Between Drops

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Tina

The rare August cool fronts which have stalled over Central Texas in the past week or so have brought welcomed rain to the hot August days…and nights, (with apologies to 1972 Neil Diamond). Between the drips, drops, and gushes of rain, coupled with sparkles of Texas sun which has filtered through from time-to-time, foliage in my Austin, Texas garden is washed clean of summer’s dust and birds’ poop.

Purple heart plant, Setcreasea pallida, is a native to Mexico, but a naturalized plant throughout much of the southern United States.

The foliage is of this shade and sun groundcover is purple, but other subtle coloring imbues the plant with opalescence.

It’s a great ground cover for this area, one that withstands the capriciousness of our climate–drought, heat, flood, and freeze. Once established, it spreads with glee and requires reining in on a seasonal basis. It seeds out sometimes, like in this container of Texas beargrass, Nolina texana.

I’m pleased that the Purple heart chose a purple pot to settle in.

Purple heart is one of the few non-spiky, non-green, hardy perennial choices available for this region and adds purple pizzazz to any garden.

Tasmanian Flax Lily ‘Variegata’, or Dianella, Dianella tasmanica ‘Variegata’ is another non-native plant flourishing in my garden.

Dianella pairs nicely with Katie’s Dwarf Ruellia

Dianella’s snazzy green and white foliage stripes cheer several spots in my garden and bring needed structure to predominately shrubby plant combinations. I usually plant three or four together for a dramatic effect.

Dianella is water-wise and low-maintenance during our hot summers, though it needs covering during winter freezes. I find this plant well-worth winter babying because it’s light and bright and complements other plants. Dianella also produces flower stalks with tiny blooms atop, though most gardeners plant it for its foliage.

My honeybees visit the dainty blooms and I’ve also seen small native bees show an interest. It’s a win-win for critters and gardeners alike.

A native member of the Liliaceae family, Texas Craglily, Echeandia texensis, is about to begin its blooming cycle, but the foliage is lush from late spring until frost.

I’ve planted a number of these over the years and enjoy their contribution to my garden.

One group of Texas craglily is situated with the also fall-blooming Gregg’s mistflower , Conoclinium greggii, whose foliage inspires common names such as Palm-leaf mistflower and Palm-leaf thoroughwort because of the palmate shaped leaves.

Deeply lobed and vivid green, Gregg’s mistflower foliage is attractive for the whole growing season.

Pink-n-green-n-white is always a winning color combo, but especially so in this recent impulse-purchased and potted Sedum spurium ‘Tricolor’.

I’m hoping for a glorious draping here and to not over-water the pot.

Finally, a capture of the harbinger of November’s autumn leaf change floating in a bird and bee bath.

In November, foliage change in my garden will be about the less direct sunlight and cool temperatures. But this American sycamore, Platanus occidentalis leaf is probably a victim of the pre-rain Texas summer sun and heat.

Thanking Christina and her lovely Creating my own garden of the Hesperides for hosting, check out her Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day post for a look at foliage in many gardens , from many places, and then share your leafy loveliness.

A Corner Garden

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Tina

It’s a corner garden at the narrow end of my small, urban slice of the Earth. It’s mostly about foliage in this garden because it’s also shady, with a dribble of sun here and dapple of sun there.

A variety of different plants envelop the negative space that is the pea gravel walk with the blue bird bath at its center. For this post, I’ll focus on certain sections–the center corner and the adjacent left and right sections.

At the far end of the garden is a combination of leafy greens.

Toward the front, the Four o’clock is deciduous, but blooms a deep, fragrant pink flower at night during the growing season. If I irrigated more, I’d get blooms from the Uruguayan Firecracker, but this is a dry garden–I must content myself with its lovely foliage, which is the main reason I planted it. The white-blooming Tropical sage, Salvia coccinea, (clustered at the back and not currently much in bloom) is meh in the foliage department, but the bees and I adore the white blooms, which appear throughout the growing season. The Texas Mountain Laurel, Sophora secundiflora, sports evergreen foliage year-round, plus adds height and width to this area, contrasting with the smaller perennials. Behind that and draping along the fence is an evergreen, Blue passion-flower vine, Passiflora caerulea, which is a host plant for the Gulf Fritillary butterfly. Along with its twining foliage, the Passion vine blooms magnificently and bees and butterflies appreciate that.

Sparkler Sedge, Carex phyllocephala ‘Sparkler’, truly sparkles in the garden. I’ve enjoyed this plant (there are two specimens in this bed) though Sparkler breaks one of my gardening rules: don’t plant if it doesn’t feed something.

The second Sparkler sedge is located toward the back, underneath the Mountain Laurel, competes for attention behind the Four o’clock and the Uruguayan Firecracker plant, both of which will get a little larger–though not huge– during the course of the growing season.

But what’s life without a few broken rules, right? Sparkler sedge is water-wise and beautiful and that satisfies two other qualities that I look for when deciding what to plant and that’s good enough for me!

