the bark tree

Turk's cap and design basics

Turk's cap (Malvaviscus drummondii 'Pam Puryear') was one of the first items I planted at our house when we moved in around this time last year.

Many Texans are familiar with the red version, but the pink flowers provide a lovely contrast to our house's blue-green trim.

Blooming happily through summer and fall, it tolerates the morning shade and the scorching afternoon sun that this location dictates.

Through our living room window, we enjoyed watching hummingbirds visit the flowers during the miserable summer when we spent much of our time indoors.

Since it works so well in difficult locations like I described, I somewhat randomly added another on the side of the house in spring.

With my background in art, I'm ashamed at how long it takes for me to grasp and utilize basic design concepts, such as repetition. 

This fall, finally realizing that the lovely effects of this plant would have more impact if repeated all along the front of the house, I added another in this bed, one on the other side and one near a window in back.

In another design blunder, I had orignally placed this Chinese fringe flower (Loropetulum chinense 'Plum Delight') on the other side of the walk where I immediately feared it getting too large.

It's possible that it would've never occured to me to move it to the giant gap on this side unless my dear husband hadn't suggested it!  Thank you, Brandon.

Annuals survive heat wave

In the horrible summer heat, my July garden color was held up by inexpensive annuals.

Big D sunflowers

These lovely dark colored sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) were a favorite when we lived in Brooklyn.

Earlier this summer we grew and enjoyed them here.

Nothing could be easier to direct sow from seed.  This type is called: 'Evening Sun' from Botanical Interests.

One gallon gardening

Primarily due to financial constraints, I purchase most of my plants in the least expensive size. Sometimes I start with perennials in a 4-inch pot or shrubs in a little container called a "one gallon."

This creates a landscape design challenge: one must imagine what the tiny plant might look like if it manages to reach full size and of course, patiently wait for it to grow.

Since I began working on this garden last October, I've been slowly extending the long border beside my neighbor's driveway.  I had dug it out to this point (and also moved the dug up pieces of turf to fill in the patchy back yard lawn).

My niece Arden helped me plant the little shrubs in late May: Grayleaf Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster glaucophyllus), Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora), and Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens 'Desperado').

Later, I extended the border to include the Texas sage.

The plan is to slowy extend the border in a curve along the edge of the lawn, creating an enclosure with low to medium sized shrubs and perennials which will partially obscure our view of the road.

May dreams

Pretty pix of the garden from May.

 

Spring pix

In an effort to get you up to date: photos of my springtime garden.

Arboretum visit

August and I visted the Dallas Arboretum in April during their Dallas Blooms spring event with my friend Johnette, her boys and her mother Donna.  Though we live close by, it was only our second time to go.

Giant snowball viburnum (V. macrocephalum) blooms were gorgeous in the spring sunshine.

We taught the boys how to identify Wisteria.

Though it's flowers are stunningly pretty, I was surprised to see that they had planted an invasive species, Paulownia tomentosa or Princess Tree.

We used to see these sprouting in cracks in the sidewalk when we lived in Brooklyn so I recognized it immediately.

As you can see, they have hordes of azaleas which were in full bloom.

Another interesting beauty was the Red buckeye tree (Aesculus pavia var. flavescens).

We certainly enjoyed our visit.  We must return more often to this nearby garden.

Front yard progress

The front yard is slowly coming along.  The weather has been more or less wonderful since the beginning of March.  We've had lots of warm, beautiful days — perfect for working outside.

The west-side bed has mostly pinks and dark foliaged plants, though, I added orange violas in winter when most everything had gone out of bloom.  Our house faces northwest with a few trees in my neighbor's yard partly blocking the afternoon sun so I've spent the past few months trying to learn how much sun the two front areas receive... it's rather patchy.

A little section of the east-side bed sticks out to receive more sun so I immediately planted my favorite flower — poppies — in that spot.

They bloomed a bit in fall, quietly withstood our harsh winter and were lovely the past two months.  We can see them from inside our bedroom window and they still have new buds.

In the same bed is an overgrown holly which I trimmed up to remove a bunch of dead wood and previously butchered branches.  It's still pretty much a meatball shape and out of scale, but since we are renters, I am hesitant to chop it down just yet. 

Attempting to soften the corner and lower branches, I planted liriope (L. muscari varigata/gigantea) underneath.

Though I certainly could've done a more thorough prep, the sunny front yard border has been cleaned up to the extent that I've been forging ahead with new plantings.

The oldest and therefore largest is Centaurea cineraria 'Colchester White,' which I stuffed into a bare spot last fall before ever removing any weeds.  I like how the silver leaves look with the trunks of the Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus).

