October 9th Before and After 2018

Exactly seven years ago 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 that theme as an annual feature to show my yearly progress.

2010 (before the blog)

Just a year into a complete revision of our landscape I took this photo to document how good it looked.  We had just finished putting rocks in the mailbox strip along the road.  The deep pink Salvia greggii had been in place about 15 years when we divided and replanted them to fit the new scheme.  Just a few months later those blooms were the highlight of our landscape.

The following year in 2011 we had the first of two severe drought years and everything looked terrible.  October 9th just happens to be a date for which I had a good "before" photo from 2010 that I could use to write about my disappointment here on my new blog.  Toasted grasses and under performing salvia were a step backwards in 2011.

Over time I expanded the view to include the driveway and front corner of the garage.

2018:  Today's view was taken yesterday between torrents of rain which have fallen on a near daily basis since early September (nearly 30 inches in four weeks).  Good thing since today turned out dark and rainy too.

The new Yucca rostrata has been in place nearly a year behind the big Agave ovatifolia and the smaller Yucca rostrata in the island bed is growing up nicely.  Native muhly grasses are beginning to bloom and a yellow blooms of Damianita, Skeleton-leaf Goldeneye, and gold Lantana make up for missing sunshine.  I am so impressed with how desert native Skeleton-leaf Goldeneye (Viguiera stenoloba) has weathered our rain that I'll feature it in a future post.  We've lost a few drought tolerant plants with all this rain but most of my favorite agaves and yuccas are mounded up with gravel for drainage for just such an event.  New to this area are the 'Blonde Ambition' grama grasses I featured in my Blogiversary post last week which are just visible behind the Texas Mountain Laurel to the left of the mailbox.

Here's last year's (2017) view for comparison.  This year in the spring I cut the salvias back to the ground again.  They have responded by growing greener and fuller.  Blooms might be sparse due to a lack of sunny days.  Wow, the small Yucca rostrata (center) has grown a lot with all this rain!

Back to 2018 this wider view photo taken earlier in October on a rare sunny day includes landscaping at the end of the driveway and gives a better view of the new yucca on the garage corner.

And now with seven years of blogging behind me this post would get quite long if I included all of the photos with changes over time.  You can see details of 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 2015
October 9th 2016
October 9th 2017

Wordless Wednesday: Yucca Bloom

End of Month View: Spring Garden Tour 2018

Those yucca blooms keep drawing me outside, even though I'm trying to blog more (by request).  But whenever I sit at my computer I see this view!

Silvery Yucca rupicola is blooming for the first time having been planted as a small pup about four years ago.  Sometimes yuccas go on the wane after blooming, fortunately it has produced a number of pups to keep going should the originals die out.

Gorgeous!

Since I'm already out here let's take a tour of the spring garden which I'm linking to End of Month View hosted by Helen at The Patient Gardener.  Helen and several other UK bloggers are making the trip to Austin for the annual Garden Blogger's Fling.  I look forward to meeting so many bloggers I know mainly from photos of their gardens.

It's been a good spring with cool to average temperatures featuring more than a few cloudy days.  Clouds are good because we will have endless sunny days all summer.  For now we can use the extended opportunity to get seedlings and transplants off to a good start without a pounding from hot sun.

Just enough sun breaking through momentarily to show off Mexican Feathergrass inflorescences with pink Salvia greggii.  This is the view we see most often when returning home and I love the way everything has worked out.  I'm pretty much done and any tweaks will be minor from now on.

More than one yucca bloom is on the way!  Yucca rostrata by the garage is happy enough to bloom during its first spring in the ground.

Straight on front view showing lots of green and silver.  Later in the year yellow and gold flowers fill in as the green of spring fades.

Experts advise against pruning up the Cycad.  But they don't have to get to the mailbox through all those prickles.  So prune we did.

Entering from the north end of the drive.  A little deer proofing to protect Agave cornelius planted to replace Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' which bloomed and died out.  The garden needs a spot of yellow and green color here and the agave fits the bill.

Pale yellow blooms on purple pads of Opuntia Santa-rita  creates a perfect complementary scheme.



The island bed in silver awaiting more gold flowers later in the summer.

Callistemon 'Little John' nearly froze to death in a rare snow fall last December.  I'm happy to see it has recovered well enough to bloom.

