Friday Nursery Crawl

My friend, Cheryl (http://consciousgardening.blogspot.com/) and I decided that we were going to start a tradition of getting together every Friday to explore as many nurseries (and related businesses) as possible in the Austin area, with a few margaritas tossed in to keep it interesting. Last Friday we started out at Gardens of the Ancients (www.gardensoftheancients.com) in Northeast Austin on Yager Lane off Parmer Lane. Cheryl had been before but this was my first visit. It was a really different type of nursery in that they carry over 300 different bulk medicinal and culinary herbs, tinctures, essential oils, specialty health products, and a large selection of ethnobotanicals.
There are 3 large greenhouses housing a variety of succulents, cacti and unusual plants that I hadn't seen in any other nursery in the Austin area. Their selection of plants was a bit slim, but I'm hoping that this was just due to the fact that this is the end of the season and plan to check this place out again in the spring to see what's going on.

After about an hour there, I was starving (as usual) and suggested we go to Juan in a Million ( www.juaninamillion.com )on East Cesar Chavez for lunch. This restaurant has good food at a great price (where else in Austin can you get absolutely stuffed for $3.60?), good margaritas and great people watching. It was a nice day so we sat on the patio. I always order the Don Juan taco with two extra tortillas and Cheryl ordered the same. I had a margarita. Cheryl doesn't like her margaritas on the rocks, so she opted for the Bloody Mary which proved to be a disappointment, but the chips were fresh, the salsa was HOT, and the people watching didn't disappoint.


One more margarita for me and I was ready to take on the world (fortunately Cheryl was driving) and we headed off the The Natural Gardener (www.naturalgardeneraustin.com) on Old Bee Caves Road in Southwest Austin.

I love this nursery. They have a great selection of plants, the staff is friendly and knowledgeable, their soil and mulch yard is not to be beat and the grounds are beautiful and relaxing. Our friend, Terry (greenirisblogspot.com)met up with us there.

Here is a photo of Terry and Cheryl molesting the Quiver Tree.







The Tee Pee in the maze and iris garden




We had to leave there in a hurry as I had an accupuncture appointment at 4 (that I didn't make) so we headed off the the (formerly) small town on Bee Caves, Texas to check out The Living Desert (see the YouTube video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M6zspNSMT4) . Cheryl was on a quest to find an ocotillo and we thought this would be a good place to find it. Unfortunately there were no ocotillo, but it was a really cool place to see.



Every time I would go camping at Pace Bend Park ( http://www.co.travis.tx.us/tnr/parks/pace_bend.asp) I would pass this place and promise myself to check it out. Twenty-five years later I finally did it. I'm glad I did too as the owner of the land recently put the property up for sale and they will be moving soon. It's a shame because they had a really lovely chunk of land there. Actually, it used to be a lovely chunk of land. The area surrounding the property used to be rolling hills and giant ancient oaks, but now it was surrounded by strip malls. Heaven forbid anyone should have to drive more than 5 miles to go to Marshalls, Best Buy, Kohls, etc. Bee Caves used to be a little bump in the road in the beautiful hill country. It was heartbreaking to see this once picturesque town paved over with concrete. I guess that's progress.

This is the artwork and a cool plant near the entrance. Does anyone know what type of plant this is?

They had a fairly large greenhouse stuffed with different species of cactus. Really nice.
Interesting plants that I had never seen before. Of course I had to purchase a few. Many of the cactus had amazing blooms on them. I signed the guest register at the front counter and will definitely make the trek out here again when they have their moving sale. I'll keep you posted.
I've realized after seeing Cheryl's photos of our trip that I need to break down and read the owner's manual for my camera. My photos aren't nearly as nice as hers.

