Progress around the Lunar New Year...

Although I have not made an entry in the log recently, several things have been happening.

The first, and most important, is that it was Chinese New Year! I visited friends in Florida for the weekend and had a wonderful time.

Before I left for my mini-trip, the feral hogs hit the back yard and ate one of the honeysuckle twigs (!?!). It was the red one. I'll pick up another this weekend and plant it. Evidently, it did not taste good because it did not continue on to the pink honeysuckle.

On 18 January I logged that I planted some seeds that I ordered from Thailand as well as some locally purchased ones. They are looking good! In addition to the Thai seeds, I planted some basil, cilantro and a variant of the Texas Bluebell that sports Texas A&M colors (maroon and white).

Thai chilies just starting to sprout


Italian basil

Thai regular basil


Alamo Fire Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) - they germinate fast!


a photo of the bluebells from Wildseed Farms website...

I also planted some wild flower seeds, and the remaining bluebell seeds, in the backyard but I don't have high hopes. I tried this last year and it did not work well. I think the soil in my back yard is not sandy enough - it is pretty much decomposed limestone with a little organic material in it.

We are experiencing a cold snap here and we might get an ice storm tonight. Work outside may be put on hold for a few days...

A Windy Day...

Well, it was warm but terribly windy today in the hill country. So much so that it was not a good day to work out in the yard. But, I did spend some time doing some Internet research.

I had a wonderful evening last night with my neighbors at a great restaurant that cooks everthing in a wood-fired oven (the Roaring Fork - http://www.eddiev.com/). One conversation centered on gardening. One couple talked about planting a few olive trees in their yard and remarking how well they were doing. I had a flashback a favorite spot in Turkey, a small fishing town named Kalkan, that is surrounded by olive groves up in the hills...



So, I got online and bought a number of plants that I recall from my visits to the Med....

Pomegranate


Texas Everbearing Fig

Olive Trees (Olea europaea)

And a gorgeous plant that my neighbor has in their yard...

Bottlebrush Tree

Day 1: Continued

Well, on the way to dinner with friends I stopped by Lowe's and picked up some more yellow day lily bulbs. I will plant them tomorrow.

On the herb and vege department, I got seeds I ordered from Thailand (off of eBay) yesterday and began soaking them in water. I ordered three packages. The first was for Thai basil. I see Thai basil plants in the garden stores here but it did not have the exact flavor I recall in Thailand. I also ordered some Thai bird chili seeds. Super Target sold these chilis when I first came to Texas but they do not anymore. I don't see them at any of the Asian markets here in San Antonio. The third packet I ordered was Kaffir lime. Kaffir limes are inedible (I think) but their leaves are a key ingrediant of Thai cooking. Since I ordered three things, they sent me some red Thai basil seeds as well. I suspect this is similar or the same as the purple basil you see around sometimes.

The instructions said to soak the seeds for 24 hours before planting. They are soaking now and the basil seeds are very, very tiny. Almost the size of small grains of salt. Tomorrow they will be planted.

seeds from Thailand soaking

I took some pictures of the backyard to give folks an idea of what I am starting with...

My primary objective is to maximize on the view of the Texas Hill Country. Would you believe I'm just 15 minute's drive from Neiman Marcus?

the fire pit is behind the pool - I need to get a walkway in place and get plants around it

I would like to get more vines around the pool walls - currently there is some star jasmine planted that is nice. Whatever I put in there needs to not shed too much in the pool.

These are the succulents that I will transplant and replace with perennial herbs.

I've planted Texas flowering sage, which I propagated from cuttings, along the pool fence.

This is the area behind the pool where I planted some day lilies and need to decide what more to do with it. Part of it may host the outdoor wood oven I'd like to have.

Day 1: planting things that were already purchased

Well, I successfully planted a number of bulbs that I purchased at Lowe's and from eBay this noontime. They were mostly lilies that are supposed to do well in the hill country climate and soil type. We are currently experiencing a drought, so I will water them each day to make sure they get a good start before they are left to their own devices - live or die!

I started by planting two honeysuckle plants along the edge of the property near some cedar trees that mark the property line that my neighbor and I share. Honeysuckle, if it is in the right environment, will grow 8-10 feet high here in Texas. This should fill in the bare spots where the cedars to do not and give the backyard a little more privacy.

pink honeysuckle

red honeysuckle

Day lilies are supposed to do well here according to Texas A&M's horticulture website. I found that interesting because they did really well on Cape Cod and that is a completely different climate. The ones I chose are supposed to be drought tolerant. The first ones I planted were dwarf and I am already considering buying some more. I love yellow flowers and I hope these are as pretty as they appear in the photos.

dwarf rebloomer MiniStella daylilies

I have a number of young (i.e. not very tall yet) crepe myrtle bushes that have deep red flowers. In front of them I placed two types of pink/red day lilies.

rose passion daylilies

rebloomer Rosie Meyer

On Texas A&M's website I found a heirloom lily that is supposed to do really well here, but is hard to find these days. I was able purchase some bulbs on eBay and have put them on the far end corners of the fire pit.

oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida)

I also put down some wild flower seed in the area behind the pool where there are a few standing rocks and some existing plantings including Mexican Oregano (which has nice, small flowers).

A day gardening in Texas is not complete without getting bitten by fire ants, and today was no exception. Now for a poach in the spa...

First posting: the plan...

My goal for this spring is to get the portion of the backyard that extends from the back of the house to just past the fire pit to look less like a open field. It is a disaster! I also want to start working towards building some raised beds along the property line and plant some sort of shrubbery that will provide a degree of privacy.

This work can be broken down into several tasks...

1. come up with a general layout that can potentially accommodate an outdoor, wood-fired pizza/bread oven.
   
2. clean out the pool planter of the existing succulents and replace with an herb garden consisting primarily of perennials.
3. build a slightly raised bed around the fire pit and plant flowering perenials around it.
4. construct some sort of walkway from the pool gate to the fire pit.
5. figure out where to construct the raised beds along the property line and what materials to use (probably indigenous limestone bricks) with a goal of getting them in and ready for a fall planting.
   

I've got several constraints. The first is that it needs to be xeriscape and not require a sprinkler system. The second is that it needs to be low maintenance and low cost to maintain. The third is that I want to use perennials and annuals that reseed themselves as well as indigenous or close to being indigenous.