Garden Blogger's Bloom Day May 2014

It's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day and time to share the plants blooming in my garden.  It's been a very dry spring in San Antonio but substantial rains in the last few days are helping out quite a bit.

The biggest and best bloom surprises are these Color Guard Yuccas planted just over two years ago, which are sporting their first ever blooms.  With more than 10 hours of direct sun a day during summer months these plants have grown to nearly four feet diameter in a very short time.  The third bloom was caught on a leaf and is lagging behind.  I will look forward to these creamy, bell-shaped beauties each year from now on.

End of Month View April 2014

I look forward to looking back.  What?  I mean looking back at changes in the garden over the past month which why I'm joining Helen at The Patient Gardener for the End of Month View for April.

We haven't had much rain yet this year but spring has brought a nice green-up and most plants have recovered from the exceptionally cold winter by now.

Does deer repellent actually work?

Deer can do a surprising amount of damage to the garden in a very short time.  For the most part I deal with the presence of deer in the garden by selecting plants they don't like.  That doesn't mean deer won't damage "deer resistant" plants--they just sustain less damage than other plants.

One "deer resistant" plant is Hesperaloe parviflora or red yucca.  Deer don't eat the leaves or blooms, but they seem to enjoy snapping the buds off.  It's annoying, especially since they drop the pieces on the ground and walk away.  What a waste!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: March 2013

Gardens Blogger's Bloom Day sponsored by Carol at May Dreams Gardens is special day for garden bloggers to share what's blooming in their gardens on the 15th of each month.

March in Texas is bluebonnet season when our favorite native wildflower, Lupinus texensis, takes center stage.  A few years ago we planted a patch in our back yard and they have begun blooming right on schedule this week.  This is a preview and they will get their own post next week.

A Visit to Plano Prairie Garden

From the moment I first opened Michael's blog, PIano Prairie Garden, I was intrigued by how he turned a standard suburban front lawn into what you see here.  The beauty of his garden and his knowledge of native plants is also impressive.   Any way you look at it, there's something about a prairie garden in a Plano front yard that amazes.

As you can imagine, it's easy to spot this front yard as you turn the corner on to his street
 
 
No surprise, it's even better seeing it up close and in person.  Mr. R-O-D enjoyed this visit too as he thinks of typical lawn grass as an invasive species.  He'd much rather have a yard like this.

 
A yard full of flowers certainly stands out in the sea of typical suburban lawns, but it's also the yard with all the busy butterflies, bees, and birds in the neighborhood.

The wildlife habitat signs

 
Plenty of native plants like this Scutellaria wrightii I've been trying to coax into my garden this spring.  Here it is thriving in the hellstrip by the mailbox.

And this welcoming pathway to lead you through the flower filled front yard.
 

Michael is prepared with his plant list so he can cheerfully answer my literally hundreds of questions.

 

The stock tank of horsetail reed is here too

  
We've been visiting family in Plano for years.  Long before I began gardening seriously I was struck by the conformity of the landscaping there.  Most of the development there is 30 years old or newer and HOAs are the rule.  Michael's neighborhood doesn't have an HOA.  So much the better for those of us who enjoy this riot of native plants and flowers.

Gregg's mistflower here

Plano had water restrictions imposed last year due to the drought, so this type of landscape might be more popular in the future.

And the rarely seen backyard?  It's planted in prairie style too, although Michael plans to turn more of it into veggie gardens soon.

These tall coneflowers caught my eye

I'm definitely copying these rebar tuteurs

And these wire cages too.  Look at those onions!

The bees are definitely hard at work here.  Bee fight!

This swallowtail is resting from flower overload

Butterflies are most welcome here with milkweed and helpful sign

Many Plano neighborhoods have alleys behind the houses for the driveways and garages and Michael has planted these areas in Plano Prairie Garden style too.

The alley

The driveway

Just as we were leaving a young family out for a walk paused to enjoy the flowers.  The two boys were mesmerized by the scene as their dad pointed out butterflies and bees at work.  Dad was impressed with a yard you don't have to mow.   The oldest boy stopped in his tracks and pointed "Cactus!" he was so excited.

Yes, I agree, cactus is cool.  Perhaps he'll plant cactus in his own yard someday because of that moment.

Thank you Michael, we enjoyed meeting you and loved seeing your garden.  Well done!

Cactus Flower Beauty

This beautiful red cactus flower opened Monday measuring four inches across and four inches tall.  Quite a feat for a barrel cactus just over six inches tall.

 
Anticipation began a few days ago when this small barrel cactus produced a surprisingly large bud.  On Sunday the bud began to show off a deep red color.

Monday morning it opened revealing a gorgeous dark coral flower with striking proportions. 

The color and beauty of this bloom was a surprise since we had just recently planted this one.  It was marked simply "cactus" at Walmart.

The color works beautifully with the Hesperaloe parviflora now blooming and the form plays nicely with the Agave Ovatifolia.

By evening the bud had begun to close up

I checked on it Tuesday morning and it had already started its decline.  As with most cacti their blooms are short lived.  But there are two buds showing so I will be anticipating more blossoms soon.

Plant ABC's - H is for Hesperaloe Parviflora

I'm continuing my ABCs of plants in my garden series with Hesperaloe parviflora.  You can view the others in the series on my sidebar.

This Texas native is one tough plant.  These hesperaloes were here when we purchased the house in 1995.  I wrote about reworking the original plants in this earlier post.  They have survived in direct sun for up to 10 hours a day in summer without supplemental water for most of the 20 years in this spot.  They are cold hardy in zone 8 and don't seem to mind our occasional torrential rains either.
 

