(Belated) September successes!

[Posts two days in a row, who am I??] Back in June I did a post here about the front garden overhaul, which was facilitated by the neighbor's realtor deciding to cut down a large tree overhanging my yard.

I took follow-up pictures in September but was too busy to post then. I looked at them yesterday and got excited all over again, because (knock on wood) I didn't lose any of them and they really came through!

Not only did things NOT die, a few were superstars! To end the suspense, those were:

• Datura wrightii, aka 'Jimsonweed', aka 'Angel Trumpet'
• Melinis nerviglumis, aka 'Ruby Grass', aka 'Ruby Crystals'

Here are some June/September comparisons, as well as general highlights.

View from the front door (which we never use)

Agave gypsophila 'Blue Wave' with Salvia officinalis 'Berggarten'

My Agave gypsophila 'Blue Wave' is a prolific producer of pups! It's presently in the garage: I won't risk losing it. (That pot was a BEAST to move in there, in no small part because our stupid hand cart has a flat tire.)

View walking up to the house from the driveway.

The Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Bloom' got pretty big! The only bummer was the deer occasionally trampling them to sample something tastier (like the Hibiscus, which survived).

Pennisetum in June (left) vs. September (right)

The Pennisetum LOVES the sun. Loves it.

Nothing really new here, I still just love all of this. Strangely, my Passion Vine (on the brick behind the yucca) never bloomed this fall, nor was it consumed by caterpillars. That made me really sad; it seems like a bad sign. I didn't use any pesticides or chemicals, but someone must have.

Look how the Datura took over!!

June (left) vs. September (right)

It's hard to tell unless you know what to look for in the collage above, but the Datura has filled in a lot of gaps both in the foreground and the background.

A side note: the deer enjoyed snacking on my Merlot Majik Mimosa, and I couldn't get the blasted sprayer to work on my deer repellent. I'm going to fix that for the spring, and hopefully it will grow tall enough fast enough that they won't be able to reach it.

Another favorite combo that keeps betting better with time, AND with the addition of 'Ruby Crystals' grass. I think the fine texture really complements the others. 

Every winter with that Bismark palm may be my last....

June (left) vs. September (right)

The Pennisetum 'Prince' got HYYYUGE! It was even huge-er than that before our snow event, and then it got all splayed out. You also get a sense for how much the Datura and Artemesia grew in that short timeframe.

A closeup. The English Lavender did better than I expected (it's the gray-green plant in front of the round planter).

This might be my favorite picture ever.  I can only hope it looks this good this year.

Here's a ghetto panorama-ish collage:

And keepin' it real, here's today:

It all looks sepia-toned, doesn't it? No special filters or effects, everything is just bleached & crispy from the freeze, compounded by an overcast day.

Reason #283 I'm a bad gardener

I'm just going to cut right to the chase. I did this to my Agave 'Blue Emperor' by leaving them uncovered in our 3 day freeze:

Freeze damage on Agave 'Blue Emperor'

(Same plant, further away)

I got semi-ambitious in December and decided to take a stab (get it??) at finishing up that desert bed against the house. I say "semi-ambitious" because I didn't finish, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

The biggest challenge was all the pea pebbles I had to haul from Home Depot. I must have purchased at least 36 bags, and there are STILL bare areas. (I ran out of money before I ran out of bodily capacity, but it was a crap-shoot as to which I'd exhaust first.)

As part of that effort, I decided to plant my potted Agave 'Blue Emperor' in the ground, and I purchased 2 others. Here's a picture from today:

3 recently planted Agave 'Blue Emperor', along with existing
Yucca 'Blue Skies', Opuntia 'Santa Rita', Euphorbia antisyphiltica,
and Agave weberi

Time will tell how much damage they'll exhibit, or if they'll even make it. They're supposed to be hardy to zone 8, but I don't know if that's 8a or 8b. I'm pretty sure our 8b has felt a lot more like 8a this winter.

If they die I'll kick myself for putting them all in the ground: I love that plant. On the bright side, the one I originally owned has a pup that seems untouched, so it won't be totally lost.

I'm belatedly a little worried about my Golden Barrel Cactus as well. For some reason I had it in my head that they were bulletproof? Then I read Pam's post here and googled it: some sources say 14 degrees, others say 9a is the lowest zone it can survive in. For those of you keeping score at home, those are not even remotely the same. I should probably use some of my extra plastic nursery pots to cover these plants going forward....

But then there's these guys:

3 Yucca desmetiana 'Blue Boy'

My beloved 3 year old Yucca desmetiana 'Blue Boy' flanked by two new whipper-snappers

I got those new Yucca desmetiana 'Blue Boy' in September 2017, along with these Ballota pseudodictamnus:

I love them: both are kicking butt even now, shrugging off the cold weather. The Yucca are all like "Bring it, winter: I'll see your freezing temps, and raise you a badass color change to show you who's in charge."

I started googling plants this week, planning for spring. I was worried I needed a 12-step program until I got a text from Robin today: she is doing the same thing! I'm not a weirdo, yay!! [Correction: I'm not a lone weirdo.]

My planning is angry, though. I'm just SO pissed off about everything in the back yard, and in full candor I felt that way before the freeze decimated everything. There are big gaps, and I'm tired of being able to see over the fence into the neighbor's yard. Shade gardening in Central Texas is maddening.

I'm going to cram the back yard so full of plants in the spring that I'll be whining about having to thin them out in 6 months, but I don't care: I'm just going to throw plants at the wall until they stick. Er, something like that.

To match my current mood, I will end this blog with pics from our heavy snow in December.

View from inside the kitchen

Bananas at night in the snow

Snow covering various plants

Snow-covered Carex 'Everillo'

Daisy LOVED the snow. Lost her mind running around in it and trying to bite it.

I have pictures from a post I never did in September, so maybe I'll do that soon to make myself feel better. Or worse. Could go either way.