Texas Native Plant Week 2015

Each October we celebrate Texas Native Plant Week sponsored by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and for 2015 it's this week, October 18-24.  Native plants are especially important to gardeners in Central Texas due to our extremes of weather and soil conditions.  Basically, the best plants to grow are the ones that already grow here and, fortunately, we have a good range to choose from.

It's been a tough year even for native plants and I've featured a number of my favorites in previous posts which you can find by searching on "Texas natives" in the search box to the right or clicking on the label at the bottom of this post.  I'll highlight two standouts which are currently blooming for the first time in my garden.  A cause to celebrate for sure.

Texas Crag Lily (Echeandia flavescens) blooming is especially sweet since I've had it for several years and have never seen it bloom.  That's because the deer consistently chewed it down to the ground.  Now that the deer are fenced out, I can enjoy pretty foliage and a bright yellow bloom.    Talk about extremes, it grows from South Texas all the way to the Panhandle.  It can also be found growing in New Mexico and Arizona.  It is also apparently quite tasty.  

Striped foliage is nice even when it's not in bloom.  It blooms from June to September but we've been warmer so it had time to recover this summer and bloom this week.  There's not a lot of information on this plant but I read that it is clump forming and that would be nice to see happen now that it's safe from deer browsing.  

A delightful surprise to see this bloom as I had forgotten what it was.  According to the Native Plant Database the Texas Crag Lily closes up in the afternoon and reopens in the morning.  It's been cloudy today so the blooms were still open late this morning.

Another first time bloomer and welcomed sight in the garden is White Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) which is native to most states and Canada.  It's a nice addition to the fall garden.  While the Gomphrena in the background are not native the bright yellow-orange Zexmenia were found along the creek which runs along my back fence.  In the foreground you can just get a glimpse of Dalea greggii's delicate gray foliage and purple blooms.

How pretty!

Camphorweed (Heterotheca subaxillaris) also showed up in the circle garden and has been popular with bees.

While it was nice to have something to offer pollinators during the heat and drought of the last few weeks, its dandelion appearance is too weedy for this part of the garden so I'll try to find it a new home next year.

That's the roundup of new native plants in my garden for Texas Native Plant Week.  For excellent ideas on how to get started with native plants in your garden I'd highly recommend this post by Tina at "My Gardener Says..."

Wildflower Wednesday: Texas Native Plant Week

Wildflower Wednesday hosted by Gail at Clay and Limestone on the fourth Wednesday of each month also happens to fall in the middle of Texas Native Plant Week.  This makes it fun to post about both at the same time by taking a tour of the Texas native wildflowers in my garden.

We'll start with Clammy Weed (Polanisia dodecandra).  These native annuals provide a succession of blooms through our hot summers.  As one group fades and goes to seed another takes its place.  They are prolific reseeders and I look forward to having them in the garden for years to come.

Texas Native Plant Week: Madrone Nursery

It's Texas Native Plant Week and my posts this week will reflect that theme.  First up is a visit to Madrone Nursery which doesn't just specialize in Texas native plants--it's the only kind of plant they grow.

Madrone Nursery is located in San Marcos an hour's drive northeast of San Antonio and half way to Austin.  Founded by native plant expert Dan Hosage, it is open by appointment only.

Last March I joined a field trip with friends to Madrone Nursery and enjoyed a day of shopping for native plants.  The Texas Bluebonnets were just beginning to bloom around the sign along the road when we arrived.

Visiting The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Back in the spring after touring gardens all around Austin for Gardens on Tour sponsored by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center I headed over to see the wildflower center gardens.  I hadn't been there for a while--since they first opened which was back in the mid-1990's and the admission to the gardens was included in the tour ticket.  I arrived with the heat turned up to high, the sun high in the sky, and facing a bit of garden tour fatigue with just about an hour and a half to go before closing time.  After a fairly quick tour with equally quick photos I headed home.  Over the next week I posted the five gardens from the tour and planned to get back to the wildflower center photos later.

Now is later isn't it?  It's fun to go back in time and see how pretty the gardens looked that day.  Perhaps it's the faded brown of late summer putting things in perspective but the gardens looked better than I thought at the time.  Wildflower Wednesday is this week and why not start the week off with a visit to the place which claims wildflower.org as its web address.

