Sound Gardener

 Last fall my husband Paul set about replacing the a small wood retaining wall and stairs down to our back patio that were falling apart. I did not think to take a good before photo, but here is one with the toddler torturing a houseplant on the stairs. And here is the wood removed and old step location in the background. Gabion baskets going in. To make more space above the stairs for a wheelbarrow to roll down the hill, the stairs were pulled forward to directly off of the patio. A couple of shots after the baskets were filled; Paul had the pleasure of moving a ton of river rocks to fill these only to come up short; cue a scramble to collect as many large rocks as possible from the garden. Stair treads were made by planing the wood from the old stairs as a temporary solution until we decide on something more final. Paul also pulled forward the stone retaining wall next to the gabions. Rock poles (and a brother) are key for this job! And here is the mostly finished product; we sti...

I haven't posted in a few years. Who knew that a toddler and a newborn would be a lot of work? We have been pushing a bunch of plants into the ground the last few weeks to get ready for spring.  A couple of weeks ago my husband of all people found a treasure trove of cool palms being sold through a local enthusiast in Renton. We came home with three Trachycarpus princeps, a big waggie, and a very small Sabal texensis. We put one of the princeps in a prominent spot by our front door.  It's in a cage for protection from the rabid palm & mondo grass eating bunnies. I don't know if the design idea will work but the vision is for it to eventually stick up through our Fargesia demissa 'Gerry' that is spreading through the bed (right of image, not shown). We have an outdoor seating area nearby and the idea of drinking a cup of coffee and looking up at the white undersides of the princeps leaves (ten plus years from now?!?!) will hopefully be worth the wait.  The three ...

 A view of the front garden Recent addition -- Musa sikkimensis 'Bengal Tiger' from Dancing Oaks

Over the last year and a half, much of the garden has been negelected, but there is one area of improvement: we replaced the crumbling trellis at the south end of the deck. I never photographed this corner because I was not a fan of the lattice. Thankfully, I found a few photos from Paul for the "before" shots. The old trellis with wisteria blooming on May 14, 2018. About a week earlier on May 5. The old trellis in March 2019 as the house demo progressed (trellis is on the top right). And again in April 2019. The trellis was completely removed and the wisteria temporarily attached to a makeshift support. Very temporarily, the whole thing blew down in late October. Note the mass of green mixed with caution tape in the middle, that is the wisteria which should be up on the top right. The wood on the ground is the fallen support. And now the new trellis, looking north just as the wisteria was beginning to bloom on May 3 of this year. And loo...

Just before leaving for Denver last week to attend the Garden Bloggers Fling, I was in the process of finalizing an order for some hard to find bromeliad species. My visit to the San Antonio Botanical Garden last December inspired the purchase; I admired the garden's display of epiphytic bromeliads growing on tree branches, small pitchers connected by a dramatic network of long stolons. Below are the new arrivals from Michael's Bromeliads, all arrived neatly wrapped in newspaper with handwritten labels. If the offsets/pups look undersized, they should; most are mini Neoregelia species with a couple of small Aechmeas, plus an Acanthostachys for fun. Apologies for the terrible lighting. This was the bromeliad I most wanted but seemed impossible to find in the US, Neoregelia pendula var. brevifolia. Acanthostachys strobileacea arrived already in bloom, or perhaps fruit? While bromeliads are monocarpic, an unbloomed offset was also attached, so the bloom was not a cause f...

I am back in Texas visiting family and enjoying the local flora, mostly around Comal County. The native cacti in this area are generally Opuntia species and Echinocereus reichenbachii (my ID, so take it with a grain of salt). I am particularly fond of E. reichenbachii, seen below. And a small village of E. reichenbachii. The size and shape of the cactus varies but always appears attributable to growing conditions in each site. That was until today, when I found a crested form! From another angle, note the three normal growths at the top and the mutated squiggle towards the bottom right. Nurseries frequently offer crested forms of cactus and euphorbia, but I have never discovered the mutation growing naturally in the wild. Judging by looks, there is not much economic potential (and obviously I would not remove it in any case). The plant certainly looks very healthy, despite its unusual growth pattern.