In like a Lion and Out like a Shorn Lamb

This post about my garden in Austin, Texas was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog.

Did my February post listing all the trees in the garden put a hex on them? This part of the privacy screen looked pretty good six weeks ago.


By the first of March tiny leaves and buds had appeared on Spiraea, Redbud, roses, Arizona Ash, Fig and dwarf Pomegranate, and flower buds swelled on the native Texas Mountain Laurel

But then came the March 3rd-4th Thundersleet that bent the Loropetalum to the ground

While the iced Oleander leaned over to block the steps to the driveway

The trees and shrubs soon bounced back from the ice, but unlike plants in a northern place where dormant plants sleep, insulated by snow from cold air, our plants were wide awake and full of sap, making leaves and setting buds. When the temperature dropped to 19°F on March 6th even the native plants were shocked at the cold.

The results have slowly revealed themselves over the last few weeks.
All the leaves dropped off the Arizona ash and the pomegranates, every leaf and bud froze on the redbud trees and on the fig tree, leaves fell from the 'Climbing Iceberg' and the Meyer's Lemon, the flowers froze on the Texas Mountain Laurel, and leaves on all four Confederate Jasmines began to turn brown. Friends who grow agaves and aloes say they're badly damaged.

Plants that were dormant are mostly OK. Evergreen plants like Salvia greggii, Skullcaps and Salvia 'Hot Lips' froze way back but most are alive at the base. Semi-evergreens like Mexican honeysuckle, Philippine Violet and Turkscap died to the ground. Plants like iris and daffodils didn't die, but most buds froze.

The Lady Banks rose lost all its leaves and buds

The ends of every boxwood twig and branch began to die back, with stems turning light tan instead of green - something I've never seen in 15-years of growing them in Central Texas. The Barbados Cherries were already iffy - now they look dead.

Last spring I took many photos of the garden in bloom, but never got around to making a post at the end of March 2013 to celebrate the end of that unusually mild winter. The garden in those photos seems like fiction this year.

On March 30th, 2013, the Lady Banks was in full bloom.

On March 29th, 2013 the Mutabilis rose looked like a dream of spring

On March 29th, 2013 several Bluebonnets popped up with yellow Four-Nerve daisies, the tall fragrant Peach Iris, and white Salvia coccinea AKA Hummingbird Sage.

On March 30th, 2013 the white rose 'Climbing Iceberg' filled the left side of the sweetheart arch with blooms while the white-flowering Confederate/Star Jasmine filled the right side.


On March 30th, 2013 another Confederate Jasmine grew 8-feet high on the shed trellis with Spanish Bluebells at the base.


We were busy nursery-hopping and planting tomatoes at the end of March in 2013 - no guests arrived to see the garden clothed in blooms but we appreciated them every day.

Any longtime gardener can take the bad years along with the good years - of course, we can! And I know that much of the cold damage to this year's garden will grow out and repair itself and make flowers again some other day or some other year.
But the thing that made me want to scream was that this year there were garden visitors - real, talk-Latin-to-me, gardener-type garden visitors. 

Flash forward to the end of March 2014... and what do this year's guests get to see?

How about a frozen and browned Loropetalum chinense var rubrum 'Plum Delight', no longer a screen but a see-through shrub?


Or the pitiful remains of the Jasmine on the shed trellis with one stem of Hyacinthoides?


At least the Rosa 'Mutabilis' had begun to releaf, even though it had no flowers


The Lady Banks rose also has made leaves, and may yet bring forth a few golden blossoms


What a trouper! After losing the main crop of buds and leaves, the Texas Redbud produced a second batch of buds for a light but lovely show of blooms.


The Confederate Jasmine is now 8-inches high instead of 8-ft tall, but the white 'Climbing Iceberg' has releafed and is forming buds. The Magnolia figo/ Banana Shrub is almost bare of leaves but tiny new leaf buds show green.


Only two-thirds of the knee-high Mexican Buckeye is alive, but the little tree was in bloom to greet the guests.


The buds froze on the white iris and the peach iris, and most of the dozens of Salvia coccinea AKA Hummingbird Sage plants died, but the Four-Nerve daisies are a cheerful lot, and some bluebonnets are in bloom, saying This is Texas. It's not a dream of a garden, but still a real one. Let the pruning-back begin!





This post about my garden in Austin, Texas was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog.

GBBD, GBBC & Foliage: A Portmanteau Post

Apparently Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and the 2010 Winter Olympics weren't enough for one weekend so we're also observing Garden Bloggers Bloom Day with May Dreams Carol, Foliage Follow-up with Pam/Digging and the Great Backyard Bird Count with Cornell University's Ornithology Lab.

