The Spring Planting Continues

Yesterday I planted all the plants that I ordered from Wellspring Gardens over the last few weeks. They include:

• Bay Laurel
• Dwarf Pomegranate
  
• Lemon Grass
• Dianthus
  
• Thai Ginger
• Texas Everbearing Fig
• Bottlebrush Plant
• Olive Tree (Olea europaea)

In addition to those I purchased some additional plants for around the fire pit at a local nursery. (The following photos were found with the help of Google...)

Dark Blue Plumbago


Purple Lantana (Lantana montevidensis)


Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)


Pink Skullcap (Scutellaria)

Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips'

The ox blood lilies that I planted several weeks ago are taking nicely to their new home and the feral pigs have not discovered them yet...

Spring is certainly here because the Salvia greggii from last year is already in bloom, before I had a chance to cut them back...

And... I continue to research the pizza oven - there is a lot to learn! But, I have decided where to place it in the back so that it will both look good and not be affected by the nearly-constant Texas Hill Country breeze. I've been looking at a lot of designs on the Forno Bravo Forum and sketching out what I think I want to attempt to build.

Slow-But-Steady Progress

For most people that know me, I invented "slow-but-steady". :-) Or so it seems.

The weather has warmed up to the point where planting is appropriate. I don't think we will get any frost, that is for sure.

The plants I am growing from seed are going well and I hope to clear out the planter by the pool this weekend and put in most of the plants for the herb garden.

The Salvia greggii around the pool as taken root very nicely. I'm not sure about the cuttings I took a few weeks ago, but I have not given up hope.

The feral hogs/pigs have been kind to the yard and there is not any new damage to report. It seems that when things are established they will be fine. It's just getting through that newly-planted stage.

I've done a good deal of further research on the pizza oven and I am really psyched about building it. There are so many things to think about, plan, and consider. For instance, one needs to consider the standard winds and make sure that the front of the oven does not face them. I've got a general plan in mind that I need to flesh out. Check out http://www.fornobravo.com/ !!!

Other than that, not much to report. The sunset is very pretty tonight it is certainly going to be a very nice weekend in San Antonio...

succulents by the pool

rosemary in bloom

Salvai greggii already in bloom!

A Sunny Southwest Texas Weekend

Well, the weather this weekend was just gorgeous. It was in the high 60's/low 70's this weekend and as sunny as could be. Just wonderful.

This weekend not much was done on the gardening front. I am preparing for a retirement dinner that I am hosting at the hill country cottage on this-coming Saturday. There is still a chance that we will have a significant freeze/frost, so I am concerned that planting smaller plants may be premature. Two more weeks or so and we will good to go. And, the weather was so nice I wanted to enjoy the sun, rather than toil under it. I'm sitting by the pool, listening to Charlie Parker, having a glass of wine, and looking over the hills...

I did do a little more research on the hardscaping of the backyard. I've decided that I would like to put a pizza oven with an Indian tandoor next to the fire pit. My cousin's son lives in Missouri and has built a special fireplace/oven in his home that heats the entire house very efficiently. He recommended several sites to me and from them I found http://www.fornobravo.com/ which is great. From there I found several DIY ovens. I need to do some more research, including one on how to build a tandoor oven. The entire project should not be too difficult as I will be building it on stable limestone.