tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9980702559998396142012-02-16T02:36:24.108-08:00Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.comBlogger1341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-28349703613494119572011-06-07T15:54:00.000-07:002011-06-07T16:05:29.196-07:00

Bark, bark, bark! No, it’s not the baying of the yellow lab in the morning. It’s the pile of wood at the foot of every sycamore in town. The bumper crop of wood shavings is everywhere. I wondered if it might be drought related, but the experts apparently don’t know much about why some trees shed their bark or why some years they shed more than others. Meanwhile the bark-exfoliation phenomenon is

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-50102899628256626412011-06-04T13:19:00.000-07:002011-06-05T17:01:24.582-07:00

I hope you did. Only thunder here. Still all plants in the new backyard are doing okay with one exception. The spireas had some kind of die-off, where they dropped their leaves, but they appear to be coming back. The Berkeley Sedge is not dead, but it’s also not doing anything. It was the one plant I had no experience with; it was recommended by a landscaper as a great groundcover for dry shade.

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-78519887422632872172011-04-23T09:50:00.000-07:002011-04-23T10:57:58.638-07:00

When Zeke came to live with me in January 2010, I can't say the backyard was in great shape. I had kind of let it go au naturel. Except for a Knockout Red and a mutabilis rose, I've really never done much back there, preferring to focus my attention on the immediate area surrounding my deck where I spend most of my waking hours.Zeke and the drought wreaked such havoc on the lawn that it had

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-67664343362590223782010-06-12T12:03:00.000-07:002010-06-13T20:50:24.346-07:00

What makes a gardener and why do some people make a garden and others not? When I walk around my neighborhood I admire the diversity of gardens and how variously people use their outdoor spaces. The ones that are most curious are the yards where no one has planted anything. It’s hard to imagine how this could occur over a 40-year span, the age of most Brentwood/Crestview homes. But you do see the

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-61633896617674100882010-06-12T11:47:00.001-07:002010-06-12T12:02:09.702-07:00

She may not look like much but she’s got two buds on her left and right canes, which since she’s only been in her spot less than a month, is very impressive. She comes from the Antique Rose Emporium in San Antonio and was chosen because the authorities say she tolerates a lot of shade and will still bloom. She is now queen of the remote side yard/gravel bed. Meanwhile Reve D’Or in blazing sun has

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-90807242731401530702010-06-02T18:40:00.000-07:002010-06-02T19:13:21.460-07:00

Are gray plants the bomb? Yes, they are and here’s why. They impart Visual Cool to our hot landscape and they totally rock the green-blues of agaves, opuntia ellisana, (thornless prickly pear), and yucca.In this picture from left are powis artemisia, Russian sage (with purple blooms), culinary sage, and bottom left, salvia apiana or white sage, and almost hidden, a santolina, which really needs

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-21752427075394139792010-05-31T16:07:00.001-07:002010-05-31T16:26:55.146-07:00

These shrubby trees are one of my favorites when their white or purple blossom sprays kick off the beginning of summer. They are heavily planted along I-35 due to their sturdy constitutions. Up close vitex foliage looks like marijuana, a pentagram of pointed leaves which have a spicy camphor/lavender smell when crushed. Also called chasteberry; due to its leaves once being thought to have

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-7816894013949734082010-05-28T06:23:00.001-07:002010-05-28T06:41:04.269-07:00

Just the other day I noticed this on my walk. It’s quite remarkable, a rosemary bush clipped into a pretty damn perfect armadillo. I was surprised that I never seen this before since it’s on one of my regular walking routes. Thanks to Google’s street view cam I found that the topiary is in fact fairly recent. I hope to one day encounter the artist who created this tribute to our city's talismanic

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Mimosa: watermelon agua fresca, peachy baseHoneysuckle: warm and syrupy, with rosy top notesDesert Willow: complex, both sweet and astringent, lime and roses, with a pungent pinto bean baseRosemary: patchouli with a lemon finishNew wood fence: sweet and spicy, plus a splash of bourbon

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Okay, let’s review: if a frond is brown it’s not going to resurrect itself. Cut off all the dead stuff and let the heart send out some new shoots. It’ll look better and we can all get some relief from the fugly brown crap. Thanks. While you’re waiting for your sago palm to reboot, read Oliver Sack’s Island of the Color Blind, in which, among other things, he ruminates on his lifelong fascination

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-31962358012310737302010-04-24T15:41:00.000-07:002010-04-24T16:12:22.558-07:00

I am besotted with the performance of the roses this spring. Everywhere on my walks in Brentwood/Crestview the climbers and shrub roses are just wallpapered with blossoms. The iceberg roses in my front bed are so weighted with buds that I had to stake them today as they were sagging and in danger of collapse. A wonderful problem to have.This is a new rose I planted in a spot where previously a

