Autumn Garden Roundup: Back Garden

With our first cold weather of the season hitting this week I'm posting my annual garden roundup to show the gardens at their Autumn peak.  In my last post I featured the front yard and today we'll tour the back yard.

The centerpiece of the back yard is the circle garden created last year to cover a bare spot left by two years of extreme drought.

Autumn Garden Roundup: Front Garden

The weather is saying it's Fall as colder temperatures head our way.  As always, we are grateful to the folks farther north for blunting the impact and accepting the worst of the cold front's effects.  Anyway, it's time for my annual Autumn Garden Roundup before the garden fades for a few months.  I've taken quite a few photos of the garden at its peak over the last week or so for your viewing pleasure.

We'll begin in the front where there haven't been many changes this year.  A little different view than I typically show is this approach from the front of the house out to the street.  Yes, that's a lot of concrete. Concretious Americanus is very cold-hardy and was installed by the original owner who is also a contractor.

A Garden Remembrance for Veteran's Day

It's Veteran's Day in the U.S, a holiday established to thank those who have served their country in the armed forces.  Known as Poppy Day in Great Britain, red poppies are the traditional flower on this day.

Poppies aren't blooming in my garden today, but I did find this appropriately red, white, and blue combination in the circle garden.

From the top:  Blue Gregg's Mistflower, White Boneset, and Red Gomphrena 'Strawberry Fields'

Thank you to all our veterans!

Building a Cedar Post Arbor

The addition of a circle garden has made a huge difference in my back yard.  It has been the crowning achievement of my gardening activities since we retired and moved back into the house five years ago.  But as any good gardener, I am never satisfied, so I needed something to enhance my circle garden.  A cedar arbor was just the ticket to add a backdrop to the circle garden by providing context and vertical interest blah, blah blah...

Wordless Wednesday: Butterflies in Awesome Motion

San Antonio Watersaver Landscape Tour: Garden on Sun Oak

Each October the San Antonio Watersaver Landscape Tour showcases yards which have reduced the footprint of water-guzzling turf grass.  Some gardens stand out more than others, usually reflecting the distinct personality of the gardener.  I'll feature one garden which is definitely full of personality.

This colorful, cheerful garden  is on a corner lot and these steps ascend from the side street.  The gardens were listed by address and this one is aptly named by its Sun Oak location.  Plenty of sunny perennials lead the way up to the live oak shaded front yard.  The mostly blue and yellow garden matches the house trim colors.

The Wide Shot: November 2013

The first of each month I join Heather at Xericstyle for a wide shot of my garden.  In keeping the view and timing close to the same I can track the changes in my garden throughout the year.

Today's wide shot of the front yard shows an unnamed volunteer Pennisetum ornamental grass blooming  next to the yucca by the mailbox.  This plant seeded itself from my neighbor's yard and the bonus is learning this type of grass does very well in the front yard.  I've tried growing ornamental grasses in this spot with mixed results and with this volunteer doing so well here I might try others in the future.