Wildflowers at Walnut Creek

The bluebonnets are going to seed, but there are plenty of other wildflowers bursting onto the scene. And the entire park is perfumed with honeysuckle. Below, another one of the weird caterpillars I keep finding: dying or transforming? Hard to tell.

Vegetable garden and some orange

Kale, shallot and dill from the winter veggie garden, now being shaded by the pecan trees. Thrown into a mixed salad. And found some orange cages for the tomatoes to liven up the new full-sun veggie bed up front. Hoping this will be the first time I'm part of a garden with plentiful tomatoes!

Mysterious field of poppies

Decided to walk north along the Shoal Creek trail instead of south today, and look what I found! If it's not obvious from my new header, I'm a huge fan of the poppy. And of finding a "secret" meadow of wildflowers (lots of scarlet flax and other blooms here, too). And crushed by a bicyclist, still a bright spot of color.

Unknown caterpillars in the dill

I've been hoping to see some swallowtail caterpillars take up residence in the dill and parsley before it gets pulled up to make room for cucumbers and beans, but instead these guys came to visit. Anyone know what type this is? The dill seedheads support whole communities of insects. Bought some veggies at Shoal Creek Nursery: yellow pear tomato, ichiban eggplant, sugar baby watermelon, zucchini, pickling and lemon cucumbers. The last one is something I've wanted to grow for years, and I was really happy to see it in stock! Another day in the life of the iris, and, below, my garden muse watches over the yard.

Burgundy Hibiscus

I don't know if this plant will survive the summer in this full sun spot, but I'm totally in love with the color of the flowers and foliage.

A simple plan, expanded

So, here is what my front yard looked like less than a month ago. Not a bit of true lawn, just pure spring weeds. And here is what that same stretch looks like now: This is one of those projects that started with a simple desire to have a drip irrigation system put in. Trying to water plants and lawn and trees at the old house last year was a bit of a nightmare (lots a dragging around the hose and setting multiple egg timers), and the idea of having a super-efficient watering system just makes sense when we're still in a drought, despite the winter/spring rains. And as long as that digging was going on, it seemed like a good time to put in a few xeriscape plants in the front half of the yard; you know, let them get established before the heat sets in.
Then it seemed only logical to have the decomposed granite mulch go all the way to the house, in terms of transitions. Etc., etc.

Tim and his team at San Isidro Design were nice enough to run with the change in scope, translate my plan on paper into a real landscape (and troubleshoot the problem areas), and make it all happen in a short amount of time. Can't say enough good things about these guys!

Here are some more shots of the process: The crepe myrtle part of the yard, before and after: I am so incredibly excited about this new landscape and what a great job the San Isidro team did! I have had a couple of people ask me if I'm planting grass in the front, which I find interesting. This neighborhood is a bit more cottage garden and lawn-skewed than the 50's era, xeriscape-friendly neighborhood I just moved from. But I think as the plants mature over the next couple of seasons, it'll start to blend in a bit more.

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.