Playin' Outside

Just returned from 4 days at the Seattle Fling, each jam-packed with  garden blogger friendship and  tours of amazing gardens.  It'll take several days to sift through all those pixels!  So instead of photos and Fling memories, all I'm sharing today is a little gardening humor from my dad.   We all show love the best way we can.      An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey.  He wanted to plant his annual  tomato garden, but it was very difficult work as the ground was hard.  His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison.  The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament: Dear Vincent,    I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here you'd be happy to dig the plot for me like in the old days.   Love, Papa A few days later he received a letter...

Seems like spring offers a gardener a lot of excuses.  Not only is there a long list of things to be done in our own gardens, for  master gardeners, there's a flood of teachable moments in a community under the influence of spring fever.  A surprisingly cool day, the first rain we've received in nearly 7 months, and Carol's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day gave me more excuses - simply to be still and focus on the details at home that make my heart smile.    These 'Bling Bling' zinnias and 'Music Box' kneehigh sunflowers are grown from Renee's Garden seeds.  This is the first year I've intentionally planted a "cutting garden" at the back of my vegetable bed.  Usually I grow sunflowers there for the Great Sunflower Project (a bee counting program), but these were selfishly planted just for me, me, me.  This is a terrible picture of a native butterfly bush.  It was started from a cutting snipped in San Antonio.  'Peter's Purple' mona...

I n Texas, we have something called the Texas Dip.  Google it for your entertainment, but basically it's a curtsy unique to Texas debutantes.  It's also a fairly accurate way to describe the central Texas relationship with freezing temperatures.  We flirt, approach, and occasionally "dip" into them, but rarely sink and stay down.  So, it is with increasing dismay that I watch the thermometer reach 17°F and fail to regain its footing on a cold but just above freezing norm.  I know a lot of our garden blogger friends are used to this - and that their experience over the past week of this winter's record breaking storm has been so much harsher than we've seen in Austin.  But we don't plan(t) for this.   I mean, does anyone in Austin think they're going to need a pond de-icer?   MSS at Zanthan Gardens tweeted earlier this week about her frozen pipes, and it's a good bet a lot more of us will find out we've joined her as the temperatures climb a...

This year’s 4th of July holiday included a welcome extra day off, giving me time for a few garden “chores”.  I just replaced a blade on one of my Felco pruners and was testing them out on the coral honeysuckle that grows around my rain tank.  An odd leaf attracted my attention … do you see it? It’s a Eumorpha pandorus , also known as a Pandora Sphinx moth or camouflage moth.  Here’s a peek at the underside, too.   In my garden, 2010’s been a great year for Lepidoptera, especially giant swallowtails.  But this?!!  WOW.  I have no idea where it came from or how I happened to see it, but it was certainly an honored guest.    Anyone see these regularly in their garden or know their migration route? 

Does your garden have a signal of spring?  The first flower to bloom or tree to bud out?  In my little garden, it's often the "Homestead Purple" verbena or the occasional brave iris.   This year the winner is an Avalanche narcissus (also called Seven Sisters)  that just joined my motley crew last fall even though it's been cultivated in this country since the 1700's. There was a "Feedback" iris in the race, but it couldn't quite get opened in time to claim the lead.   And as much as I appreciate the color it brings to the garden, my flowering quince is a dependable late winter bloomer so I don't really think of it as heralding spring. Like a lot of other Austin gardeners, I'm grateful for any plants that have managed to survive a broiling hot, dry summer followed by a winter full of snow and sustained freezes.  All of the "antique" roses are happily putting out new growth, and most of the herbs appear to wonder wh...

We saw temps in the low 20's last night, leaving this string of ice "pearls" on one of my pond plants.  They're telling us to expect something between 7 and 17 degrees tonight. It also made my thornless blackberries' leaves turn this lovely red. Maybe not your typical winter wonderland, but a nice change as long as it doesn't last too long and we don't have to drive on ice.  That's not a skill many  central Texans have mastered.

Just returned from a Propagation Specialist training in Montgomery County and wanted to add my voice to the crowd singing the praises of the Montgomery County Master Gardeners. They really set a high standard for the rest of us by installing and maintaining an amazing variety of demo gardens - floral, fruit, butterfly, xeriscape, bog and pond - and in their "spare time" they've raised the money for and installed a huge multipurpose building for their Extension office. They even have real china cups for the coffee! Talk about attention to detail... If you have reason to be in the Houston/Woodlands area - it's worth the drive to Conroe to see what can be accomplished with a big dream, hard work and a team spirit. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have Tom LeRoy as coach/Extension agent.