Friday, September 30, 2005

Seldom Seen


Isn't this a beautiful picture? It's a painting by Phoebe Brunner called "Seldom Seen".

I am a big fan of John Brosio's tornado paintings, and his home gallery - Sue Greenwood Fine Art of Laguna Beach, CA - often sends me promotional postcards for the other artists whose shows are coming up. Ms. Brunner's exhibition is October 6 - 31.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Fall 2005 Plant Roundup

Yeeha!

As my husband giddily plays wireless Halo 2 on his new X-Box in the next room, I figured it's a good time for me to take stock in the many plants I've ordered for fall...with images of a full front yard garden dancing in my head. I know I've listed the bulbs here previously, so this is kind of a full-on inventory for my purposes too. Thanks for your patience...here goes:

Bluestone Perennials - Received in very good condition
Hosta 'Frances Williams'
Perfect Partners: Daffodil Colorful Cupfuls collection
Tulip Yellow Emperor
Tulip Triumph Jackpot
Tulip Triumph Shirley

Wayside Gardens
(I'm trying to avoid Wayside for the most part these days due to their high prices. These plants were obtained with previous credit I had on my account. Ditto for Park Seed, their affiliate.)
Sumac Tiger Eyes
Sedum Black Jack
Sedum Samuel Oliphant
Tiarella 'Crow Feather'
Tiarella 'Jeepers Creepers'
Echinops 'Taplow Blue'

Park Seed
Heuchera 'Frosted Violet'

Big Dipper Farm
Received in very good condition
Rudbeckia 'Black Beauty'
Ratibida Columnifera 'Yellow'
Ratibida Columnifera 'Red'
Heuchera 'Sparkling Burgundy'
Heuchera 'Peach Flambe'
Tiarella 'Neon Lights'
Artemisia 'Silver Mound'
Artemisia 'Silver Brocade'
Alchemilla 'Thriller'
Actaea/Cimicifuga 'Brunette'
Trifolium 'Dragons Blood'
Trifolium 'Dark Dancer'

High Country Gardens
Received in excellent condition
Allium Azureum
Solidago 'Golden Fleece'
Agastache 'Black Adder'
Agastache 'Desert Sunrise'
Agastache 'Shades of Orange'
Penstemon Virens 'Blue Mist Beardtongue'
Castilleja Integra - Indian Paintbrush
Marrubium Rotundifolia
Agave Havardiana

Garden Crossings
Received in excellent condition
Hosta 'Inniswood'
Echinacea 'Harvest Moon/Matthew Saul'
Heuchera 'Green Spice'
Armeria 'Rubrifolia'

Digging Dog Nursery
Sambucus Nigra 'Black Beauty'
Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly'
Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues'
Helictotrichon sempervirens 'Sapphire Fountain'

Spring Hill
Gawd forgive me...
Early Hybrid Kniphofia
Echinops Ritro
Louisiana Iris Collection

And, uh...that's it. I think. For now.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Brain Wrinkles and Random Thoughts

Well, I'm halfway through the Master Gardener training and it's been an absolutely kickass experience thusfar. Every week we learn so much interesting and cool stuff. It's really been fun, and everyone involved in the program is incredibly nice and encouraging.

Following each week's class, however, I find myself going home and getting mildly depressed at how much work my own personal landscape needs. The lectures we had on trees and other woody plants yesterday convinced me that I need to do some serious branch trimming this weekend. And we won't even talk about what the Turf Maintenance discussion did to my horticultural confidence.

To be fair, the weather has been truly awful here in N. Texas -- mid- to upper-90s every day -- and everybody's lawn looks pretty charred. We got about 10 drops of rain from Hurricane Rita. I've been running the sprinklers every three days, but certain patches of the yard just aren't getting enough water. So...I'll be hauling out the soaker hoses this weekend, I guess.

Other updates:

  • The SW front yard conversion has begun! I built a circular bed around the Chinese Pistache tree and put some ferns in. It was so easy; I laid several layers of newspaper, making sure they overlapped, then watered well. I then applied 80 lbs. of top soil, 80 lbs. of humus and 40 lbs. of cow manure. (This sounds like a lot, but isn't.) Then I topped it off with three big bags of shredded cedar mulch.






  • The lone hummingbird I had coming to my feeder has departed. The window for hummers around North Texas is surprisingly short. Makes me kinda sad.

  • I'm developing a serious ornamental grass obsession. Already, I'm establishing a border along our property and the next yard. I've got a pampas grass, two purple fountain grasses and a lemon grass in a line (you can kinda see them in the pictures above). I also picked up a Red Yucca and put in further toward the street in a dry, sunny spot in the yard. These look really pitiful at the moment, but they'll fill out quickly. I have a Pink Pampas grass coming in the mail as a replacement for one that died last year. (Actually, it got plowed over during our 4th of July pool party and never recovered, but that's another story.)

Thursday, September 15, 2005

From One Jungle to Another

Hi all - sorry for the recent silence. Hubby and I spent 10 wonderful days in Belize and I'm still recovering. (Looking at my neglected garden, I'll be spending a lot of time this weekend helping my plants to recover too.)

I hope to post some pictures of the beautiful tropical plants we saw down there. It's amazing what will grow in pure sand.