Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - April 2010

Lots of blooms in the front yard this time. It seems like every day brings a whole new batch of color, with the gentle pink of evening primrose and the dark red of autumn sage most prominent.



First coreopsis of the year unfolding yesterday

Moss verbena comes back every spring

Need to get this gazania planted today!

The backyard's got some good blooms, too, and smells amazing (honeysuckle & jasmine NOT the pyracantha below)




Shallot buds

Eve's necklace

Last of the freesia


This potted succulent is a survivor: drought, freezes, you name it


Okay, it's foliage (canna tropicana), but it's showier than most blooms

Addendum: the rain brought on a sage bloom this afternoon.

Backyard veggies and blooms

tomatoes, pepper, basil, and lemongrass plants for the garden

parsley, fennel, lemon balm, and onions in the bigger bed


spiderwort behind the veggie bed

transitioning the square foot bed from winter to summer veggies:
shallot, freesia, and lacinato kale

salad mix, strawberries, onions, and beets

eve's necklace tree in bloom

honeysuckle is back and bigger than ever

Spring wildflowers at Walnut Creek

It's so peak wildflower time! I could drive around central Texas highways all day looking at the clouds of blue, red, yellow, pink, purple... These are just a few of the blooms from yesterday's walk.








And I like the way the post-Easter litter looks a little like wildflowers.

Funky Chicken Coop Tour 2010

The tour was really fun again this year, but somehow I got home with a camera full of garden pictures and only a couple of chicken photos. Guess I'm in spring garden mode!

My favorite stop was on East 2nd Street: great landscaping, healthy vegetable garden, chicken coop mixed with compost area that the hens aerate. Plus, a great planter area made from the remains of a 90 year old clay sewer system.









I've driven by Springdale Farm many times wondering what it was, so I was excited to see it as a stop on the tour. And it was HUGE! The owners started it to grow food for themselves and friends but kept expanding. Lots of chickens and the coop was the nicest on the inside (lots of little chicken-sized "rooms"); there was a separate area for chicks and ducklings. You can go by weekdays and buy fresh eggs.




Flowers and veggies at Boggy Creek. These iris were the ones I planted in my garden last fall (still no blooms on mine).



Eastside Cafe: love the use of random materials in their garden and the way they use mint around some beds




Really nice shaded coop on Karen Ave.


One last garden for inspiration on Eva, across from a coop stop:

From the garden and around Austin

First freesia bloom from my garden; and from Walnut Creek: some sort of primrose (they were everywhere) and bluebonnets; at Mayfield Park: view from the trail and various blooms (the little white rose smelled amazing)