2014 NOVEMBER, BUFFY'S GARDEN DAY

This post, 2014 November, Buffy's Garden Day, was written by Diva Glinda/Annie in Austin for the Divas of the Dirt Blog

The day for Buffy's garden project fell at the beginning of November, on a day so warm it would be called Summer in other parts of the USA. Halloween was just barely in the rear view mirror and Buffy's decor let us know her family had celebrated that holiday.

Glorious orange flowers from the Cedar Park Farmers Market were right for the season.

We got off to a late start and had a lot to catch up on before we gathered at the long table - some of us had been on vacation, some traveling to visit family. There was talk of new jobs, medical woes, events both joyful and distressing among our family and friends, and promising news on the home remodeling front.  (A few new kitchens are on the horizon!)

Buffy had baked a different kind of banana bread. Rather than the traditional mashed raw bananas, this recipe called for baked, juiced bananas, resulting in a more intense flavor. Raw fruit was well represented by a huge plate of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, pineapple and melon.

We quite liked Buffy's new recipe for Eggs, Grits and Greens - baked and cut into squares. The greens turned out to be spinach and arugula.

But wait! There's more! Also piled on the plates were chicken-apple sausages and biscuits.

We went out to survey the garden. This year, rather than a big intensive project, Buffy wanted a general once-over, with tired plants replaced by fresh ones, weeding, cutting back, mulching and an emphasis on curb appeal.

The gate was a rather recent addition - and even newer were the terracotta pots stacked on a tall rod, planted with colorful foliage plants and blooming geraniums.

Let's take a closer look at those clever pots on stakes.

Buffy has a corner lot so the amount of parkway is extensive. (Maybe you call this a parking strip, planting strip, verge or hellstrip instead of a parkway?) Over the years we Divas of the Dirt have helped Buffy turn much of that strip of land from thirsty grass to well mulched native and adapted plants. We started in on one of the more recent projects - doesn't that Gopher Plant look great?

We moved around in turn to all the parkway strips, the center bed, the drive bed and the area near the bright gate.

After four hours outside, the various beds were shaping up - Buffy told us it was time to take a break for lunch. She had an enormous pot of chili simmering on the stove - made according to an American Test Kitchen recipe.

Set out on the serving table was a delicious Kale, Almond and Cranberry salad, along with an array of toppings for the chili: avocado, lemon, sour cream, cheese and Fritos.

The fruit plate and biscuits from breakfast also went well with lunch. And the bowl of candy? Just a touch of Halloween.

When Buffy's sister popped in for a visit, her timing was perfect because dessert was fabulous! Whoever invented apple(!) brownies with caramel topping and ice cream should get a prize.

We went back outside. The Cannas on one end of the center front bed hadn't flowered, but by the time we left, they were mulched and the bad leaves snipped, so even without flowers the foliage looked good.

On the opposite side of the center front bed under the oak, the Fall Asters were amazing against the silver leaved Teucrium background.

The parkways looked much better after being weeded and mulched. In this photo we see Damianita, an ornamental grass, a silver groundcover (might be Woolly Stemodia) and an annual Gomphrena that reseeds.

Another section of this bed nearer the corner has the thriving Gopher Plant and a tumble of Blackfoot Daisies.

The first strip of parkway that we'd done back in 2007 is now quite mature - some plants have endured from the beginning with new plants plugged in where the originals failed and the result is a mini-meadow. On one end we see Skullcap, Damianita, Gomphrena and ornamental grass.

Moving along we see more Gomphrena, more Skullcap, Blackfoot Daisies and Four Nerve Daisies.

And back in that bed near the gate it was satisfying to see how just a few plants of dwarf 'Katy' Ruellia - planted long ago - had gradually spread to make a solid groundcover in front of the shrubs.

This was the last Divas of the Dirt project for 2014 - next time we meet it won't be work time... it will be Party Time!

This post, 2014 November, Buffy's Garden Day, was written by Diva Glinda/Annie in Austin for the Divas of the Dirt Blog

2013 - April BUFFY'S GARDEN DAY

This post, "2013 -April Buffy's Garden Day", was written by Glinda/Annie in Austin for the Divas of the Dirt Garden blog


Back in March, all 8 Divas of the Dirt were able to come for Karla's gardening day, but by April things had changed... Karla & Sugar were out of town and Sophia had been injured in an auto accident the week before our meeting. Plucky Sophia came to be with us, but she was on medication and had been ordered to take it easy.

In the dining room, the beautiful botanical cloth on Buffy's table was sparked by vibrant blossoms and metallic flower-shaped chargers.


