2015- JUNE MINDY'S GARDEN DAY

This post, 2015- June Mindy's Garden Day - was written by Annie in Austin/Diva Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt blog.

Although nobody was happy about the floods and destruction from the rains of May and June 2015, one welcome effect of all the rain was watching the reservoir lake levels rise with every new report from the LRCA. http://hydromet.lcra.org/riverreport/

On May 25th, 2015 Lake Travis was only 56% full (658,461 acre-feet) and Lake Buchanan stood at 40% full (352, 969 acre-feet).

But by June 7th, Lake Travis was an amazing 81% full (914,669 acre-feet) while Lake Buchanan had inched up to 51% full (443,606 acre-feet).

After another sideswipe from Tropical Storm Bill, the Divas of the Dirt gardens in central Austin locations were very squishy. But keeping the planned garden day would not be a problem on Mindy's hilly, well-drained land. Her requests were weeding and clear-up, redoing the front path and other beds and borders, and pruning the crepe myrtles near the house so Warren could walk around in his yard and mow without ducking.

Sophia, Annie and I arrived together, followed by Karla and Mattie. Sugar had a planned day with her out-of-town family and Buffy would be coming a little later. On the way in we checked out the entrance bed and path and knew what we'd be doing in a little while!

The interior of Mindy and Warren's house had been redone - new floors, colors, paint and accessories, with all popcorn banished from the ceilings. In the new dining room, the table was set with wildflowers as the centerpiece.

The buffet had been painted and updated but was still in the same place and still held Fruit, Beautiful Fruit.

The new kitchen took our breath away - what a beautiful space!

For breakfast Mindy had made a casserole with asparagus and prosciutto casserole, using gluten-free bread for the base.

Sausage and sweet potatoes added some down home flavor to breakfast.

The blend of colors and textures made for a very attractive buffet meal.

Now out to the garden - first things first... lets get that path and entrance border back in shape.

Most of the Divas work together on that side of the walk.

On the other side of the walk there are some rather pretty perennials hidden in a mini-grove of live oak sprouts.


Good sport Mattie decides to go after the live oak sprouts, a never-ending task.

During the day different Divas of the Dirt worked on the two beds down by the gate, on the paisley-shaped bed and on pruning the crepe myrtles to raise the canopy.

A lot was done before Mindy called us in to lunch.

A wonderful assortment of breads, huge tomato slices and Cape Cod Chicken salad (a Costco favorite) awaited us.

With broccoli salad, bacon and pickles on the side. Delicious.

Mindy and Warren have a big family - one of their nephews was visiting and this nephew liked to cook... he used a gluten free cake mix from HEB to make the dough for quite an impressive Peach cobbler.

We weeded, clipped and tidied many areas, but the 'after' photos somehow didn't happen. Instead, let's take a look at some of the interesting plants at Mindy's ranchette.

A kind of spiderwort called Purple heart AKA Trandescantia pallida is a perennial, but those colorful caladium can be grown as annuals or brought inside for winter.

Malvaviscus is a plant we all grow, a favorite of both gardeners and hummingbirds. Here's a white version of this plant, also called Wax Mallow or Turkscap.

Salvias grow well in Central Texas - Mindy grows different varieties in this Hill Country setting, including this Salvia greggii.

There had been a bit too much rain for the Jerusalem Sage/Phlomis fruticosa -still kicking and getting ready for a bloom session, but with leaves showing that this plant had not enjoyed staying wet for so long.

Lots of hot weather ahead! We Divas of the Dirt will see each other over the summer, but we won't have another project day until September.

This post, 2015- June Mindy's Garden Day - was written by Annie in Austin/Diva Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt blog.