Showing posts with label native plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label native plants. Show all posts

Sunday, May 7, 2017

National Wildflower Week on the road

It's National Wildflower Week and I'm celebrating with photos from a recent field trip with friends to Medina Garden Nursery along Hwy. 16 out in the Texas Hill Country.  Near Pipe Creek we pulled over to take a look at roadside flowers.  Those famous Texas Bluebonnets had given way to the warmer colors of late spring wildflowers.  There's still plenty to see if we take a closer look.

This year I'm paying closer attention to the mix of different types of plants in the wild.  Structural plants like Twist-leaf Yucca (Yucca rupicola) mix with taller native grasses while low growers like Four-nerve Daisy (Tetraneurus scaposa) and Blackfoot Daisy (Melampodium leucantha) fill in the gaps.


White floral spikes of Lizard's Tail White Milkwort (Polygala alba) with Antelope Horn Milkweed (Asclepias asperula) and Square-bud Primrose (Calylophus berlandieri) distinguished by their dark centers.


Missouri Primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa) with Blackfoot Daisy (Melanpodium leucantha) and Square-bud Primrose.


Distinctive seedheads on Missouri Primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa) shows why it's also known as Big-fruit Evening Primrose.


Bright yellow Missouri Primrose flower with silvery Rabbit Tobacco filling in along the ground.



I often get questions and comments that Blackfoot Daisy (Melampodium leucanthum) is hard to grow. It is tough enough to thrive in asphalt in its native range.  Good drainage and less watering will help it survive in our gardens.


Antelope Horn Milkweed (Asclepias asperula) and friends waiting for butterflies.


One of my personal favorites, the deep burgundy of Rayless Sunflower (Helianthus radula) stands out against the green and yellow of other native plants.  Small rays can be spotted at the base of the flower so they're not entirely rayless.  Blue Wright's Skullcap (Scutellaria wrightii) just peeking in the bottom right of the photo.  It's so much fun to see these plants in their native range.


After our wildflower road stop we headed on to Medina Garden Nursery where they've rebuilt the entry arbor with these amazing pieces of naturally curved native Ashe Juniper wood.


There's a lot of wildflower goodness behind that austere fence in the expansive gardens and meadows at Medina Garden Nursery.


Narrow-leaf Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) which is more tolerant of drought and poor soils than Echinacea purpurea.  It's one of the plants I purchased to try in my own garden.


White Winecups and Salvia greggii with a pink Anacacho Orchid as a centerpiece.  They didn't have the Anacacho Orchid in stock so I'll have to go back in the fall.


Penstemon, I think this was Hill Country Penstemon (Penstemon triflorus).


Purple Winecup (Callirhoe involucrata) which defies all attempts to establish in my garden.


Delicate Clematis pitcheri flowers attracting bees.  I purchased one of these as well.


Black Swallowtails were going nuts over the Indian Paintbrush blossoms.


Nolinas, Yuccas, and Texas Primrose in the dry garden.


Two happy guys doing what they love.  Service with a smile from Ysmael and Ernesto who always take their time to give tours and show us what's new in the nursery.


Plant shopping makes us hungry so we headed just 15 minutes away for a delicious lunch at beautiful, historic Camp Verde General Store.


What's with the Camel you might ask?  It's an interesting story about trying to introduce camels as working animals in Texas.  You can read all about the history of Camp Verde and the great Camel experiment here.

Back home with my haul of plants.  Three Muhlenbergia reverchonii ornamental grasses which stay low and produce deep pink inflorescence in the fall.  Pink Guara lindheimeri, a purple blooming salvia, two Texas Greeneyes (Berlandiera betonicifolia), Rudbeckia angustifolia, Roughstem rosinweed (Silphium radula), Texas Bluestar (Amsonia ciliata v. texana), Brownfoot (Acourtia wrightii) and Clematis pitcheri.


They're all in the ground and doing well and I'm ready for more road trips!