Buffy loves buying flowers at the Cedar Park Farmers Market! A second bouquet made the breakfast room table glow.



And a third vase held snapdragons so tall they had to stand on the floor in the entry




The breakfast preparations were still in progress as the Divas of the Dirt arrived, so I popped out back for a few photos. The previous winter had been unusually mild and the garden was already in bloom.

Wow! Look at the loquat! It's been pruned, thinned and shaped and the air and sun can now flow around it.



We'd worked on the Loquat-'Mermaid' tangle over the years, but this vigorous combo needed professional help with professional tools and Buffy had called them in to great effect. And the Shrimp Plants/Justicia brandegeeana below the tropical looking Loquat/Eriotbotrya japonica and beautiful-but-rampant Rosa 'Mermaid' have responded to the increased light & air by blooming madly. 





The red shrub roses, yellow columbines and oak leaf hydrangea/ Hydrangea quercifolia were at their spring peak.





A spectacular breakfast awaited us: two quiches - one broccoli-vegetables and the other ham & cheese. Petite muffins were tempting and kiwi, pineapple, blueberries and melons mingled in a delicious fruit salad. And who can resist Potatoes Anna, cooked to perfection?





Buffy's planned project seemed like a lot of work, but not impossible - she wanted to redo the part of the Hellstrip-parkway that wrapped the corner of her lot, getting rid of the unhappy grass, replacing the lawn with plants native & adapted that can take this difficult western exposure. But before the Divas could use the tiller, the first order of business was finding the retractable sprinkler heads!



Buffy divided her time between the garden and the kitchen, Sophia did as much as she dared and DivaAnnie and I usually work best at ground level.

Luckily both Mindy and Mattie can run the tiller.

Progress on the parkway was excruciatingly slow - the ground was like a rock, the roots tangled the tiller and bucket after bucket of rocks came out of the "soil".

While the corner parkway slowly was dug up, we also worked on the south-facing part of the parkway, first made as Buffy's 2007 Divas of the Dirt project.

That section looked like this before we started.



Central Texas weather is variable so some plants do well for awhile then it's the turn of another plant to shine. This spring the stars are Damianita/ Chrysactinia mexicana and Blackfoot Daisies/ Melampodium leucanthum.



Let's zoom in see those bluebonnets ( Lupinus texensis) that seeded themselves on the lawn side of the walk.   




The original central bed begun in 2002 also was weeded, pruned and groomed



Buffy's sister and a nephew stopped by to say hello and volunteered to help get out some of the rocks - thank you! Sophia followed doctor's orders and went inside where Buffy was glad of an assistant cook.

Eventually the new section was cleared, amended and ready to be planted by 4 PM, when Buffy called us in.


We were delighted at what she presented for our late lunch - an elegant tomato-artichoke aspic, bread from the Cedar Park Farmers Market, a salad of avocado with mixed greens, a shrimp pasta salad, a second round of the fruit salad and an absolutely wonderful Cajun chicken salad from a chef at Cedar Park Farmers Market.



The grand finale was Lemon Curd Cheesecake, completed just before we were called inside.



The cheesecake was unexpected and absolutely delicious



It was wonderful to stop working and sit down with friends to talk and laugh and share food together.



To play with visiting Barbie



And say hello to the ailing Libby... sure wish my photo of Libby was not so blurry - she left this world in the summer of 2013 and we'll all miss seeing her at garden projects.




We went back outside and not only finished planting and mulching the new parkway bed...



we also groomed the bed along the driveway.

This bed had a major Divas of the Dirt redo in 2011 and we were pleased to see how well the plants had taken hold - the 'Sunny' Yellow Knockout rose looked great and so did most of the other plants. We needed to pull out a great deal of thorny smilax that had invaded the soil - then we needed to dig out and clip back some of the Salvia leucantha/ Mexican bush sage. It had quickly grown enormous, almost smothering the slower-growing young Anacacho orchid tree/ Bauhinia lunarioides.



The front view shows how well the yellow daisy-shaped Damianita/Chrysactinia mexicana, Salvia leucantha, Red-orange tropical milkweed/ Asclepias curassavica and soft yellow and gray Phlomis fruticosa/Jerusalem have blended and become established. They only needed a clean-and-tidy to look great.



We'd had a good day but it was almost 7 PM - time to pick up our tools and go home. 