Down through the courtyard garden collection of vintage white clay pots which coordinate much better with Ilex vomitoria 'Grmicr" or "Micron Holly" instead of a random collection of plants.

Wildflowers have changed over from Bluebonnets to oranges and yellows of Greenthread, Firewheel, and Mexican Hats.

I've tidied up the "Flower Bed" and added Salvia guaranitica 'Amistad' in a pot to better watch hummingbirds from the porch.

The view from the porch where I spend a lot of evenings watching darkness cover the garden.

The beginnings of a wildflower meadow on a scruffy slope below the deck.  First task is to get native grasses going but Larkspur has other ideas.

And my tours always end with a peek over the south side fence where it seems that as soon as I clear out potted plants from under the trees, more take their place.

Now there you have it; a dual purpose spring tour of my gardens to both link up with The Patient Gardener and a place to point if someone at the Garden Blogger's Fling should ask how my garden is doing.  It is doing very well, and thank you for asking.

The Yucca rostrata has landed

Texas Native Plant week finished in rather spectacular fashion with the addition of a Yucca rostrata to my front garden.

And it has quite an adventurous story to tell.

First, it's been a while since the original Vitex which occupied this spot for 20 years met its demise.  Shortly afterward I replaced it with a silvery Yucca rigida purchased from Barton Springs Nursery in Austin.  The next morning we found the Yucca rigida had fallen over in high winds during the night.  We set it upright but apparently the damage was done and it never recovered.  There were times when it looked as if it might grow again so I left it in place until the base finally rotted through about 15 months later this past July.  Meanwhile I had discovered Kenny at Fredericksburg Trade Days flea market.   As a Texan and yucca lover how could I walk by this setup and not go in to look around?

Kenny lives out in West Texas in native Yucca rostrata territory.  His friend grows yuccas (actual location is a secret) and allows Kenny to dig and transport these beauties himself making his prices and yucca stock the best around.  When my Yucca rigida died I contacted Kenny and after some back and forth discussions over several months I was disappointed to hear the Yucca rostrata I finally decided on had been sold and we agreed he would bring more in November.

On Saturday I called Kenny to find out what sizes would be available in November and learned his customer had decided on a smaller yucca, so the five foot stunner was still available.

"I'll be there in the morning."  Since the flea market is open just one weekend a month I had to act fast and enjoyed the beautiful 75 mile drive through the Texas Hill Country.

Kenny modeling his brand new "JB" aka Stetson hat.

There she is!  The big one straight back behind and slightly right of the table.  He also has some beautiful Thompson blue yuccas at incredible prices.

A major issue all along was how much yucca we could fit in the SUV.  We had measured and knew it would fit.  Six feet (72 inches) with the root ball.

Just fits diagonally.  What a mess!  Per Kenny's recommendation we brought along something to support the trunk, and this empty laundry detergent container did that perfectly while also working as a shock absorber on the road back.

There's Kenny washing dirt out of his brand new hat which was knocked off in the loading process.

Back home we already had the hole ready to plant.

In it goes and the next step is carefully slicing the plastic off.  This one has been in the pot for a year so the root ball stayed intact (another problem we had with the freshly dug Yucca rigida).  Slightly mounded to ensure good drainage.

That's Neal making sure it's straight and level.  Very important given the prominent location.

Hello, you great big beautiful yucca you!

You look "mahvelous" next to the Agave ovatifolia.  Looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Did I mention Kenny's prices are really good?  No email, no website just call Kenny at 817-319-3343.  If you live anywhere near Texas and need a native yucca Kenny is your guy.

Watersaver Landscape Tour April 2016

Water conservation is a must in south Texas, so each year our San Antonio Water System (SAWS) sponsors a tour of watersaving gardens to inspire customers to replace water-guzzling lawns with more drought tolerant plants or hardscape.  The tour was held in the gated community of Inverness on the north side of San Antonio and a bus was provided from a nearby staging area.  Since I was busy volunteering on the tour, I handed off photo duties to Neal for the day so many of the photos below are his.

Our bus dropped us off at the start of the tour route and picked up return passengers near the last of six gardens. The garden at the first house starts off nicely, blending into the neighborhood with a mix of lawn and swath of foliage plants under sculptural oaks.  Very fitting for the tour goal of encouraging lawn replacements.

Quercus fusiformis is such great name for our variety of Live Oak.

