Late Spring 2009

The following pictures, taken in mid-May, show our garden to be flourishing with flowers in a variety of bright colors. First, we have a collection of blue (Bachelor's button), yellow (Gaillardia "Oranges and Lemons," which we also featured last year), and red (red poppy) flowers.

Next, Larkspurs (purple) are shown with the same yellow flowers as above.


We're actually not sure what the following orange flowers are. One possibility is that they're Tecoma/Orange Bells.


Finally, we feature Red Columbines, shown alongside blue and purple pansies...

Early Spring 2009

The sun is shining, the air is warm, and the first insects are buzzing about. Spring has finally come to Lubbock. But, where are all the tulips, hyacinths, crocuses, winter aconites, etc., that we planted in the fall two years ago? To share with you our experiences, we took some photos of our garden in March, which we've now gotten around to posting. The crocuses we planted last fall have done OK, as seen in the following photo, but those planted two years ago did not bloom this spring.


On the whole, however, this year the flower show is rather disappointing. In search for answers, we discovered that clay soil prevents good drainage and that, as a result, many bulbs rot. Furthermore, tulips and other bulbs need cold, if not freezing, temperatures for several weeks/months during the winter.

Lubbock did not get cold enough for long enough. As a result, relatively few of the bulbs one of us had planted nearly two years ago emerged this spring. Some of the ones that seem to be able to bloom despite clay soil and warm temperatures in the winter are grape hyacinths and some daffodils. A few regular hyacinths came back as well. So, the lessons we have learned are that (a) we should only plant bulbs once our other plants are established and no longer need frequent watering during the summer (this way hopefully avoiding the rotting of the bulbs) and (b) we should only buy bulbs specifically for the South. See the book Garden Bulbs for the South, by Scott Ogden (2007, second edition) for a discussion of possibilities.

Despite the disappointment with the bulbs, several other plants did very well and have survived for a year now. One of these is Creeping Phlox (Phlox Subulata), which more than tripled in size over the course of the last year and has formed large bright pink carpets. Here's a relatively recent picture from our garden:


This plant has several advantages, namely it: (a) thrives with relatively little water, (b) is an evergreen plant, and (c) forms dense mats that keep weeds under control. We were so thrilled with this plant that we bought several more in a variety of colors (ranging from blue, to white, to candy striped) this spring for an even more impressive show next year.

Another plant that survived a year now is Violet (sweet violet?). It grows in a somewhat shady area (though it does seem to like direct or at least dappled sunlight) and it does need some watering during the summer. However, it did get practically no water during the winter and still came back and bloomed in March.


Some daffodils that we planted last fall bloomed this spring, as did our Baptisia sphaerocarpa ("Screaming Yellow"), which one of us had planted in the fall of 2007. Together, they provided some nice cut flowers for a spring bouquet, such as the following one that we displayed on our coffee table.


Some other plants seem to thrive in clay soil and dry, hot weather as well. One of these is Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus), which has grown and multiplied over the past two years. We can't wait to see it in bloom a few months from now. Another is Dutch Iris, which also seems to do well.

The pansies we planted last fall are in great shape, too but, of course, they are annuals and will die down during the summer.

We've established a new flower bed this spring and planted a great variety of relatively drought-resistant plants that should also make good cut flowers. We'll keep you posted as to which ones survive and which ones don't.

Autumn 2008

Welcome to our autumn photo essay. As the late comedian George Carlin noted in his brilliant routine on baseball vs. football, the fall "is when everything is dying." Accordingly, not much is visible in our garden, our primary effort being the planting of bulbs for the spring. Early in the fall, however, we enjoyed the thriving look of our morning glories...


In more recent weeks, we've planted some pansies.


The pansies shown above appear to be of the Delta True Blue variety. According to this document, "Pansies and their viola cousins have become the most popular cool weather annuals over the years... Now everyday gardeners load up on pansies and violas to bring a much needed color burst to their gardens during the dreary cold weather months."

[This entry was edited at a later date.]

Summer 2008

Here are some photos to inaugurate our new blog! We'd like to share our love of gardening and create a forum for practical tips and lessons learned. We'll also talk about gardening books. In our own gardens, we aim to grow plants that produce abundant flowers, need as little water as possible, and are self-perpetuating (either perennials or reseeding annuals).



The above plant is known variously as a Texas Ranger, Texas Sage, or Silverleaf.


These last two pictures are of a trumpet vine.

The taller plant with the predominantly yellow flowers is known as Gaillardia "Oranges and Lemons" (not a Sundancer Daisy as one of our less-experienced contributors initially thought).

The bigger, white-and-yellow flowers appear to be "Becky Daisies," also known as "Shasta Daisies" or ""Becky Shasta" daisies. In fact, they are likely to be this particular variety of the Shasta Daisy.


Finally, this section of the garden contains a variety of plants.