In the race for available time an extensive genealogy-photo project for Valentine's Day took Gold, watching Moguls and Pairs Skating got the Silver and the Great Backyard Bird Count won Bronze... with just a few photos of Spring trying to come to Austin, Texas for Pam & Carol.

LOOK UP

Some of the usual suspects appeared during the times I kept watch for the Great Backyard Bird Count, but the Chickadees hid and it was surprising to see only one White-Winged Dove. If the Cedar Waxwings would come to the fountain we could see their faces better but these seasonal visitors swoop into the neighbors' yards for Waxleaf Ligustrum berries, then perch high overhead in the pecan trees making all my photos look like this
The numbers weren't very high for this count - lower than what I see on many a non-counting day - I think the strong winds encouraged the birds to hide in the large old evergreens all over my neighborhood for much of the weekend. I know they were just out of sight on the other side of the fence! Will our shrubs ever grow big enough to provide the thicket they crave in my garden?

LOOK DOWN

Most of the flowers are reruns from last month - both white-flowering upright and blue-flowering trailing Rosemarys are blooming, the Carolina Jessamine opens flowers that sometimes freeze, but the hundreds of buds ensure they'll keep coming

The oldest Camellia japonica kept its buds, but 'Pius IX' is not supposed to be striped! That's freeze damage.

The early paperwhites froze at 13 in January, but the 'Grand Primo' narcissus aren't bothered by the lighter freezes

Out in the parking strip some daffodils blaze yellow

'Woodstock' Hyacinths planted in 2007 have returned - opened on their stalks near the brick wall of the Secret Garden



but just showing florets in the more exposed Pink Entrance Garden.



The Dianthus 'Telstar Hybrids' are opening flowers again - they'd be annuals if I had them in the ground, but in well-drained containers can go on for years.



This winter-planted Pansies is now blooming on a shepherd's hook near the big loquat. The loquat tree is fine, but most of the small fruits were frozen and the few still attached don't seem to be developing.



The Coral Honeysuckle did not get a swelled head over being the star of last month's music video, just buckled down to replace the frozen foliage and keeps pumping out flowers. Against the sky on the other side of the arch the Lady Banks Rose is also beginning to releaf.
LOOK ALL AROUND

The weather was beautiful at midday when we drove down to the rather new Sunday HOPE Farmers Market on Sunday - bumping into friends made it even better. Philo liked the Four Onion Soup from one vendor and I had terrific Ricotta-Spinach pie from Me Myself & Pie. After buying vegetables we decided a stroll at Zilker Botanical Gardens would be perfect for Valentine's Day.

For Foliage Follow-up come walk the Bamboo Path with us and listen to that rustling sound. Most of the bamboos looked okay, some palms were frozen, others fine, and there were very few flower buds developing on the Texas Mountain Laurels.

Many of the water features were drained for cleaning and sealing but turtles sunned and koi flashed in this pond while children ran and squealed on every path

Eventually we wandered over to the Hartman Prehistoric Garden and found drained ponds and work-in-progress there, too. That palm tree was hit hard by cold!

This year has not been kind to cycads either - wherever we go browned Sago Palms show how cold it's been - but I'd hoped that the more sheltered and protected location of Zilker Park would have made a difference. The bases of the plants above still hold some green - maybe they'll survive but how can they ever regain their perfect form and magnificence? This garden will never be the same.

Other cycads look dead and their bronze color has a weird beauty.


I keep the camera near the breakfast room window, hoping for new birds. The official bird count may be over but trying to catch images of the winged visitors is a game that never stops -And trying to keep the many wandering neighborhood cats from reducing those bird count numbers is another game with no end....hey, you lurking in the garden - go home!

Ed 5:19PM - forgot to include Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras and Lithuanian Independence Day in that list, along with Westminster Dog Show as Linda notes...now trying to think up a menu that combines Lithuanian & Louisiana cuisine! Also - thanks very much to Mikael Behrens' Birding on Broadmeade website for help with bird ID's

Lose Some, Win Some

This post, "Lose Some, Win Some ", was written for my blogspot blog called The Transplantable Rose by Annie in Austin.


ED Jan 29: Looking into the back garden at house #3 Illinois - mid-1990's

Winter in Illinois meant -15°F/-26°C, shoveling snow, chopping ice and growing a garden full of dormant plants. Eleven winters in Austin have taught me to expect occasional snow, some spectacular ice storms, occasional dips to the 20's and have taught me that many marginal plants will make it through with a little help from a gardener. It's unlearning time when January 2010 brings the coldest temperatures in decades.

