2018 MAY – DivaAnnie’s Garden Day

This post, 2018 MAY – DivaAnnie’s Garden Day, was written by Glinda/Annie in Austin for the Divas of the Dirt Blog. 

The rotating schedule told us that DivaAnnie’s turn to be hostess would happen in May, the month of her birthday. Annie really wanted to host the meeting but she was having serious health issues. We knew that Annie was having trouble with gardening maintenance and we wanted to do it for her. She was having trouble with other things too, and many of her friends and neighbors helped with what they could. They took her to stores, helped her get supplies for the garden, drove her to buy groceries, took Annie to doctor appointments and her pets to the veterinarian and helped with mowing. 

A few days before the meeting I took a Before Photo of the fence corner in front – hoping there would be a good After Photo. On the day before the meeting some rain fell on the garden, softening the ground and plumping up the plants.

Annie, Buffy, Karla, Mindy, Mattie and Sophia were already there when I arrived, enjoying coffee with muffins and fruit salad. And ooh, what’s this? A beautiful orchid decorated the table of the birthday girl.

After a while we all went outside and got out the tools. In that front Before corner a seven foot tall Barbados cherry had not done well over the winter – the whole top had died off, but new growth was appearing at the bottom. The Salvia guaranitica was running rampant, covering other plants that Annie liked. In the square bed the top of her magnificent Duranta was all dead sticks. We could fix all of that.

We could weed and clip back all the beds and borders, rescue plants that were being smothered and dig out the oh-so-many tree seedlings that had popped up everywhere. We were going to need a lot of yard bags!

The ‘Marilyn’ abutilon was so beautiful one could almost ignore the weeds in the bed.

You’ve seen Annie’s Abutilon ‘Patrick’ in previous posts…let’s take a closer look at her ‘Marilyn’

The day was quite warm, the ants were out and there was a lot to do. Everyone worked together, trying to make a difference in each part of the front yard while trying to keep an eye on Annie, who was working too hard in the hot sun.

Sweet mascot Barbie stayed in the dappled shade and kept us company.

Eventually the shady end of the front sidewalk looked respectable again

The square garden on the far side of the driveway was no longer a tangle of overgrown plants and saplings.

We couldn’t make the St. Augustine lawn look better, but we could get rid of the weeds in the center bed and clip things back so the Phlomis/Jerusalem Sage, columbines, salvias and other plants had some space. Maybe some mulch could discourage new weeds.

Annie called us in to lunch – really good broccoli salad, a fruit salad of strawberries and pineapple chunks, rotisserie chicken salad on croissants with leaves of romaine to add crunch. We had so much to talk about as we ate – well, we always have so much to talk about!

Annie had requested a lemon cake for her birthday. There were no candles on top, but she liked this old-fashioned 1-2-3-4 lemon cake with cream cheese frosting, made even better with a little ice cream plopped on top.

We puttered around a little more outside and added plants to her porch containers. We wanted to stay and keep working in the garden but Annie said what she wanted was for us to go home, and then she wanted to go to bed.

Before we left I snapped a photo of the now-pretty Barbados cherry-Salvia guaranitica bed so there’d be an After picture to go with the Before picture.

                                                                    

****************INTERVAL***************

I’m writing about this day a whole year after that meeting, and it’s been an odd and difficult post to write. Back then we were worried about Annie’s health and hoped that modern medicine could make her better, but we couldn’t know the future.

We didn’t know that this would be the last time she had a garden day, the last time we would all be together at her house, that this was her last birthday cake in this the last spring of her life.

All that I can do now is tell you about that day and tell you how we liked being together and tell you how much we loved and miss our dear friend.

2012 - November DIVA-ANNIE'S GARDEN DAY

This post written by Annie in Austin/Diva Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt Blog

Six Divas of the Dirt met at DivaAnnie's in November - Sophia and Sugar couldn't be there, and they missed a pretty fantastic day!