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-78955231237088428022010-04-16T15:58:00.000-07:002010-04-16T16:38:16.297-07:00

The notion of seeing blossoms from a window is an Ur-cottage desire that in reality is practically impossible to attain. But for a few weeks purple fills this window thanks to a mountain laurel.Fortunately you cannot see from this same window the desolation which is the front lawn. Today I broadcast 5 lbs. of La Prima XD Bermudagrass seed on this spot. On the other side of the sidewalk, also a

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-13123379927228441022010-04-14T16:28:00.000-07:002010-04-14T16:39:52.073-07:00

In the Texas tradition of plunking one’s baby down in a field of bluebonnets for a photo op, I took my two babies on a roadtrip in search of a classic Texas landscape. While Zeke is a year old, in lab years this still qualifies as drooling infancy and since he’s only been in my care for two months, he definitely needed his Baby in Bluebonnets photo. Rachel of course will always be my baby no

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-23809563163223484782010-04-04T18:09:00.000-07:002010-04-05T16:49:52.997-07:00

I think that I will never seeA vine as lovely as theeWho climbs without inflicting doomOn masonry or marble tombOr even cheapo wooden fenceResistent to every pestilenceEach spring your royal flushOf flowers comes without a rushOf any kind of care or costly feedingJust abundance and homespun breedingThat on a trellis does so easily shineYour leaves hang down and twineA happy waterfall of

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-71189311862068927942010-04-04T14:03:00.001-07:002010-04-04T15:16:05.818-07:00

Arundo Donax Banned from sale by the USDA as a noxious weed, Arundo Donax (like any self-respecting outlaw, this plant has other coloful monikers such as Giant Reed and Carrizo Cane) can be seen growing in ditches throughout the US. And like most criminals, Donax has some redeeming qualities; it's used in making bagpipe reeds, fishing poles, and baskets. I took some rhizomes from a drainage ditch

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-68734613847673706252010-01-07T18:25:00.000-08:002010-01-08T06:19:00.232-08:00

There’s a 20’ x 10’ strip where the grass is completely dead in my front yard between sidewalk and driveway. I don’t want to replace with new turf. It’s in total shade under a mammoth liveoak. So I’m thinking maybe large pavers with monkey grass in the spaces. I think this is something I could pull off, if not totally by myself, with some labor assistance. I’ve found a mail-order resource that

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-73386265689440314522010-01-07T10:29:00.000-08:002010-01-07T10:32:40.884-08:00

Really? In this wind? I don't think so.

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-34147752620700127832009-12-28T11:42:00.000-08:002009-12-28T12:33:55.264-08:00

Of the many food-related things to love about December (constant stream of desserts in the office breakroom, having to “use up” leftover eggnog as a coffee creamer) none can compare with the onset of grapefruit season. Texans take this treasure for granted since we enjoy low prices (3/$1 sometimes!) due to our proximity to the Valley. I have met many a Northerner who professes to hate grapefruit,

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-73816264643569710192009-12-24T18:32:00.000-08:002009-12-26T11:26:34.345-08:00

Surely there was never a plant so aptly named. I have waited two years for Justicia brandegeana to flower and for some reason only during the last month has it finally got up a head of steam. So assuming that the freeze will kill it off, I spent the last warm afternoon attempting to paint this complicated bloom. This particular variety even has whiskers like a shrimp. I have several terracotta

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-626355575067828952009-12-23T15:11:00.000-08:002009-12-25T11:20:09.175-08:00

“It is only to the gardener that time is a friend, giving each year more than he steals.”Beverley Nichols, Merry Hall Just finished this famed garden memoir by Beverley Nichols, which falls on many people’s lists of favorite garden books of all time. This Zelig-like writer flitted in and out of politics, celebrity, and journalism during pre/postwar Great Britain, and somehow found time and money

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Fascinating story by the always-readable NYT science writer Natalie Angier on the consciousness of plants yesterday. As an unrecalcitrant meat-eater who can't understand this reductio ad absurdism of what to eat and not eat (how about air? can we eat air?), it just confirms my own suspicions that plants can and do scream when under attack by Woman-With-Shears or the hungry caterpillar. Some of

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-3525802271684193212009-11-29T15:46:00.000-08:002009-11-29T16:33:58.274-08:00

(Photograph by Francois Halard)Past madness here.

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-35695309599870711902009-10-05T03:02:00.000-07:002009-10-05T03:22:27.900-07:00

The before and after pictures of the great lawn in Zilker Park after this weekend’s ACL Festival here. The folks at Bermuda Tifway 419, the grass that was relentlessly flogged in on-air mentions leading up to and during the ACL Festival probably won’t be including this in their follow-up PR. Let’s hope the turf’s advertised “quick recovery from injury” is true.

