Nursery Tour 2013

 

"This one? Or this one? Hmmm."

Many years ago, a dear friend and I began a tradition of visiting a new nursery each spring. We would spend hours at our chosen business, looking at demonstration gardens and debating the merits of this plant versus that plant. I would soak up her plant knowledge.

We had children in tow (her youngest is 15, mine 11) until they started school. Luckily, many nurseries supply little red wagons just for entertaining small children. Oh, those are for hauling plants? That works, too.

Over the years, we have visited every nursery we could get to during the school day.

On our trips, we talk about all manner of things:  children (our oldest sons are best friends and have been since kindergarten – they are men now), careers (she is a fine artist, and you can see her work here), and husbands (no comment).

And of course, we discuss and admire lovely plants. We are not landscapers, but plant collectors. Usually we discover some new plant to add to our collection. Because we are frugal, each plant choice requires much thoughtful debate and consideration.

Audra made us feel welcome at Bloom.

Yesterday we visited two nurseries, beginning with Bloom in nearby Dripping Springs. I had been there many years ago; this was Lona’s first visit. The nursery surrounds an old house. As is practical in a small town, the business has two sides: the house holds a bakery and lunch place called Thyme and Dough. We found some plants we needed that we hadn't seen elsewhere. We also found some sweets. We give the nursery and bakery our seal of approval.

Wildflower meadow at The Natural Gardener.

Next, we headed north to The Natural Gardener, one of the premier nurseries in Austin. We visited here last when my daughter was young. Truth be told, we did not love this nursery. It sold plants mostly in 1-gallon containers – too pricey for us. But it had some nice demonstration gardens. This made it the perfect destination for this year’s excursion:  a place with things to look at, but not to buy.

Or so we thought.

I was wowed by this garden art at The Natural Gardener. I am standing under a cedar gazebo.

This is a good use of a water feature
for a drought-prone area!

We spent quite a bit of time wandering through the demonstration gardens, much expanded since our last visit. We saw a labyrinth, a ground guitar surrounded by grass plots and a wildflower meadow, a kitchen/medicinal garden, animals (chickens and goats), a vegetable garden, and much more.

Then we headed over to the sales area. This nursery offers lots of xeric plants, with a wide selection of yuccas, agaves and succulents, as well as some of the usual annuals. Soon we came to those perennials sold in one-gallon pots.

Look at all the lovelies!

But wait, what was this?  A whole row of perennials in 4” pots – oh nooooooooo!

Overall, we were proud of our restraint. We came home with a reasonable amount of plants to fill existing holes in the garden. I have already put most of mine into their holes (supposedly rain is on its way!).

More importantly, we enjoyed a lovely day catching up on each other’s news and admiring beautiful plants and gardens. I think we should continue this tradition. What do you think, Lona?

Kitchen/medicinal garden designed by Austin designer Lucinda Hutson.

Where the wild things are: on the hill!

 

Walking sticks have appeared
on our porch.

It must be spring, because all kinds of wild creatures are presenting themselves for observation at our country home.

We’ve seen some rare-to-us birds in the last few weeks. A golden-cheeked warbler perched on a branch outside our picture window a week ago, begging to be observed. These warblers actually are rare: they are listed as an endangered species. They only nest in the oak-juniper woodlands of Central Texas, and boy, do we have lots of home sites for them! We have continued to see him occasionally, and this morning we saw two––maybe a pair nesting nearby? This is the ultimate for an amateur naturalist––providing habitat for an endangered species!

Although this is a terrible picture, perhaps it's the perfect picture of a rare, shy endangered bird. Can you find him?

A Nashville warbler has been hanging around for several weeks, enjoying the birdbath. On Sunday, a summer tanager spent the day with us. We heard his call and knew he was not one of our regular visitors.  He finally landed on our picnic table so we could identify him.

Pine siskin (left) and Carolina chickadee
enjoy the seeds.

Another harbinger of spring (not at all rare) has arrived: chuck-will’s-widows. We’ve been hearing their night calls for several weeks.

A cottontail has been hopping around the yard. When we first moved in, many cottontails lived here. But we brought two cats and a dog with us, and the rabbits moved out.  We’re down to one rickety cat now, and this dog isn’t interested in chasing them.  I guess the rabbits (or at least this one) decided it was safe to return.

Our resident checkered garter snake finally woke up from his winter nap. My daughter and I startled him this weekend as he swam with the goldfish. He leaped out of the pond, and then slithered away slowly, and if to say, “Yeah, I’m back. It’s no big deal.” 

That same afternoon, I walked out into a field to inspect the first prickly pear bloom and heard a rustling to my left. I looked over to see a rather large snake crawling up a cedar tree.  I came back with binoculars and my budding herpetologist, and we spied him lounging on a branch about 40 feet high. We think he was a coach whip.

The fire ants are busy making trails across the driveway.

