May Foliage Follow-Up

After a belated Bloom Day post, here comes the belated Foliage Follow Up. Thanks, as always, to Pam Penick at Digging for hosting this monthly tribute to all things leafy.

Starting in the backyard, I've shuffled the succulent pots around a bit, since they didn't seem to get enough sunlight in their previous corner. Either the neighbor's towering Cedar Elm is offering deeper shade than it did last year, or the angle of the sun isn't quite right at this time of the season. They are still vulnerable to attacks by my #1 biggest and most beloved pest, my 3-year-old daughter. They'll just have to find a way to survive her. She can't seem to stop herself from plucking off leaves and stems.

Here's the fairly healthy Catmint, along with the Sedum/Kelanchoe combo succulent pot. My 3-year-old really loves those Kelanchoe leaves--she can't stop collecting them.

In the firepit planter, the sedums are coming back nicely. A little sprig of this one migrated to the shady Purple Pocket Garden somehow, and is doing surprisingly well there. Sedums in the shade?

I wish I could remember the name of this one. Some sort of Mangave? It looked great last year, before it got hit with multiple frosts. This is actually the best it has looked so far this year. I'm still hoping for a full recovery.

The "Rainbow Bed" isn't quite as vibrant these days, since the Knockout Roses stopped blooming and Pavonia/Rock Rose hasn't quite started yet. But the contrasting foliage is fun to look at. In the back, Blanc Du Bois grape is making do with the overly-vertical trellis I gave it. There are aphids and tiny ants at the growing tips, and something has munched holes in a lot of the leaves, but it seems to be surviving. I tell myself I'm not doing anything about the aphids and ants, not because I'm lazy, but because I want to see if the local ladybugs will come along and let their larvae loose on the aphids. But I'm probably just lazy.

To my astonishment, grapes have appeared at the base of the Blanc Du Bois! They're tiny. I tried one the other day, knowing they weren't really ready, but fearing I wouldn't otherwise have a chance. It was sour, but satisfying.

Hidden among the Blanc Du Bois leaves are the hand-like leaves of the Cardinal Climber vine. There are a pair of these Cardinal Climbers weaving their way up the trellis, right along with the grape. Poor planning on my part, but those little hands and tendrils are surprisingly tenacious.

Here you can see the mingling of leaves - the wide grape leaves and the dainty, spiky Cardinal Climber leaves. Whatever is munching on the grape doesn't seem at all interested in the Cardinal Climber.

A couple of wide views: Here's the view from the Rainbow Bed looking East toward the neighbors towering Cedar Elm. The two biggest crape myrtles ('Natchez') look pretty good this year, and even have some new buds on them.

Here's one of the "medium-sized" crape myrtles, also looking fairly content this year. Fully leafed out, no buds yet... all the crapes in my yard seem to bloom later than their local brethren, perhaps because they're in part shade. Now that the Chinese Tallow is gone and no longer blocking significant sunlight, I'll be curious to see how this crape reacts.

One of the smallest crape myrtles on utility box screening duty in the NW corner of the backyard, flanked by two ligustrums we planted before we knew better. I gave the ligustrums a hearty chop early this spring.

Pampas Grass fills in behind the Crape Myrtles.

 Not much to see here yet, but there is foliage... Wisteria, Tropical Milkweed (coming back from the dead of winter), Purple Coneflower/Echinacea and Cardinal Climber.

Another wide shot--looking Westward towards our younger, more diminutive Cedar Elm. This would have to be the official tree of the neighborhood--I think the Cedar Elms outnumber the oaks here, and that's saying something.

The Purple Pocket Garden is thriving, and volunteer Wild Morning Glory / Purple Bindweed is beginning its annual climb up the trellis. This is one of the plants that came with the house, and was probably a volunteer in the first place.

There it goes!

Looking back toward the deck, another old friend, Asparagus Fern, has clearly bounced back again after dying back completely this past winter. Catmint and succulents adorn the pots on the steps.

Oh, that's where I put the other succulent pot--on the West side of the deck, where there's now ample afternoon sun, now that the Tallow is gone. Hens-and-Chicks seems to have brought along a non-succulent stowaway from the nursery. I'm waiting to see what it is before I pluck it out. "Dragon's Blood" sedum is thriving. Graptopetalum is barely limping along, thanks to damage by the aforementioned preschooler. If it can survive her, it can stay.

Moving to the front yard, it's almost all foliage right now in the pea gravel bed. The wind was really whipping the Methley Plum around.

Looking Eastward in the front yard--the freshly-trimmed Arizona Ash, the never-trimmed Loquat, and the gradually returning bed of Plumbago.

Another shot of the Plumbago.

Here's the bed I formerly called the Jungle Bed, until everything but the Texas Mountain Laurel died back over the winter. It's all coming back nicely, though not quite back to Jungle status yet. (Ginger, Flax Lily, Liriope and Turk's Cap.)

Lovely, lush loquat. The girls enjoy riding the lower limbs, pretending they're riding horses. So far, the loquat is tolerating the abuse.

 Happy May Gardening!

Before/After

Forgive the amateur shots, and indulge me in a little Before and After. The Before pics are mostly from February of this year. The Afters were taken in April. Spring gardening is such a thrill--getting to see things come back to life, leaf out and bloom.

We are forecasted to get mid-30's temps tonight. I wrapped the tomatoes. Praying everything else will make it.

Here's the garden box before:

And after...

The sheet mulch bed after pruning, but before mulching and new planting. The Knockout Roses are visible, though dull, but the Blanc Du Bois Grape is almost invisible between them.

But look at the grape now. It's exploding with new leaves and tendrils, and even the tiniest stems of grapes. Probably nothing we'll be able to eat this year, but it's fun to see. Maybe we'll make some dolmas.

