Preparing for the big freeze

Will it freeze or won't it?  We've been playing that game for the past few days.  The predicted Saturday morning freeze didn't happen, then Monday morning we had a light freeze that wasn't predicted.  Yesterday afternoon with predictions of a freeze headed our way I decided to go ahead and cover my most vulnerable plants.

The preparations are pretty simple.  With most of the container plants already stored in the garage we pull out old sheets purchased super cheap at the end of an estate sale.  You can see why they didn't sell early on.  The winds that blew in ahead of the cold front have died down so the sheets stay put. When the wind is blowing we have plenty of rocks available.  Sheets bring up the temperature just a few degrees but it's enough for most of our usually light freezes.

End of Month View: August 2014

August is a quiet time in the garden here in San Antonio.  The blooms of July have faded and the perennials have been trimmed back to await the cooler weather of autumn.  It's time for a walk through the garden and I'm joining Helen at The Patient Gardener's Weblog for a tour.  We have had a good summer with fewer triple-digit highs than typical and more clouds.  Although rain is predicted regularly we haven't had more than a few light showers this month.  But generally, things look pretty good for August in South Texas.

Foliage Follow-up April 2014: Those Bismarck Palms

I'm joining Pam at Digging for Foliage Follow-up for April by checking in on my frozen Bismarck Palms (Nobilis bismarckia).

So what about those Bismarck Palms?  Back in January I posted on the State of the Bismarckias after a deep freeze took us down to 20.8 and those poor tropical palms quickly showed the effects of exceptional cold exposure by browning up.

End of Month View February 2014

Let's face it.  January and February were a gardening disaster this year.  So where are we now?  I'm joining Helen at The Patient Gardener for End of Month View.

February is typically a time of big changes in the garden when we South Texans try to beat the heat with big projects and plant moves.  But February started off gray, cloudy and cold.  Here is the view of the front yard in early February.

State of the Bismarckias

With freezes pushing into south Texas as early as November and Monday's well-publicized deep freeze I know some of you are wondering about the Bismarck Palms in the front yard.  There is other news to report on the state of the garden but I'm pretty sure you'll want me to just cut to the chase here.

Oh Deary, Deery, Deer 2: Bismarckia and yucca get hit

A few posts back I mentioned one of the two Bismarck palms in my yard had been "antlered" by a deer and I was both surprised and touched by the expressions of concern for the plant.  The damage was superficial and mostly affected older fronds.  The crown was not damaged so I'm sure it will make a full recovery--eventually.

Here's how it looked when first planted August 2012

Two Palms Up!

A few weeks ago I wrote about adding a Bismarck palm (Bismarckia nobilis) to the garden in front of the garage.  It was an even bigger hit than I expected and there are a lot of fans of the Bismarck palm around.

Adding a focal point

The front garden was looking quite nice after all the improvements over the past few years.  But I felt improvements could still be made.  How would I improve this? 

By adding a focal point to the space in front of the garage.  The tree-form vitex (left) and Texas Mountain Laurel (right) were not quite enough of a focal point.  The vitex blooms once briefly in early spring then goes dormant through the winter months and the evergreen Texas Mountain Laurel doesn't quite fill the gap.  The Agave ovatifolia also needed a silvery friend to connect silver foliage from across the yard.

That's where this Bismarck Palm comes in.

Palm trees need a wide planting hole, look at all those rocks that had to be dug out.

Palms are very drought tolerant so check the planting level to make sure it isn't too deep.

We filled in around with a sandy loam top soil mix, watered it in slowly, and mulched to keep the roots cool.  Our current brief respite of a few partly cloudy days and somewhat cooler summer will help too.

It holds the light like a catcher's mitt and connects the silvery foliage from around the yard, including the sages on both sides, and numerous smaller plants like gray santolina.  Cold tolerant in our zone, it should do well with just a bit of protection in the first few years.

It also plays well with the palm next door

Shares nicely with the Agave ovatifolia

The patterns and contrast of foliage add interest to the area

There's the focal point, it has plenty of room to spread out and should grow above the roof line within a few years.  Palms don't provide a lot of shade so the perennials in the bed below will continue to get sun here too.

The spot in front of the garage now feels like it has a focal point and the silvery plants are better connected.  Besides all that, I've always thought a palm tree would look nice there.