Of course, the whitetail deer are ever present. A pair skittered away as I went to my car one day last week. We don’t usually see them near the house, thanks to the presence of our dog, Iris.

Bees!

Other recent sightings include a leopard frog squatting on the edge of the minnow pond. He appears to be dozing, but I’m sure if something edible came within reach he would leap into action. Lots of squirrels have been raiding our black oil sunflower feeders. My husband has harvested a few of them for our table. Free range, hormone-free, and . . . free! And before you ask, they taste like chicken––little bitty chickens.

Night before last, a coyote chorus serenaded us. We were sleeping with the windows open, on a quiet spring night. We awoke to the sounds of yipping and howling from the next-door neighbor’s property. I lay there smiling, because their song was so clear and distinct and perfect for the night. They sang for only a few moments, and then slipped away to their next engagement.

Oh, how I love living in the country!

April showers bring . . . April flowers

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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day has come and gone, but since so much is blooming at my house right now, I’m posting for it anyway! I took these pictures on April 16, on a beautiful, sunny spring morning. It’s a good thing, as today it is drizzling and much cooler after the passage of a late cold front.

Although we are in the middle of a drought, we have received just enough rain to fuel my garden and wildflowers. The grass is green, and not just over the septic tank. The oak trees have leafed out for the most part (though a green haze of oak pollen continues to build up on cars and inside surfaces). In summary, it is a beautiful spring in Central Texas!

This scene is just purty:  Nierembergia (Nierembergia gracilis "Starry Eyes") blooming in the pond bed. Do you see the tiny yellow flower in front? That is common groundcover called straggler daisy (Calyptocarpus vialis). In places, it is my lawn – and it does not need mowing.

It's spring in Texas so there must be bluebonnets (Lupinis texensis). Our best bluebonnet patch is out by the burn pile. It was looking puny until a good rain three weeks ago. Now, as you can see, the bluebonnets are happier. Blooming alongside them is our main resident wildflower, the prairie verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida).

 On the left is some sort of wildly beautiful iris. My iris bed has donated and one-off purchased irises, so I’ve got no idea what this one is. That does not stop me from appreciating it. On the right:  columbines (Aquilegia chrysantha var. hinckleyana, I think)!

I’ve posted a picture of this area recently, but since then these Texas stars (Lindheimera texana) have taken over their corner of the bed. You get to see them again. These grow in uncultivated areas of my yard, also, but do not get quite so large.

Last year I noticed this plant blooming in the wild area in front of my house. On closer inspection, I realized it was a damianita (Chrysactinia mexicana). It was the only one on my property, to my knowledge, and I did not plant it. This year a second one has appeared in the same area. Yay!

The anacacho orchid tree (Bauhinia lunarioides) is lovely, as it is every year, with its spring blooms.

This little area is one of my favorites right now. In front, cedar sages (Salvia roemeriana) shoot up stalks of deep red, with yellow accents from the four-nerve daisy (Tetraneuris scaposa, I believe) against a backdrop of white autumn sage (Salvia greggii cultivar).

Out in the rock bed (which looks rather grassy at the moment), a volunteer fragrant mimosa (Mimosa borealis) has put on its pink and white puffballs. This plant occurs naturally on my land. Yellow Dahlberg daisies (Thymophylla tenuiloba) are blooming all over my yard, as is prairie verbena. The daisies are not natives, but after I planted some one year, they have self-seeded all over the front yard. This is okay by me, as I like the wildflower meadow look.

Looking out my French doors yesterday, I noticed the sun shining through the fresh green leaves of the crape myrtle and ran for the camera. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), purple oxalis (Oxalis triangularis?) and wandering Jew (Tradescantia pallida) live underneath. The red bloomer is tropical sage (Salvia coccinea). This and the following picture are really more foliage shots, so I will be posting on Digging's Foliage Follow-up, also.

Last but definitely not least, I present this grouping out by the parking area. The only plant blooming here is the Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa - not a native), but isn’t it pretty with the century plants (Agave americana), nolina (Nolina lindheimeriana), woolly butterfly bush (Buddleja marrubiifolia) and cenizo (Leucophyllum frutescens)? 

Spring blooms in my garden

Bridal wreath (Spirea prunifolia)

Well, I really missed Garden Bloggers Bloom Day this time. I meant to post on the 15^th . . . no, really, I did! But a family emergency put the kibosh on those plans.

And yet . . .

Plants are blooming in my yard, despite our drought. Truly, nature is amazing. Plants will bloom in spring, no matter the lack of rain or unseasonable heat or drying winds. Some of my bloomers are rather exciting (at least to me), so I'm posting today.

Spring! Hurrah!

This is one of my prizes:
I think it's a potato vine
(Solanum jasminoides). It
grew over winter, and is
blooming gaily now!