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-3384962909063300612009-09-23T08:56:00.000-07:002009-09-23T09:04:24.308-07:00

10. It gives me carte blanche to use lower back pain as an excuse not to go on the charity Fun Run that ties up traffic in the center of town for hours and that people invite me to every weekend.9. I can construct to-scale dragons, unicorns, and gryphons out of the thousands of little plastic I.D. sticks that come in bedding plants and sell them for huge profits at the Dungeons and Dragons

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Richard Felber

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-72556129029854535302009-08-16T18:46:00.001-07:002009-08-17T04:21:11.103-07:00

No need to go into details. Melissa at Xanthan has the deets if you care to explore the minutiae of our aberrant heat phenom.But something weird always takes hold of me about this time in summer. A sort of crazed defiance. I know that October will come and it will be a gift. The heat will break and we will be in the midst of a beautiful world. I look forward to that, knowing that there will be

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-15731399827856383852009-07-20T15:56:00.000-07:002009-07-20T15:58:48.231-07:00

That little gray spot in the middle of Texas would be Travis County.

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-67219375935555063042009-07-15T20:10:00.000-07:002009-07-15T20:22:45.958-07:00

In my yard. The wafting is coming from here and there, presumably from small critters or birds. This heat is the killing kind. This is the hottest July in recorded history. Cool front this weekend will bring temps of 98. I was so worried about Brugmansia Charles Grimaldi this winter; but he is more threatened by summer heat. He looks like the character crawling across the cartoon desert. No

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-11817413999853687282009-07-12T11:24:00.000-07:002009-07-12T11:57:14.084-07:00

Rosa Caliente StrangulataLoquatus Burnus CrispisAgapanthus ScorchianaCrinum TostaditaRosa "Hot Mess"

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I didn’t plant it. Presumably it’s courtesy of some birdshit, because I've actually planted seed heads in the yard that failed to germinate. It’s growing in the driveway in 4 inches of gravel on top of 30 years of compacted substrate. I must carefully maneuver around it, which I consider a privilege given the fact that it brightens my every day with its relentless cheer. I've never watered it.

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Oleanders Growing outside her doorSoon they’re gonna be in bloom up in AnnandaleI can’t stand herDoing what she did beforeLiving like a gypsy queen in a fairy taleMy Old SchoolSteely DanWell, at my back door, the oleander has yet to bloom. It’s only a foot tall, propagated 2 years ago from a cutting taken near my house. On my way to San Antonio yesterday, I saw that despite the disease that

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Poor horseherb (Calyptocarpus vialis). It's gotten bad rap. Some consider it an invasive pest. You have seen it often, one of those weeds that, if you live in Austin, is ever present on the periphery, popping up in St. Augustine lawns or clinging to the driveway, an afterthought, like the variety of moss rose (portulaca) that grows out of the cracks in the sidewalk pavement. Yet its miniaturized

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Garden-ville is looking for a “fearless” woman in Austin, to call on landscapers and soil yards. The position worth 50 - 65K plus, includes a car allowance and all health benefits, matching 401K etc. Chuck ButlerSales and Marketing ManagerGarden-Ville / Texas Organic ProductsP 210-483-1933C 210-710-4169

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Does it get any sappier than the twining vine on the front porch? No, it doesn't. I have achieved my holy-grail gardening esthetic of the Little Cottage down the Lane. It struck me recently that this star jasmine is in EXACTLY the same spot as the star jasmine on my mother's house: front left corner. Possibly creepy or just that it happened to be the best spot. Poor Aurora Primavera has been

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Wow. In Austin, these have been possibly the two most beautiful days on Planet Earth. Here's an image of crossvine (Bignonia capreolata Dragon Lady). It's a two-tone version of the more common orange—I’m never sure if I like it...I've been traveling to San Antonio lately and stop in at a wonderful nursery there on Blanco Road that has a great edit of plants and much cheaper prices than Austin. I

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-91346027063072804422009-03-07T20:12:00.000-08:002009-03-08T13:54:28.255-07:00

This pile cost me $75. That was what I paid to have someone blow all the accumulated leaves from last spring and fall’s historic oak drop (following on the crazy wet summer of ’07 which now seems a dream) into my back-of-the-shed dump. And now of course, it’s starting all over again. I swept this corner yesterday and this morning a new pile has accumulated. Live oaks. Yes, indeedy.Doing my part

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Four Views of the Mopac Bridge in WinterCAUTION: WEATHER NERD DATA AHEAD!Okay, if, like me, you’ve been swooning over the recent pitty-pat of raindrops like a 14-year old with a crush, prepare to come down hard. There was less than a half an inch in my rain gauge--how about you?Doesn’t matter, because it is in no way enough. For Austin-Camp Mabry, rainfall of 16.07 inches was the 4th driest year

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In case you missed it in the Spaceman, the news ain't good.

