A Very Merry Un-Bloom Day for March 2011

The UN in Un-Bloom Day doesn't mean there are no flowers - it's just a little riff on the Unbirthday party in Alice in Wonderland - a way to remind myself that the flowers weren't around for 'Official' Garden Blogger Bloom Day on the 15th. If you're still interested, last week I made a GBBD list for Annie's Addendum, but this week it is Full-On Spring here in Austin - nights in mid-60's F and windy, dry days in the mid-eighties making bluebonnets and Texas Paintbrush pop.

The Divas of the Dirt have had a couple of projects; it's nursery-hopping season; with no rain many hours must be spent soaking, composting and mulching beds, and it's also the season for visiting friends' gardens in the real world. And since the Coral Honeysuckle and Ladybanks Rose are once again blooming together in that real world, it's way past time to make a post in the virtual world.

The parade of dead and damaged plants is still straggling past - the larger Bay Laurel still looks dead and so does one of the Southern Wax myrtles. And the Mediterranean Palm took a real hit. I cut off the dead fronds and used a dolly to wheel the remaining stump from the patio to a more obscure area with best wishes for recuperation.

This week has fried the blossoms but last week the Texas Whitebud was lovely!

The Texas Redbud came into bloom with the lance-leafed Bridal Wreath spiraea... next up will be a similar, shorter white spiraea with rounder, scalloped leaves.
I like 'Thalia' daffodil so much that it's planted in little clumps all over the garden, some in sun and some in part shade. The first to open are already done but the last ones opened yesterday.
White iris - an old passalong type tentatively identified as Iris albicans - is usually the first one of the bearded types to open.


The second triangle has a little bit of everything - bluebonnets from seeds that MSS of Zanthan Gardens gave me, a Texas Paintbrush, Blackfoot Daisies (one survivor and one new), annual white and purple phlox (the cultivar is humorously named 'Twentieth Century Phlox'), Salvia greggii not yet blooming, seedling cosmos with 'Amethyst Flame' iris from Pam/Digging in the background.

A few more bluebonnets grow in the sunny end of the Yaupon border - this time with a Four-Nerve Daisy/Tetraneuris scaposa and some very happy Phlox subulata/Creeping phlox in a lavender shade.


The center of that bed is sunny now, but once the pecan trees leaf out it will be shady. That's where I planted the sticklike 'Snow Queen' Oakleaf hydrangea about 1 year ago, with fingers crossed that it had survived January 2010 in a container. February 2011 was even worse for cold, but the Oakleaf hydrangea had settled in and breezed through.

Look at that developing flower head!

In the mixed sun-and-shade of the long fence bed a few Persian ranunculus survived February 2011, too - but just a few. Many more froze and dried up. I really like this white one

And this clump of yellow ranunculus is back for the 4th springAt the back of this bed we planted a 'Ramona' clematis on a metal trellis a little more than a year ago. I hope the flowers come slowly, because the 'Julia Child' rose is slow this spring, and the combination of 'Ramona' and 'Julia' was spectacular last year.

Near the birdbath fountain another Four-Nerve daisy has not only survived but increased... joined by a sweet little Blue-Eyed grass from Barton Springs Nursery.

Not all the native plants did so well - although all four of the Texas Mountain Laurel plants survived the freezes, only one tiny floret was left unfrozen from the buds set last year.

I couldn't resist a Blue Sky Vine on sale, also at Barton Springs Nursery. It may not be hardy here, but garden forums suggest growing it in a container until fall, chopping it down to 2-feet and bringing the pot into the garage for winter. I'm giving that a try - it's now in a container next to the white arch in the Secret Garden, looking quite at home.
We bought tomato plants at Natural Gardener and Shoal Creek Nursery a while ago, grew them on in larger pots for awhile and planted them last week. Some of the peppers are in, but some are still in the pots until April. That worked pretty well last year.

There are more plants in bloom but the one that said Spring to me today was this small-flowered member of the Magnolia family, bought in 2004 as a starter shrub at Red Barn Garden Center and now 7-feet tall. At various times it's been called Magnolia fuscata, Michelia fuscata, and Michelia figo, (Michelia always makes me think of May Dreams Carol), but it seems to be now called Magnolia figo... at least this week. I haven't been a very good Garden Blogger this month - more like the White Rabbit saying "I'm Late, I'm Late"- but I'm still trying to be a good Gardener!

Happy Spring, everyone!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, April 2010

It's April Garden Bloggers Bloom Day in Austin, Texas! Wasn't it easy to find my house after I reminded you to look for the big Mutabilis Rose with lavender blue creeping Phlox in front? (All photos should expand if you click on them.)

Watch out when you get out of the car - please don't step on any Blackfoot Daisies or Bluebonnets -you saw them in the wildflower video, remember? This Teucrium fruticans, Silver Germander just started to bloom for the first time.
Take a closer look at the mutabilis (or maybe you'd prefer its other name...Butterfly Rose)


and then cross the drive to the Pink Entrance Garden... sweet enough this April to make your teeth ache. Last fall I ran across a bag of 30 pink hybrid Ranunculus bulbs and there's been a Pink-splosion of Ranunculus with 'Telstar' Dianthus...


