Taking Stock of the Midwinter Garden

Mild winters in South Texas allow for working in the garden most days.  In fact, winter is the best time for big projects because soon enough it will be too hot to do much of anything out there.  Midwinter is a great time to take stock and begin spring preparations.  With longer, warmer days just ahead, I'm taking you along on a tour as I figure out what needs to be done.  Let's see what's working, or not.

There's only a little work to do in the front garden this year and that's by design.

We planned for low maintenance and the same look year round.  Yes, that's a lot of concrete!

Out at the end of the driveway, three beautiful Yucca 'Color Guard' plants died after blooming last spring and Agave lophantha 'Splendida' offsets were planted as a quick (free) replacement.

The agaves are the green, spiky plants behind dormant Salvia greggii.

I miss the bright yellow accent provided by the yuccas.  Instead of more short-lived yuccas, I'll plant Agave shidigera 'Shira itoh no ohi'.  A cold hardy, full sun plant that rarely offsets and promises to stay put for 10-25 years is just what I'm looking for here.  I have one, just need to find two more.

Freshly mulched driveway bed all ready for spring.  Ruby Crystals (Melinus nerviglumis) grass replaced Mexican Feather Grass (Nasella tenuissima) at the base of the Silverado Texas Sage last fall.  Mexican Feather Grass spends too much time in a brown, dormant stage for me.  Ruby Crystals has stayed green so far this winter and is even blooming in spots.  A prolific reseeder, Ruby Crystals should spread quickly to soften driveway edges and it requires very little water to look good year round.

Pennisetum grasses with seedheads provide winter interest in the driveway island.  These were entirely free of charge since the seeds blew down from my neighbor's garden several years ago and I've been transplanting seedlings ever since.  A Vitex at the corner of the garage will be removed this year.   Pruned into tree form by the original owners, it looked great for about 20 years.  Blooms and leaves have been sparse the last few years so it's time for it to go.  As for a replacement, I'm currently shopping for a tall Yucca Rostrata that hopefully doesn't require a second mortgage!

Here's a corner that definitely needs work.  I replaced underperforming Spanish Lavender with those three grass-like Flax Lillies (Dianella 'Baby Blue') last fall.  When I couldn't find enough matching plants, I added Dyckia 'Silver Nickel' in the triangle end.  But it was too wet for Dyckia (that sad grey plant on the right) so what's left will be potted up and, if I can't find more of the same Dianella variety, the original three will be divided.  They'll be small but at least I know they work well here.

Love the blue-green color of this variety of Dianella or Flax Lily which will eventually produce small blue flowers.

A small agave bed along the front walk is coming along.  Copying a popular idea I've seen on garden tours in Austin, my plan is for small agaves nesting within silvery ground cover.  After losing the first planting of Wooly Stemodia groundcover to torrential downpours last spring, we've reworked the soil to try again with better drainage.

So far, so good with the new plants surviving late fall torrential rains.  Wooly Stemodia is the best choice for the look I want since deer avoid it while devouring similar options.  It still looks sparse so I'll add a few more to get the gravel mulch covered faster.

The bistro set looks a little lonely without its usual topping of potted plants.

Most are cold hardy but I've moved them to the porch just in case.  They'll be moved back out soon.

Duranta 'Gold Mound' usually dies back so I'm enjoying its bright color during this warm winter.  Not much to do here since last fall I added a few variegated Liriope to fill in along rock edging.

Now looking through the gate, evergreen Rosemary provides spots of deep green in the circle garden.

We expanded the crevice garden last fall for more places to plant sun-loving cacti and succulents on a slope where nothing else would grow.  As some of my favorite plants offset, I'll add them here.

Perennials await cutting back in early March.  I usually wait until then in order to protect new growth from late freezes and provide winter cover for birds and insects.  We've even got a few blooms on Henry Deulberg salvia.

Over the south fence, I see more work to do!  The dry creek needs clearing out and sedges along the walk should be divided.  Still I am reminded this area has come a long way over the last couple years.

Duranta 'Sapphire Showers' has grown massive and will either be transplanted or removed so the entire bed can be reworked.  I love the delicate blue flowers but it's not a spectacular plant in any other sense especially when it overwhelms the narrow space.

Now I have my work planned, I just need to get it all done!

October 9, 2015: Before and After

Shortly after I began this blog in October 2011, I also began a series documenting my front garden with Before and After photos.  I chose that date as the best "Before" shots I had taken from the prior year before I began blogging.

Each year these photos provide a documentation of just how my plants have changed or held up during the previous year.  Although 2015 has been a tough year for San Antonio plants due to drought, from the driveway view things don't appear to have changed much so we need to compare with 2014.

October 9, 2015

Before and After: October 9th 2013

During the first week of this blog two years ago I posted "before and after" photos of my front yard to show changes over the past year.  There's nothing magic about October 9th except it is a date for which I could find a "before" photo from my pre-blogging days.  As I begin my third year of blogging I continue the tradition to take stock of the yard during what is typically a peak bloom season.

The front landscaping today, October 9th, early this morning.

Bright and Spiky for Foliage Follow-up

Today is Foliage Follow-up when Pam at Digging hosts blogger posts on foliage in our gardens the day after Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.

Fall is the best time to get new plants in the ground and an opportunity to move plants that aren't working.  That's just what we did yesterday by replacing an existing Dasylerion wheeleri with this new Yucca filamentosa 'Bright Edge'.  The change certainly brightened up the mailbox strip.

D. Wheeleri, with its sphereical form of spiky foliage. is a favorite of mine but this one didn't work here.  It blended in too much, didn't grow well, and never looked quite right so it's been relocated to the back yard.

Here's the 'before' with the D. Wheeleri in the left foreground.

Now the "after' with the new Yucca filamentosa 'Bright Edge' in place.

Yucca filamentosa 'Bright Edge' is similar to the existing Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard'  with thinner leaves and the reverse variegation showing more green which which works well with existing plants like the Golden Barrel cactus (Echinocactus grunsonii) without being too much the same.

The Color Guard yuccas planted last spring have grown more than expected this summer and brighten both sides of the driveway and across the front adding spots of color when the salvias are not blooming.  The new Y. filamentosa is in the back right across the driveway.

The 'Color Guard' yuccas continue on the other side of the driveway where they are joined with a silvery agave, soft leaf yucca, another golden barrel cactus, and Texas native purple prickly pear cactus (Opuntia macrocentra Santa-rita 'Tubac').  Of course all these selections were designed to coordinate with the yellow street sign.  Do you think the city would notice if I repainted the pole to a creamy yellow?

Here's a better look the purple hue of the prickly pear which has become more intense as a cool front passed through this week.

These changes gave me the chance to try out my new wide-angle lens.  Previously it been a challenge to get an overall view of the yard since I had to break it into three photos each time.  With the new lens I can get more in the picture.

Here's the front hellstrip showing how the new yucca on the left fits in.  I could step back farther into the neighbor's yard, but the details get smaller. You can always click on a photo to enlarge it.
 

For more blog posts highlighting foliage in their gardens, check out the links in the comments section of Pam's blog Digging.