Celebrating National Wildflower Week with Wildflower Center Tour

It's National Wildflower Week and a tour of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is a great way to celebrate.  In April my neighborhood garden club headed to Austin for a guided tour.  We had perfect weather and spring wildflowers were at peak, so the timing was perfect.

First though, finally spotting the resident Great Horned Owl near the entrance arch was an exciting moment.  This was my third trip to the center in the last two years and each time I managed to miss her.  Even better was having the right camera lens along to get the shot.  She's on the right peeking under the the curved sotol leaf.

Iris at the nearby pond.

Bluebonnets were in bloom just past the main courtyard.

They're always planted here, along with deep purple winecups.



We had a tour with Doug who presented a detailed history of the center and its architecture.



Jenny of Rock Rose blog also led another part of our rather large group and we enjoyed a visit to Jenny's own garden later in the day.  (Photo below by Janne Aubrey)

Into the demonstration garden area where Scutellaria wrightii was in full bloom.

Touring the Wildflower Center always prompts me to note which ones are currently growing  in my own garden like the Scutellaria wrightii, Dichondra Silver Ponyfoot, and Hesperaloe,

Evening Primrose and Prairie Verbena also grow in my garden but not in combination.  Something to try next year.

Penstemon Cobea, with its cute little glove fingers which I planted last year has returned.

The tank gardens were in fine form full of great native blooming plants.

Stock Tank ponds are fascinating visiting children

I always take plenty of photos of the plants and tags like this Texas yellow star so I can compare with plants I need to ID later.

Since I'm usually here a month later during National Wildflower Week it was a treat to catch the fleeting blooms of crossvine brightening this fence and other parts of the garden.

This bench, which typically blends into the border, is a stand-out when the crossvine is in bloom.

Native Wisteria in bloom.  I'm looking for this one, it's gorgeous!  

Better behaved than the commonly grown asian version.  Crossvine brightens the stone wall in the background.

Art on display in the gardens includes this exceptional stone sculpture which is available for purchase.



More crossvine on an arbor and the spot where we enjoyed our lunch in the courtyard.

Hill Country Penstemon blooms bright.  Mine is a little behind in blooming but it gets more shade.



And now for the main event, Texas Hill Country views and fields of wildflowers

These Blubonnets are a deeper blue than those I grow.



More of those views

Texas Persimmon I think.

On my own for a few minutes after lunch, the San Antonio Tower near the main courtyard beckons.  The website states that the tower evokes the old Spanish missions built along the San Antonio River.  Our guide told us that the tower was originally cut from the construction budget until generous San Antonians raised the funds to complete it.

Wild flowers planted in the stairwell include Four-nerve daisy and Fleabane.  I just love the natural, casual way the flowers are grown in these gardens.

View from the tower.

The path winds over to the Luci and Ian Family Garden which will be featured in another post.

Seeing the Wildflower Center at peak time and with perfect weather made for a very enjoyable day.

The Perfect Day to visit Rock Rose

Jenny already called it in her Rock Rose blog post:  a perfect day in her garden.  Way back in June of 2014 when I asked Jenny to be a docent for my garden club's tour of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center she also invited us to tour her own garden.  All of us.  Of course, I jumped at the chance and added it to our agenda.  Garden club meetings are the second Wednesday of each month so the date was fixed no matter the weather or Jenny's recent hip surgery.

It couldn't have been a better day.  We were greeted with masses of Bluebonnets at peak bloom.


 

March 2014 End of Month View

Sometimes we gardeners are so focused on what remains to be done that we forget how much progress has been made.  This is why I enjoy looking at the changes through past photos, and just one of the reasons I'm joining  The Patient Gardener for the End of Month View for March.

March is one of the best months for gardening in our climate and we are typically in a big push to get large projects finished.  Plants put in the garden now get a chance to grow in and gain strength before the heat of summer sets in.  This year March has been cooler than usual, but the weather has been great for gardening except on a few days when high winds kept us indoors.

The Salvia greggii blooming along the street are an especially welcomed sight after our cold winter.  These tough native plants are evergreen and resume blooming as soon as the weather warms a bit.  By design the front view does not change much through the seasons, providing an enjoyable view throughout the year.