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Laguna Gloria in winterGarden Bloggers Bloom Day has come and gone at Aurora with little to report beyond stunted roses. Austin’s protracted drought dovetails unavoidably with the economic meltdown in fostering doomy regret about the orgiastic spending on plants I’ve undertaken in my two years here at this garden. And even xeriscape plants seem a little like Marie Antoinette’s cake at this point

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Is anyone else living in City of Austin as dissappointed as I am about the single-stream recycling monstrosity? This thing must weigh 25lbs EMPTY. I know for a fact my 91-year old neighbor Bertha is not going to be dragging this to the curb anytime soon (despite her impressive exploits with the concrete birdbath). Once the dumpster is full of its every-other-week pile of stuff, who knows what the

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-56054168213491835452008-12-29T09:57:00.000-08:002008-12-29T11:06:43.570-08:00

I need your help, garden bloggers. I would like to put in a pond/water feature/fountain, and I can't wait for my usual 10 years of mulling. Here's my current backyard plan. I spend a lot of time on my deck and would like to be able to see/hear the trickle from the deck. I've thought about a pre-fab Italianate lion head mounted on the wall above the rosebed or a stock tank pond along the hardscape

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Yeah, that would be Windy. And frankly, I always thought that Windy, as commemorated in song by The Association, had a dark side to her apparent nonstop ecstasy. There were definite implications of a Crazy Lady thing going on. A little too frenetic and happy, know what I mean? This infernal wind has the same general tone of borderline personality disorder. Oh, it seems benign, but it gets a

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Having a little beach withdrawal, aggravated by having to actually dress "professionally" for a client meeting today. Rough after three days of basically living in pajamas. A little gouache from this weekend at Port Aransas that conveys the late November mix of ocean, dunes, and wild brush. And a Toyota Camry.

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We made our annual pilgrimage to Port Aransas to celebrate Thanksgiving. Lots of food, pies, wine, scrabble, long walks, and shelling. We had a bonfire/hootenanny on one of the cool nights. The dunes at Port Aransas are looking taller and healthier than I've ever seen them. The vegetation is something to behold especially in the fall. The grass seedtops turn silver, red, and chestnut. Mimosa

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-62532672423644291582008-11-24T20:02:00.000-08:002008-11-24T20:15:00.417-08:00

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-757769637583034152008-11-16T13:06:00.000-08:002008-11-16T13:29:33.170-08:00

After seeing the magnificent Pindo Palm at Peckerwood Garden last week, I came back determined to plant one at Aurora. Shoalcreek Nursery had some really healthy looking specimens, so doing my part to keep the economy from sinking I sank my own $40 into this plant last weekend. It took me a week to mull over where it might best be situated. This spot gets full blast-furnace sun during midday, and

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Another bloom day arrives at Aurora with nothing much to add to the sum of gardening splendor. The Iceberg roses in front are blooming but the petals are wrenched from their stems about an hour after opening by this crazy wind and then strewn about the yard like styrofoam peanuts. The white plumbago is pretty; but the four plants all take turns flowering, so there is never a mass display which is

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-62898848036111982802008-11-07T18:23:00.000-08:002008-11-08T09:33:56.722-08:00

The "hallway" at Peckerwood(A creek is on the left)A bunch of Austin bloggeners took a field trip today to Peckerwood, architect and plant collector, John Fairey's, life work in Hempstead. Thanks to Diana at Sharing Nature's Garden for pulling this together. Peckerwood is more of an arboretum really, since trees, or really, oaks are the star of this acreage. Oaks and more oaks, in varieties quite

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-51137558652773536312008-11-01T18:37:00.000-07:002008-11-01T18:58:27.328-07:00

Sounds prettier in Spanish does’t it? Well, this about says it all, in whatever language. It was a year ago at the end of October when I planted the front bed. And now looking back, I can see we were already in the beginning of this drought. Whatevs. Like a bad economy, the weather is something out of our control and history tells us, it’ll swing around at some point. On the plus side, there are

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-29892871492159237042008-10-26T17:46:00.000-07:002008-10-26T18:10:42.734-07:00

Under the Apple Tree Visited daughter Grace in Boston last week and went apple-picking. Whenever I go to a more temperate climate, I always wonder why I even bother gardening. The soil, the rainfall, the temperate growing season all make me depressed about my efforts in this heat-blasted rockpile we call home. We picked Empires and Courtlands on a gorgeous day. Rock wall at Arnold Arboretum,

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-80553422646296345852008-10-09T21:25:00.000-07:002008-10-09T21:29:49.835-07:00

Have been so taken with headline news, have no energy to garden.Posted on daughter Rachel's blog. It's way off-topic, so don't read if you are avoiding any exposure to sentient thought, or reality, or the uncertain future.