I like the juxtaposition of the various round-to-oblong perennial foliage combined with the jaunty straps of the Crinums.

Moving to the center, we find an evergreen Coral honeysuckle vine, Lonicera sempervirens, clamoring up and along a fence. Gorgeous tubular blooms appear primarily in spring, but there are a smattering of blooms throughout the warm season.

I like the foliage of this vine because of the cool-season burgundy tinge to the leaves and the year-round reddish stems.

A vine is a good addition in a small area because it allows for vertical growth and suggests a living wall.

Fronting the honeysuckle are several clumps of Inland sea oats, Chasmanthium latifolium, a grass which is native to a large area of the U.S. The “oats” are developing, and growing,

….and will gracefully adorn this grass until late next winter. Left of the oats is a tall, big leafed Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, a white-blooming, stately perennial, timed for nectar consumption by Monarchs during their fall migration to Mexico. For most of the year though, the leaves steal the show with their generous girth.

My beloved daughter, Shoshana, who died in 2006 at the age of 13, loved riding her bicycle. It’s home for the last couple of years has been entwined in the Coral honeysuckle, but the bicycle is now nearly covered by the vine. I don’t mind the bike’s shy peeks through the foliage, but I may to consider moving it at some point. For now, Shoshana’s bike stays.

Behind the Frostweed, a generous bird or mammal planted a Virginia creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, which is a second vine in this corner section. This specimen doesn’t achieve the stunning fall color that it would were it planted in full sun, but it’s a great addition to the foliage gang of this garden, nonetheless. Fronting this lot, at the bottom-left, are a collection of unknown Crinum lilies (from my parents’ garden) and Iris plants at the right. The Crinums rarely bloom; regardless, I love them for the foliage. The Iris are reliable spring bloomers.

Recently, I removed a struggling Crinum from here,

…and added a potted Dyckia, (I often misplace the name tags of container plants, so I don’t remember its name. My bad.), a silly Tina-made ceramic garden sculpture, along with a corner piece from an old fireplace, which now doubles as a stepping stone.

I want the eye drawn to this spot–the center point of the garden–and I found that the combo of the three yard-art pieces worked well, without being overwhelming.

To the right of this corner of mixed foliage, grows a favorite native Texas perennial of mine, Turk’s cap, Malvaviscus arboreus.

Iris is an evergreen, spiky punctuation at the base of the herbaceous perennial, Turk’s cap.

Full of darling blooms loved by hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies,

….it’s the foliage that I prize on Turk’s cap. The wide, tropical leaves evoke lushness, even in the hottest, driest time of the year. Turk’s cap is a remarkably tough plant, too, as well as a valuable wildlife plant.

Rambling further right along the arc of the garden continues another set of favorite foliage plants. Next to the Turk’s cap grows a Mexican Orchid Tree, Bauhinia mexicana.

In a normal year (one where we have winter!) this tree would have been knocked to the ground by a freeze. This year, it remained evergreen and honestly, I’m not complaining about that. I’m thrilled that it’s already bloomed fully–twice–this spring, and will bloom on-and-off until late next fall.

When the blooms are new, there is a blush of pink to the petals.

It’s an elegant small tree, with a beautiful flower,

These stunning blooms are favorites of butterflies.

…and fun foliage. The foliage reminds me of deer hooves.

Paw-shaped Turk’s cap leaves (left) and ungulate hoof-shaped Mexican Orchid leaves (right).

Mexican Orchid tree foliage pairs with the evergreen Cast Iron Plant foliage.

At the base of the Orchid tree, are a group of evergreen Cast Iron Plant, Aspidistra elatior. Another plant that doesn’t produce obvious seeds or blooms, it provides cover for a variety of critters (lizards especially) and is as water-wise, xeric a plant as you’ll ever not water. I planted the Cast Iron so that when the Orchid tree disappears during winter dormancy, there’s remains some foliage action in that part of the garden. In front of the Cast Iron, sprawls a native-to-Mexico, naturalized-in-Texas, groundcover, Purple Heart, Setcreasea pallida ‘Purple Heart’.

I have fond memories of this plant, having grown up along the Texas Gulf of Mexico coast. My mother planted Purple Heart along with bananas, ferns and other assorted tropical plants and I remember playing in her garden–probably annoying the gardener with my stomping feet and resulting crushed foliage.

Sorry, Mom–I’m a grown-up gardener now and I get it!

Along with its purple/pink/green foliage, the Purple Heart rocks charming, bee-friendly blooms.

A snail (probably) munched the top part of the leaf, just above the top bloom. Grrr.

I’ve recently removed some dark blue Mexican stones that loosely encircled the base of this birdbath, in favor of a group of seedling Lyreleaf sage, Salvia lyrata.