I had intended to post this the weekend following our trip. I've had so much trouble with this particular post. I don't know why. My apologies for the oddly placed photos, underlined text, etc. Hopefully I'll have it figured out by the next post. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

What's blooming today . November 2008

Here's what's blooming in my garden today. Tonight it is forecast to be our first freeze of the season. It's chilly outside now but I'll believe the freeze when I see it.
I was really surprised to see this flower from my Mexican Flame Vine or senicio confusus. I transplanted it this past spring and it has languished all summer. This is it's first and probably last bloom on the season.

This is a bloom from the Cat Whiskers or Orthonsiphon aristatus. I planted it last spring and it survived the winter and bloomed again this year. You can easily see how it gets it's name

The Indigo Spires Salvia is covered in blooms, bees and butterflies as is the mealy blue sage.

This is a potted euphorbia plant. It's been blooming for about a month.

Some of the snapdragons that came up on their own this past spring.
This is my Texas Wild Olive Tree or Cordia boisseiri. It blooms like this all summer and fall. One of my favorites A nice yellow hibiscus

This is one of my succulents in a container. It's been blooming for about 2 weeks. The blooms close up at night and re-open in the morning.
This is Texas Swampmallow or Pavonia lasiopetala. These are all covered in blooms. These come up all over the yard too.

Here is a coral hibiscus that I've had in a pot for about 7 years. I keep it in a protected place every winter and then bring it out in the spring and cut the branches back to the trunk.

Gotta have some chrysanthemums.

This double purple datura has been blooming all spring, summer and fall. I planted one last year in the front yard and now I have about 50 of em scattered all over the yard. Next year there's no telling how many of them will be coming up in the yard.

Another shot of the datura

This is a Confederate Rose or Hibiscus mutabilis. It's been blooming for about a month now. The flowers average about 3 to 4 inches across.

Getting started

Today is the first post to what I hope will be a fun and interesting blog. My blog will mostly be a gardening blog, but I plan on throwing in a few surprises now and then.
I've been gardening for as long as I can remember. Growing up in rural Southwest Kansas my father had a huge vegetable garden. I don't really remember a time when I wasn't pulling weeds and planting things in that garden. When I was about 12, a neighbor introduced me to an elderly, blind German lady named Elzora Butcher. She had her own greenhouse and an infectious love for gardening and plants. It rubbed off on me and I've been gardening and landscaping ever since.
I moved to Austin, Tx in 1984 and continued my passion for landscaping first by landscaping several rental houses that I lived in and then, in 1988 I purchased my first house on Texas Avenue in Hyde Park here in Austin. I had a small yard with huge pecan trees and a nice deck in the back. I went all out on that house turning it into a tropical paradise. I sold that house in 2000 and unfortunately the new owners didn't keep up the landscape. The palm trees are still there and doing well but many of the plants have died.
When I sold that house I thought that I would leave Austin. I traveled around the country and much of the world, and came to the conclusion that there are alot of great places out there but they aren't any better than Austin. So I stayed.
In 2004 I purchased a little ranch style house built in 1957 in Windsor Park (near the old Mueller Airport). I was looking to purchase a small house with a big yard and that's exactly what I ended up with. The house needed alot of work, so the first 2 years were spend making the inside livable. After that I was able to focus on my passion; landscaping the yard. I have an enormous yard with a great St. Augustine lawn and very little in the way of landscaping. I was starting with almost a clean slate. I began with the front as it was smaller and less intimidating than the huge backyard. Now that the front is in at least ok shape, I'm focusing my energies on the back. My plans for the back include putting in sliding doors from the dining room and the guest bedroom to the backyard and then making a patio that runs the entire length of the house. I want to transform the back to a jungle with different "rooms". I've been working on killing the St. Augustine and plan to build pathways between the different garden rooms, trying to create an air of mystery. I will have a vegetable garden, several trellises and arbors, an outdoor shower and hopefully someday a greenhouse.
I have alot to do and lots of time to do it in. Unfortunately I have very limited funds, so I will have to find creative ways to accomplish my goals. The Travis County Master Gardeners (of which I am a member) want to use my yard for the garden tour next October, so I have until then to get all of this work accomplished. Wish me luck!!