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-4134375500948970772008-10-05T10:19:00.000-07:002008-10-05T11:06:54.082-07:00

Bougainvillea Barbara KarstToday robins arrived en masse. They act like a bunch of fat-cat conventioneers that all got off the tour bus at Aurora to chill at the lobby bar birdbath. It's fun to see them swaggering around in their red vests. They are remarkably tame and pay no attention to me while I'm puttering in their midst.In the front yard, a red menace. I got caught by a stealth bomber, an

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-51708934685896302542008-09-14T12:18:00.000-07:002008-09-14T13:20:09.553-07:00

Knockout Rose : A+Showed great resiliency in the face of high temps and drought. Blooms continued, though they were drained of their true color by the heat. Go to the head of the class.Plumbago: AI only have the white flower kind and it did well, despite a tendency to go chlorotic. This could be due to the fact that they are in terrible soil and in day-long brutal sun near the street. I recently

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-58486376802520722912008-09-03T05:36:00.001-07:002008-09-03T05:47:44.047-07:00

This is what passes for bravery at Aurora: I've planted Charles Grimaldi in the ground. Check back in seven months to see whether he lives through our "winter."

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-85465051030225455922008-08-23T06:40:00.001-07:002008-08-23T10:20:55.576-07:00

Zephyranthes candidaThat's the extent of today's bible quote. Let's turn instead to the modern poet, Sam Beam of Iron & Wine instead.All the more a pair of underwater pearlsThan the oak tree and its resurrection fernUnderwater pearls. Resurrection. All these things come to mind when beholding the overnight appearance of rain lilies, one of the garden's most welcome miracles.And all from a mere 1/

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87 degrees out. Practically a cold front. I've been piling decaying leaves in giant piles on all my baby shrubs (with the terrifying words of Scott Ogden echoing in my mind, "gardeners on calcareous soil must always bear in mind the admonition: to watch and do nothing to cover exposed bare earth constitutes an unforgivable sin." The problem with this unforgivable sin thing is that the application

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-25871316961102148472008-08-16T18:48:00.001-07:002008-08-16T18:49:24.633-07:00

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-80326727952992079282008-08-15T07:52:00.000-07:002008-08-15T07:57:45.038-07:00

Lance Armstrong has bad water karma. First he was accused of fouling a pristine swimming hole when he dammed up a creek on his Hill Country ranch. Now he’s been outed on the front page of the American Statesman as being the city’s biggest residential water user. Give the guy a break. It’s hardly news that the rich have the biggest water bills. In the global sense, we Americans are all scaled

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-83860898445184963152008-08-11T18:37:00.000-07:002008-08-11T19:06:03.345-07:00

Normally I leave work and head to Deep Eddy to swim. It's better than two martinis, for flushing away work stress. Today I came home and fed everything. Lisa, a neighbor with a phantasmagoric garden (and apparently the last remaining gardener without a blog) came by walking her dogs and said supportive things about my miserable front bed, which frankly looks like an abandoned drive-in movie

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To acknowledge the current intense heat, I thought to post a heat poem. Couldn't come up with one.  And now I'm reflecting why there is not a lot of edifying art born out the experience of extreme temperatures. Off the top of my head, all I can come up with is the crossing the desert episode in the Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence. The best nature poets seem to confine themselves to

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-57916305903779830732008-08-06T06:18:00.000-07:002008-08-06T07:24:51.404-07:00

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-33448494154368656142008-08-03T07:29:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:27.807-08:00

For the past few months something has been rooting in the soil of one of my loquat trees which are planted in giant terra cotta pots. I placed chunks of spiky driftwood in the planter, thinking this might discourage the perpetrator. This morning, to my horror, I see that a critter has stripped chunks of bark from the trunk of the loquat, and then proceeded to gnaw on the inner pith!WTF!!!!I

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-68148755653567768442008-08-02T10:11:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:28.143-08:00

With our heatwave in full force, I do most garden work either before 9 a.m. or after 8 p.m. due to potential heat stroke. (Note: one of the signs of heat stroke is nausea. Or that sick-to-your-stomach feeling could also be the result of getting your water bill.) In the morning that means enjoying two bloomers that are that rare thing in our gardens: a true blue. The little dayflower (a

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-47302040050642621832008-07-29T20:26:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:28.383-08:00

Lovely border with Yellow Bells, not my own.Pam's post over at Digging about the pink variety of the standard flame-red Turk's Cap, reminded me that what I would dearly love is a cultivar of Tecoma Stans that is snowy white. I can't find any such thing on the internet and have not seen one in the nurseries. But I can dream and if you are a plant developer, please hear my plea.Yellow Bells are

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-10234601417594804942008-07-24T20:33:00.000-07:002008-07-24T20:35:26.556-07:00

One half inch of rain in the gauge when I came home today. It ain't great, but it ain't bad.