Some of the effects of the 13°F/10.5°C measured in my garden won't show up for months - some of the editing was sudden, but the garden will change and this blog will help me remember what happens.

Although the loss of perennials also means the opportunity to try new ones, I'm grateful that the deep cold barely touched the Green Bones of the garden. So far the evergreen yaupon hollies and Burford hollies, the loquats and sweet olives, live oaks and Southern wax myrtles and 'Little Gem' magnolia, the boxwoods and Mexican oreganos, the camellias and roses and abelias, the Pineapple guavas, Magnolia figo/Banana shrub, Dwarf Myrtles, Buddhist Pine/Podocarpus, Bay laurels, Gregg's salvias, cast iron plants and sturdy evergreen vines of Star Jasmine seem fine. The Carolina Jessamine vine didn't even lose its buds.
Another cold front is on the way now, poised to banish the balmy 63°/17°C of the last weeks so the 25°F/3.8°C can return. It's time to once again cover tender plants and move others from the patio back inside the garage. But there are fewer plants to worry about this time - any lingering annuals and most of the marginal plants have bailed!

After that hard weekend some plants died immediately. A warm house wall and layers of covering couldn't save the African aloes - their gel-filled leaves felt like water balloons, collapsing when temperatures rose. This Aloe vera and skullcap huddled side-by-side under the layers against the wall - that was enough protection to keep the pot of Scutellaria indica 'Dorota Blue' looking fresh and green but the Aloe has collapsed.

Obviously dead was the Zone 9 Mexican flame vine, an iffy choice when it was planted on the new trellis last fall. After 15-seconds of mourning it was replaced by the Ramona clematis blooming in its holding container since 2007.

Many plants died to the ground - there's no sign that the Duranta erecta, the cupheas, the Mexican honeysuckle, the Blue butterfly clerodendron, the tall yellow Brugmansia/Angel Trumpet or the Milkweeds/Asclepias curassavica will have enough strength to resprout from the base. I don't know how far the chill entered the ground - if it went down a few inches even normally hardy salvias and the southern bulbs like canna, calla, amaryllis, rainlilies, agapanthus or the Butterfly Gingers in the open borders may be dead. If the Amarcrinums don't live I won't be one bit philosophical about the loss!


Many plants, especially the Texas plants, have dropped leaves but the stems are flexible so they'll probably survive - defoliating now are the Texas sage/Cenizo, native wisteria and all three Barbados cherries (largest one seen above). Semi-evergreen non-natives like roses and dwarf pomegranates have dropped leaves, too and the native Silver Ponyfoot/Dichondra argentea has died back in large sheets to a few places where the silver grey leaves are alive.

The larger Meyer's Lemon tree also had special covering and and lights. It didn't look too bad at first, then the leaves started curling. Last weekend the lemon leaves turned brown and started falling. I'll cover it again tonight and turn on the lights, hoping that green stems mean the tree can recover.

Covering won't help several dead-looking palm trees or the bicolor iris or the bulbines. Just in case they're not dead I'm crossing my fingers and leaving most of those plants alone for now. The clump of bulbines above were dug out for another reason - they'd taken over a space earmarked for a pomegranate tree.


Some fall-planted cilantro didn't care about the cold but I was surprised to see that smaller bluebonnet and larkspur seedlings were missing after the freeze.

Apparently some seeds were still underground - a few bluebonnets, the larkspur above and more cilantro germinated and popped up after the freeze.

Every border, front and back, has a sprinkling of Verbena bonariensis seedlings eager to fill in blank spots.

Birds eat berries from the Wax-leafed Ligustrum in my neighbors' yards and drop the seeds here. This Asian invader wasn't bothered by a mere 13F so I've pulled hundreds of these seedlings.

The new white camellia 'Morning Glow' lost a few buds, then opened others with brown edges. The rose pink Camellia japonica never opened its buds but hasn't dropped them.


All three Sweet Olive shrubs have pushed off the frozen brown buds and popped a new set of fragrant flowers.




The Loropetalum AKA Chinese Witch Hazel AKA "Razzle Dazzle" is defying whatever weather comes next.


Ranunculus bulbs are pushing up leaves all over the garden. I grow a few every year and they look much more robust with rain and cooler temperatures than in the last couple of years.



Inside the house a Smith & Hawken Amaryllis blooms on the windowsill. This doesn't look one bit like the picture of 'Apple Blossom' on the label but it's a winner.

This post, "Lose Some, Win Some ", was written for my blogspot blog called The Transplantable Rose by Annie in Austin.