Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2014

So I've been lurking in the world of garden blogging, quietly posting, but more often, reading all the gardening blogs I can get my eyes on. I think it was probably Pam Penick's terrific blog, Digging, that clued me into the delightful monthly recurrence that is Garden Blogger's Bloom Day. On the 15th of every month, Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts GBBD, in which she posts photos of what's blooming in her yard, and encourages other gardeners to do the same, and posts links to their blogs.

Being a novice gardener and blogger, I haven't yet had the audacity to post for Bloom Day... until today. Without further ado, onto the blooms!

As is the case in other parts of the US this year, the blooms here in Austin are a little behind. Maybe a month behind, if I reckon accurately.

The annual Gazania that I picked up recently sports a number of different colored blooms. At the moment, the only one opening during the day is this fetching maroon and white striped one, which my Aggie friends would love. I like that the maroon seems to be painted down the middle of the petal.

Purple Oxalis has been sending up dainty pale pink blossoms lately. These also seem to open just for the sun, then close for the day. They're in part shade here.

More annuals--Torenia 'Kauai Deep Blue' is strutting its stuff.

The strawberries the girls and I planted back in... November? They're regularly putting out charming white flowers, and even berries now. Can't wait to eat one--if we can get to them before the critters do!

Blurry close-up of a multiplying onion flower. My 3-year-old daughter loves these, but she can't muster the patience to avoid picking apart the flower wrapper to expose the circular head of flowers. At least this year she managed to do it gently. I see an Anole lizard photobombing this one, right above my older daughter's wall tag.

Crookneck Squash is putting out some bright yellow spring flowers.

Knockout Rose is back.

The first peak of the Yellow Shrimp Plant bloom showed up this week. This is a new plant in my garden, so I'm eagerly awaiting the show.

Salvia 'Mystic Spires' is putting up a pretty purple spire.

Martha Gonzales roses and Blackfoot Daisies are blooming in the front yard, along with Lavender and Salvia 'Caradonna Meadow Sage'. Here are a few pics:

Here's one of the two Martha Gonzales Roses in the parking strip, with its first blooms of the year. I managed to trim the other one, but didn't get around to this one (oops!) I might give it a light shaping this weekend.

A closer look at the merry Martha roses.

The Blackfoot Daisy I divided last fall--this is the mother plant. It's about half the size it was at the end of last summer.  This plant seems to love the hot, dry parking strip most of all. The babies are small, with just a few blooms right now. All in good time...

Here are some photos of the front-yard purple duo, Lavendar (I don't recall which species) and Caradonna Meadow Sage.

Here are the "twins", side by side in the front pea gravel bed.

Caradonna Meadow Sage doesn't bloom for very long in my garden, but those purple spikes are pretty, and the foliage makes an attractive mound for the rest of the year. This one is growing slowly, perhaps in part because I transplanted it from the parking strip last year.

Lavender -- this is my third attempt at growing this drought-tolerant beauty. I don't know why it took me so long to try it in the front yard, where it is decidedly sunnier, hotter and drier. I think the third time will be the charm, as this one already seems much happier than the previous two.

What has already bloomed and faded this year? Leucojum (Snowflakes) and my Texas Redbud tree.

What hasn't bloomed yet? Texas Mountain Laurel--and since it normally blooms here in February, we might have missed the opportunity this year. I saw one blooming at Springwoods Park here this past week, so I'm holding out hope.

Lantana, Pavonia (Rock Rose), Esperanza, Salvia Greggii 'Autumn Sage', and the crinum bulbs I planted haven't joined the party yet, but I wouldn't expect them to until the weather gets genuinely hot. Turk's Cap and Plumbago are still gradually recovering from the freezes, too.

Happy Bloom Day!

New friends

So, I stopped at Red Barn Garden Center a week or so ago, and went a little crazy. I had a running list of plants I wanted to pick up for the west-facing mulch bed we built last year, and I snapped up several of them... and more.