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-63327725004686973612008-07-20T08:54:00.001-07:002008-12-12T20:17:28.707-08:00

There’s been a lot of press in Austin lately about the fate of Muny, a golf course located adjacent to Lady Bird Lake on land owned by the UT but leased to the city. Muny is an old course with short distances (hence walkable, vs. requiring a golf cart) and much favored by beginners and low-key golfers who enjoy its ramshackle charm. Its proximity to water and downtown have caught the attention of

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Daughter Rachel and I traveled west this past weekend eating chicken-fried steak in small towns for a work-related assignment and stayed at a little place on Cypress Creek in Comfort. We drank a couple of Sharkfins at the Hen House where a Toby Keith wannabe was playing and then staggered back to our place and swam in the moonlight while two different kinds of frogs were singing (and sounding a

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I won't be posting a bloom day this month; there's really nothing worth remarking upon. At this point in the summer, foliage is the name of the game and finding respite in the deep meditative greens of the shadelovers, liriopes, aspidistra and English ivy. One other joy is seeing my two tree-trained loquats finally getting their game on, five years after being transplanted as foot-tall babies

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-36854564540352534092008-07-02T17:06:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:30.059-08:00

Normal Austin rainfall by end of June: 17 inchesLast year's rainfall by end of June: 27 inchesThis year: 7 inchesOuch. In combination with more than 20 days of 100+ temperatures since May, this kind of climactic extremity is a crucible, burning through everything from leaves to my enthusiasm for gardening.Drought is a great teacher. Some things keel over, others do okay.So bravo to you: Turk's

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-44995731323032165862008-05-15T12:35:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:33.380-08:00

CosmosIceberg RoseRainbow KnockoutVerbenaPink IndigoRed KnockoutPavonia, under double siege from the dreaded bindweed and powdery mildewWhite Plumbago Blue Daze Evolvulus, which wintered over. And oddly, the color of its foliage, previously a gray green, has now turned yellow-green. I've fed it but still it looks chlorotic. But it's growing and seems lively.Confederate JasmineShrimp PlantCommon

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Grace and LilacsGrace sent me a picture of her most recent oil painting, a self-portrait with lilacs, though I think she just wanted to torture me with news that the lilacs are out everywhere in Providence. This is a total fragrance sensation I've never managed to catch on my trips to Little Rhody. Meanwhile on the Smellorama front, the Washington Post reported:NTT Communications announced it's

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-79238664496327391082008-05-12T17:16:00.001-07:002008-12-12T20:17:34.648-08:00

The DreamThe RealityI don't do vegetables. In the coming apocalypse, I'm screwed; forced to reckon with the many poisonous noncomestibles I've sunk into the ground. My neighbor forced upon me a tray of tomato seedlings that another neighbor, the fabulously vital 91-year old Bertha, had in turn, forced upon her. Apparently these poor seedlings have been making their way around Austin like a

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-19281029929725995562008-05-10T17:40:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:36.120-08:00

We just had an insane hailstorm. I was gathering up some marble size chunks on the deck for a photo op when all of sudden bricks started landing on the roof. The noise set off car alarms. This is our second hailstorm in two weeks; though the first was pea-sized and did no damage.I went out and took pictures and my neighbor was snapping some with his cellphone. His truck got hit. He kindly brought

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-65321090070663762122008-04-30T18:10:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:37.104-08:00

If Gertrude Jekyll were alive today, she’d be blogging like a maniac. Apart from her instructive writing on garden design and general horticulture, she loved the rabbit-hole digression on offbeat topics—she was the Ur-blogger on gardens. I looked to her diatribe on the naming of plant colors when I was trying to describe the Pink Indigo. Jekyll informs me that mauve is French for mallow. Of

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-22345234276193796842008-04-27T09:03:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:38.255-08:00

It’s always fun to look at before/afters to see what’s working. Some plants just overperform despite my inept care, some things are no brainers like cosmos seed, and then other well-laid plans inch along at their own pace driving me mad with impatience. New fence with crossvine newly planted, August 2007Crossvine filling in, April 2008Deck border where St. Augustine was growing, ripped up and

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-51521119126558269392008-04-20T18:51:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:38.523-08:00

An Iceberg boutonniereRachel came by last Sunday just as I was finishing a day of labor in the garden. She had come from a friend's house, with a gift of Moroccan mint. The mint was smuggled into the country from Morocco some years ago and they have been propagating and sharing this mint with friends ever since. It's very pungent. I looked at the pictures on Rachel's camera of the mint smugglers'

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-39299798875571216922008-04-12T14:22:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:39.071-08:00

