today. I hope they maintain it so it will look as wonderful as yours
It’s so easy to maintain—just a little trimming a few times a year. It’s nice to know they’ll enjoy a big show right off the bat this fall, right? —Pam
What fun–a fresh start! I hope that the next owners of your house appreciate all of the things you’ve done there, Pam… but if not, nice to know that you have a positive attitude about the whole affair. 🙂
It’s good to be able to let go, I think. I’m not always successful, but I do try. And a fresh start is always appealing to me. —Pam
Fabulous Pam, it all looks perfectly wonderful. The agent selling your home/garden must be jumping up and down with joy. Your property will sell itself! Gail
Thanks, Gail! I hope it sells itself, but just in case, we do have a wonderful agent. 😉 —Pam
What a wonderful thing, to get a beautiful garden when you buy a home. They will be blessed. The only thing I got was some spider lilies and a couple of nice trees in the wrong spots. But you can’t move a Magnolia or a Mulberry tree, so they stay where they are. I hope your new home will have some nice established plants and trees that you really love and hopefully in the right place. : )
The new place has a lot of trees, Eve. I’m faced with a shady lot, though there are areas of sun, for which I’m grateful. I need room for a few agaves! —Pam
Your greggii is so pretty — and so compact. I don’t have any pink ones –are they more compact that the red ones or are you just a master pruner to keep them in proportion with your other plants? I love their shape and relationship with the other plants, especially the Miscanthus and Whale’s tongue.
Oh sure, I’m a master pruner, Diana. 🙂 All I do is cut them back hard a few times a year, generally in late May, early August, and mid-February. They’re in full sun, so they stay compact. I haven’t found the other commonplace greggiis to be more lanky. The red stays round too. But the whites have never performed well for me. —Pam
Impressive salvia display! It looks great against the miscanthus.
Thanks, Dave. I like the similarity of their rounded forms but with the contrast of different leaf texture. —Pam
I would have such a hard time leaving it. Everything looks so pretty.
Thanks, Deb. I will miss this garden. It’s been good to me. —Pam
Gorgeous garden. I would hate to leave it. But the excitement of planning a new garden I think would help. Best of luck.
Thanks for the good wishes, Lola. It is a bittersweet parting. —Pam
Hi- its hard to move on from a garden, I have moved twice in the last 8 years. However, as you say it is good to have a new challenge rather than trying to reinvent the garden you have already created. Do you think you will drive past in the future to see how the new owners are doing? I cant bear to go back in case something I loved has gone!
I probably will, PG. I’ve driven by my other old house in Austin a number of times. It’s risky though, isn’t it? —Pam
What curb appeal, that salvia is beautiful. Good luck selling your house, we all look forward to seeing the new garden come together.
Thanks, Les! That salvia is making me happy right now. —Pam
Hi Pam, your garden will wow the potential house hunters when they come to check it out. The house is so lovely too, I’m sure it will go quickly. I do love those salvias, and have planted a ton of them here in all colors, the white is the least performing of the lot. Hope you take the bulbine too! ;->
I hear that deer LOVE bulbine, but perhaps I’ll find a spot for it in my back yard—assuming the deer don’t get in there. Interesting that the white salvia is your poorest performer too. —Pam
It’s funny that you mention that the white salvia greggiis don’t work as well for you– they’re the only ones I’ve really had success with. That said, all of my established salvia greggii are in the too-shady back bed, and the white is the only one that will bloom regularly under those conditions. I’m going to have to move my pink ones to the sunny front bed once I’ve figured out where exactly the hardscaping is going to go– I want them to blaze pink as illustrated in those lovely pictures above!
