Life Goes On...

A lot has changed since I last wrote. I wasn’t even pregnant with my first child yet! We had our first child in late 2009. We sold out home in Central Austin in 2012. We lived in Westlake for a couple years, then Spicewood. Our second baby was born in 2014. In the summer of 2017, we bought a little old farmhouse on a few acres in the beautiful little Hill County town of Blanco. So, now we’re making this place our own.  It is going to take a lot of time and a lot of work. I will try to record what we’re working on, and what we learn.

Brrr...

It's cold, it's rainy, and I'm staying inside. I brought in my cacti and plumeria months ago. The plumeria has lost most of its leaves, but that happened last year, too. I was too lazy to go out and buy mulch this year, so I piled all of the leaves that fell off of the pecan tree onto the flower beds... and that's about it.

Firsts

I managed to go through the entire summer without watering. That’s right; I didn’t water my yard one single time. Our unusually rainy summer produced a number of previously unseen phenomena… mostly in the form of flowers.
The Agapanthus, which we planted in our front shade bed three years ago, finally bloomed.
The rose Mrs. Dudley Cross, which gave me absolutely nothing for almost a year, has been putting on a show since late spring. A few days ago I counted FIFTEEN buds forming on her.
Both Cl. Don Juan and Red Fountain pushed out a couple of roses in the middle of summer… Pretty good, since around this time last year, I was pretty sure they were both going to die.
Oxblood Lilies, planted early last fall, started popping up at the beginning of September. And a week ago, my Frangipani (Plumeria) opened up three previously unseen pale pink flowers with yellow centers.
I’d say it’s been a great summer. I didn’t do much, to be honest (thus the lack of posts)… but my garden sure is pretty.

Busy, busy, busy.

I ran into a friend the other day who asked, somewhat earnestly, if I'm going to post any more garden blogs. Well, yes, I am. And I've got some nice pictures, too. I'm just trying to be better about not blogging at work (which I'm doing right now) and storing my pictures on my home computer instead of my work laptop. Plus, I haven't done much in the garden lately. It's hot, you know. And, once it cools off enough, I tend to go running (unless I'm at the pub... and I'm probably at the pub.)

My roses are doing well. Lots of blooms on Mrs. Dudley Cross and the generic home depot yellow climber this season. The grass in the back yard looks terrible. I think it must have some type of fungal infection, because drought obviously wasn't a problem this year.

So, I'll be back... eventually.

Another World

Yesterday, I got back from a wonderful week in Seattle. I'd never been there before; I'm adding it to the top of my list of favorite places. So much is different about the landscape of the Northwest, from the trees to the waterfalls to the garden flowers. I have to admit that I'm incredibly jealous. I can't identify everything pictured, but here's what I DO know: Chilean Pine or Monkey Puzzle tree, Torch Lillies, Snoqualmie Falls, and Poppies. I don't know what the other trees are; they're just pretty.

Summer begins

Pictured: Native hibiscus, gladiolus, and caladiums.

It's gotten HOT again. I was really enjoying our long, relatively cool spring, but it appears to be over. I think I need to feed everything with one of those seaweed sprays, and put down another layer of mulch.

This spring was unusually rainy- it seemed like we were consistently getting rain once a week. All of the local lakes are full. It'll be interesting to see how summer turns out.

Dragonfly

The session is finally over; now I'll be home before six most of the time. That, combined with the longer days, should give me a lot more time to poke around in the garden.

Yesterday evening I pulled some weeds and spotted this dragonfly, which stayed put long enough to let me run in, get my camera, and take a picture. My neighbors were outside tossing a ball around while I was taking the photos... They probably think I'm pretty weird.