Effusive Fuschia It's nice that being identified as a gardener, friends and family give you garden gifts. After a year of missed connections, an old friend finally visited my house for the first time Thursday and came bearing a large hanging basket holding a fuschia plant. It's quite serendipitous, as I've had an empty bracket hanger on the front porch since I've moved in. Voila, empty hook

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I no sooner got the last of the liveoak leaves swept up (the pile is as big as a 57 Chevy, thank God it's hidden behind garden shed) than the fuzzy caterpillar things have now descended like a plague.But I'm not complaining. The pink, white, and rose cosmos are nodding among their lacy foliage. This evening I was sitting on the deck, knocking back a vodka tonic and admiring the fingernail moon,

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-11016195479153283242008-04-06T18:17:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:17:40.431-08:00

So much of Tom Spencer's talk about gardens has stayed with me today. The notion of a "gathering in" and careful observation in particular. A friend gave me this sign, which is both a physical truth and a metaphorical one. I'm pretty much always in my garden, whether in actual reality or when lying awake at night thinking about where on my little plot I could manage to plant an allee of Sky

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Looking north, on the lawn of the David/Peese residence.A huge bouquet of fragrant and billowing thank yous to Pam, Melissa, Diana, and Bonnie for all their hard work in organizing the first Garden Bloggers Spring Fling. It was fun to read Pam's post about the first night’s conversation over enchiladas at Matt’s. I have to say that my table quickly devolved from dirt and HTML, to how we have

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-85157710166619748582008-03-15T13:17:00.001-07:002008-12-12T20:17:41.840-08:00

Starting a new garden is really testing my patience. Not much is really going on here at Aurora with the exception of the Neverending Cycle of the Liveoak Leaf Drop. Can I just say how much I loathe liveoaks? I know this is not a popular opinion, but as a yard tree they bite. There are few things that will grow beneath their canopy (aspidistras, liriope, indian hawthorne, blue shade; I think that

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A vine has turned up in my front bed. It’s really pretty so I hope it has some staying power. It’s very delicate; somewhat like cypress vine with pinnate leaves and twining antennae that are as slender as sewing thread. The cerise blossom looks like a sweet pea but is the size of a grain of rice. It’s just as sweet as can be, once you get down on the ground with a magnifying glass and can

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This weekend I went for a long overdue visit to my sister and her husband at their home, a cattle ranch outside of Encinal, 4o miles north of Laredo. When you are traveling at 70 miles an hour on I-35, this countryside looks bleak and featureless. But when you are on foot, walking through it, you see why many people come to develop an attachment for this land. Its beauty is intricate, elusive,

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-44845329508271805462008-03-04T15:34:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:45.549-08:00

Layanee’s post at Ledge and Garden about her father inspired me to write about my own gardening mentor. Barely five feet, my mother Betty McLaren had a personality as big as her adopted Texas. A native New Zealander, Betty came to the US to marry her Navy sweetheart (my dad) in 1946. They soon moved to Texas where Betty dug herself in, literally, creating elaborate gardens at every home we

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That's the name of this OPI nail color and nothing says “spring planting” like this color mixed with a little dirt and set off by oxalis. In the front bed, which is still pretty quiet, the gray germanders and sages yet to break out, I put blackfoot daisy and white nemesia fruticans, both perennials that should withstand the blast furnace placement next to the street. In memory of my mother who

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Recipe for House Beautiful: Place stalks of bush honeysuckle in a vase. Deploy on a table. Beauty and fragrance imbued throughout house for week+.I was happy to discover that my potted parsley has survived the winter. Most of today I spent in stoop labor thinning and transplanting cosmos seedlings. And heaving 40-lb bags of soil and mulch into and out of shopping carts and cars. Have taken 3

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The rain gauge says exactly one-half inch fell here at Aurora which is disappointing after what seemed like nonstop rain all day yesterday, including some heavy downpours. Today I went to the Vale house to dig up some liriope plugs, since it’s always much easier to dig these after a rain.I was trying to come up with something different to frame the rose bed, but in the end I’ve fallen back into

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-30966019769699364092008-02-11T17:28:00.002-08:002008-12-12T20:17:49.124-08:00

Daughter Rachel and I returned from our week in Los Cabos and I think we both agree it has been a hard landing. After seven days of sun, the glittering Pacific, nonstop whale watching, and doting waitstaff (otro pina colada, senora?), we are both less than charmed to be returning to day labor.I took a bazillion garden photos to inspire. Since Baja California is a desert, there is lots to take

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-79146228884974709642008-02-02T13:31:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:49.388-08:00

Sadly there is no scratch’n’sniff plug-in on the Internet. So you cannot smell the winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima). It’s almost a rose scent and intensely powerful rather than evanescent like so many flowers. When you stick your nose in a blossom, the fragrance comes up big and doesn’t quit. The shrub is straggly in an old-fashioned way and the flowers themselves are so tiny they don

