Wandering through February

Wandering through February was written by "Annie in Austin" for her Transplantable Rose blog.


If you were gardenblog-hopping last week you may have been surprised at how widely winter temperatures can vary in different parts of Austin. Around 2003 or 2004 I discovered that both Zanthan Gardens and Rantomat wrote about what grew in their Austin gardens. Their posts clued me in that freezes in Central Austin were fewer and less severe than those hitting my far NW Austin garden. As more and more garden blogs have appeared, the differences between gardens in all parts of town surprise me. Toward the east Renee's salvias and Mexican honeysuckle bloomed unfazed by cold, Pam/Digging had aloe and abutilon blooming in her new garden, and to the SW Lori had bulbine and Rainbow Knockout Roses and Robin had Spring Bouquet viburnum and potato vine in bloom. Up here in my NW Austin garden, the salvias, abutilon, bulbine, Mexican honeysuckle and roses were all nipped back, and only the yellow flowers of Carolina Jessamine echo the yellow chair in the sun. But don't feel sorry for me! Although I hate to see perennial plants totally die...it's just fine if they die back or go dormant. This year the fountain, the triangle borders, a few trees grown taller than the fence and evergreens with some size on them have added structure and hint at that sense of enclosure we're trying to achieve. When I sit at the patio table and look around, I don't need flowers in bloom to know that I'm in a garden and as someone who spent most of her decades in climates with true winter, the spare look doesn't say dormant to me...it says tranquil. I don't think this works the same way for people who are from Texas or other warmer places - the unrelieved green makes them antcy and they want to know where the flowers are!

So far it's been a comparatively mild 'winter'. This year the loquats haven't frozen - growing to the size of almonds, still attached to the tree. Durantas have been an annual here, so I buy new plants each spring, but this year one Duranta is acting like a perennial and making new leaves. The Philippine violet/Barleria cristata usually freezes to the ground but now I see new leaves pushing out along the undamaged stems. Last week I crossed into an even warmer climate zone by driving a few miles to Zanthan Gardens to meet MSS. In her plan for the day dessert came first so we drove to Moonlight Bakery on South Lamar. MSS likes to introduce me to new places...she's been here before but it was new to me. The shop is of modest size but the variety is amazing and everything looked (and tasted) wonderful. It was hard to choose just a few kinds of pastries from such a variety! Finally I asked David Coleman to package some Chocolate Croissants & Cherry Danish and when he mentioned that the Ciabatta was good for sandwiches, decided that to take a loaf home. David was a good sport and let me take his picture - thanks, David- we enjoyed meeting you! The pastries were delectable - best Cherry danish I've had in years. At dinner that evening Philo & I agreed that the bread was perfect for fish sandwiches. MSS drove from the bakery to South Congress and we picked up Tres Leches Coffee at the Garden District Coffee House, just above the Great Outdoors Nursery (audio starts when you click the nursery's informative website. ) We sipped and strolled and made plans for future purchases and talked. I bought some annuals and a new hat rated high in sun-protection, just right for garden strolling. We stopped at another fun nursery on South Lamar but I didn't get a chance to take photos or talk to the owners so will just have to make a return trip!

Above is a poster-photo I made of Texas Mountain Laurel in 2004. We saw tall laurel bushes blooming on the way back to Zanthan Gardens, and lots of redbud trees, too. Once arrived we were greeted by the heavenly-scented 'Souvenir de Malmaison' roses in bloom along with Port St Johns creeper, narcissus, snow flakes, and more. The larkspur grew 9" tall, in enormous swathes of fresh green. Arugula & peapods sat ready in the vegetable garden. Luckily for me some of that cilantro had seeded in the wrong place. MSS weeded out several stray plants and I brought them home. The germination has been terrible for my coriander/cilantro seeds - just a handful of one-inch tall seedlings. I used some of the cilantro leaves from MSS for shrimp spring rolls and planted the rest. Maybe they'll inspire my puny seedlings. So is it really spring? The leafing-out Arizona Ash seems to think so. The early daffodils have already frizzled up and some of the Bridal Wreath spiraeas have buds. The small Texas Mountain Laurel has buds, too. The flowers froze off in other years, but as Pam/Digging so sensibly advised me, if we get frost this year I'll throw a cover over it. The Loquat tree has dozens of developing fruits but I can't cover a 12-foot tree - to keep the loquats safe all I can do is cross my fingers.

Wandering through February was written by "Annie in Austin" for her Transplantable Rose blog.