Finally Time for March 2010 GBBD

The Central Austin garden bloggers first called Spring when their redbuds and Texas Mountain Laurels began to bloom on March 11th.

Eleven days later the Texas redbud in my far NW Austin garden has poked out little pink tongues so I'm calling Spring here, too!
We've had frost warnings the last 2 nights, with the actual low temperature falling to 34°F/1.11ºC each morning.

Now it's time to once again take off the thermal covers from the Meyer's Lemon and the Mexican Lime and switch off the Christmas lights. The weather looks pretty good for the next week - are we done with freezes?
Are there flowers today? Yes! It's a week late but today I'll join Carol of May Dreams Garden for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

The Mexican Lime has buds and tiny new leaves that stayed safe under the thermal covering
The top branches of the Meyer's Lemon died and most of the leaves fell off, but it's pushing out new leaves and making blossoms, too.

At their feet Oxalis regnellii 'Atropurpurea' blooms happily after recent rain

The Texas Mountain Laurel is a little squashed from the sheet thrown over it last night

One yellow Lady Banks rose shows petals

The Spiraea on the back fence is in full bloom


The Carolina jessamine has passed its peak flowering time but still smells sweet
There are enough yellow flowers left to please the bees

Earlier yellow daffodils have wilted - my muse 'Thalia' takes her turn
Only one of the Pale Peach colored iris has opened but there are many buds

Most of the white 'cemetery' iris, a favorite Austin passalong, are already blooming

Blackfoot daisies are finally happy here, making flowers in the parkway bed
The Cherry sage/Salvia greggii blooms there, too

A single mutabilis Rosebud is ready for its closeup
And there's a hint that the most famous sign of spring in Texas, the Bluebonnet, is on the way

But even without open flowers the garden has been exciting to watch every day

Cedar Waxwings arrived a few weeks ago to strip berries from the evergreen hollies and act like kids in the birdbath fountain (23 seconds)





The song of the Mockingbird called Spring before anyone else was sure it would come (about 1 minute)


Pam/Digging holds Foliage Followup the day after GBBD - my foliage is appearing today not because it is spectacular... but because the leaves bear witness that these plants are alive

I've left the Shell Ginger outside in other years - but it spent this winter in the garage


I was sure the Amaryllis planted outside would be gone after 13°F/-10.5ºC , but MSS of Zanthan Gardens thought they could make it - she was right!

If my pomegranate is alive maybe that means Rock Rose Jenny's will be alright, too?

The Japanese Painted Fern disappeared during last year's heat and drought but it's appeared again, ready to face life in Texas for another year. I hope we humans can do it, too.

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

Blooms of Late December

On the official bloomingday the 15th of December, the word wasn't Flower but Flour - it makes me happy to send a few homemade cookies with the Christmas presents to our families. Last week's chilly weather also put me in the mood to stay close to the warm oven and use old favorite recipes while watching vintage movies like Casablanca and Heaven Knows, Mr Allison. World War 2 movies somehow connect to Christmas holidays from childhood - maybe that's what played on TV during those weeks off from school?

Today those packages have reached their destinations, we're almost ready for Christmas and who needs the oven to keep warm when the thermometer reads 69F?

Time for the Solstice T-shirt designed by my son, a few garden tools and a camera



I'd found ranunculus bulbs in a bargain bin on a recent trip to the big box hardware. I'd already planted bags of mixed colors, but these were pink and destined for the Pink Entrance Garden. The chart on the package showed planting in zone 8 as October to December, giving me just a few more days to get them into the ground. My new Diamond Hoe was still shiny and unused - trying it out was a good reason to go outside. Soon the bulbs were planted and the diamond hoe worked exactly the way it was supposed to in the parking strip.

Instead of another session with the leaf rake, I'd rather take notice of the flowers today. After a couple of freezes the survivors are the tiny flowers - white oxalis buried in pecan leaves
Creeping phlox in the front bed
Deep rose Gaura unstoppable in the Pink entrance garden
Seedlings of cilantro and larkspur sprouting near starts of Lunaria
Cold changed the roses- magenta tones appeared on the buds of the Mutabilis rose
Cold deepened the pink of 'Belinda's Dream'
and turned 'Julia Child' buds from butter yellow to orange sherbet

The coral honeysuckle still holds on to old leaves turned yellow even as new leaves and buds unfold. The hummingbirds are long gone - they'll never sip from these flowers and the goldfinches aren't interested in nectar.
The floweriest part of the garden is on the north side of the shed
The stems of the paperwhites Narcissus flopped down in the cold, but most of the individual blossoms remain intact
Only a few flowers of Camellia sasanqua 'Shishi Gashira' are left to drop rosy petals
But the new Camellia japonica 'Morning Glow' is just now beginning to bloom - two flowers are open today.

How odd to live in a place where something like this blooms for Christmas!
However you celebrate, Dear Friends, may your days be merry and bright.

Annie