Japanese Aralia, Heartleaf Skullcap, Columbine, Salvia Mystic Spires (a relative of Indigo Spires) and Tropical (or Scarlet) Sage bring up this side of the bed, which was formerly occupied only by two tiny transplanted Columbines and the Cedar Elm.

At the other end, I planted a couple of Yellow Shrimp Plants and another Salvia Mystic Spires to join the other occupants (Knockout Rose, Blanc Du Bois Grape, Pavonia/Rock Rose, Texas Lantana and those newly planted Crinums.)

 

Here's the view from the middle of the bed. It will be fun to see these plants grow up and take over the now mostly-mulch space.

 

A wider view shows the whole bed, which doesn't look like much yet. I have faith.

Here's a closer look at that Scarlet Sage. 

Over in the dirt rectangle left by the transplanted garden box, Natalie and I scattered some wildflower seeds from Native American Seed. Winecups seedlings are slowly emerging. There's Black-Eyed Susan and a bunch of others in the mix.

The Crape Myrtles are leafing out.

That Wisteria I had almost given up on? It's leafing out, too!

Here are a couple of pictures of the towering Chinese Tallow that we are having removed (by Austin Tree Experts) within the next couple of weeks. I'm confident in my decision, and there are things I won't miss (like the hard pollen spikes and cracked-open seed pods that clutter up the yard every year). It's an invasive tree. Still, it has been a reliable shade tree, with attractive foliage, and I've enjoyed watching the wildlife in its branches.

At its base is a small watering hole for birds, squirrels and butterflies.

Back to all things new--on the same Red Barn trip,  I picked up several succulents to replace the ones I lost in this year's freezes. Kelanchoe, Hens and Chicks, Echeveria, some kind of Sedum, and Dragon's Blood liven up the pots now.

Catmint is perking up nicely. I've told Rachel she has to withhold the scissors until this one gets big enough that the leaves are spilling out of the pot. She loves to cut on this plant, and it didn't seem to mind last year.

The chimney garden--all of my Leucojum (Snowflake) bulbs were blooming at one point. I think three are blooming in this picture.

I had to catch the Texas Redbud while it was blooming. That never lasts more than a couple of weeks before the green leaves start to take over. I think perhaps it's not completely happy in this spot, but I love to look at it from the kitchen window.

Meanwhile in the garden box, strawberries are plumping up. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago. A couple of these are big and turning red now.

March front yard update: If you can't get it to grow, try killing it.

 Finally... Spring has arrived. It easy to love our mild Austin winters, but the scenery gets a bit dull after three months. Most of our native plants are resting, and while evergreens can be lovely, and naked branches can be sculptural and mysterious, the return of the deciduous trees and perennials is always welcome.

Two years ago on my birthday, March 9, Rob bought and planted a Texas Redbud (Cercis canadensis var. Texensis) outside our kitchen window. When we first moved in, there was a thriving Hackberry in that spot. Though Hackberry is considered an invasive trash tree, I had enjoyed having some shade and attractive foliage to see from the kitchen table.

It had just a few blossoms the first year, followed by a thin covering of heart-shaped green leaves. I kept it irrigated through the scorching summer drought (2011) with a Tree Gator.

Every year, redbuds all over town burst into bloom three weeks before this one does, so every year I fear the worst. Last year, the blooming was so late and so minimal that a lanscape contractor that was bidding on some projects asked me if I wanted him to remove this dead tree.

About a week later, it bloomed, very sparsely.

This year I pruned it for the first time, about a month ago, and sprinkled the ground in the freshly cleaned-up bed around it with Rabbit Hill Farm Buds-and-Blooms fertilizer. I don't know whether it was the pruning, the fertilizer, or something else I did or didn't do, but this tree is exploding with beautiful blooms this year.

Cenizo, February 2013

Cenizo, March 2013

 I gave its bed neighbors a deep pruning, including a Cenizo (Leucophyllum frutescens) that had grown to an unruly size and shape for my tastes. Here it is, chopped to the ground. I don't see any new growth on the thickest trunks, but the water shoots are growing and may become the new Cenizo.

