Gruesome Playground Injuries: 2013 Edition

Subtitle: Oops, I Did It Again.

Regular readers will doubtless recall my mishap in the garden last July, which sent me to the Emergency Room with a 3-1/2 inch gash in my left leg.  The Head Gardener wishes me to state that Freddie Mercury is not to blame for my latest misfortune in the garden.  Having been relegated to placement against a fence where he cannot reach out and hook an unwary passerby, he was nowhere near the scene of the crime, as seen above.

As I was working in the mailbox bed last Friday, I lost my balance as I was about to clamber over the remnant of a Persian Vitex trunk.  Despite a heroic effort on my part to remain completely upright, I was unable to do so and fell forward, somehow managing not to plant my face and the length of my  body upon the ground.  Unfortunately for me, the plant below was in the way.  

It looks fairly innocuous, doesn't it? That empty space in the middle conceals the remainder of the trunk that was hacked back after freeze damage.  My left shin struck wood and when I arose and surveyed the damage, I lost no time in taking myself inside to hail my driver and hasten myself to the ER.  

When we were ushered back to the treatment area, I was happy to see that nurse/practitioner Chris Jones and nurse Laura Bell were once again on hand to make the necessary repairs.  I hailed them as old friends and their response was "Oh, yeah, you're the fish lady!"  Chris was happy to see how nicely his repair of last year's laceration had turned out: the scar is barely visible.  I told him that's why I won't allow anyone but him to stitch me up ;-)  While this injury only required 2 stitches to close it, I suspect the scar may be more unsightly.   In deference to those of delicate sensibilities, I won't share a picture ... it's not really all that gruesome but it's not pretty!

Stay tuned to this blog for further episodes of Extreme Gardening, no set time, no set place!

May Day! May Day!

Things have been a little busy around here but I couldn't let Garden Bloggers Bloom Day go by without at least a token post.  It occurred to me that the blooms of one plant in particular are cause for celebration this May 15th.  The beauty of Zephyranthes rosea (or could it be Habranthus robustus? ) lies in more than their delicate pink blooms.  It's what triggers these blooms that makes me especially happy.  My fellow gardeners know what I'm talking about: there's a reason they call them RAIN lilies!

Three for Thursday: Blue, Blue, My Love is Blue ...

MAD MEN's most recent episode concluded with a classic '60s ballad, "Love is Blue (L'Amour Est Bleu)*  and it's been coming back to me all week. I do love my bluebonnets, even thought it's not been a good year for them.  The lack of winter rain made for poor germination and stunted growth.   I'm celebrating those that I do have and hoping for a better show next year.   *[note: at 1:42 the haunting melody ends and a jazzy version begins, which is somewhat disconcerting.]

I told the Head Gardener that the south bed between Wit's End and my neighbor's cried out for bluebonnets. That bed is home to Cher, the younger of the two Bauhinia galpinii, whose extravagant red-orange blooms are so showy.  I had a mental picture of how striking those blooms and the blue Lupinus texensis would look together.  Just one problem: the Bauhinia blooms several months later than the bluebonnets. Oh, well.  (The Head Gardener can kindly stuff a sock in it.)

You'll notice different colors in the middles of the flowers: some are pure white and some are reddish-purple.  Somewhere I'd heard that the color change occurred with pollination.  This Texas Beewatchers site says it's more likely a result of age but gives a good explanation of why the bees choose the white spots.  

And this is the ugly part of growing bluebonnets. The plants can look absolutely horrendous while they set seed and they violate the Head Gardener's amenities dreadfully. She concedes, however, that a gardener is often required to overlook such things if s/he wishes to enjoy future beauty.  

Oh. My. Stars. !!!!!!!!!!

Hello, Gorgeous!