Maybe my garden is just too sunny for the white salvia but that’s why they do best in your shadier garden. I hope you have some pinks blazing away soon, Lori. —Pam
Salvia splendor indeed! When you were here, you were talking about putting in a pool. You decided to move instead. Happy for you, my friend.~~Dee
I know, we’re fickle aren’t we? 😉 Thanks for the good wishes. —Pam
The darker red salvia greggii bloomed in the dappled shade between the oaks at our old house, Pam – and the deer only nipped at it…so I don’t see a lack of salvia in your future ;-]
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I have a feeling I’ll be growing a lot of fragrant (or stinky) plants, Annie. —Pam
Sorting through our enormous 7 week stack of mail I came across my copy of Wildflower. There on page 2 a letter from your good self thanking the editors for the articles on “Trues Colors” and “Land of Plenty”. Good job. You certainly embody the native plant theme with your own plantings.
Thanks, Jenny. I’d forgotten about my letter to the editor until I opened my issue yesterday and saw it there myself! —Pam
Now adding salvia greggii to my Fall list! Thanks for the beautiful inspiration and best wishes on the new house. Can’t wait to see what you do with your new gardens!
Thanks, Iris! And I’m sure you’ll love your salvia. You’ll be able to enjoy the bloom right away this fall. —Pam
There are so many plants I would like to move if I were you. I don’t blame you for not wanting to leave behind your Whales Tongue. If you move to the country maybe you will have a spiny horned lizard to post. Just think of all the different plants you will get to plant. Fun fun… I will miss that little green anole you post occasionally. 😉
Hi, Lisa. We’re not moving to the country. In fact, it’s a fairly central Austin neighborhood by most standards. But it backs up to a long greenbelt along a major highway, which is why we’ll have deer. I expect we’ll have anoles there too, especially once I have a garden again. They are all over Austin, and there are several dozen in my current garden, I would guess. I see a handful of them every day, including many babies. Thanks for following along with my gardening adventures! —Pam
Pam, I hope in the future if you do drive by to see how everything is I hope you won’t be disappointed as I was when I went by our old place in the mtns. I had it fixed so pretty–every rock in place, split rail fence just so so. I hardly could tell where the drive was it was grown up so bad. I surely wanted to cry.
I’m sorry about your former garden, Lola. It’s so easy for a garden to just disappear through neglect or through a new owner’s desire for more lawn space. I know a garden isn’t static, and it will change one way or another with a new owner, and it may even be removed in part or entirely. I believe I am prepared for that possibility, but I’m sure there would be some disappointment anyway. —Pam
Wow! How beautiful. Yes, I would say that would be a selling feature indeed!
I hope so! Thanks, Nancy. —Pam
Splendor indeed, Pam. Such a great plant and how nice of it to flush out just in time for the sale sign. Someone is going to be so glad you’ve done all the work for them in your beautiful garden. Hard to leave but what fun you will have on your new canvas.
It’s going to be exciting to follow your new design(s).
Meems @Hoe&Shovel
A new canvas is always cause for anticipation, isn’t it? I can’t wait. Thanks for your encouragement, Meems. —Pam
Moving – what an adventure! My garden helped sell my Portland, Oregon, home very quickly last year. When the time is right, it’s easier to leave it behind.
I didn’t do all the things I advised others to do – no cuttings started, very few seeds collected, etc. There were too many other things to do to make the move happen. I brought just a few plants with me – some fragrant hosta and 2 rose bushes. Even those few plants help me celebrate the old with the new, though.
Now I know that summer in northern Alabama is an indoor season, so I’ll be working hard through the fall, winter and spring to catch up on all the outdoor work. You won’t have the climate change to learn about, but I bet that pool might make a serious dent in the first year of gardening. Of course, that’s the time you’ll take to learn about what’s there in the yard, right?
I’m excited for you, Pam! And I’m so glad I discovered your blog before the move so I’ll get to experience the old and the new.
Barbara, I am so encouraged by your example of positive thinking during the upheaval of a cross-country move. You didn’t even complain about the South’s heat, which shows you have more fortitude than I. 😉 Thank you for your considerate and thoughtful comment. I’m glad to have “met” you. —Pam