Annie's table looked lovely! White plates in basket weave chargers looked so pretty ranged on either side of a bird-patterned runner. Bird napkins complemented the vintage bird figurines.

DivaAnnie tried a new recipe for eggs, sausage, peppers and mushrooms baked in muffin tins - delicious!

The zucchini bread and a fruit salad of blackberries, grapes, strawberries and pineapple were perfect.

Annie wanted a redo of some overgrown beds and she hoped we could get the ted the entire front garden mulched. But before starting to work we wanted to look at all the wonderful plants she is growing.

Up in one part of the curb bed a riot of flowers were in bloom - red Gomphrena, Blackfoot daisies, lantana and more... maybe that yellow daisy is Zexmenia.

Annie's Podranea ricasoliana/Port St. Johns Creeper has really taken off & blooms well. It's planted inside the gate near a Rose of Sharon but has been successful in sprawling its way over the fence. According to Dave's Garden, other botanical names for this vine are Pandorea ricasoliana, Tecoma ricasoliana and Tecoma Mackenii and other common names are Pink Trumpet Vine, Zimbabwe creeper and Queen of Sheba.

This Mexican Flame vine/Senecio confusus is also doing well - what a bright, autumny flower! This vine is borderline hardy for Austin - luckily for DivaAnnie, her garden is in a warmer part of Austin.


Near the porch the Shrimp Plant/Justicia brandegeana has really settled in, with a huge number of shrimpy-pink flower heads ready to greet visitors



Some beautiful plants are doing a little too well, like this enormous Duranta erecta, also called Golden dewdrop. The problem is that the Duranta grew so large that it had engulfed anything in

the surrounding area - that bit of foliage peeking out from the Duranta's sweeping Ballgown skirt is a stunted White-flowering Russelia equisetiformis/Firecracker Plant.


And some horrible plants are doing well, too - the hated Bermuda grass has invaded this bed, threatening Giant Squill bulbs planted here.



Although some parts of the front parkway were beautiful, the center just looked bedraggled.

Soon Divas of the Dirt were digging out weeds and setting stone blocks and a larger stepping stone in place.

Weeds disappeared and much transplanting followed. It didn't happen quickly, but the white Firecracker/Russelia, some May Night Salvia, a dwarf Lion's Tail/Leonatus, some Four Nerve daisies, and the herbs thyme and Oregano found new spots. I hope the sweet little native Snake Herb (Dyschoriste linearis) will make it!

This front bed is now done and mulched so the native Anacacho Orchid, Argentinian Butterfly Bush and Cape Honeysuckle have a better chance to make it through winter and to bloom again next year. 

Time to head in to the bird table again, this time for lunch! Oh, look! DivaAnnie has also made petite framed pictures for each of us as a memento of our day together




Annie has set the buffet with barbecued brisket, Hawaiian bread, Corn-Potato salad and coleslaw with nuts




For dessert she has baked a fabulous Clementine Chess Pie




We didn't rush through this lovely lunch but we did want to get a little more done before it got dark.
A flowering Senna tree once dominated the right side of the long center bed, but most of it was now dead. The Divas took out the dead wood around the one small live sprout, weeded and mulched the whole bed.

Some Mexican Honeysuckle was transplanted from the established part of the parkway to the newly cleared area and all was mulched.

The established plants in the parkway looked lovely on our workday but I couldn't catch a decent photo. When DivaAnnie and I went to the Empty Bowl project a couple of weeks later I remembered to take photos. Here is the beautiful Mexican Honeysuckle /Justicia spicigera

DivaAnnie's Lion's Tail/Leonatis are so full and flowery!

Two weeks after our project, the mulch looks good, and it contrasts well with the plants in photos, but we discovered that the dark color did not happen naturally, but was added to the wood. While we worked, the black dye got onto our hands, knees and shoes. And it looks as if the mulch didn't stop all those weed seeds from sprouting - more weeding ahead!