Commonly called Red Yucca it is actually a member of the agave family.  Soft arching leaves resemble ornamental grasses and are not as pointed or sharp as most agaves.

The plant spreads and is easy to divide and transplant, hardly missing a beat.   When we recently planted them in the new landscaping along the driveway we simply divided the existing ones for free plants.

It's hard to see them here along the driveway because the deer have snapped off the blooms even though they don't eat them.

Although they do best in sun, Hesperaloes can take a little shade but will flop over toward the sun and not bloom as well.

Though it does take on a nice violet hue in winter, the summer bloom season is when this plant really shines.  The coral flowers have a yellow edge and attract hummingbirds.

The flowers open in the sun and close in the evening

 
The green seedpods will turn to brown and are unattractive so I remove them by cutting the stalk.

 
The weather this year caused some of the dropped seeds to sprout along the edges of the bed.  I haven't seen seedlings here before and I will dig them out to transplant or share.

Self-cleaning like many xeric plants, the dead leaves eventually fall or can be easily pulled from the plant when they turn brown.

Hesperaloes are available in at least two other colors-- yellow, which looks great against a wall and the bright red 'Brakelights'.  Since we already had so many of the coral, I decided to stick with the same color across the front but might add the others in the back where I enjoy mixing it up a little more.

There's a Giant Hesperaloe available.  You need a lot of room for it as here at The Antique Rose Emporium.

Several years ago I considered replacing them.  That was before two years of drought changed my mind.  Hesperaloe parviflora is a great landscape plant for those hot, dry spots.

More Progress on the Driveway Project

It was a beautiful weekend here in San Antonio so we took the opportunity to work on the driveway project.  You can read about the beginning of the project here.

We added a row of Mexican Feather Grass (Nasella tenuissima) along the driveway and Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)  near the front.

Yes, that sure is a lot of concrete and these plants should help soften it.

In addition to the low maintenance requirement, we have chosen plants that can be easily and inexpensively replaced should they be lost in the inevitable encounters with skateboards, soccer balls, or car tires.

The next step is to remove the grass over to the neighbor's driveway near the street and plant more grasses.

Sometimes it helps to look back at the before photos.

Okay, that does look so much better already and it should improve quickly from here.

Deary, Deery, Deer!

It's a good thing they're kinda cute because gardening with deer around can be a challenge.  Most of the time I'm okay with it and select plants accordingly.

On Sunday I took this photo of a red shrimp plant for my Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post.

A few hours later I walked through the same spot and noticed all but one of those same blooms missing.

I knew right away what had happened.  The deer, again.  Even though I had been out in the yard much of the time and they don't usually bother shrimp plants.

So I looked around....

I didn't have to look far because these two were over by the creek grazing and watching me.  They even waited while I retrieved the camera and calmly posed for their mug shots.

Busted!

I was surprised they went for the shrimp plants since one neighbor has a large bed of them right next to a popular deer hang-out by the creek.  Very few plants are completely deer proof.


Later  in the day I found this damage to a Bush Morning Glory in the front yard so it will have to move behind the fence.

We also planted a row of Hesperaloe parviflora along the driveway Sunday afternoon.  The next morning several had been pulled out.  

Deer typically inspect new plants this way so it wasn't a surprise even though hesperaloe are not palatable to deer.  My husband put them back in the ground and there was only a little damage since these are pretty tough plants.


In the last two cases, the "perp" made a clean getaway.  That's a lot of damage in just two days.


It's all part of living with deer in the neighborhood.

A New Project for the New Year

In south central Texas ringing in the New Year means we have about six weeks to get going on big spring projects.  We don't have to wait for Groundhog Day to know that by mid-February the weather will be consistently warmer.  Even though we can have a rare freeze into March, we need to get our projects well underway early in the year or it will be too hot all too quickly.  Here in San Antonio, the record high for February is a toasty 100F set in 1997.

Relatively mild winters mean that we have better weather for major gardening projects in the winter than summer.  It's also important to get plants established before the heat sets in.  With that in mind I'm ready to start work on the gardening project list.  Since the list is long we'll focus on projects with maximum impact.

Our first project this year is the driveway hellstrip -- 100' of neglected, rocky clay soil and fill along the concrete driveway.

 

To preserve the existing trees our house was set on an angle to the street.  Anyone approaching from the south looks straight at the double garage door from several blocks away.  Definitely not the best first impression of the house.  We can't move the house so we'll improve the view.

Low maintenance is the priority for this spot.   The original plan for a row of my favorite Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) was revised when we found the shallow water lines run back about half way along the driveway.  Limited digging depth means no trees.  With all day sun and no irrigation I've chosen Silverado sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), Mexican feather grass (nasella tenuissima), and Red yucca (hesperaloe parviflora).

 

These plants are existing in the front yard and repeating them will visually unite the sections across the driveway.

We coordinated with the neighbors so the planting bed will go over to their driveway at the street to hide the water access ports.  Plants will be kept low within 15' of the street for safety.  A neighborly path through the bed will be included at a convenient spot.

There is a significant chance of rain Sunday or Monday and no freeze for the next 10 days so we planted the Silverado sage plants on Saturday.

These may look small now, but they will grow fast here and top out around six feet.  We use one gallon plants most of the time since they are easier to plant.  The hesperaloe parviflora will be installed soon and more plants in late February.  The biggest challenge will be fighting the bermuda grass that has taken hold here.

Our neighbors drove up just as we finished and were very pleased to see progress since they've been looking at our boring garage door for 20 years.

There's a lot of work left, but it's so good to see a needed project get started.