We are on the tail end of bloom time for the agarita
(Mahonia trifoliata) and the berries are forming.

Texas stars (Lindheimera texana) reseed freely in my beds and yard. These are native wildflowers.

The irises responded nicely to their spa treatment last fall.
These are the first blooms I've seen in three years.

Blackfoot daisies (Melampodium leucanthum)

This is my other prize! A neighbor bought this for me last year and it's finally blooming.
The desert globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) is native to the southwest (not Texas).

This awesome plant is death camas (Zigadenes Nuttallii). Yes, it's poisonous.

What's blooming in your garden? To see other GBBD reports, visit May Dreams Gardens.

Windfall (not the monetary kind)

Wow, it was blowing dogs off chains a few days ago! If you live anywhere in the middle of the country, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  I’m not complaining, mind you. Compared to the blizzard conditions experienced in other places, we got off easy.

Wind gusts exceeded 50 mph in our area. According to the National Weather Service (From Jim Spencer’s weather blog on KXAN), Hays County’s highest measured gust was 53 mph.

I am amazed at how strong trees are, and how much movement and stress they can take. Looking out the window the other day at the trees thrashing about, I expected more damage. But those trees are tough. Our damage was limited to occasional broken Ashe juniper branches, though one of those was quite a large branch in a tree directly in front of the house.

Besides the woodpile, a few branches fell, also.

One unforeseen problem emerged. In a recent tree-cutting spree we stacked wood five feet high between several moderately sized cedars. When the winds started gusting, the trees started swaying – and a good bit of our woodpile toppled. Now we get to stack that wood twice. Live and learn.

Did you notice the noise of the windstorm? Even inside the house, I could hear a low sustained roar. Outside, the roar was intense:  an amalgam of wind whistling through branches, leaves rustling, limbs crashing against each other, and trees creaking and groaning – for miles around.

“Awesome” – though overworked – is just the right adjective!

Favorite spot in the garden:

The violets have begun blooming, few and sparse right now. These little darlings appeared without my help and began proliferating under the roof overhang and live oak tree. According to the Wildflower Research Center they are “Good for the moist but well-drained woodland shade garden.” Well, that’s not exactly what I’ve got, but I’ll take ‘em! I think they are Missouri violets (Viola missouriensis).

For some reason, I thought of poetry when writing about the violets, and I found this sweet little poem to share.

Who hath despised the day of small things?

By Cristina Rossetti

As violets so be I recluse and sweet,

            Cheerful as daisies unaccounted rare,

Still sunward-gazing from a lowly seat,

            Still sweetening wintry air.

While half-awaked Spring lags incomplete,

            While lofty forest trees tower bleak and bare,

Daisies and violets own remotest heat

            And bloom and make them fair.

Garden book review: Yard Art and Handmade Places

Today I am joining a garden book review meme hosted by Holly at Roses and Other Gardening Joys. I wrote a review for the first month of the meme, and have not participated since. There's really no excuse for this, as I love books, all sorts. This meme is made for me!

Several years ago, I received a gift book entitled Yard Art and Handmade Places, Extraordinary Expressions of Home, by Jill Nokes with Pat Jasper. Nokes is a family friend. Well, I don't actually know her, but other family members do. She is a landscape designer in Austin, and my brother-in-law, who is a landscape architect, worked with her for a while.

Each chapter features a different yard and gardener, from all over the great state of Texas. These gardeners use a wide variety of materials to make a personal statement in their yards. 

According to the book jacket:

"Yard Art and Handmade Places celebrates the fact that, despite the proliferation of look-alike suburbs, places still exist where people with ordinary means and skills are shaping space with their own hands to create a personal expression that can be enjoyed by all."

The gardeners use materials ranging from rocks to collections, statuary to junk. Some of the gardeners used plant choices to create an oasis. Other gardens celebrate a gardener's Mexican heritage or reflect the owner's religious beliefs. It's no slip of the pen when Nokes calls these gardeners "artists.'

One of my favorite chapters is about a gardener in San Antonio (pictured on the book's cover), Jesus Zertuche, who built a waterfall in his front yard from white limestone with black mortar, and decorated it with rocks collected over a lifetime working on a ranch in south Texas. He posed the animal-shaped rocks around the pond and waterfall. He also populated the urban property with trees and plants, to soften the hard edges of the limestone and provide shade on hot south Texas days.

Another chapter features Cleveland Turner's yard in the Third Ward of Houston. He has filled his yard to the brim with brightly colored found treasures and colorful flowers. From the book:  "Like many folk artists, Cleveland receives a lot of attention simply because his home and garden seem so wonderfully outrageous and free from convention."

I loved exploring these creative gardens; I often wish my garden was more whimsical, but it just may not be in my nature. 

The stories Nokes tells about the gardeners are fascinating, but I did wish for larger pictures, since I will most likely never see these gardens in person.