This post written by Annie in Austin/Diva Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt Blog

2012 - FEBRUARY, SOPHIA'S GARDEN DAY

Written by Diva Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt Blog  


Any garden day at Sophia's house is guaranteed to deliver both a satisfying gardening experience and an overwhelming dining experience but this time there was something extra... Sophia's mother Hazel and her sister Gina had been traveling the US by train and they would be here in Austin for Sophia's garden day. We looked forward to meeting her family and to helping Sophia get her garden back in shape after winter.

Oatmeal nut muffins and banana muffins were piled up on the beautiful table (I do covet that bird tablecloth!), and a compote of berries, pineapple and nectarines looked wonderful. 

Sophia decided to bake something she hadn't made before - two delicious quiches - one with broccoli & turkey and another with ham & bacon.

It was fun to see Sophia & her mom Hazel standing side by side, ready to take on the day!

Shade and careful watering by both Sophia and Roger had kept most of their plants alive through 2011 (still referred to Austinites as the Summer from Hell), but late fall and winter rains had made some of the surviving plants a little too happy. The weather channels had warned that rain was still a possibility on Sophia's day  but we thought we could get most of the work done anyway.


Much of today's project could be described as outdoor housekeeping - we had zillions of cedar elm leaves to rake and many yard bags of sticks to pick up

We pulled weeds from beds and borders, removed a sea of henbit and chickweed and got the vegetable squares ready for planting. Some of the Divas figured out a new configuration for that area.

In other parts of the yard Divas were pruning crepe myrtles, cutting back wild branches of buddleia, snipping out dead leaves on the large sweep of Cast Iron Plants and taming the out-of-bounds Mutabilis Rose... but who could cut off a flower that was brave enough to bloom in February?

There was a bit of a cold wind and the air was damp - something was sending pollen out to irritate the allergic among us, but the satisfaction of getting everything ready for Spring was stronger than momentary discomfort. The front garden was looking good!

In truth, our reward was much greater than the work we did - three cooks, Sophia, Hazel and Gina - had prepared a feast! I stopped taking photos of weeds and tools and aimed the camera at the wonderful food.

 The Big Salad with Bacon started us off with a crunch. 

We all love Sophia's Signature Dish of Italian Wedding Soup, here joined by Hazel's Signature Dish, A Rice, Sausage & Noodle Casserole.

The Three Cooks had made delectable Carmelized Onion & Mushroom Tartlets, some with walnuts and some without walnuts (recipe HERE)

We were treated to Olive Bread and we all got to try Lupini beans. (If you want to make these beans yourself and can faithfully attend to them daily for a few weeks, HERE is a recipe.)

 We didn't get dessert ... there were THREE desserts!

A trio of gelato for starters: Pistachio, White Chocolate and Tiramisu

Gina's Signature Dish was this spectacular, genuine, made from scratch Italian Cream Cake (one of the best cakes I have ever tasted... The Italian Cream Cake recipe is at the Divas of the Dirt Recipe Blog.)

It was followed by Gina's amazing second "cake" - less a cake than a Confection (go Here for Recipe), assembled from Oreo cookies, Cool whip, Chocolate fudge topping, Instant Pudding and Ice Cream Sandwiches and frozen - ultra rich and quite delicious.

We talked and laughed, heard stories, were amazed to see Mattie's pup Barbie waltz into another Diva house and steal the hearts of  Sophia's pooches Tedster & Chukster. We even got a little more work done that day, but you can't see it... I never took another photo after sampling those three desserts.

As usual, we had Too Much Fun at Sophia's house!

Written by Diva Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt Blog 

2010-OCTOBER, SUGAR'S GARDEN DAY

2010 October - Sugar's Compost & Horseherb Garden Day

Sugar is one of the founding members of the Divas of the Dirt but she had dropped out for a few years and we hadn't worked in her yard for a long time. She warned us that it needed help:

We won't be doing much other than pulling weeds*, weeds, & more weeds, then adding compost... I am planning on building a new garage... etc... can't plant anything until all of this is done. I know it won't be very exciting, but maybe next yr we can do some of the pretty stuff!!!!