The Knockouts are perking up nicely, getting ready to explode with blooms.

Here's the side view, showing the return of the Asparagus Fern, Pavonia (Rock Rose), and Lantana, joined by other recent additions.

Same bed, the Pavonia/Rock Rose in the bottom left corner of this pic was reduced to bare sticks. Ditto for the Texas Lantana bottom right. The Pavonia showed early signs of returning, but the Lantana was bare until late March.

Pavonia returning.

Dead-looking Lantana.

Lantana with enough new growth to almost completely obscure the bare sticks that preceded it.

The Purple Pocket Garden before... I was excited to see some new growth on the Coral Bells (Huechera), and the remaining purple elements had all died to the ground. I didn't know when or if they would return, or what I would do with the gaps left behind.

The Purple Pocket Garden returns... the Coral Bells are getting tall, thick and lush, the Oxalis and Purple Hearts have heartily returned, and I've added annual 'Kauai Deep Blue' Torenia. I saw the first sprout of wild morning glory returning, too.

Pretty Oxalis, now blooming every morning.

New Torenia, trying to steal the show.

Coral Bells livening up the corner. The more subtle green-purple foliage to the right is Purple Heart, slowly but surely making a comeback.

 There are several more Before/Afters... I'll save those for another post. Happy Gardening!

January garden update

 Yesterday while Rob took the girls to Natalie's dance class, I spent some quality time in the garden, for the first time this year. Cedar fever and cold weather have kept me indoors so far this year. I was thrilled to get back outside.

Amazingly after all the freezing nights we have, the ginger and Turk's Cap I planted last year are still going, as is the row of plumbago that seem to be indestructible. All look a bit faded, and there are some browned leaf edges and a few ugly stems I'll prune away in February.

I'd like to transplant at least half of the Plumbago Jungle to a couple of beds in the backyard. I might break it up in the front yard with evergreen Japanese Aralia, as David Meeker of Porthole Design suggested.

The plumbago looks okay this year, but in several recent winters, it has died back to the ground. It always comes back, but leaves an ugly bare spot for a few months until it does. For 8-9 months, it is covered in pretty periwinkle blue blooms. Natalie and Rachel are fond of picking these and giving them to me. It's a good thing we have an inexhaustible supply.

 The loquat we planted at about this time last year (2012) seems to be thriving in the sunny spot formerly occupied by a diseased Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) that Rob cut down the year before. It hasn't bloomed or set fruit, and perhaps it's too young--the ones I've seen blooming around the neighborhood are considerably bigger. 

 It's almost invisible in the photo above, but there's a Texas Redbud (Cercis canadensis var. texana) nestled up against the fence on the east side of our house.

 

 In the backyard, in Natalie's garden I ripped out a dead Cherokee Purple Tomato and a depleted and frost-damaged sweet basil and transplanted an overgrown oregano to make room for bare-root Brazos blackberry and a Heritage raspberry. I don't have high hopes for the raspberry, especially after I waited so long to plant it that the roots probably dried out.

The remaining green in this garden comes from an overgrown Buttercrunch lettuce, an artichoke in the back left corner that has yet to bloom, and a couple of garlic plants and shallots.

Natalie and I harvested a nice, fat Danvers carrot that she grew from seed. We had decent success with these carrots this year, which is saying something, considering I've never attempted to grow carrots before, and Natalie is 3 years old.

  



I opted to dig up a Snowflake leucojum bulb I had planted in November to make room for a Blanc du Bois grape along the NW fenceline, facing SE. I don't know if it'll make it as a potted plant, but I thought I'd give it a try. Here it is against a wall on the SE side of the house.

 

I gave the Senecio succulent hanging basket a haircut, and stuck the cuttings in some leftover potting soil from last year's long-gone plants. It's probably not the ideal potting mix, but this is such a hardy plant, I figured it was worth a shot, and besides, I have nothing to lose.

I added a cut stem of Kelanchoe, from one I stuck in the ground last year. It originated as a grocery store potted plant that Rob gifted me for a birthday one year. This little Kelanchoe has survived my worst neglect, even lack of water for several months during the Summer from Hell of 2011. We'll see how it tolerates cutting and replanting.

 

I trimmed back an overgrown Catmint and my little Butterfly Garden nook along the back fence -- Bougainvillea and Tropical Butterflyweed. I don't know whether they'll come back this year. Bougainvillea has always eluded me. I thought some pruning and a sprinkle of fertilizer might help. I cut back the Tropical Butterflyweed rather severely, after noticing that it has buds forming all over the stalk. I figured it might bush out if pruned drastically, and a bush form would be lovely.

 Rob gave me a couple of Cyclamens for Christmas. Plants are a favorite gift, of course, but often present a new challenge. I have nothing to do with his selections, and he often comes home with a plant I've never attempted to grow before. So it is with Cyclamens. I kept them on a windowsill and watered them sparingly for the three weeks or so since Christmas. They were looking so puny, I figured I'd have to repot them. I found this rectangular clay windowbox and it seemed like an attractive option, so now I am trying out the Cyclamens in the backyard, in a semi-shady spot near the Kelanchoe.

One of my experimental spots in the backyard is an impromptu bed I made from some languishing Vinca hanging baskets and wild Morning Glory that started as a weed when this was the trashy part of the yard. I bought the flower trellis, and last year the Vinca/Morning Glory combination was delightful. A few of the Vinca branches succumbed to recent frosts. The Morning Glory has died back completely, as I suspected it would. I hope it'll be back in the Spring.

Rachel loves to pick the Vinca flowers, which are white and pink and always blooming in hot weather.

 I have 2-3 cinder blocks I may repurpose as a sturdier border for this bed, until I can afford something nicer. Right now old chopped up roots and trash logs are doing the job.