We were directed around to the backyard and quite a contrast for it was filled with garden art and lots of interesting potted succulents.  A good example of hardscape and groundcover replacing lawn.

Bright colors are a change from the mostly monochromatic scheme out front.



The swinging hammock purchased online was popular and the owners said their grandchildren enjoyed it as well.

Colorful art was also visible inside through the glassed-in porch windows.

Whimsical touches to match the theme of this garden were evident throughout.

Neon profile on the oak is visible from indoors.

Amusing art pieces.

Double the interest with back to back staghorn ferns.

A swag of succulents decks out the bright red pergola.

These succulent arrangements were show stoppers and Pam Penick at Digging figured out they were created by Abbey McKenna Succulent Designs.  Abbey usually has a booth at Festival of Flowers in May so you can see more of her work.  Before or after Pam's talk and book signing that is!

A fun way to display such a common plant as Sanseveria and a fun way to replace your lawn.

The next garden actually not on the tour was a standout for its array of blooming society garlic.

House 2 demonstrates how just a few plant choices can make a nice no-lawn watersaving garden.  The dry creek is functional during rainstorms.

Maybe not for everyone, but some good principles were employed for a low maintenance landscape.

Another garden not on tour but a nice example of house and landscape.  I think Neal took this photo as a reminder we want to do something similar with a rock out by our driveway.  We have the numbers, just need to get the project done!

Along the way Neal spotted Heather Ginsburg (l) from SAWS.  Heather blogs at Xericstyle though lately she's been writing more at SAWS website Garden Style San Antonio.  Neal mentioned to another SAWS employee that he was waiting to say hello to Heather.  "Everyone knows Heather!" she said.   (I don't know the other names, but I'm sure Heather will supply them when she reads this.)

Home 3 is where I volunteered during the morning shift, you can see a more detailed take of this garden on my blog post from last fall.  My friend Cheryl was stationed near the front gate which meant she got stuck saying "Berkeley Sedge" several hundred times!

To the right of the walk a Pineapple Guava was in bloom.  Back in October I wasn't even sure what the plant was.

A great non-linear entrance

Leuders limestone pavers replace typical concrete sidewalk.

Native trees left in place

The back yard was my station for a few hours.  Those teak benches were attention getting and we had numerous discussions about what appears to be two different sedges.  I concluded that some of the sedge is not Berkeley Sedge but possibly a native Texas Sedge.



The buffalo represents the owner's roots in Manitoba, Canada.

Lush and restful.

If Cheryl said "Berkeley Sedge" numerous times, then I said "Aloe" just as many.  This blooming soap aloe was quite a hit and many folks were skeptical the bronze leaves below it belonged to a Kalanchoe.  I also pointed out many times over that no one buys soap aloe in San Antonio, it's a passalong plant!  The Bay Laurel on the right was also a surprise since so many people do not know you can easily grow your own bay leaves in our climate.

Outside the back gate, another garden not on tour caught our guest photographer's eye.

On to House 5 which I also profiled previously on my blog.  The tour route took us around back first so we'll start there with Horsetail Reed and Sticks on Fire.

Horsetail Reed, newly planted when I was here in October has filled in beautifully.  This is a perfect spot to keep it contained and show off the great lines of this plant.

Artfully hiding utility boxes

Silvery gray on gray, I like this a lot.

Repeating orange accents.

A view over those orange Panton chairs to the pool

Sticks on Fire and Knophia stand out against the gray and rust.

A glass sculpture tree had been added since my last visit.  Underneath is a holding tank for air conditioning condensate used to water plants in the garden.

Nolina nelsonii standing out on this corner reminds me of the newly planted yucca in my own yard. Now I wonder if this is where the idea began to form.

This cutaway of underlying rock gives an idea of what it takes to build a house and garden in our area.

Nice bench in a neighbor's courtyard.

The last house on tour featured a naturalistic landscape with groundcover and foliage plants under the native live oaks.  The goal of the tour is to encourage SAWS customers to remove lawn and save water and this garden is a good example of a simple, natural lawn replacement.

A dry creek channels downpours away from the house and through the garden.

The side courtyard garden was more formal and quite relaxing to tour.



Trimmed hedges provide a contrast to the more natural plantings outside the walls.

My guest photographer missed one house, but it was mostly a swimming pool courtyard with tropical plants so I think you've seen the best of the tour here.