2017 – MARCH and APRIL, KARLA and MINDY

This post, 2017- March and April, Karla and Mindy was written by Annie in Austin for the Divas of the Dirt blog.

MARCH

Rain spoiled Karla’s plans for an early March meeting – she changed the date to later in the month. On the original day Glinda snapped a photo of her drenched Rosa mutabilis.

In early March the bluebonnets began blooming at Mindy’s house

A few days later the St Joseph lilies were in flower at Mattie’s house

In mid-March the fragrant peach iris had started to bloom at Mindy’s.

 

A week later the peach iris was blooming at Glinda’s house.

The following weekend Karla had better luck with the weather. She needed spring cleaning help and also promised a “murder mystery”

Tulips graced Karla’s pretty table.

Her native Bauhinia lunarioides/Anacacho Orchid tree – memorial to a loved one - was in bloom.

Karla’s clump of the passalong fragrant peach iris were now in bloom, along with Blue-eyed grass.

The Divas got beds weeded, plants reset and mulched.

And the murder mystery?  Crepe Murder! Well, not exactly murder but maybe ABH, Assault to Boughs with Harm? When a tree goes bad there is often no easy answer… digging an old crepe myrtle up and planting a “right-sized” new one may be prohibitively expensive while a severe chop might give the tree another chance.

APRIL

For her meeting in April, Mindy had dry weather but a very small crew… an avalanche of external events kept Mattie, Glinda, Sugar and Sophia from coming. On the other hand, Mindy, Karla, Annie and Buffy got a lot done and had fun doing it. They weeded and planted and got the beds in order and declared the lunch delicious. 

After the Divas left, Mindy and Warren worked to clear unwanted cedar that was smothering wanted trees like this Eve’s Necklace.

That pile of prunings is quite impressive!

Previously shredded trees had turned into mulch for the renewed borders – looking good Mindy & Warren!

This post, 2017- March and April, Karla and Mindy was written by Annie in Austin for the Divas of the Dirt blog.

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.

2014 December Holidiva Day

This post, "2014 December Holidiva Day" was posted by AnnieinAustin/Diva Glinda to the divasofthedirt at blogspot dot com blog. If you are reading it elsewhere this copyrighted material has been used without permission.  

Mindy was excited to have our annual party at her house - it had been seven years since she'd hosted Holidiva Day and she was in a decorating mood.

We'd hoped that all our Divas of the Dirt could be together, but Sophia's sister was visiting from the Left Coast so she decided to opt out.  Mindy set 11:30am as the start-time.
Diva Annie and I counted it as a win when we arrived at 11:37am! After greetings we immediately went to look at the stylish Christmas tree all aglow in Mindy's welcoming living room.

Let's take a closer look at the ribbons and ornaments.

The table was beautiful!

I caught a picture of Annie with Karla and Mattie, the next to arrive. We'd all been at Mindy's house so many times over the years!


When I took these photos, we didn't realize they'd be "before" pictures! Not long after the holidays, Mindy & Warren began a major remodeling project that would transform the original kitchen, living room and this dining room into the home of their dreams.



Mattie was in charge of the appetizers and she chose gluten-free nibbles: Raw vegetables, hummus, corn chips, guacamole, and tasty spinach balls.


Mindy's variation on Poinsettia cocktails combined cranberry juice and Prosecco for festive sparkle.


Diva Sugar arrived with a special big salad - mixed greens, with goat cheese and pecans. Mindy looks pretty pleased about this!

For the main dish Mindy had chosen a spiral cut ham; she presented us with a choice between two sweet and tangy sauces, Jezebel sauce or Mango Jalapeno sauce. Since we are who we are... most of us chose both!


Annie brought roasted Brussel sprouts in a creamy bacon sauce...


...and Karla made a delectable sweet potato bake with a nutty top.


Everything was ready  - should we wait for Buffy? She was running late and said to start without her. Soon that salad was on the plates


In a short while Buffy arrived bearing a mandarin orange jello mold that was decorative as well as delicious. 


Dessert was.... well, guess I'll use this photo from a previous year. My contribution was the traditional Amaretto bread pudding and by the time we got to dessert, I'd completely forgotten to take a new photo.

After dinner we gathered in Mindy's living room, seated around the fireplace... but there was no crackling fire. In fact, the day was so warm the air-conditioner kept turning on!

The conversation roamed everywhere, from new jobs, to volunteer training, to cars, to health issues - but it was Kitchen Remodeling for the win!

Eventually we were in the mood for the annual "pull-a-number, choose-a-package, and see-who-steals-it" grab bag game.

Diva Annie won a Market Basket given by Buffy

Mattie won a wire wall sconce given by Mindy

Buffy won 3 Butterfly Art tiles given by Glinda


 Glinda (that's me) won a Red Barn gift certificate given by Sugar.



Mindy won a horseshoe dragonfly bought in Colorado, given by Karla



Karla won a GROW sign made of cement composite, given by Diva Annie



Sugar won the Homesick Texan Cookbook given by Mattie.



We missed Sophia, but our day had been everything that a party with old friends should be: relaxing, mellow, delicious, hilarious, warm, entertaining and emotionally enriching.

A postscript: Since this account of our holiday party was written months after it happened - I can show you what I did with that gift certificate from Sugar -it magically turned into a hanging basket containing a large hybrid Begonia with the cultivar name 'Russian Sabers'.


It's the kind of extravagant, exotic plant that you might not buy for yourself - but when there's a gift certificate to use, anything goes!

This post, "2014 December Holidiva Day" was posted by AnnieinAustin/Diva Glinda to the divasofthedirt at blogspot dot com blog. If you are reading it elsewhere this copyrighted material has been used without permission.