This book is pure fun. If you enjoy quirky yard art interwoven with beautiful and interesting plants, you might want to track down this book. To see more garden book reviews, click on this link.

Favorite spot in the garden:

Spring seems to be peeking out in my garden. I’m ready, how about you? The snowdrops (Leucojum aestivum) or snowflakes have begun blooming. I'd never noticed the tiny green spots at the base of each petal - very cool! Some of my snowdrops came from around an old house on property where my sister lived for awhile. My mother-in-law recently gave me more, from her grandmother's garden. Both of these were in southeast Texas, but they seem to be doing alright here in central Texas, too!

Rioting in the garden

My garden is a riot of color. Between the blooms and the butterflies - oh my. I can't show all that is blooming this April Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (hosted by May Dreams Gardens), but I'll give you a sampling.

In my flower beds, the yarrow (Achillea millefolium var. occidentalis) is putting on an eye-catching show.

Other flowers showing their colors include Texas lantana (Lantana urticoides) and the Engelmann daisies (Engelmannia peristenia). The daisies are showy on the roadsides in our area right now.

Blackfoot daisies (Melampodium leucanthum) continue blooming.

Cedar sages (Salvia roemeriana) continue to brighten a few shady areas. I want to spread these all over my property!

Out in the wild, lots more things are blooming. The two most prolific bloomers - in order of numbers - are the Drummond's skullcap (Scutellaria drummondii), which are carpeting the ground all around my house, and the prairie verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida), both shown in this picture.

The prickly pear began blooming this week. I'm not sure, but we may have the Texas prickly pear (Opuntia engelmannii var. lindheimeri). The butterflies are so prevalent, you can hardly take a flower picture without one muscling its way into the frame. I think this is a painted lady, though it looks a little different than in my book.

Texas stars (Lindheimera texana - right) are still blooming, getting larger as the season advances.












The little darlings above have the most wonderful lemon smell when crushed underfoot; and I have just this minute figured out what they are:  annual pennyroyal (Hedeoma acinoides). They are native only to Texas, on limestone.

Zexmenia (Wedelia texana) has begun blooming. Last year, with the drought, it did not bloom at all. This is one of my favorite wildflowers here.

That's about it from the hill. Be sure to visit May Dreams Gardens to see what's blooming all over the place!

Bad flower. Very bad.

The lovely yellow flower decorating the roadsides this spring has been getting a lot of press recently.

“It’s so pretty,” you might say.  What’s not to like about masses of 3-foot tall plants, gently waving little yellow blooms all along the roadside?

Turns out this flower embodies the old saying:  “Beauty is only skin deep.” Or in this case, bloom deep. And it has a name to match its unpleasant nature: bastard cabbage (Rapistrum rugosum).

My friends, this invasive species is CROWDING OUT BLUEBONNETS (and other native plants).That will not do.

According to TexasInvasives.org, bastard cabbage is native to southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia.  It spreads here through grass seed mixes and mulches.

Once here, it settles right in. Its seeds germinate early in the fall, and then form a “blanket of leafy rosettes,” which keeps sunlight from reaching seedlings of other natives, including bluebonnets. A monoculture can develop. The site says these grow 1 to 5 feet tall, bloom spring into summer, and put down  “robust” taproots.

According to Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States, bastard cabbage is found in multiple states, but is invasive only in Texas.

We noticed masses of yellow when returning from the coast a few weeks ago, and I saw lots near Blanco this week. In fact, fellow blogger Sheryl Smith Rogers wrote last week about attacking the bastard cabbage at Blanco State Park.

Field outside of Blanco.

But is it here? In Hays County?  YES!

We have seen it along FM 150 between Wimberley and Kyle.  There are a few isolated plants toward Wimberley and in my neighborhood; it is much thicker toward the east.

What can we do, what can we do? According to Texas Invasives, the best method of eradication is to yank the puppies up, and get those taproots. That should be easy. Not. 

The Wildflower Research Center is working on an organic way of dealing with this problem. Heavily seeded Indian blanket might be able to compete with the bastard cabbage, according to a KXAN Austin news report.

My husband has been a bastard cabbage warrior in his walks this week, yanking it up when he sees it along his path. Join him! If you see it on or near your property, show no mercy.

And if you want, mutter or shout, “Take that, you bastard cabbage!”

Favorite spot in the garden:

My first favorite:  At the corner of my porch, the anacacho orchid tree (Bauhinia lunarioides) is simply stunning, covered in white blooms, with bees buzzing busily all around.  This is a very good little tree for Hays County. Just gouge out a hole in a rock somewhere, and stick it in. You will be rewarded.

Another favorite place is all the open, rocky areas on our property, where the stork’s bills (Erodium texanum) are having a banner year. Its name refers to the look of its seed pods. These have another charming name:  “fillaree.” Like buttercups, these open late in the day, and close in the morning.