Random Garden Bits for Friday

Today seems like a good day to post some random garden pictures and things that made me smile recently.

The claret cup cactus I received at the swap two weeks ago opened two blooms at once.  Like a cute little frog looking at you.  Claret cup blooms last about two days.

Scene on the Street: Another side of the neighborhood

Each spring my neighborhood holds a garage sale weekend for the entire community.  It's a great time to get out, talk to the neighbors, and see what's going on across this roughly one square mile of houses.  The neighborhood was built one house at a time over more than 60 years which makes for an interesting mix of styles.

Today's post features scenes from the older section which is quite popular for its large lots and big trees.  The lack of curbs along the street gives it a country feel.  This house on a large corner lot has an old stone planter with opuntia and a low wall.  The pretty patch of bluebonnets seen in the distance return every year.

Scene on the street: Bluebonnets and poppies in combination

When I spotted this garden a few days ago I just had to stop and take photos from the car.  Bluebonnets are often seen in the wild with orange indian paintbrush flowers as a color complement.  The indian paintbrush doesn't seem to do well in captivity in our area while bluebonnets flourish in yards all over town during March.  Bright yellow and orange poppies are an inspired choice to pair with the bluebonnets in this front garden.

Winter Walk-Off 2013

It's time for the Winter Walk-off sponsored by Les at A Tidewater Gardener.  Last year I gave the walk-off a try and the resulting photos were so boring I didn't even post them.  So you wanna see my neighborhood?  Yes? No?  Either way you're going to see it this year.

The Winter Walk-off 2013 rules are

On your own two feet, leave the house and share what can be seen within walking (or biking) distance of your home (if you want to drive to your walk that's OK too).  Your post does not have to be about gardening or a travelogue, unless you want it to be.  Maybe instead you will find some unusual patterns, interesting shadows, signs of spring, a favorite restaurant or shop, questionable landscaping or local eyesores.  Whatever, just keep your eyes and mind open, be creative and have fun, but don't show anything from your own garden.

I considered posting one of my River Walk adventures instead.  After all, Les said we could drive to our walk.  That's too easy though and I really want to show you my own neighborhood.  There are many special things that make it one of the more desirable areas of the city:  the live oak trees chief among them. They set the backdrop for a wide variety of gardening and landscaping options.  But among the challenges are the lack of sidewalks and deep set-backs for the houses mixed with a very laid-back approach to yard maintenance.

So here we go on a walk around the 'hood.  Of course I picked trash day and brush pick-up week to do this so the photography would be more fun!

Boorrring!  This isn't my street, but a nearby one just like it.  I actually forgot to get a picture of my street.



Let's keep going, there are some fun things to see along the way.  I promise.

There's a bee in my (Blue)bonnet!

Pollinators in the form of bees have descended on our bluebonnet patch.  We've had a shortage of pollinators around here for a few years so this working bee was a welcome sight.

This one little bee was buzzing about by herself and the phrase "bee in her bonnet" came to mind.  The phrase is quite old with an early version first written in 1513.  There are a number of meanings assigned to the phrase.  One definition says it refers to "a state of agitation".  Another is "an idea which is fixed in one's mind". 

The second definition would certainly apply when it comes to my garden this spring.  After two years of drought and three years of planning, we've been busy as a bee trying to finish several big projects before the heat of summer sets in.  The garden has been on my mind a lot these last few weeks.

The bee apparently gets a little help from the flowers, which provide color-coded signals telling the bee which ones to visit.  A Bluebonnet is made up of many individual flowers on each stalk and each flower needs to be pollinated to form a seed pod.  When the young flower is ready to be pollinated, the center is white, the color which attracts bees most.  As the centers turn pink and finally red with age, the bees tend to ignore them.

It's believed this encourages bees to visit flowers that have more viable pollen since the bees prefer the white centers.       

Guess you could say I have a bee in my bonnet since there is a lot to do in the garden this spring.

Bluebonnets! GBBD March 2012

Ahhhhh, Bluebonnet time!  When it comes to native wildflowers in Texas, there is no contest for the favorite.  Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis), the state flower, wins every time.  That's just one reason why I'm featuring these Bluebonnet photos -- all taken in my backyard -- for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, March 2012.