I had no idea that this pot contained St. Joseph's Lily (Hippeastrum x johnsonii)!  Sure, I remembered buying the bulb at The Arbor Gate when Chris Wiesinger of Southern Bulbs was there in fall (2011? 2012?)  I had it planted out front but decided I wasn't happy with its placement (The Head Gardener: Big surprise.) So I dug it up and put it in a pot until I found a spot where I wanted to plant it.  I forgot to label it, though. (The Head Gardener: How unusual. Not.)  I've moved the pot around to one place or another and last fall I set it along the back fence, having decided from the foliage that it must be a division from the Hymenocallis given to me by Otahal.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a bloom stalk had emerged and that the buds clearly had the coloring and appearance of a red Amaryllis.  I moved the pot yet again and placed it in the courtyard, where the red blooms would be more felicitous.   It wasn't until the blooms opened that I realized this wasn't just any red Amaryllis ... those white stars just glow, don't they?

Also called Hardy Amaryllis and Johnson's Amaryllis, development of this old Southern favorite and passalong plant is credited to a watchmaker named Johnson somewhere between 1799-1810.  The blooms are said to have a spicy fragrance which I can neither confirm nor deny since those on my plant have now faded.  I'm thinking about finding a red ceramic pot and planting it in that so I can enjoy the view of the blooms through my front door in years to come!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, April 2013: A Counting Exercise

So it's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day once again and I thought I'd do something a little different this month and post one picture for each bed/border/planting area here on my corner of Katy.  While it won't give y'all a feel for the size of those beds, it might give you a better understanding of why I have so much trouble keeping up with it all!

We'll begin out front on the southeast corner of the property.  There's a small bed, about 6 feet long by 2 feet wide, just in front of the fence. Mexican Lobelia, a/k/a Candy Corn Lobelia (Lobelia laxiflora) runs rampant in the bed ... and attempts to run out of it.  There's also yellow Butterfly Vine (Mascagna macroptera), Miniature Hamelia, native Turk's Cap, David Verity cuphea and a daylily in that space.

There's also a long border that runs along the property line on the south side.  This Cestrum parqui, Hardy Willow-Leafed Jessamine, was purchased at Plant Delights Nursery in 2009 during the Garden Writers' Association tour.  I just noticed that they call it a prolific seed producer but I haven't seen any seedlings around it.  That border is also home to Cassia 'Buttercream', a river birch, bluebonnets, daylilies, agaves, yuccas, snake herb, rudbeckias, anisacanthus, bauhinia, hamelia, thryallis, turk's caps, salvia, iris and evolvulus (maybe more ???).

A willow oak tree grows on the south side of the house and right now the columbines are putting on their annual spring show.  I suspect there's been some cross-pollination going on amongst the Hinckley's yellow columbines and the native red and yellow Aquilegia canadensis because there are so many variations amongst the A. canadensis.  This bed spans the width of the south side of the house.  There's a path between it and the long border.  Also planted in this bed (for now) are various bulbs - Narcissus, allium, small amaryllis -, a 'Marilyn's Choice' abutilon that was damaged by a falling limb, native ranunculus, golden crinum, Cuphea macropetala, crocosmia/montbretia, a Texas Buckeye, castor bean, more anisacanthus and Mexican lobelia, Dicliptera suberecta, Thryallis,  turk's caps, pineland meadows hibiscus, turnera, rudbeckia, and daylilies (maybe more ???).  

There's a path just behind this bed and then another bed runs along the front wall of the house. The Japanese Blueberry pictured above is planted in that bed along with more columbines, cardamom ginger, Farfugiums/Ligularias, thryallis, Paco's Possumhaw holly, hamelias, Freesia laxa, crocosmia/montbretia, turk's caps, Salvia madrensis (definitely more that I can't remember).  Here are two of the mixed parentage columbines.

The willow oak bed is edged by a low moss rock wall, in front of which is a bed containing more daylilies, rudbeckia, Louisiana iris, hamelias, thryallis, agave, yucca, dyckia, sedums, Mexican lobelia, Salvia greggii, Freesia laxa, crocosmia and more, including spiderwort as seen below with screaming yellow sedum blooms.

In the interests of time, yours and mine, I believe I have to stop listing all the plants that are in each bed ... why did the Head Gardener not counsel me to be more judicious in y plantings???? Ignore the derisive laughter you hear.