*One of the weeds in Sugar's yard is seen below- Calyptocarpus vialis AKA Straggler daisy AKA the hated Horseherb. The native, tough and extremely aggressive Horseherb can work as a groundcover when it's in the right place, but the very prominent central area between decorative front driveway strips was not the right place!
Glinda replied to Sugar's note:... we've had such a long stretch of bizarre weather that even people who weeded, watered and fertilized the whole time have crummy looking gardens! All the garden bloggers are whining.


Sugar had another request: ... would you mind bringing your tall handle branch trimmer... ?

Sophia was optimistic: ... Maybe a cool front will sneak in! Keep your fingers crossed!

Glinda: God willin' and the crick* don't rise higher than it did last time, I'll be there with the pole pruner, Sugar. Just make sure there are lots of yard bags ready & I'll try to fill them!

Diva-Annie was realistic: Yeah, I've seen Sugar's yard and it's going to take a lot of bags!!!

A 10-cubic yard pile of Revitalizer Compost from the Natural Gardener awaited us in front of the house... while a table set for six rather than seven (Mindy had a schedule conflict and couldn't be with us at Sugar's house) awaited us inside. Baked French Toast, bacon and beautiful fruit for breakfast - yum, let's eat!



The food was delicious - we shared recent news with each other and discussed Sugar's latest plans and projects as we started the day. We weren't too sure how this project would go... our team lacked one member and the air in Austin was hot and loaded with mold & pollen. The counts were so high that most of us were already sniffling, coughing, and not feeling too peppy.


We walked around the yard and saw a lot to do. A long hedge of overgrown photinia hung over the chain link fence from the next yard, its heavy branches weighing down the top rail Some of the large dead photinia trunks were deforming the fence and no sun could reach the ground through the mess. Since this area also got runoff from the neighbors' pool it was muddy work to saw & prune the neglected shrubs.


While the dead wood was being removed and the shrub prunings were slowly being reduced for recycling by a couple of Divas of the Dirt in the back yard, up in front the other Divas of the Dirt worked with spades, forks, and hand tools. The front beds were weeded, crowded plants like liriope were divided then replanted and/or transplanted and composted. The recently rebuilt, attractively-patterned driveway strips gradually emerged from the crabgrass and horseherb.


In newer parts of Austin you usually find solid wide driveways of asphalt and concrete (I'm pretty sure they are mandated by some home owner associations) but Sugar's cottage is on a larger lot in an older neighborhood. Here, parking strips with a center space of mowed lawn can add vintage charm, allowing water to sink in rather than run off. Unfortunately, there was no longer any mowable lawn in between the strips - just lumpy ground choked with weeds.
Hours of grubbing at ground level does get you close to nature! Take a look at the beautiful big green caterpillar we found...


At some point we started filling and hauling garden carts of compost to the back yard, sprinkling, spreading and raking the wonderful stuff over the surface of the large lawn section-by-section with other Divas watering the completed areas.
Eventually we broke for lunch - stopping to admire a speckled yellow canna, backlit in the autumn sun

Sugar is a wonderful cook! She presented a chicken casserole with silken, home made Bechamel sauce,

a crunchy salad full of good things and a home made cake to cheer us up Sugar's two small dogs put on a comedy show that sent us into gales of laughter.




We went back out and worked on that pile of compost until late afternoon, but knew we'd never get it done. We're pretty strong as a team but but we'd already spent hours doing the pruning, weeding, digging, transplanting and rubble-reducing so were running of time. We also did not have the right equipment for a job like this... we needed real wheelbarrows and wide mulch shovels, not plastic garden carts & narrow garden spades.
We'd done our best for Sugar, but we told her that the next time she called for a compost delivery, she should also call for a couple of young guys with contractor wheelbarrows!