February Daffodils

The no-ID daffodil bulbs were planted in the parking strip by someone else, some other person who lived in this house - perhaps ten years ago or more. One or two flowers struggled up through the liriope edging each spring so when bulbs appeared during our Divas of the Dirt project in September 2009, I knew what they were. We turned that parched and ugly strip into a native-and adapted bed, taking out most of the liriope, adding penstemon, rosemary, Blackfoot Daisies, a tiny Texas Mountain Laurel, lantana, Gulf Muhly grass, Skullcap & Silver-leaved germander. Here it is in September 2009:

Some of the daffodil bulbs that turned up were replanted in the renewed & amended parking strip - some were planted in the central bed made where an Arizona Ash used to stand. They didn't do much last year but today I counted 18 daffodils in bloom with a few buds coming along... more daffodils than I've seen at a single time in a dozen years.
After inflicting photos of pitiful frozen daffodil buds upon you in the last couple of posts it only seemed right to share the happy daffodils with you today.

Happy Un-GBBD!

Iris reticulata 'Pauline'

This little beauty might not make it until Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th so I took its photo even though the light was already gone from that bed. What a surprise to see a new flower after last night's 20ºF! The prediction for tonight is 24ºF - then no more hard freezes for a while.

This is Iris reticulata 'Pauline', bulbs bought at the Natural Gardener in December. I used to grow several varieties of this iris in Illinois but haven't seen one in flower since 1999. Somehow it feels like a symbol of hope on this historic day.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, January 2009

Blooms? A few. But evergreens are what make the winter landscape pleasant. Four years ago this was a garden of bare branches. Now it has some green bones.

The first freeze hit my part of Austin on December 5th, followed by weeks of wildly swinging temperatures: lows of 28 F/2.2 C to highs of 80 F/26.6 C.


When my friend Carole shared divisions of her yellow bulbine last March I never imagined it would still be making buds and blooms in JanuaryWhite oxalis still blooms in the hanging baskets along the veranda
Who could resist bringing home a little viola called 'Tiger Eye'?
The two Champagne mini-roses had a couple of flowers - the leaves have dropped but the red stems are ready to unfold a fresh set
The minute blossoms of Sweet Olive don't make a show but you know they're open when the fragrance wafts your way

The vines couldn't resist the recent warm days so there are almost-open buds on Carolina Jessamine
And several clusters of open flowers on the Coral Honeysuckle.
The Loropetalum/Chinese Witch Hazel is in full bloom for the first time since we planted it in May 2005.
These patriotic primroses are ringers - bought this week and brought inside each night.
This not-yet-planted Passalong daylily from Good & Evil Gardener Lori, is just plain confused!

And so is this fragrant peachy iris
Mexican honeysuckle joined the garden team nearly a year ago but sat on the bench without playing until a few weeks ago.

A few rag-tag blossoms hang on the Salvia greggii near the mailbox. I took their photo then got out the clippers and pruned the twiggy plant back severely, following advice from Linda, the producer of KLRU television's Central Texas Gardener. She writes the CTG garden blog.

The pink rose from the last post had expanded and faded but was still recognizably a rose.


Gift paperwhites that once bloomed inside now flower in the back yard. These small daffodils, labeled as 'Grand Primo', were planted to greet visitors near the veranda steps. .
The also unplanted Dwarf Pomegranate has retained leaves, buds and flowers because it's huddles against the house wall.
A self-seeded Mother of Thousands soared and flowered outside the breakfast room where indoor plants lean toward the panes. On the other side of the wall a smaller, potted Mother-of-Thousands blooms with a cyclamen and the salmon pelargonium on the breakfast room windowshelf.


My grab-bag prize from the Divas of the Dirt Christmas party was a double-budded double-flowered Smith & Hawken amaryllis. One bud is opening 6 individual flowers on a stalk, with the second stalk not yet emerged. The box-store amaryllis at right is developing smaller, single flowers on two stalks at once. We've had frost warnings the last couple of nights so the Mexican Lime and Meyer's Lemon wore their Citrus Ghost costumes - sacks sewn of horticultural thermal fabric with mini-lights aglow within.

Another bloom day, another photo of the Yellow snapdragons, rebudded and undaunted every month since Christmas 2007.A list of what is in bloom today with botanical names is at Annie's Addendum.
Carol of MayDreams Gardens is the inventor of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, held on the 15th of each month. Last weekend, Carol and Bloom Day were featured in an article by Renee Studebaker for the Austin American Statesman. Go to Carol's blog to see what's blooming in other garden today.

A Five-Gallon Plant in a Three-Hour Hole

The tall native Yaupon Holly at the garage side of the house gives food and shelter to the birds and delights the eye with its white bark, evergreen leaves and red berries. But it's not visible from our windows - we need another yaupon, planted where we can see it. In mid-December we bought a small, berried Ilex vomitoria at the Natural Gardener and for a couple of weeks moved the container around the yard, looking at it from the breakfast room window, from the bench near the gate and from the table on the patio. We settled on this spot with morning sun and afternoon shade. If we live long enough, the slow-growing yaupon may soften our view of the neighboring house.

Wouldn't planting a tree on New Year's Day be a good way to start 2009? It should be a snap for two people to plant one 5-gallon container. We know how to plant native trees in Austin: dig the hole no deeper than the depth of the rootball but at least 2 or 3 times as wide. But knowing and doing are not the same thing when we've been here only 4 and 1/2 years while the house and garden have existed for 3 decades.
Two Cobrahead tools removed grass easily and the digging fork and spade made a small dent - time to bring out the mattock.The expected fist-sized rocks appear but what the heck is under the grass? With effort we pry out something in 3-inch thick, broad, flat chunks. This seems to be a rather broad and solid layer of ....what? Not exactly rock....it's hard but the edges crumble when smashed with a tool.... could it be compressed sand?
Philo examines grooves molded into this not-quite-sandstone substance
He thinks the grooves were made by the plastic liner of an above-ground pool or pond. Perhaps the weight of the water compressed a thick layer of sand into this rock-like layer. The chunks of compressed sand are hauled off to the no-man's land between vegetable garden and fence.
Sailing is still not smooth - mattock, breaker bar and sledge hammer are needed to crack up larger subsurface rocks so at last they can be taken out in pieces. We need all our tools. That's Philo's older Cobrahead with the yellow handle; my prize from Spring Fling is light blue. The breaker bar is heavy black iron. Philo made the bench.
The rock chunks are added to the pile under the pecan on the south end of the yard.
Three hours after beginning this project the yaupon is watered in. Grow little tree!
After all these photos of rocks and dirt you deserve something pretty. The pink climbing rose has one bloom - out of focus because I had to hold the camera way over my head.


One camellia flower shows behind the Chinese Witch Hazel/RazzleDazzle/Loropetalum chinense, which is unexpectedly in bloom now.One paperwhite has opened in translucent beauty. Lori the Gardener of Good & Evil has been tweeting her attempts to find a good-smelling paperwhite. This bulb has been in the garden a few years but it was originally potted for indoor forcing with no species listed on the gift package. When it bloomed on the windowsill its beauty was equalled by its stinkyness - I'm glad paperwhites can grow outside in Austin!