Pruning so drastically is a big leap of faith. I do remember that Rob and I tried to kill a shrub by cutting it to the ground one year, and it reemerged stronger, thicker and taller. I have read about the benefits of pruning. Still, it was emotional. I worried that I was going to kill the Cenizo, Esperanza, Pavonia and Lantana that share the SE wall bed with my birthday Redbud.

So far, it appears my faith will be rewarded. There is new growth on all of these plants. I imagine it will be even more vigorous as the temperatures rise and the days grow longer.

Here's a before-and-after of the Esperanza, a.k.a. Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans).

Here's the Lantana (Lantana involucrata) in front of two Rock Rose/Pavonia (Pavonia lasiopetala) that I planted at the same time, last fall. Just a week ago, there were few signs of life on the Lantana. Now there is a promising cluster of leaves and stems.




















Behind the Pavonias sits a Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) that I had to cut back drastically to keep it from choking out these other, new plants. It is still tall along the white brick wall, and from my kitchen window, I can see its lovely sky blue flowers along with the magenta blooms of the Redbud.

 In front of the SW-facing kitchen window, the ginger I planted in the fall did suffer a little bit of frost damage. But it is sending up new shoots and rebounding heartily, along with Turk's Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. Drummondii), Variegated Flax Lily (Dianella tasmanica Variegata) and Liriope (Liriope muscari 'Big Blue' and 'Aztec Grass').

The one remaining Pigeonberry (Rivina humilis) is beginning to leaf out and green up for Spring. This particular one has thrived since I planted it, but the two I planted next to it (in spots now occupied by Liriope) never thrived, and died off after the first frost.

Our Texas Mountain Laurel, sadly, did not bloom this year. I think we're past the bloom window now. It still has black seedpods attached to it, and I wonder if I should have removed those to stimulate new blooms.

I do see a little bit of new foliage growth on it, which, I hope, won't get devoured by caterpillars this year. I have Bt (Bacillus thuringensis) ready to go, just in case.

Elsewhere in the front yard, things are beginning to bounce back. I gave my one-year-old Martha Gonzales roses a conservative pruning in February. One of them was already starting to bloom, and kept right on blooming after pruning.

The other has stubbornly refused to bloom, and I started to worry that it wasn't getting enough water, as drought conditions continue this Spring.

One good rain and a liberal soaking with the hose later, it has one or two blooms on it.

The bare-root Methley plum tree I planted in the rock bed back in February (or was it late January?) is finally greening up, to my daughters' delight, and mine. Natalie keeps talking about the plums it will make. It'll be a good lesson in patience, I bet.

 I transplanted some of the plants from the parking strip to the rock bed back in February, too. So far, everything is surviving, and gingerly putting out some new growth.

This Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii) doesn't seem to have lost a single bloom, in spite of windy days and wild temperature fluctuations.

 This Caradonna Meadow Sage (Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna') isn't showing any noticeable change since I transplanted it. It wasn't thriving where it was; I hope it will enjoy its new home more and give us some stunning purple blooms this year.

 I planted a couple of Mexican Feathergrass a couple of weeks ago. I can't help myself. I set out to have a very planned landscape, and I end up collecting plants.

 This Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is on its second transplant. The roots were so infested with Bermudagrass roots and runners that I picked them clean--no dirt at all. I figured this was a gamble, but the Rosemary didn't even flinch. It is settling into its new home nicely.

I have plans for the area at the NW side of the house, in front of the HVAC/recycle/trash cart area. I'm not exactly sure what will go in it yet, but there will be a bed bordered in limestone blocks, generously donated by my mom, who lives in Dripping Springs.

Rachel already tested out their climb-worthiness.

This morning I was inspired at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, by this lovely groundcover with pink-red berries, Coral Berry (symphorocarpos orbiculatus), that seemed to like its shady spot. I might have to include it as a border in this limestone bed, or in the backyard around the Cedar Elm.