And with tall, fragrant purple iris & Bridal Wreath Spiraea

The unexpectedly sturdy Weigela 'Rumba' is more like a large woody perennial than the Cardinal Shrub Weigela of the North, but it blooms every spring and slowly increases in size.

Another pink-splosion may happen when 40 buds-in-waiting on the 'Belinda's Dream' rose unfurl their petals

Other bags of Ranunculus came in mixed colors - those primary colors look pretty wild when you come in the garden gate

In other years I've tried to make a Texas spring look like an Illinois spring - but today these colors remind me of the bluebonnets, paintbrush, daisies and verbenas along the roadsides. I keep trying to get bluebonnets & paintbrush and native daisies to grow here in the garden, too - a few bluebonnets are open but the paintbrushes were late for bloom day, although their relatives appeared in my "Lady Bird Loved Wildflowers" song and video.

Look right as you clear the gate and greet the pink climbing rose hidden behind nandinas and sapling crepe myrtles when we bought this house.

There are 20 plump buds and full-blown flowers this year and they smell very old-fashioned. Every year I ask if anyone has a guess as to the name of this rose, but she's still a mystery.


We'll pass the recovering Meyer's Lemon and the in-bloom Mexican Lime tree and look on the other side of the back door where another faithful spring bloomer, a Clematis sold as pale pink- is budding in a deep burgundy that lightens to reddish purple as it opens.


On the other side of the walk a new annual Phlox, '21st Century hybrid White' is looking very cool - found it at The Natural Gardener.

Across the herb patio another mutabilis rose blooms in a terracotta pot, and beyond the table the pearly clematis/yellow Lady Banks rose/Coral honeysuckle combination seen in the last post is nearing its end.
Lets duck into the house via the patio door to grab a cup of coffee (or maybe you'd rather have iced tea?). On the windowsill is the final flower on the Hippeastrum/Amaryllis 'Red Dragon' , rebloomed from 2008,


This bowl of yellow 'Julia Child' roses gives a hint at how well she liked the cool winter with adequate rainfall


We'll carry our cups out and wander around the edges of the garden where some less flashy, new-old friends hang out. I grew Hyacinthoides hispanica/Spanish Bluebells in Illinois but never thought it would survive here. Then the blog of MSS- Zanthan Gardens showed Spanish Bluebells blooming year after year in her Austin garden. Last fall I found a bag of mixed Hyacinthoides at Countryside Nursery...here's a bluebell just opening in front of the loropetalum.
- more white & blue Spanish Bluebells are going to open with these green & burgundy oxalis.
A new abutilon from Barton Springs Nursery has one bud - practically every Austin gardenblogger already grows this plant so I'm copying
Near the back fence the Michelia figo/Magnolia figo has had a very good spring, producing hundreds of buds and flowers. The old leaves on this fragrant Banana Shrub look ratty - some still bearing hail damage from March 2009, but look closely and you'll see all the new leaves ready to expand.

The banana shrub is near the edge of the canopy of one of the pecan trees - it gets enough sun to bloom when the leaves are down. Near it a Salvia roemeriana/Cedar sage does okay with filtered shade. The white buds in the background are on a fragrant vine, Confederate AKA Star Jasmine/Trachelospermum jasminoides

This hummingbird bed extends out from under the tree canopy where it gets more sun - enough for the Mockorange/Philadelphus inodorus to bloom against the fence, for flowers on another Bridal Wreath spiraea and for several shades of Salvias greggii and Salvia 'Hot Lips' to thrive.

Walk in closer and you can see there are also Red 'Telstar' Dianthus in a ceramic planter, 'Butterfly Blue' Scabiosa and another plant favored by Pam/Digging, Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost'.

There are tomato flowers and a few pepper flowers in the vegetable patch, but I forgot to photograph them so keep going and we'll be back at the other end of the long border. More ranunculus are blooming, but this one is in pristine white, very refined with Lambs Ears and the foliage of Achillea 'Moonshine'

A budded plant waits near the ranunculus, just in case a migrating Monarch happens by.

A note from the director of Keep Texas Beautiful passed along information from Monarch Watch, suggesting that gardeners, farmers and transportation officials help to get Milkweed planted as a lifeline for these butterflies. The number of migrating Monarchs appears to be down to their lowest numbers in decades after terrible killer storms in their winter home in Mexico. It's also proposed that the annual ornament from Keep Texas Beautiful should be a Monarch Butterfly design this year.

My huge milkweed plants were frozen down to the ground this winter - it will be months before they recover - if at all - so I planted this 'Silky Gold' Asclepias in back - think I'll look for another milkweed plant for the front yard.
We're now standing in front of my favorite floral pairing on this April Blooming Day, Clematis 'Ramona' and Rosa 'Julia Child'


If this were a film camera instead of a digital point-and-shoot I'd have gone broke paying for developing... I can't stop taking photos of the butter yellow rose and deep lavender-blue clematis

Okay - one last shot from the other side of the triangle bed and I'll send you on your way to the next garden on May Dreams Carol's GBBD roster.

Complete lists of what was in bloom (including botanical names) for many Garden Bloggers Bloom Days can be found at the Annie's Addendum Blog.

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.