Along the sidewalk on either side, there are rock garden and gravel planting areas for sedums, succulents and other such xeric plants.  My current favorite is this Euphorbia 'Tiny Tim'.

Take a deep breath, maybe get yourself something to drink or a snack.  We're not even halfway through!  On the north side of the property, there's one humongous bed surrounding the water oak.  It's a bed with a split personality since the tree bisects it ... the area in front of the courtyard wall is what was making me so morose earlier this year.  I won't say I've gotten a handle on it yet but I'm moving in that direction.  There's a dwarf ornamental pomegranate blooming on the southerly side.  The blooms almost look like they're made of wax ... aren't they just the coolest?

On the northern side of that bed, there's a woodland garden of sorts since the oak provides afternoon shade. Pink Indigofera is about all that's blooming now in that area. 

A path runs in front of the water oak bed from the north corner of the house to the front walkway.  There's a curbside bed in front of that path with a dry stream bed bordering it one side and the sidewalk on another.  Here's a partial view of that bed with Salvia 'Cherry Chief' adding a pop of red.  

On the other side of the dry stream is the 'Love Your Mother' bed, named for the A. L. Roche' sculpture.  Gulf Coast Penstemon, Practically Perfect Pink Phlox (as named by Gail of Clay & Limestone) and Iris cristata are blooming all around the world.  I didn't see the little friend posing on the sculpture until I uploaded the picture! 

Let's see, we're at 10 beds/borders and counting. At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, but wait, there are more!  Next up, what was envisioned as a patchwork quilt bed is planted in front of the Love Your Mother bed.  The patches are mighty irregular and some tweaking will probably be necessary soon.  I still like it better than the solid cover of wedelia that was originally planted there when we redid the front in 2010.  Mexican Sedum and Polygonum 'Pink Buttons' don't really complement each other, as you can see from the picture.  That Polygonum is one prolific self-seeder and creeper ... don't turn your back on it!

The corner bed is next up.  Here's a partial view of the bed as you look to the west.  This bed wraps around the curb and is home to agaves, yuccas, daylilies, ornamental grasses, Cherry Bomb hollies, Texas Sage and a host of perennials and annuals. Crazy.

There's a half-circle bed on the north facing side of the house, where the pine tree resided before its recent dismemberment.  The Texas Olive (Cordia bossieri) in that bed has just begun to bloom.  

There's a bed along the east trellis planted with hymenocallis, Louisiana iris, night-blooming Cestrum, Australian violet, spiderwort, an annoyingly aggressive native ruellia and the Orange Drop dietes-type iris you see at the far end.

The penultimate front/side garden bed runs the length of the garage wall and then on around the vitex tree that's so stunning when it blooms.   That's Hinckley's columbine blooming in the foreground.  Coneflowers, spiderwort, giant aloes, Chi Long Han Zhu roses, Cherry Chief salvias and Gulf Coast pestemon also make appearances in this bed.

I'm going to save the back garden beds and borders for another post so this will be my final picture.  The rose bed is bisected by a split rail fence built by my friend and neighbor Woody with minimal assistance from the Head Gardener.  Antique and old garden roses share space with various perennials and annuals, a 'Desert Museum' Retama, ornamental grasses and assorted bulbs.  

16 beds and borders of varying sizes in the front/side gardens.  Sixteen.  This is why something's always blooming somewhere on my corner of Katy!  And it's also why I'm at my wits' end here at Wit's End ...

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted by the inimitable Indy gardener, Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  Check out her Bloom Day post to see what's blooming in other gardens around the world!

Much As I Hate to Admit It ...

The Executive Producer might have a point.

This is the view from the east-facing patio off the master bedroom.  Bluebonnets, violas, poppies, Toadflax, lemon thyme, verbena, roses, Gulf Coast Penstemon ... it's a beautiful bed, isn't it?

