September

So this month has just flown by! I can't believe how much rain we have gotten and how it has effected my garden. I still have some of my Zinnas, though most have some powdery mildew. My Mexican Petunia (Ruellia) has doubled in size and is about 4 ft. wide and 3 ft. all tall! My Mealy Blue Sage has gotten pretty large, but can't manage to stand straight up and is sprawling along the ground. It seems quite happy that way. I have only one Pink Muhly grass which looks just amazing with its pink plumes. I will definitely be buying more for next year. The Rock Rose I transplanted loves its new shady spot. And with the cooler weather, is thriving. Of course my Yellow Bells are excelling. While I don't really like yellow, this wonderful drought-tolerant plant has quickly become my favorite. Drought or rain, this fast-growing shrub looks perfect all of the time. It has almost reached the top of our fence. Another plant, I will need to buy more of.

While I can go on and on about all of my plants, I will take a break here. The weather has dried up a little and the temperatures have cooled. We will see what the next stage this Texas garden has to offer me. For now, I have plenty of weeding to do!

Rain and more rain

I don't think my garden knows quite what to do with all of this rain. Yes, there are many of my plants that very excited about all of this moisture. However, there are some of my plants that are suffering. I never thought rain would be a bad thing. But considering the fact that the Summer has been so dry, this is a shock!

My favorite Zinnias are coming to an end. They were already struggling with rusty mildew (my fault for planting them too close together). But they have also gotten very leggy and some are taller than I am. I have sadly pulled out about 6 so far. I also had a wonderful Hibiscus in a pot that turned yellow from all of the rain. I was hoping it would dry out and it was starting to look a little better until the rain returned again yesterday. I have mushrooms popping up everywhere, which can't be good. Also, I have 2 huge fountain grasses that have completely fallen over due to the rain. They were about 6 feet tall. Of course they are now leaning on some of the other plants. I have tried staking them but the weight is just too much. I might have to cut them down if it continues to rain. My Verbena are also suffering with all of this rain. They have powdery mildew. I am planning o pulling them out soon.

There are, luckily, a couple of super-stars in my garden. The Vincas (Periwinkle) are fantastic annuals here in Texas. They do great in the heat and seem to be unfazed by the rain. I have 5 white ones that are just huge! They surround the front of my Bur Oak. I will be sad to see them die in the Winter. Yellow Bells are also wonderful. I only have one and I plan on getting more next year. It looks great all of the time.

Flowers and butterflies

I decided to take some photos before all of my plants decide to kick the bucket. I have been slowly plucking out one Zinnia at a time due to mildew. I guess they are planted too close together and they are just getting too big. I will hopefully learn from this next year and plant accordingly. Sadly, they are so large that the unexpected rain we got the other day made a few snap in half due to the weight of the rain. And while I am SO excited about the rain, it will only make the mildew worse. While my grass it quite happy with the rain, many of my plants are not! All of my heat-loving plants don't like to be wet for long. Once it stops raining I am sure I will have tons of weeding to do. Meanwhile, he are some pictures (before the rain).

The End of the Summer

While you would never know that we are heading to the end of Summer due to our hot days, it is quickly approaching. One way I can tell, other than the fact that school started, is that my garden is taking a turn. Some of my annuals have seen better days. I have had to pull out some of my Zinnias and my cucumber plant. 

Also, the caterpillars we have, two have hatched, two are in their cocoons, one is about to make its cocoon and two died. I feel bad because the two died from something called "black death". If I would have figured that out right away maybe the other one wouldn't have died. It was quite gross. I decided not to take any pictures of that!

We do have something new in the garden, however. We have this huge garden spider. I would love to get close enough to take a picture but I think I will keep my distance. :-)

Butterflies

Many of the plants I have in my garden attract butterflies. They seem to like my Zinnias the best. So it should be no surprise to find caterpillars somewhere in the garden. However, it seems that I don't have any of the host plants. But my neighbor does. The Black Swallowtail Butterfly likes parsley apparently. We found two huge caterpillars and brought them inside. Within a day they transformed into a chrysalis. I am disappointed that we may be away on vacation when they emerge as butterflies. Just when my kids were getting excited. I think I will plant my own parsley next year. The picture to the right isn't a Black Swallowtail Butterfly but I have seen many in my garden. This is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly.

