Succulent-Off!

That's right, a Succulent-Off! Jason and I had a competition to see who could do a better succulent arrangement.

Jason's

Wendy's

I think we all know who won, but he shows promise.

Season 5 Garden upsets!

Anthony Parker Salvia - GONE! I never even mentioned planting it, sorry. It sat around looking ugly-ish and raggedy except when it bloomed, which wasn't often enough to justify its existence in my garden anymore.

Caryopteris - GONE! They always looked half-dead no matter how much or how little water I gave them, so they got replaced by some Bearded Iris from the back bed that were grateful for more sunlight.

Buddleia Ellen's Blue - GONE, then BACK! It started dying branch-by-branch after a freakishly strong windstorm whipped it around like a rag doll one night, so I bought a new one this Spring and planted it where the old one was. It's kind of like when they replaced Darren on 'Bewitched', only this plant looks exactly like the old one. Except smaller. So really you'd never know unless you were paying close attention.

Season 4: lessons learned (or "And then Summer happened")

So here's what I learned: the roses, iris (Bicolor and Bearded), Philippine Violet and Catmint came through virtually unscathed. The rest looked shabby but they'll come back.

Funky Veronica

I'm fascinated by the Veronica Speedwell - some of the flowering spikes have 2 or 3 forks!

I wonder if mine are mutant because I live near a Superfund site or they're all like that?

The garden comes into its own

The back bed, on the right side. Mme Berkeley are getting big! The Artemesia brightens up the area.

The center bed fills out nicely!

Close-up of the Canna Pink Futurity, Veronica Speedwell 'Blue Charm', and Daylily (either Barbara Mitchell or Jolyene Nichole)

I love, love my Ellen's Blue Butterfly Bush. You can see Canna Pretoria peeking out behind it; I like pairing orange and blue/purple together for contrast.

New gardening opportunities present themselves

Look at my grass! Look at my lush looking plants!

Look at the ugly warehouse behind my fence where there used to be trees!
Yeah, the City of Austin cut them down because they were hitting the power lines. I signed something agreeing to let them "trim" the trees, not realizing that meant cutting them down to fence level. I don't know that I would call that "trimming" so much as "butchering".

On the bright side, that area against the fence now gets more sunlight which means...more planting options!

Season 4 Garden upsets!

The Indigo Spires salvia next to the deck are GONE! I got tired of them flopping onto the deck, looking ragged and generally being a high-maintenance pain.

In their place I planted Salvia Leucantha. I've already got a few of those in the larger bed against the fence, so decided to make them a recurring plant in the garden a) for continuity and b) because they're pretty. Not the ones with the white fuzzy parts, only the solid purple ones.

Semi-ironically, I pulled the Salvia Leucantha out of the middle bed because they just seemed to overwhelm it. I replaced them with more Canna Pretoria and some 'Lafter' rose I had languishing in a pot on the patio.

I tried both "Sweet Pea" rose and Gruss an Aachen Pink along the border of the large back bed in Season 4. The Sweet Pea got bad black spot and Gruss got powdery mildew. Both are GONE!

In their place, the reliable and lovely 'The Fairy' rose.