Wave Hill has a large collection of salvias and I grew very fond of them while working there.  Beautiful blue Salvia farinacea 'Henry Duelberg' was discovered by Greg Grant in a Texas cemetary thriving without special care.

In the forefront of this photo is another blue mealy cup sage. Salvia farinacea 'Victoria' is a dwarf form staying under twelve inches.  It's sold as a bedding annual, but it returned where I planted it in my mothers garden last spring.  You can also see blue fescue and love in a mist (Nigella damescena).

Salvia. longispicata x farinacea 'Mystic Spires Blue' crosses another favorite salvia of mine from Wave Hill, 'Indigo Spires' with a dwarf form to make a shorter, sturdier plant with a gorgeous deep blue flower.

Lamb's ear (Stachys byzantia 'Helen Von Stein') is planted on the edge of the bed anticipating that it will spread and widen the border.  More to come!

Hairstreak visits salvia

Before I even planted this little Salvia (S. nemorosa 'Caradonna'), a little hairstreak butterfly was already partaking of it's flowers.

That's my kind of plant!

Inherited irises

There are many iris rhizomes that I inherited with this house.  They are in every area that one could consider a flower bed.  I love iris and I happily anticipated what might bloom from this seemingly large collection — perhaps another wonderful gift from the previous gardener?

The first group bloomed in the backyard.  White.  Not my favorite color, but certainly pretty especially with ivy as a backdrop.

I began to worry that they might all be white.  Or not bloom at all!

Then another backyard group budded.  Surely, they'll be a different color, I thought, since they have a different bloom time.  Nope.  More white.

Apparently over time, if an iris bed is not maintained, the stronger white flowers can dominate and choke out other colors.  From my understanding, it has been many years since my landlord's gardening mother lived in the house so the white clumps seem to have taken over.  Or perhaps she loved white... ?

A big group bloomed a little later in a front yard bed.  Arg!  More white!

Finally a large separate group in the front yard long border bloomed — yellow! 

Two more, which I neglected to photograph, bloomed purple in the backyard.  This fall I'm going to move them to a sunnier spot in hopes that they will become more vigorous.  Some of the whites might get moved to my mother's garden.

Flowering quince

Our gorgeous flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) has made me so happy!

A harbinger of spring, this deciduous shrub is nearly care free.  Planted here long before we arrived, it is a wonderful gift from a previous gardener and makes me remember some things we left behind in our old garden.

A few blooms emerged during some warm days in January and I wondered if the severe temperatures in early February would zap the remaining buds, but they survived without any help.

They keep getting more and more beautiful as the days get warmer.

I like the way the plant looks next to our white stone house.  We've even enjoyed it indoors!

 

 

Revisiting

In June, Brandon had a chance to see and photograph our old garden in Brooklyn.

June was always my favorite month in New York, but the garden already looks wild and overgrown.  We left a number of projects unfinished and my short-sighted plantings are certainly in evidence.

It's weird to look back after a just a few months and see the garden living on without us.

Mom's house

August stays with my mother one day each week.  Here are a few of the things I planted at her house while we lived there which were still thriving until the winter frost.  Some folks might poo-poo annuals, but these little star zinnias (Zinnia linearis) looked wonderful all summer/fall and even survived a tree falling on them!

Texas Tarragon, a.k.a. Mexican Mint Marigold (Tagetes lucida) blooms prolifically in the fall. The leaves have a robust anise/licorice-like aroma.  This clump started as two little 4-inch plants in springtime.

Alongside more yellow star zinnias, coreopsis and guara they were part of what I'm now calling a "yellow border" which I began along her ligustrum hedge.  I'll add a few more this year to make it look a bit more deliberate.

 

My nephew also has a day with Grandmom each week which sometimes coincides with ours.

He and Augie had a big day pushing brooms around.

Filling the gaps

 

While we are staying with my mother in the house I grew up in, I've been working on the yard.  The first thing I did was trim up these two crepe myrtles that I planted back in the early 90s.  They were supposed to be dwarfs and stay somewhat shrubby, but they appear to be headed toward full size trees.  One was moved when they added wheelchair accessible sidewalk corners and I'm not particularly happy with the placement.  Not sure what exactly, but I'm considering adding some shrubs near them.

 

Next I planted a little oak leaf hydrangea in a bare spot near the garage where a hackberry tree once stood.  My dad laid out this brick patio himself back in the 70s. 
 

 

We used to have a wood fence behind where I planted this little fig tree — a cultivar called 'Celeste.'  When the fence got terribly old and rotten, Mom just had it taken down, which made our backyard visible from the street.  It's a surprising improvement and eventually the fig will provide a little natural screening.

 

It already has several fruits on it!

 

Next I began to work on gaps in the flower beds.