I liked the stones–a much darker blue than the ceramic bird bath–but every time my dog, Asher, rolled around in the pea gravel (which is often) he jumbled the configuration of the stones. I didn’t want the stones permanently set, instead, preferring them dry-stacked. But the mess Asher made, coupled with an abundance of Lyreleaf seedlings, was all the encouragement I needed to remove the stones and plant the Lyreleaf. I’m enjoying the ruffly effect of the seedlings underneath the birdbath. Later in the year, the foliage will develop a pretty, deep purple-blue veining in the leaves–which you can see the beginnings of in the photo. Additionally, blooms appear in spring and are a beautiful blue-lavender which will complement the birdbath.

This is not the entirety of the corner garden and perhaps I’ll profile the remainder during another GBFD. Most of these plants bloom at some point, but the various greens and leaf structures are what interest and please me most about this garden. My one regret is that there isn’t a large variety of foliage-colorful, drought-tolerant plants, appropriate for shade and that provide something for wildlife, that I can use. I guess it’s a tall order: a dry-shade garden which can take the Texas-tough climate conditions that also feeds/protects wildlife and that showcases more-than-green foliage. Oh yeah, I’d also prefer to use as many native Texas/North American plants as possible.

I’m not the least bit particular about planting, am I?

Whether you’re particular or not, join with me in celebrating foliage in the May garden and thanking Christina and her lovely Creating my own garden of the Hesperides for hosting. Share your leafy loveliness and then check out her Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day for a look at foliage in many gardens, from many places.

Greens, Blues, Greys

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Tina

I’m enjoying lovely leafiness which has come into its own in a bed adjacent to the front entrance of my home. Let’s take a wide view to get the bearings of this raised bed.

I planted the Soft Leaf Yucca, Yucca recurvifolia and the Red Yucca, Hesperaloe parviflora as anchor plants in this bed because they are both evergreen and grow to respectable sizes. Most of the other plants are smaller shrubs or groundcover-type perennials: some are evergreen, some are herbaceous perennials, and a couple are annuals. There are also some other native perennials, a smaller yucca, and a native perennial grass, all located out of view of these photos.

Reminding me of tiny hands that are spread wide, I’m pleased with the deeply lobed foliage of this little annual/bi-annual thing, a native Wild Geranium, Geranium carolinianum. It was a gift from birds, or maybe, the wind, but grows well with other pretty-leafed plants.

Tiny, dark green and fragrant leaves of Damianita, combine with soft, frilly poppy leaves, complement the ornate leaves of Wild Geranium.

I noticed one Wild Geranium in the garden a few years ago, left it to seed, and each late winter, more return. I like its sprawling nature, lacy foliage, and sweet, tiny blooms. I’ll pull up all of the individuals soon because a few seeds left assure plants for next spring, but many seeds left guarantee too many future Wild Geraniums–much more weeding work–and who wants that?

The Wild Geranium foliage clamors for well-deserved attention underneath the Red Yucca,

…while a seedling Mexican Feathergrass, Nassella tenuissima echoes the spray of the Red Yucca.

This extravagant set of leaves belongs to another spring annual, a member of the Papaver family, seeds of which were generously gifted to me last year by TexasDeb of the charming Austin Agrodolce.

Poppies popped in my spring garden for many years, seeds of which were given to me by a German friend long ago, but over time they’d declined and last year I had few poppies to ooh and aah over. The new poppy seeds from Deb were a timely and quite welcomed gift. With or without raindrops, I love the scalloped edges of poppy foliage, either alone,

…or in concert with other interesting foliage. This one poppy certainly holds its own alongside the petite grey leaves of Germander Sage, Salvia chamaedryoides, the Wild Geranium, and blooming Damianita, Chrysactinia mexicana–as well as the points of the Soft Leaf Yucca, bearing down on the rest.

A wider look includes both newly planted Globe Mallow, Sphaeralcea ambigua allowing for some silvery leaf action,

…not to mention a couple of orange beauty blooms.

The Germander Sage was an impulse purchase, but I like it–the blue flowers and grey-green leaves are hard to beat. It’s hardy and easy to grow–a requirement in my garden–and it’s definitely a water-wise addition to this sunny, dry bed.

The sunshiny blooms of the Damiantia almost steal the show from their foliage host and plant partners.

Almost, but perhaps, not quite.

Tidy, smooth leaves of the not-in-bloom Rock Penstemon, Penstemon baccharifolius contrast in form and shape with matte, wavy poppy leaves.

Spiky Twistleaf Yucca, Yucca rupicola appear to reach out from frilly poppy foliage, giving fair warning of their pointy ends as I lean into the garden to weed or photograph.

I’m always poked–somewhere–by those ends. Always.

And from another angle,

…blue-green Soft Leaf Yucca, minty-green poppy foliage, and vivid green Twistleaf Yucca are a verdant combination worthy of any celebration of green in the March garden.

This Green Anole certainly approves–of the straps of the Soft Leaf Yucca, if not of the photographer’s intrusion,

…while his bigger buddy looks askance at me. Does he know how well he reflects the colors of the Soft Leaf Yucca? Or, is it the other way around?

In celebration of the foliage in the March garden, many thanks to Christina and her lovely Creating my own garden of the Hesperides. Check out her Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day for a look at foliage in many gardens, from many places.