Blooms and Leaves

First up: one of the dozens of iris I dug up before the backyard became a high-traffic construction zone. Still haven't figured out where they will go in the landscape, but they've held up in their temporary homes since last summer. Can't believe this one bloomed! The volunteers: the clover (oxalis?) is everywhere, and the bees love it. And one of our two tomatoes that popped up out of nowhere, doubled in size from my last post. The dill is now well over 6 feet tall and about to go to seed. Just a month ago the trumpet vine was a scraggly bit of twigs and now this madness. Can't wait for the blooms, but I have a feeling we'll be cutting this back repeatedly over the summer. And some potted succulents.

Iris, canna, and the last turnip

This is part of a large stand of Louisiana iris that survived being parked on for months (renovation), no supplemental water through the drought, and a general ignoring since then (except for digging in a little compost recently). I was pleasantly surprised to see the foliage pop up last fall, and I was really excited to a bud forming a couple of days ago. This one's lovely, and I hope there are more blooms to follow. I forget what kind of canna this is, but I potted it last spring and it didn't bother blooming all year. Now it's doing it's thing; the orange bloom fades to a soft red on day 2. Time to pull up the final winter root vegetables, and the kale's getting muscled out by two giant dill plants. But it all still tastes great. Love that this tomato just volunteered. Was it from someone's backyard lunch? A bird? Who knows. Plants for the front landscape project. Had to battle for parking at Barton Springs Nursery this morning, but I got some good ones: artemesia powis castle, greg's mist, pink gaura, Mexican feathergrass, firecracker fern, and a burgundy hibiscus (the one thing that wasn't on my list, but it was too gorgeous in color to pass up...there was a burgundy leaved smoke tree that was really tempting, but definitely not an impulse buy!)

Huisache in bloom

The scent when you walk past or stand beneath a huisache tree right now is heavenly. Lucky to have so many on my morning dog walk at Shoal Creek.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: March 2012

Well, we're well into spring here in Austin. In the past week and a half the trumpet vine on the fence went from leafless to jungle-like. And we've had so many rains and misty mornings lately that the trails that were so dry and barren last summer are bursting with wildflowers and soft green grasses. Lots of blues & purples (dayflowers, spiderwort, baby blue eyes, bluebonnets). And the scent of the huisache flowers perfumes my morning walk. Did I mention that I love spring here?

I've got a big landscaping project in the works for next week, and until then, the garden blooms are mostly the ones that just popped up on their own.
Several of the blooms this month actually come from winter vegetables that are bolting. Recent discovery: not only do Easter egg radishes produce a lovely variety of colored roots, but the accompanying blooms are also in various shades of pale lavender, pink, and white. The dill hasn't quite bloomed yet, but you can see below that it is out-of-control tall. The potted dependables: Happy Bloom Day! And don't forget to check in with all the other blooming gardens at May Dreams Gardens...

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: February 2012

Happy February Bloom Day! My garden's feeling pretty scrappy right now, but there are actually a few surprises blooming around the yard. And since this is my first winter in the house, I'm still discovering what is planted here. Don't forget to check out what's blooming around the world today at May Dreams Gardens! I'll start it off with a bouquet I arranged for a house party this weekend; it turned out much more wildscape than I envisioned at the grocery store, but it's grown on me. In the ground: some sort of rose, clover, coral bean, nandina, and a lone, seasonally confused cosmos. In pots: Donkey ear's blooms, cyclamen, and geranium have been blooming for months; autumn sage in front of the veggie garden, and a leggy kolanchoe

Red robins, red robins

For a couple of hours around lunchtime today, several flocks of birds flew into the neighborhood to feed. My cherry laurel had been mostly decorative until dozens of robins and a handful of pushy starlings made it into a whirling dervish of activity. And the possumhaw is pretty picked over this afternoon, with just a few berries left after everyone had their share. A group of cedar waxwings (second photo from the bottom) watched from a tree across the street but didn't venture into the fray. Really an amazing sight to see! Guess it's migration time already.

A late foliage follow-up: January 2012

From the top: a kale & paperwhite bouquet from the garden; geranium leaves; succulent close-up; broccoli & italian parsley; veggie garden; kitty and kale; babies from the donkeys ear I moved inside for the winter.