The evolving garden

As with all things, preferences and focus change over time.  When I first started doing 'extreme sport' gardening, I focused on plants and design, color and contrast, embracing native and adaptive plants for Texas.    As time went on, I became more and more excited and attracted to garden art.  I've added several pieces of garden art - and boy do I have plans for more! 


 These signs welcome you to my garden.   These are to the left of my entry gate.    Cannot describe my persona any better! 

 

These are some gutter planters I made along with a tile mural.  All outdoor friendly!   I love the beautiful combo of yellow/orange and blue.  

I've made a succulent area - named 'LeSucculent Cafe' coined after the Succulent Cafe in Oceanside CA.  A succulent vertical planter, along with colored pieces of wood and two mirrors.    

 

More succulents.  My planter made from a  wooden pallet, along with several colorful pocket planters. 

 

How else do you cover an ugly grey house foundation?   Paint on some birds.    I hired a local street artist who paints birds all over the city.   The bird with an attitude 'you're not the boss of me' is in honor of my corgi Maggie.    Really - she thinks she's in charge!  

What season is it anyway?!?!?

Central Texas has had a very mild winter ....  Not that I'm complaining!  The temps so far have been so nice and warm that plants in my garden are very confused!   Lots of blooming going on ...  Not that I'm complaining!

Makes me wonder about the affects on the following seasons.   Will there be more bugs?  Will the bulbs still bloom?  Does this mean we are in for a harsh summer?   We have had a couple of very short freezes.   And those times when the temps have dipped to 32 degrees it has only been for a couple of hours in the early morning hours.

I'm from Midwestern Illinois and the garden season there was relatively short. I always feel very blessed to live in Texas where the growing season is really 12 months long.  My heart goes out to my blogger friends in the colder climates. 


Here are some pics of those confused plants just blooming away in February! 

 Recent inspirations in my garden

I love color.  For those who know me - you know the inside of my house is painted many different colors - and I almost always wear colorful clothes.   It's my feeling that colors emit emotions, energy and excitement! 

I love this color combo of the blue agave and purple heart. 

 Or this colorful Croton in the yellow pot, with the variegated ivy.   The backdrop is cast iron plant, ferns and silver dragon liriope.

And here's a peek through some beautiful red bougainvillaea and my succulents in colorful pots.  

Color everywhere! 

Regrowing food

Did you know that there are tons of foods out there that can be replanted and regrown after you use them? A perfect example of this is green onions. You don't have to go out and buy a bunch of green onions from the store every time a recipe calls for them! Once you cut the base with the roots off the green onions, instead of throwing them away, put them in a little cup of water or plant them in some soil.

You'll be amazed at how quickly they start to regrow and you can just trim off some anytime you want! The picture above is a comparison of just one week of growth, can you believe it?!

Hey You - look at me!

On one of my recent visits to the Red Barn Nursery, with Ally of Garden Ally, I saw this so cute and sweet small shrub.  It had these tiny pink flowers and called out to me - 'hey you - look at me!  You want one of me in your landscaping, don't you!'

What can I say - but of course!   I could NOT resist this little cutie.  It's a dwarf New Zealand Tea tree.  It's native to New Zealand and Australia - and is named 'tea tree' because it's tiny leaves are often dried and used to make tea. 

 

Oh, that's Maggie in the background - my female alpha corgi. 

 

I just LOVE those pink blooms! 

 

Not sure I'll be making tea anytime soon - but I just LOVE those cute, small and pink flowers. The bottom branches look a bit scraggly. I'll give it some time and then maybe prune those back to give it a better shape.

One footnote - it's only hardy in zones 9-11. I'll have to make sure and provide extra cover on cold nights - but... for now, I think we're done with cold temps.

Isn't it a cutie!!!!





Inspiration!

I just read through this month's Garden Designers Roundtable and wow - talk about inspiration! I especially connected with Jenny Peterson's blog post because I also go to public gardens, read blogs and follow along with other garden bloggers here in Austin.

My biggest inspiration comes from color. I love color. If you've been to my house, you know all about my fascination with color. Anyway, here's some colorful pics I took this morning - even in January - that show the colors that are in my garden now.

How's about that red Heavenly Bamboo and Purple heart? 

  More purple heart and Sticks on fire (More on sticks on fire)! 

And a variety of succulents with green, red, blue and varigation!  

Love color.    Can't wait for just a few more weeks so I can start adding even more color through the garden.

New happenings in my garden

Remember my Japanese Maple Trees I bought from a nursery in OK. Here they are today - looking very nice with pretty red leaves. They're still in big pots as I'm still working on their exact placement in my yard. I want to be sure the shady area I've picked really is shady once we get into the heat of the summer.

This one is the 'Acer disectum (laceleaf) weeping Crimson Queen'. Love the lace leaves.

This one is 'Acer palmatum Emperor I.'

Do you hate weeds?  I hate weeds.  This is the pile of weeds I pulled yesterday. My yard is so full of weeds - I'm sure I should receive some sort of award on how many weeds can be pulled in one afternoon - and let me tell you - my ham strings are really sore this morning!   

Last fall, I planted some herbs in the garden - just for fun.  Wanted to see how they did.  This is spearmint - and it's really taken off.  Looks a bit invasive  - but I won't hold that against it. 

 

Those are just a few things happening in my garden these days.  Looking forward to nice warm sunny days this week.