Planting on December 30!

This morning jonesing for some garden action, I swung by Shoal Creek Nursery and Lowes to see if there was anything interesting or inspiring. SCN had some bluebonnet bedding plants which I briefly considered for the front. But I’ve had such heartbreak with bloobs in the past and let’s face it, they belong in a meadow not an urban border.


At Lowes I bought four more Rainbow Knockouts for the sidebed. I may have a serious addiction here. This plant makes me happy. Love, loave, LURVE the color, even the rosehips are divine.
Spent the afternoon playing scrabble and Blokus on the deck with daughter, her BF and his pal. They finally left to go play Chicken Bingo at Ginny’s Little Longhorn and I immediately got busy planting.

This space is just a rectangle sandwiched between the deck and some paving and the wood privacy fence, where my neighbor’s English ivy creeps over. I like the fact that it will be a display spot you can gaze down on from the deck. In my Vale house the yard was so big that you really couldn’t see the perimeter beds from the house or patio. Now that I’ve got the roses situated, I need to figure out some kind of edging, either liriope or maybe miniature boxwoods since the space is so angular. I’m not sure how big the roses will get, so I’ll have to go slow on adding fill-in plants. I have a beautiful pale pink salvia at Vale that would be lacey and pretty amongst the roses.

God’s Own Leaf Blower

Can’t remember a winter with more bouts of howling winds. I’ve no sooner raked up the leaves in the street gutter and dumped them on the compost, when the entire contents of a neighbor’s red oak or sycamore tree has been blown onto my curb again.
Not complaining, mind you. More leaves for mulching, etc. Plus, daughter Grace, home on holidays from Providence, RI, showed me the pix she took right before leaving. A very scenic whiteout blizzard covering every house, hill, and dale. Very pretty, as long as you don’t have to drive, dig out, run errands, etc.
Today I cut back the cannas, which had finally got a bit froststruck. The front yard, which is sheltered and southerly, seems still fairly unscathed with the Blue Daze intact. Everything in the new front bed looks pretty tatty except for the Iceberg roses. I probably should just cut everything back severely, but I’m waiting for a hard freeze to force my hand on this.
The only other gardening news is the appearance of Sleeping Princesses in the backyard on the afternoon of Christmas Day. These rare bulbs are a delightful addition to any garden and do best in a patch of lawn where there's sunlight and mild temps.

Tropicana Dreams

This morning before dashing off to work I took this happy little snap of one of the rosebushes I bought in Luling that were supposedly Knockouts. Neither the leaf nor the bloom color look like the standard KR. The KR website lists a variety called Rainbow Knock Out Rose that “covers itself with coral pink blooms painted with rich yellow at the base.” Maybe that’s what these are. They’re throwing off buds and blooms like crazy and seem to be immune to the blackspot that’s rampant with this on/off hot humid weather.

I’m in the process of digging up my side yard for a new bed that sits along my patio. A coral-based showcase might be interesting: The Rainbow Knockouts, flame acanthus, a hot pink and orange canna or two, some tangerine impatiens along the border, old reliable pavonia, that orangey zinnia. Oh, and some four-o’clocks, the mutant ones that have yellow streaked with cerise.Some giant purple/green leafy things mixed in, banana, ginger or something.

The Spineybacked Orbweaver

One of the side benefits of gardening is coming into regular and intimate contact with the insect world. Pam at Digging has mentioned the recent influx of ladybugs in our neighborhood. In my yard, this was a passing flux. More enduring has been the presence of Gasteracantha Elipsoides, or the Spineybacked Orbweaver, the spider that has established its tiny but ornate empire in several corners of my garden. Shaped like a crab, with spiky horns, and decorative spots, this spider spins a large ornate web every evening, suspended by whatever stanchions it can find: eaves, porch railings, tree branches. The one over my head at this very moment has woven its web daily in the same corner of my deck for the past 3 months. Though miniature, this spider is quite as beautiful as any flower in bloom, and a welcome companion—especially since, despite its prickly appearance, it is harmless to humans. Thanks to nickspiders.com for the photo; my camera cannot do justice to the closeup.

Remembering Gus

Pam at Digging was kind enough to point out that my Comments function had disappeared. It made me realize how fragile this electronic blog was; dependent upon my nonexistent html skills and haphazard blogspot support. I turned back to my hardcopy journal wherein I paste plant sticks, sketch plans, and add random notes of freezes, drought, personal data. I still keep this notebook, which is messy, dirt-stained, and something you can hold on to.
Here’s a page showing a sketch of Gus, our golden, who was put down in July. I called him my gardening buddy, as he would insist on accompanying me in my toil, doing his dutiful fenceline perimeter checks, snuffling among the esperanza and pavonia, getting myriad wild carrot burrs stuck on his fur. No blog could possibly hold the magic of Gus, but this drawing comes as close as I’ll get. He was like my journal, a muddy and steadfast companion in the garden. Many will miss him.

Me Gusto Ligustrum

Yes, they were overplanted in years past. It’s true they’re subject to unsightly mildew. And my own patio has been the victim of the purple shit-astrophe that occurs every spring when packs of cedar waxwings descend on their berries. Most grievously, many consider them an invasive scourge.
But when the holidays come around, ligustrum is the best freebie decorating resource around. Their bay-leaf shaped foliage is ramshackle lushness writ large. And the dusty blue berries, are gorgeous pendants of autumn abundance. Cuttings of ligustrum can be stuck in any container and look great.
I have no ligustrum in my current yard, a rarity in a home built in the 40s. But it’s easy enough to find them in empty lots, alleys, and byways. Harvesting ligustrum for the home keeps berries from the birds (preventing them from being disseminated in poop and germinating new plants) and also fills your home with a beauty that rivals anything in the pricey floral departments at Central Market or Whole Foods.

O Joy!

Dragged all my patio pots inside last night expecting a killing frost. But the cannas and impatiens are still alive and kicking. The big excitement in the garden is the appearance of tiny violet-shaded buds all along the stems of the winter honeysuckle. The blooms are inconsequential, but their divine fragrance scents the backyard til spring.