I love surprises!

I'm not sure the name of this little gem, but I bought it recently from Great Outdoors when I was putting together plants for the japanese style garden. It's colors and leaf shapes went well with the other plants I had picked. It surprised me with blooms and growth during the winter.





























I've not figured out where to put this flowering shrub.... but it surprised me with a bloom! This gardener's bad habit - buy something, don't know where to put it, keep it sitting in the garden in the pot....... finally figure out it's perfect place and plant it. This little shrub has been in a pot for too long to admit to....































Ok, so not such a good pic - but this varigated bamboo has new growth coming up. Very deep colors - love it.

As a fairly new blogger, I'm experimenting with pictures and text placement.... not sure about my choices for today's post!

Oh, what's a gardener to do....

Oh, what's a gardener to do..... after the freezes in Austin. Post pics of rocks !!!!

I added rocks, ornamental grasses and tree stumps around my water feature last fall.

These Rocks I harvested from the cemetery on Hancock near Mopac - free for the taking.

A pic of my greenhouse - purchased off of Craigslist... still have 5 panes of glass to replace, cover the foundation with bricks that match my house, build benches - and let the planting begin!

The buddha lady in my japanese-garden-in-progress - still looking good! :)

Promises to a bougainvillea!

As I went on my stroll through my backyard this morning, I grabbed the camera, but thought to myself that I really didn't have anything to talk about or take a picture of...... wow was I wrong!

This past holiday weekend was very busy for me in the garden. Saturday I made it out to the Zilker Gardens for the Succulent show and sale. Saw lots of very interesting and colorful succulents and bought me a few to neatly arrange in a container. I've been reading the book that Pam at Digging reviewed on Succulents - it's given me lots of ideas.

Sunday morning garden time was time spent maintaining, planting some miscellaneous this and thats, moving a few things that just weren't in the right place. I planted the bamboo that I bought at the bamboo festival a couple weeks ago. It's very small now - but it will grow fast. I've got 4 Golden Goddess Bamboo plants planted along my fence - hoping that real soon it will soften the fence line and add interest.

And finally, on my trek through Home Depot, I bought a beautiful bougainvillea. I admit that I've NEVER been able to keep a bougainvillea alive..... I'm very very committed to really making this one a go! I'll keep my blog updated with my promise to the bougainvillea!

Signs of recovery

Every morning this week, I've noticed all of the plants looking much healthier, happier, not stressed so much. It's been wonderful. I can't wait for those days when I can spend a couple of hours in the garden, some time working - some time sitting on the patio, under the pergola, with a tasty drink - paper umbrella included!
One happy little Morning Glory.

Morning blooms: Abutilon and Pink Skullcap.

I have bamboo on my mind!

I visited the Bamboo Society festival recently at Zilker Gardens and bought some really nice looking bamboo. Pictured on the leftr is some running Bamboo, varigated and it gets about 2-2.5 feet tall. I'll keep it in a pot in a japanese style garden I'm creating. It's all ready to be separated into two pots. The other is 'Golden Goddess'. I'll plant this in front of part of the many miles of wooden fence I'm trying to cover up!

Friday morning specials

I found this passion flower being friendly to the turk's cap. This particular passion flower vine is compliments of a bird or something as I didn't plant that particular variety, although do have a different passion flower vine in another spot in the yard.



The water lilly had 3 blooms this morning! I've got plans to put in a larger raised water lilly garden...... but that's not for this weekend or the next!


The red tipped hibiscus is perky and dark purple/red as ever. I gave it a good watering last night.

Note to self: figure out how to post pics and text using blogger.....

Counting down the days

I agree with Pam at Digging, the sun has slowly started to loose some intensity.... before the sun rises, the mornings are a couple of degrees cooler. I'm hanging in there til it drops 10 degrees and the heat looses it's grip on my garden!

I wanted to post a pic of a Queen Victoria agave as Amy talked about in her blog. I've 3 small ones planted in a front garden. I like their small starlike shape. Amy mentioned a varigated one - I'll have to be on the lookout for that for sure!

Also, just a quick plug for the Austin Bamboo Society show this weekend at Zilker. I'll be there for sure. Their information on the website says there will be vendors there - hope they have some nice varieties of bamboo for reasonable prices.