 

Mother has a weird way of expressing dislike towards her shrubs.  She decided this cherry laurel (Prunus caroliniana) was "out of bounds" and started hacking it up leaving stumps protruding from all sides.  Every time she passes she rips off another small section by hand.  Looks weird, doesn't it?

 

I cleaned it up a little and put in artemisia 'Powis Castle,'  lemon balm, golden sage, blackfoot daisies, moss rose and sedum 'Autumn Joy' below.  Later, thinking it looked too sparse and green, I added gomphrena 'Strawberry fields,' which I remember fondly from when my friend Gelene grew it from seed at Wave Hill. Along with plenty of organic fertilizer, I also dumped in a big bag of cotton burr compost to amend her cement-like clay soil.

  

There are two other cherry laurel shrubs which have also been hacked to heck.  I'm planning on removing this one here on the left.  Our friend Carlos works for a Dallas landscaping company and has plenty of experience tearing out old shrubs so he offered to assist me.  Then I'll have a whole corner to fill in next to her Ligustrum hedge.

 

Below the hedge there is a strip of lovely yellow Iris which bloomed beautifully this spring.  I decided to fill the gaps with some other perennials using a color scheme of yellow, white and a little blue.

'Stella D' Oro' daylilies and Mexican Mint Marigold (Tagetes lucida).

Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens), yellow columbine (Aquilegia hinckleyana), and Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue.'

My nephew Ray helped me plant three large elephant ear bulbs which are coming up nicely.

Near the front sidewalk corner there is a large patch of various ground covers.  I added three variegated liriope and some star zinnias to brighten up the edge.

In this shaded corner near the hose, I added some caladiums.  I probably should've gone with white and green to better match the varigated pittosporum, but I couldn't resist the cultivar called 'Carolyn Wharton.'  I have plans to place another dwarf pittosporum called 'Mojo' in the corner in front of the boxwood.

Another gap gets some hot afternoon sun so I used Salvia greggi 'Violet,' Nepeta 'Walker's Low,' mexican heather and lavender periwinkles.

 

Had to have a few containers on the porch.  Obviously I'm staying busy here and making good use of my employee discount at North Haven Gardens where I am a garden advisor. 

 

Here's my little garden helper, August who loves to be outside and eat dirt.

A big winter storm left a large tree leaning against the house so we had it taken down just after we arrived in Texas.  I'm pleased that they left this lovely stump.

Living far away in NYC, I longed for some time to do these kind of small improvements on the yards of my family. Soon I'll be working on my father's and sisters'.

Alter-Meeker garden

My dear friend Johnette has been working on adding perennials to the large garden bed in front of her house.

 

A big winter snowstorm tore up a large yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) that was shading this side of the bed.  It looked horrible so they had it removed, creating a new area with more sun.

She got all new soil with compost as well as mulch in bulk.

 

I'm watching with interest to see how her "Endless Summer" blue hydrangea will perform. So far it looks beautiful.

 

We house and cat-sat for them while they were on vacation and I put a few annuals in pots for them.  They looked a little skimpier that I hoped initially, but they'll fill out.

Poppy baby

You might remember my exuberance over these oriental poppies when they bloomed last year, but this year the clumps have really grown large and we have lots of buds!

Brandon had me take this shot of he and August with one of the first blooms, though the baby was not so impressed.

The poppy remains my favorite flower.

 

Purty stuff

Narcissus 'Pheasant's Eye'
Brandon took a bunch of nice close ups of pretty things in our April garden.

Mini daffodils (Narcissus sp.)

 

Celadine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)

Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum)

Bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis)

 

Oak leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)

 

Comfry (Symphytum officinale)

Fall plantings

You might remember back last winter when I was drooling over catalog photos of a Physocarpus shrub called 'Coppertina.'  At that point, I thought it might eventually get too large and I chose a Leycesteria instead.  But then I learned that we had one growing at work.  We took cuttings of it and now I have my own tiny plant for free!

 

Another previous lament was that my neighbor's Salvia was prettier than mine.  I have now added the perennial Salvia 'Blue Hill' to my garden to complement the lighter one I have already.

Bouquets and announcement

I didn't mention it at the time, but my dear husband brought home a number of beautiful cut-flower bouquets for me this summer. 

We waited to make the announcement to the blogosphere, but these beauties were all in celebration of the news that I am pregnant.

Yep, now you know why I've neglected my garden so much this season! 

I'm feeling more energetic now at 5 months, but I pretty much slept through the last half of the summer. I have managed to devote my remaining energy to gardening at work and Brandon has thankfully helped me a great deal at home. 

 

We are looking forward to springtime when our little flower will bloom.

More coneflower mutants

My next-door neighbor's echinacea plants mutated to sprout these bumpy blooms somewhat like my two-headed flower earlier in the season.