Orange Frost Frenzy!

What plant are these folks converging on?  What's so special it needed to be roped off?  Are these people in danger?

   
Actually, it's the newly available 'Orange Frost' citrus tree.  Certain to be a hit here in San Antonio because it is cold hardy, self pollinating, seedless, and bears sweet fruit.  Other hardy citrus plants are too tangy or slightly bitter and often full of seeds, so this is a huge breakthrough.   It's not scheduled to hit garden centers for two more years, but these were available this week only at the Texas State Master Gardener's plant sale associated with their annual conference held this year in San Antonio.

This is the Orange Frost tree I selected and it already has fruit set so we may get fruit this year.

See those cute little fruits!

I also picked up this Euphorbia 'Rudolph', a cold hardy variety with foliage that turns red in cool weather, and Euphorbia Breathless 'Blush' with a rosy tint to the foliage and flowers.  These euphorbias have been available for a while, but I had not seen them locally.

This SmokeTree which has been on my list for a while

For those who have not seen one, here's a Smoke Tree in bloom on this website.

I also brought home dahlberg daisy for the cactus patch, a sun coleus for my container garden, and a copper plant.  A good find was the John Fanick's Phlox in the center.  A plant with a nice local connection, it was discovered growing here in San Antonio and named for a local nurseryman.

A fun item from the vendor's market were these Texas shaped native plant markers.  Darla Horner Menking, a master gardener from Killeen, came up with this idea and had them manufactured.   She's now making the rounds to sell at garden shows.  At only a $1.25 each, I couldn't resist picking up a few for my favorite Texas native plants.

Darla doesn't have a website yet, but you can contact her at Suebizcreations@yahoo.com.

Plant sales are always fun for me and this was even more so since I was able to pick up a few plants from my list and also see some new varieties.  I will report back on the Orange Frost fruit when they mature.

Medina Lake, Native Plants, and One Big Agave

A visit to the Hill Country and Medina Lake just west of San Antonio wouldn't be complete without a look at the lake and native plants along the way.  One of my favorite things on a trip like this is to observe native plants in their habitat.  You've already seen the huge Texas Madrone tree and the thrift shops we visited.  To finish off the series, we'll visit the lake and plants we saw there.

Like many lakes in this part of Texas, Medina Lake is very low.  "Normal" level would cover this exposed white limestone almost to where I am standing.  Even the good winter rains have barely made the lake usable for recreation.  On this Friday there were a few water skiers and fishing boats on the lake.

The lake is a beautiful blue, almost turquoise with the exposed white limestone in sharp contrast.

These native Texas sotols were seen growing all along the road on the way up to the lake, I took these photos near the state park.

Several Dahlberg Daisy plants growing nearby

Verbena, opuntia, and ashe juniper just to the right of the sotols.

This might be Blackfoot Daisy, slightly different than the ones in my yard.

A huge swath of Prairie Verbena on the side of road headed down to the lake was beautiful.

This 9 ft tall Agave americana was next to a real estate office in Lakehills.

I've seen a lot of large agaves, but none this big that I remember. Most of them bloom before reaching this size.

It wasn't the only large agave around, these were just up the road and easily 6 ft tall.  More typical in size since there are a few this tall in my neighborhood, but I liked this because there were so many together.

It was fun to see the Hill Country and our native plants doing so well after such a tough two years.