Out of control Aphids

I am so frustrated with all the aphids that have suddenly appeared all over my cucumber plant. They are on almost every leaf and seem to have shown up over night. With my cucumber plant trailing over my tomato plant and currently full of growing cucumbers, I didn't want to spray it with anything harsh. I have sprayed it with a soap 3 times now and the aphids just keep coming. I am afraid that I might have to cut the whole plant back! Some of the leaves are already showing distress. Today I started to hand spray all of the leaves with water. I'm not sure if I will be able to save it.

The picture below is before the aphids attacked.

My love affair with Zinnias

It all started with 2 bags of seeds and potted soil. The seeds quickly turned into seedlings practically overnight. I have planted something so easy to grow in my life! The problem was, ever single seed was coming up and I had dumped everything into one pot! So I figured I would transplant some into my new garden as I had plenty of space.

At first, it didn't seem that they were going to take. It was hot and all of the seedlings were quite wilted. I kept watering and didn't worry much. I had tons more coming up in my pot! But before I knew it those seedlings took hold and started to grow even faster. In fact, within a month my Zinnias were taller than my Crape Myrtles and Mountain Laurel. Take a look at the before and after!

Some of my Zinnias are taller than I am! In fact, it is hard to tell how tall they would grow because I cut them back all of the time. They make GREAT cut flowers. I have them all over my house! The big question will be -- will they Winter over? If they come back, I will have to move some around. They crowed many areas of my garden. But I will be interested to find out. Meanwhile, I will enjoy placing these beautiful flowers around my home, giving them to neighbors and take photos. I would like to paint some of my photos as well. We will see. Here are some close-ups.

And of course here are two other areas of my garden where I transplanted Zinnias. They seem to grow well any place I plant them. Even when these areas get a little shade from our Bur Oak. 

The Tree

So on one side of our yard there is nothing, just heat stricken grass, half dead and covered with ant hills. My husband and I decided we needed a little more privacy and I decided we needed less grass. First thing we did was buy a 14 Ft. Bur Oak. Of course, I had never had someone else "install" anything in my garden and I wasn't about to start -- especially due to the fact that they charge half the price of the tree to do so! But once I had my 400 lb. Bur Oak sitting at the bottom of our very steep driveway, I though, what in the world am I going to do now? 

I wish I would have taken pictures of my husband and I rolling the tree over dowels all the way to the backyard. Ancient but it worked. Plus, I think I dug the whole about 2 hours a day for a week and that's before my husband took over. Yes, I coming from LA, I didn't realize how much rock we are actually sitting on here. But we managed to get it in the ground and then prayed. There wasn't a single leaf on our tree when we got it. In fact, there weren't any buds. The only way I could tell it was alive was scraping back the bark to see green. This was in March 2009.

By mid April, the buds came out and then the leaves. In no time, our tree was looking great. I was so excited that it seemed to get over the shock of being transplanted. However, this didn't come without problems. Something was eating the leaves! From what I read, there aren't many pests that bother Bur Oaks. Well, I beg to differ. Take a look at the photos.

Finally, this last picture is taken in May 2009. And it looks pretty much the same right now. So far it is braving this extremely hot, dry Summer. Hopefully we will have it for years to come.

my first blog

Okay, so here I go. I thought for as much effort as I put into my garden and the fact that I don't have many people to share my thoughts with, I should blog. I take pictures all of the time -- maybe someone will enjoy all of my hard work as much as I do!

I little bit about me: I started gardening while living in Los Angeles. Everything was trial and error. However, the mild temperatures through out the year, made gardening easier than I has expected. Most everything did well. The biggest problems I am across were insect infestation (those buggers never die when you don't have a frost!) and mildew. I will post some before and after pictures soon.

Now I live in Austin, TX and I am adjusting to how different gardening is here. While I don't have the same problems with mildew I have many more. The heat is my biggest issue. So many of my favorite plants can't take not only the heat but the drought. So I am learning once again -- starting over and trying to have fun doing it. I hope that once I start posting pictures maybe I will get some comments or advice or hell, maybe I will even me a source of inspiration. I can only hope. Okay, posting comes next...