On October 9th, 2011, just a few days after I began this blog, one of my first posts was a "Before and After" of our front garden and I've kept it as an annual feature these past six years.
Here's the 2017 view taken this morning.
Mexican Feathergrass, which softens the rocks and gravel, has gone tawny for fall which allows the silvery yuccas and agaves to stand out. The Yucca rigida which was planted by the garage corner about 18 months ago is not happy and a tall Yucca rostrata is on order as a replacement. As it has almost every year, the front right corner has undergone a change with Agave cornelius from last year replaced by a Variegated Yucca gloriosa. Agave cornelius has been moved to a part shade spot since it gets sunburned too easily.
There isn't much special about October 9th other than it just happened to be a date for which I had a good "before" photo from 2010 before I began this blog. Interesting to note Salvia greggii seems to have bloomed earlier the last few years making photos since 2013 a bit colorless when compared to previous years.
From my original post a 2010 view from one year before I began this blog.
Looking very nice considering most of this reflected just two years work. We had just replaced a brown shingle roof with standing seam metal and recently dug and divided existing pink Salvia greggii which produced a nice bloom prompting me to take the photo below. Little did I know that we were about to get hit with a two-year drought that would kill or set back most of these plants significantly.
As the post was getting a bit too long, I condensed it into a GIF slideshow:
You can see details of all my previous October 9th posts and the changes I've made over the years at the links below.
October 9th 2011
October 9th 2012
October 9th 2013
October 9th 2014
October 9th 2016
Last year I mused about changing the date since the Salvia greggii have bloomed earlier each year. This winter we will lift and divide them and I will probably post a full-bloom photo when they recover in the fall of 2018 instead of a fixed date.
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The Garden Conservancy San Antonio Open Days Tour is this Saturday, October 14th from 10am to 4pm. For more information click this link to the Garden Conservancy website.
Blog posts make interesting and useful historical records of shifts in the garden. Picking one date and one spot to follow the garden's progress year after year is a great idea. I've noticed some shifts in the timing of blooms in my own garden but nothing as dramatic as your experience with the Salvia greggii blooms.
ReplyDeleteThe difference is dramatic. I do need to refurb those salvias since even when they bloom it's not nearly as good.
DeleteThe magic you've woven in your garden is obvious with every passing year!
ReplyDeleteMagic, Thank you, that's such a nice word Peter.
DeleteGreat idea to watch the progress on the same day of the year. Your garden looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed changes in flowering times on many of my plants as they became really established. Young shrubs that barely bloomed once a year, in spring, now somewhat mature, are off-and-on bloomers year round.
We change as people, but plants change, too. :)
You're always so clever with embedding videos and now a gif slideshow into your posts, and it's fun to see the changes in your garden over the years. Congrats on 6 years of blogging!
ReplyDelete