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Inside Austin Gardens Tour Preview

Each year the Travis County Master Gardeners hold their Inside Austin Gardens Tour alternating between spring and fall.  This year's tour will be held Saturday, October 17th from 9am to 4pm.   I was so excited to be invited along for a blogger preview day and they even offered to make my friend Melody an honorary blogger for the day so she could join us.  It's a nice idea to invite local garden bloggers to help publicize the tour.

The tour's theme is "By gardeners. For gardeners" and each garden is chock-full of great plants and good ideas for your garden.  It was a full day of touring so I'll preview the gardens in several posts this week.

The first garden we visited is "Shady Natives" and there's nice description on the link to the website.  The first thing we noticed is how much more lush and green this garden is compared to most gardens in San Antonio.  I think Austin has had more rain.  Even the yucca look lush against the wooded background in this streetside view.  The Mullein in the foreground will be quite striking when it blooms.


More lush green down the sedge-lined drive


Across the drive a dry creek cuts through the wooded area to channel rain from occasional deluges.


Melody visited this garden on tour several years ago and remembered the owner had given her a plant.  It turns out the original plant has since died and Melody plans to return with a cutting.  In the wonderful way of gardeners we call that "plant insurance".  The more you share, the better chance you have of replacing a lost plant.


A huge palm with a twinkly bottle tree at its base presides over the pool


Charming garden art and plants ring the pool


Comfy seating and more lush plants in containers on the deck.  Love those foxtail ferns.


A vine covered arbor shades the walk.


The Passionvine blooms were still open that morning.



The second garden is Cottage Natives.  Nicely updated colors with a modern walk of Lueders Limestone add a contemporary vibe to the front of this older home.





Texas rustic style is evident all around in the garden.  Fellow blogger Ally at Garden Ally did a great job capturing this section of the garden.


Lori, the Gardener of Good and Evil and our tour guide for the day, getting a closeup.  An old glider turned into a swing.


Several rainwater collection tanks were in use around the garden.


Purple is a universal color for recycled nonpotable water and the purple hoses indicated they are used for rainwater only.


I liked the pipe holders.  Good use of recycled materials.


What a gate!



Many of the plants will be tagged for the tour and Travis County Master Gardeners will be available to answer your questions.


I recently attended a lecture on the Hugelkultur technique of  building soil by layering wood trimmings and compost with topsoil.  The technique reverses the typical campfire building style with the larger pieces going in first.  It's a great idea for our area where rocky clay soil requires bringing in soil or making your own.  This bed is more true to the technique while I am trying a modified version in my own garden.



The owner's name is Martha.




This iron wheel was mounted so it rotates.  I've seen these at flea markets and wondered what I could do besides leaning it against a tree.   "Wheel of Fortune" style is a fun idea and it defines the seating area.


An interesting mechanism detail using pipes and fittings similar to the hose holder.


Lots of fruit trees and raised beds for vegetables and herbs.  A large rain collection tank is at the back of the garden.

 
This older neighborhood has a deep space between the street and sidewalk allowing for a sunny streetside garden full of native plants that beautifully buffers traffic.



Loved the silvery Gregg's Dalea draping over the curb.


A pivoting gate between the house and an addition provides needed privacy from the busy street yet allows convenient passage between parts of the garden on a daily basis.


The border looks like springtime to me.  Native plants which have been dormant for months in my garden, Texas Primrose, Wright's Skullcap, and Gaillardia are still blooming away in Austin just 70 miles north.


Wish my Zexmenia looked so good.


Those are just two of the six gardens we visited on our preview tour.  Special thanks to Lori, The Gardener of Good and Evil, for including me in the tour.  It's not that far to Austin so if you're looking for good ideas for your garden this fall it's well worth a day in Austin to enjoy the tour.

You can find all the tour details here.

To see more previews visit:

Rock Rose
Sharing Nature's Garden
Garden Ally
The Shovel Ready Garden
The Gardener of Good and Evil

Check out Central Texas Gardener for more on the tour.