Medina Garden Nursery

October is Support Your Independent Nursery Month as declared by Pam Penick at her Austin blog Digging.  I'm joining in by visiting local favorites around the San Antonio area and posting each Monday.

This week the spotlight is on the Medina Garden Nursery along State Highway 16 just east of the town of Medina, Texas.  After an hour of driving northwest from San Antonio into the beautiful Texas Hill Country I wasn't sure what to expect.  What I found was a pleasant surprise.

It felt a bit like driving up to someone's garden and that's just what it is.  Medina Garden Nursery grew out of the owner's interest in native plants. The nursery is in Ernesto Cariño's yard and acreage along the Medina River where he and Ysmael Espinosa have built display gardens around his stone house to teach customers about the beauty and durability of native plants. You can read more of their story in this article from the Native Plant Society of Texas newsletter. The article relays the facts, but Medina Garden Nursery turned out to be even more than I had expected.

A pretty and rustic cedar arbor welcomes you to come on in and see the selection.

Watersaver Landscape Tour: Wildscape in Alamo Heights

Last Saturday I attended the Watersaver Landscape Tour sponsored by SAWS, our local water system.  Six San Antonio gardens were on the tour, including five residences and one community garden.

My favorite on the tour was the native plant garden in the Alamo Heights neighborhood northeast of downtown.  The house is located on a downslope away from the street which can provide unique challenges for gardeners. This homeowner created a very natural feel to the gardens along the street and driveway with a wide variety of plantings.  A garage was removed at street level and a circle drive added to allow plenty of room for plants at the top of the hill.

Swan Song at The Antique Rose Emporium

These two agaves somehow knew this was the last chance to show their stuff.

 

A few weeks ago I wrote about the blooming of this Agave Ovatifolia I had often admired at The Antique Rose Emporium here in San Antonio. 

On Friday 15 June, I returned as promised to follow up on the Agave Ovatifolia bloom and check out the enormous Agave Americana bloom going up just behind the adobe courtyard.  In response to questions from readers my plan was to follow these two agave plants as they reproduced and then died off.

 

That's not likely to happen now since the next day news arrived in the form of an email from The Antique Rose Emporium.   They will close the San Antonio location in July due to downsizing.   The store in Independence near Brenham will remain open along with the mail order business.

Here's another view of the Agave Americana, the base plant is over nine feet high and the bloom appears to be 30 feet high.

I will miss these gardens and the staff whom I have gotten to know over the years.

I'll also miss the resident cats, especially Spot (on the left) who has followed me around on many a visit.

About the time I turned my attention to the landscaping at our home here in San Antonio in 2009, I also discovered The Antique Rose Emporium nursery and demonstration gardens.  On that first trip to visit these gardens I knew I had found my inspiration.
 

Walking through the large center courtyard planted with drought tolerant natives and adapted perennials was an eye opening experience.  This beautiful display is San Antonio gardening at its best.

Standing there that day, I immediately realized that my expectations about what could be achieved in my own gardens needed to be revised upward.

Just a few of my favorite ideas in practice here

Native wildflowers are beautiful in the garden

Cactus, succulents and roses are a great combination for a Texas garden

 

Bottle trees are cool

 
Yard art too

Go Texan and go big

I never wanted a rose garden and, actually, I still don't.  At The Antique Rose Emporium there are no formal rose gardens.  The roses are combined with perennials, cactus, annuals, and succulents to spectacular effect.



I often marveled at the vision that went into creating these garden spaces.  There are so many special spots here.  The adobe courtyard is a place I could spend all day.

Except when I'm enjoying the blue adobe courtyard

I surely will miss this place

 
A look back at my previous posts on The Antique Rose Emporium

Fall 2011 Festival of Roses
                Happy Halloween

Spring 2012  Springtime Roses
                      More Than Roses
                     Agave Ovatifolia Blooms

Hill Country Roads: Blanco to Johnson City

The legendary Texas Hill Country wildflowers are out in full force this year.  A welcome change from the last two drought years.  We took the long way around to our initial destination Friday before heading to the Blanco Lavender Festival and were rewarded with some memorable sights.

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.