Except it's not a bed, at least not most of it as you can see from the above photo.*  The bluebonnets are smack dab in the middle of the path leading off that patio.  So when the Executive Producer asks me, "why can't you just let a path be a path?", I think to myself that he does have a point. I do NOT say it aloud, of course.  Instead I tell him that he doesn't understand cottage garden style.  I know better than to let him think he should have input regarding garden matters!

*As you can also see above, I've started clearing some of the Violas, thyme and verbena from the path.  Mercy, it's a mess now!

There's One In Every Crowd ... and Garden!

Long ago, I decided to banish hot colors - the reds, the oranges, the yellows - to the front gardens and limited the color palette in the back gardens to various hues of pink, purple, blue and white. The poppies I chose to plant in back were singles and doubles in a glorious shade of pink, as seen above.

Last year I was perplexed to find some red poppies blooming amid the pinks but I carefully removed the pods before they ripened and popped open to scatter their progeny.  Yesterday morning, when the bloom on this poppy opened, I swear I heard Mother Nature laughing.  Or maybe it was the garden fairies.

It's smack dab in the front of the pastel plantings along the south fence line.  So much for any illusion of control ... what a beautiful way to lose it, though!

Three for Thursday: One Hot Mama!

'Fiesta Gal' opened 3 blooms at once today!  She's a beauty, isn't she?

So Long, Farewell, Goodbye, Auf Wiedersehen

 For as long as we've lived on this corner of Katy, a pine tree has towered over the north side of the house.  It's been in decline for several years now and each spring, I've asked my tree guy Shawn Geiman of Shawnee Trees whether it was time to take it down.  This year the answer was yes.

Healthy pines have lush dark green needles. This tree's needles were a sickly green with a yellow cast, browning at the tips.  The west-facing side of the tree had as many dead branches as live ones.  At 30+ years old, this pine needed to be put out of its misery.

Shawn and his able assistant Josh arrived mid-morning in the dump truck, chipper in tow, and got right to work. 

Shawn settled himself into a comfortable (???) spot in the tree and got busy with his chainsaw.

 

2+ hours into the project, there was no comfortable spot!

And by mid-afternoon, the tree was gone, leaving the Arizona Cypress 'Carolina Sapphire' to reign over that part of the gardens.  Without the pine to block the morning sunlight, the cypress should fill out nicely on the east and south facing sides.

Not all of the pine has left the premises: at my request, Shawn cut thick slabs of the trunk to serve as stepping stones.     I didn't get any pictures of those ... another time!  Many thanks to Shawn and Josh for their excellent and careful work!  These guys cheerfully make the extra effort to protect my plants and tolerate my input on tree trimming equally cheerfully.  If you live in the Houston area, and you're in need of a tree guy, I recommend Shawnee Trees highly!

Three for Thursday: Three Things That Made Me Happy Today

I've been working with the same old rusty shovel for most of my gardening life.  The edges are dull and the wood handle is roughened, both things that could be improved with some filing and sanding.  The Head Gardener and The Executive Producer always seem to be somewhere else when I want their help with such a task, though.  Today, after returning home from another trip to Treesearch, I decided that I not only needed a new shovel but by golly, I deserved one!  So I headed to Lowe's and ankled it over to the garden tools display.  I had another shovel in hand when Lowe's employee Kevin suggested I take a look at this Truper 2-in-1 shovel and edger they had just received.  He unwrapped one and handed it to me.  It felt good in my hands and I decided it was worth a try.  As soon as I got home, I put on my gloves and took the Truper for a spin.  OH, MAMA.  Where have you been all my gardening life??????

As I was tidying up later, I saw that another Louisiana iris had opened.  This is 'Wine Country'.   That picture doesn't convey the deep rich velvety tones of this bloom.  It's my new favorite until another variety opens and seduces me with its charms!

Finally, I stopped at New Nurseries on my way home from Treesearch and was fortunate to find a 'Rising Sun' redbud.  I've coveted this tree since I saw it at the Garden Writers' Association convention, I think in 2010.  It's said to tolerate heat and humidity well and I'm optimistic about its future here at Wit's End.