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-90249341608608292962008-01-30T18:46:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:49.529-08:00

This photo comes from the Sunshine Gardens site. The woman in the center of the picture is not me, but it could be. Surrounded by a plethora of choices, her entire vision consumed with baby plants bristling with ID sticks that scream for her attention, this woman pauses, stunned by indecision and no doubt ruminating on past tomato crop failures and crushed dreams of seasonal color. . . yes, that

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-8048750267677495002008-01-11T21:30:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:49.974-08:00

Very old Washington palms with shaggy beards and elephant-hide trunks soldier on in many places in the inner city, near campus, and older neighborhoods and evoke Austin's quieter, slower past.The palms on the I-35 west frontage road between 26th and 35th streets at the site of the old Villa Capri hotel just keep on keeping on. The motel is long demolished, a victim of UT's inexorable expansion,

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-66622710722525229812008-01-10T18:38:00.001-08:002008-12-12T20:17:50.313-08:00

On my way back from dropping Grace off at the airport, I stopped at Callaghan’s to roam the aisles and contemplate their wonderful agriculture and garden supplies. What is about a galvanized metal tub that is so appealing? Galvanized metal looks good new and shiny and even better when it’s old and patina-ed. I don’t need any more tubs, watering cans, or buckets, but I sure love to behold them and

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-1066698727989476692008-01-09T16:19:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:50.728-08:00

One of my favorite times of the day is around 7am when I go out to pick up the newspaper and kill aphids. To spot these villains requires careful scrutiny at point-blank range, since aphids are tiny and often the same color as the plant. Crushing them between thumb and index finger is easy, fast, and requires no tools or poison. In the pink light of sunrise, the act of closely inspecting buds for

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-63706861983045809302008-01-02T17:52:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:51.037-08:00

Those of us who were in Austin during the early 80s remember it as a time when: Friends and acquaintances went bankrupt due to the exigencies of crashing real estate prices The pipes froze and the pittosporums diedWhenever the weatherman/woman starts jabbering about the three Ps, I always groan. It’s a “boy who cried wolf” thing. Terrifying homeowners about false fears, only leads to

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-89325530847989958842007-12-30T15:51:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:51.772-08:00

This morning jonesing for some garden action, I swung by Shoal Creek Nursery and Lowes to see if there was anything interesting or inspiring. SCN had some bluebonnet bedding plants which I briefly considered for the front. But I’ve had such heartbreak with bloobs in the past and let’s face it, they belong in a meadow not an urban border.At Lowes I bought four more Rainbow Knockouts for the

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-20815688664035622572007-12-27T10:03:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:52.508-08:00

Can’t remember a winter with more bouts of howling winds. I’ve no sooner raked up the leaves in the street gutter and dumped them on the compost, when the entire contents of a neighbor’s red oak or sycamore tree has been blown onto my curb again.Not complaining, mind you. More leaves for mulching, etc. Plus, daughter Grace, home on holidays from Providence, RI, showed me the pix she took right

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-76356360525330904332007-12-19T18:28:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:52.780-08:00

This morning before dashing off to work I took this happy little snap of one of the rosebushes I bought in Luling that were supposedly Knockouts. Neither the leaf nor the bloom color look like the standard KR. The KR website lists a variety called Rainbow Knock Out Rose that “covers itself with coral pink blooms painted with rich yellow at the base.” Maybe that’s what these are. They’re throwing

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-64209504438189336652007-12-19T17:59:00.001-08:002008-12-12T20:17:52.822-08:00

One of the side benefits of gardening is coming into regular and intimate contact with the insect world. Pam at Digging has mentioned the recent influx of ladybugs in our neighborhood. In my yard, this was a passing flux. More enduring has been the presence of Gasteracantha Elipsoides, or the Spineybacked Orbweaver, the spider that has established its tiny but ornate empire in several corners of

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-72969524256915267712007-12-18T18:55:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:53.304-08:00

Pam at Digging was kind enough to point out that my Comments function had disappeared. It made me realize how fragile this electronic blog was; dependent upon my nonexistent html skills and haphazard blogspot support. I turned back to my hardcopy journal wherein I paste plant sticks, sketch plans, and add random notes of freezes, drought, personal data. I still keep this notebook, which is messy,

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-998070255999839614.post-34943281187548188332007-12-17T19:00:00.000-08:002008-12-12T20:17:53.451-08:00

Yes, they were overplanted in years past. It’s true they’re subject to unsightly mildew. And my own patio has been the victim of the purple shit-astrophe that occurs every spring when packs of cedar waxwings descend on their berries. Most grievously, many consider them an invasive scourge.But when the holidays come around, ligustrum is the best freebie decorating resource around. Their bay-leaf

Libby at Aurora Primaverahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15762964051049823160noreply@blogger.com1