This post, "2013 -April Buffy's Garden Day", was written by Glinda/Annie in Austin for the Divas of the Dirt Garden blog

2012 - September GLINDA'S GARDEN DAY

The story of my September 2012 garden project actually began about 30 years ago when whoever lived here at the time planted an Arizona Ash at one end of the front yard, quite close to the front sidewalk. This fast-growing tree was very popular in new subdivisions, and its shade surely did make summers easier to live with, but its short life span and many problems means that planting them in Central Texas is no longer recommended. The Arizona Ash tree grew and at some time a Live Oak sapling was planted between the Ash and the house. The trees grew on, fighting for rights to the sun.



Now skip ahead to March 2012 when the Ash tree is no longer an asset but has suddenly become dangerous, dropping enormous limbs without warning right where kids walk to school, neighbors park their cars and runners and bicyclists pass all day long. We immediately called Austex Tree Service and said "Help!" The tree guys took away the fallen limbs, took down the tree & ground out most of the stump - not an inexpensive job, but we had peace of mind after the tree was gone.

In 2004 the Divas of the Dirt helped me begin a woodland garden in the area between the live oak and the house, with a native Beautyberry and a 'Forest Pansy' redbud replacing sun plants that had been shaded out by the growing trees.

The Forest Pansy & Beautyberry grew a little every year





Over the years more and more grass was removed, native and adapted plants went in under the oak canopy and the existing liriope border was moved to encompass the new sections. I wanted the footprint of the ash to become part of the woodland garden too, but the ground needed to mellow. The area where the tree had been was covered in mulch, given periodic deep watering during the long hot summer and left alone.


Our garden day was set for late September - a better time to remake a bed & transplant liriope.  We had mulch & compost ready along with a small pile of free rocks and a few plants in containers. Enough rain fell overnight to soften the ground - a good thing - but would the day be dry enough to work outside?

The table was set - some storebought flowers joined  'Julia Child' roses and dwarf Greek myrtle cut from the garden.




A friend shared a favorite recipe for a breakfast strata made with Italian bread, spinach, shallots, eggs and Swiss cheese ... but before she'd turn over the recipe she made me promise to buy shallots, no cheating by substituting onions! I'd made a zucchini- currant bread to go with the egg dish.  I used one of my grandmother's bowls to hold pineapple & grapes and another one for strawberries.
 

It was still dripping and drizzly when the Divas of the Dirt began to arrive but we no longer cared whether the weather would cooperate... this happens quite often! Once the Divas of the Dirt begin laughing and talking, the project fades in importance and just sharing time together becomes our main goal. The new recipe worked out perfectly (Thanks, Ruth! ) and we enjoyed our breakfast.



Suddenly Mindy said - look! the Sun is coming out! Let's see what we can get done. The original woodland garden looked pretty good.



Soon the hose was used to define a newer, more expansive woodland bed and the liriope border was on the move again. Liriope is not native but I have a lot of the clumping type that doesn't run but is easily dug, moved and divided. This plant can live through record cold, record drought, record flood and record heat, as long as it has some shade. Using one kind of plant to edge all beds in the shady parts of the yard adds that necessary element of repetition to the overall design. The liriope border makes it clear that the new section is part of the woodland garden.

   

Already growing under the oak canopy were white Fragrant Mistflower, a purple Aster, a flourishing Turkscap/Malvaviscus in bloom and this dark blue perennial Plumbago



In pots ready to plant were some red Salvia greggii, a red & white-flowering Salvia 'Hot Lips' and a struggling Barbados Cherry. The Divas added compost and added the plants but avoided digging near the oak roots. They transplanted an unhappy Texas Palmetto from another part of the garden and divided some purple aster to bloom on the opposite side of the oak. They used the rocks we'd collected to slow down the flow of water when we had a thunderstorm. We do not want to stop the area from draining, but sudden storms tend to run off without helping the trees and garden. We want to give any rain a chance to soak in instead of run off.

My friends also neatened the central bed and the parkway - digging out some kind of weed tree that had seeded in the middle of a Rock Rose colony.

I forgot to snap a photo of our lunch - some of it homemade and some of it storebought. I made Pimiento cheese with Pequilo peppers, picked up Rotisserie Chicken salad from HEB, along with a salad box of baby Greens, cut up tomatoes and made an Avocado dressing with Greek yogurt. We sipped Hibiscus tea and coffee, and for dessert had a choice of Key lime bars and/or Chocolate layer cake with Chocolate frosting. What a fun day!

The new section of the woodland garden is a few months old now - not yet established but promising to be lovely some day.


This was not the first failure of an Arizona Ash in our yard - after I wrote a song about losing the first one in 2007 it was made into a semi-comic video. Semi-comic because we do like our trees and we're sad, even when it's time for one to go.




Posted by Annie in Austin/Diva Glinda