November 13 , 2014
Glorious grasses & updated garden style
This guy ’s the genius for me this week , pick just in sentence to beat being freeze - dry . It ’s all I got from my tiny first - year works , but under that succulent peel consist big Leslie Townes Hope for next year if I fecundate starting in February .
Whew , it ’s been officious ! CTG ’s been on the road encounter grand citizenry , collecting caboodle of ideas to share with you . One stop was atEast Austin SucculentsEric Pedley ’s home garden .
More subsequently , but check out how he and girlfriend Julie Patton jazzed up a cinder mental block structure with stucco , blusher and tile . As much as I adore an orange and blue jazz band , Eric ’s succulents unfeignedly push this design over the top .
On my own , I head to theBrazos County Master Gardenerstour in Bryan / College Station for read/write head - spinning brainchild and such gregarious citizenry . Here ’s another eye - popping rendition of stucco over clinker blocks .
As some of our plants go dormant ( perhaps a flake rather than expected ) , it ’s a bang-up time to move them . Well , at least SOME of them . Daphne explainswhy we do n’t want to move cold - sensitive plant like plumbago , sensationalistic bell , lantana and Pride of Barbados .
It ’s the BEST time to move roses , Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , and evergreen shrubs . We can move perennials like coneflower along with aster and chrysanthemum once they brown up and form rosettes . We can also move dormant frost - proof plant like firebush ( Hamelia patens ) though Daphne notes that elderly plants with more stored carbohydrates would adjust more well . If you have a first year plant , wait until early spring .
Succulents and green goddess : let ’s waitress until April to move them . For now , but enjoy the gage for their smoky flowers and seed heads . Here ’s an prominent exhibit ofMuhlenbergiax Pink Flamingo andM. sericea‘White Cloud ’ in a garden designed byScott & Lauren OgdenandPatrick Kirwin .
Muhlenbergiax Pink Flamingo , a crisscross betweenMuhlenbergia capillarisandMuhlenbergia lindheimeri , was discovered by John Fairey atPeckerwood Garden .
It ’s one of several gorgeous grasses that Janet Rademacher fromMountain States Wholesale Nurserytells us aboutthis workweek .
A shorter more dense grass to 2½ ’ magniloquent is Bull grass , Muhlenbergia emersleyiEl Toro ® . Its fluffy flowers turn from pink to tan in fall .
One that ’s been on my lean for a while isBouteloua gracilis‘Blonde Ambition ’ , a taller variation of blue gramma discovered by David Salman of High Country Gardens . It retains “ blond ” seed head over winter to flourish at you drink blistering cocoa inside .
Janet likesNolina texana(bear eatage ) for its grass - like prostrate growth that postulate no pruning .
She include a few Hesperaloes , too , includingH. nocturnathat play creamy flowers at night in summertime to attract pollinator by night . bump out more .
Before long , we ’ll be glance over leaves that come quicker than temperatures in Central Texas . John Dromgoole explainshoweven oak leaves turn into compost for complimentary fertiliser .
I often hear from folk about the jumbo rhinoceros beetle grubs that show up in compost lots . Do n’t nail them ! These guys are chomping those leave and kitchen scraps to salve you some metre . They are n’t about to lead comfy quarter to pester your plant life .
On tour , compost was a redemption for Sara Breuer when she and husband Tim Mateer left glory horticulture in east Austin for icky sticky soil in her Modern garden .
The forage in back had conk after trees cut down a few years before , so they end that job with romanticist outdoor live to watch the wildlife in the greenway beyond . Tim and their son Henry devised a way to give ear the sun shadowiness sails without blocking their view with posts .
On many layer , Sara surrounds them with social organisation and plants for wildlife , specially since Word Henry endorse them as a Backyard Habitat as a Boy Scout .
Henry also championed for wimp , who come to him on bid when out for a brief walk .
To keep a bit of lawn , Sara take it to another level .
In front , she expanded raise limestone seam for herbaceous plant and perennials .
In late May , bear ’s breeches ( Acanthus mollis ) add dramatic flower spikes to their standout foliage .
They dumped more lawn with raised vegetable beds , including this one that Tim progress Sara for her natal day .
At the front door , Sara rase eatage to extend outdoor life and chats with strolling neighbors .
She collects rain in a cosmetic urn and standard barrel for the vegetables and containers . Elsewhere , plants are pretty much on their own with handheld tearing in driest times .
Sara ’s a creative person down to her toes . Now withSol Marketing , I meet her first when she helped brand CTG at KLRU ! One clever garden idea is how she turned older bricks into plant labels with a Sharpie .
Here ’s another fun estimation ! Since Sara ’s gotten into canning , she had some extra Mason jounce . She removed the solar part of an inexpensive box store brightness level for romantic radiance lightness .
See it all now !
Thanks for stop by . See you next workweek ! Linda
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