Blooms of the Month

August has been a weird month for weather here at the nursery and in Austin in general.  First we had 105 degree days followed by rain, rain, more rain, and did I mention rain?  I snapped a few photos of things that I thought looked pretty and wanted to share.  I completely forgot to post the bloom day post- so here is a late one. Hope you enjoy!

The Clerodendron bungei are blooming and really pretty.

 The 'Mystic Spires' Salvia never disappoint. 

 The Yuccas are blooming.

The Butterfly Iris are a reliable bloomer.  I love the upright habit of this plant as compared to the Bi-color Iris.  This little butterfly was so cute sitting up there almost staring at me.

 The 'Moy Grande' Hibiscus are blooming like crazy.  The blooms are huge- hard to tell from this photo.

The Evergreen Wisteria have a beautiful vibrant purple bloom which I adore.

The Hibiscus are hard to beat- this is a double one which is really pretty.  

Managed to snap a photo of this little guy hanging out on an Aloe bloom.

The Sebania are blooming and there are seed pods all over it.  (which sound like rattle snakes when you shake them, a lot of people also call this the Rattlebox Tree).

The Magnolias... if only this were scratch and sniff.....

Hope you enjoyed the photos!  I still am having a hard time believing that September is here next week.

Happy March GBBD 2013!!

Happy GBBD!!

It is warming up here in Austin.  It has been in the high 70's and low to mid 80's this week.  Everything is really responding to the warmer days too- things are budded up and blooming, butterflies and bees are flying around and birds are chirping- it is wonderful!!

The Gopher Plants have been a big hit with both the bees and butterflies all week.

 The Dyckia are blooming- I love how such a spiky plant throws off such a nice dainty bloom.

The Wisteria are budded up and getting ready to bloom- I LOVE the smell of Wisteria- reminds me of when I was little; we had it growing all along the fence line by the pool.

 The Mountain Laurels are still blooming, some say grape soda, I think it smells like Purple Kool-Aid, same smell I guess, I just haven't had grape soda.

 The Japanese Maples are all leafed out and stunning.

The Mexican Sycamores are budded up and ready to leaf out.

 The Bulbine have been loaded with bees all week.

And last but not least, the Mystic Spires are starting to bloom in the front bed.  A sure sign spring is here.  Please visit May Dreams Gardens and see what is blooming all over!!

Hope you have a great GBBD!!!

Bloom Day November 15, 2011

Well today is exciting as it is RAINING in Austin!!!!!!

I was so excited I almost forgot it was bloom day!

We still have quite a lot blooming in the beds though, you can see signs that fall is here and things are starting to winterize.  I went out after the rain so some things are droopy but are really just exhausted from being so happy it rained, so please excuse them!

 To be fair, I am only posting things I have planted in pots or in the beds.  I had to start out with an update on my Kalanchoe- day by day it is getting closer to opening!!!

 The Desert Rose I think is such a pretty little bloom- faint yet striking.

 The front shade "test" bed is rocking right along but the only thing with blooms I have in there is the Tropical Sage, which is doing great in all 4 places I have it there.

The Pink Turk's Cap is still doing well in the front bed next to the Brazilian Pavonia (which was not up to being photographed today as you can see in the background).

The Beach Vitex is doing well in the front side bed under the Palo Verde.  (which by the way was loaded with blooms yesterday but after the rain not a single one that was pretty enough to photograph).

 The Rock Rose is huge and full of blooms in the back bed.

The St. Elmos Firecracker Fern is blooming away as well.

The 'Mystic Spires' Salvia is still as blue as ever- this is such an easy plant to grow.  I have it in two places since it is one of my favorites.

 The Panicum Switch Grass is blooming away in the front outside bed.

 The Butterfly Bush in the front is doing well- I love the screaming purple.

The Black Prince Echeveria in the front planter is blooming and getting ready to open up, but since it had two bloom shoots I felt he deserved a spot!

Hope everyone in the area got some much needed rain.  From the looks of the radar, just about everyone got some.  YEA!!!!

Stop by May Dreams Garden and see all the other Bloom Day postings!

Thank You Austin Herb Society

I won! I won! I won! 

My first time ever to win anything and look at the beautiful vase I won!

We recently became sponsors of the Austin Herb Society and were invited to a luncheon this past Tuesday.   I must say, I had the nicest time.  (not only because I won, though that didn't hurt).

The Austin Herb Society is a group of people in the Austin area that (quoting their pamphlet) are dedicated to educating members and the community about herbs, including propagation, landscaping, history, folklore and the culinary, medicinal and decorative uses of herbs.   They have meetings throughout the year and even have a culinary group that meets.   Once a month they have a guest speaker and I was fortunate enough to be present to hear Judy Barrett speak on "Treasuring our Heirlooms: Herbs and Beyond".  

She is a very talented and personable speaker and had me along with the crowd laughing through her stories while at the same time receiving valuable and interesting information.

After the speech we were all asked to look under our chairs to see if we had a number and I did!!!  Lucky number 7!  

I can not think of a better prize to win other than a beautiful vase to remember my experience.  I brought it back to the nursery and filled it with a few of my favorites- the Almond Verbena, Mystic Spires Salvia, Red Turks Cap (I admit the pink is my favorite but with this mix I opted for the red) and the Thyrallis.  I think they make a stunning arrangement to which I plan to keep out on display in the office.   I am already planning out my next grouping.

Thank you to all the nice people that I met that helped make it an enjoyable day. 

If you would like information on the Austin Herb Society, please visit their website at 

Austin Herb Society .