Party lights are hung... where's the party?

My son and I purchased some party lights and  solar japanese lanterns from my all-time funnest and favorite-ist store ever (bulls eye logo) yesterday. Got them hung and they are shimmering beautifully tonight. Couldn't resist sharing. But where's the party? Y'all are welcome anytime!

My Louisiana iris is blooming... so pretty! Can you see the adorable solar dragonfly planted in the iris' pot? It cycles through different colors. In the pic below it is red.

Lilies are blooming!

I am so excited today... two buds from the Colorado water lily have opened up and have brightened my stock tank pond. LOVE THEM! Aren't they gorgeous?

The rest of my garden is really starting to flower now, too! Spring is such a wonderful time of the year for gardening. I've added quite a few new plants to this side of the yard. Going to the nursery in March and April I act like a kid in a candy store. So much to look at, not nearly enough space.

My lawn guys ripped out the last of the lawn on this side of the yard, so I was able to plant it up yesterday. I've added some shrubs (Photinia) and a few more roses, more salvias (LOVE those, such wonderful variety and heat loving!) and still need to plant a crepe myrtle. I never have a grand plan of what I want to plant where... I just buy why looks pretty and stick it in the ground. It's kinda a riot of color in late spring, not exactly soothing to the senses. But I love the variety and somehow, nature figures out how to make it all work visually.

My white iceberg roses planted two years ago are looking so healthy and loaded with buds. I moved them this winter and I'm SO happy that they not only weathered the move but are thriving in their new location along the fence line. I'll be posting more photos in a few days when they are blooming!

If you need me... you know where to find me! I'll be sitting in the purple chair enjoying a cold glass of lemonade!

Alone in the garden

It's Saturday afternoon and I'm all alone.


Hubby and son went off to the movies and I'm here alone with time on my hands. Took a wander through the garden and took some photos. Enjoy!

Colorado Water Lily in the stock tank pond

Hellebore - This plant is in my front yard, purchased from Home Depot about 5 years ago. I can't believe it's still going strong and survived the dry, hot summer last year. A must-have!

Pink Knock-Out rose

Double Knock-Out rose

Stock Tank Water Garden is in!

In between drizzle, rain, and fog, I've managed to purchased my stock tank and get it installed in the garden. I am SO excited.

Living in the hill country west of Austin means zero soil in the garden. OK, I might be exaggerating. I have 2". Then it's pure, solid limestone. How wonderful it would be to have a pond in the back yard, and to enjoy another element of gardening: water gardening! But here? In my backyard? Not gonna happen. 

I came across the idea of using a raised stock tank as a pond, or water garden (thanks again Pam Penick), and I knew I had to have one. No digging! What a perfect solution for practical reasons... but how cool, different, and very Austin!

A few weeks ago, my son and I drove out to the McCoy's lumber store in Bee Cave and picked up a 6 foot diameter stock tank. My pick-up bed is, fortunately, 8' long... but only 4' wide. That was one scary drive home, what with 2' hanging out over the side of the truck. I had a movie playing in my head of it rolling out of the truck, down the highway, with cars swerving left and right trying to avoid it's oncoming path. Lest you think I didn't strap it down, I did. I don't think it could move an inch. Couldn't stop me from imagining pure and total mayhem behind me as I cruised down the highway.

Well, we made it home with no drama, thank goodness! Rolled it out of the truck, through the back gate and across the yard to it's reserved spot in the garden. Oh, and a tip for anyone thinking of rolling a tank across a back lawn... make sure you clean up any doggie doos first. Finding surprises on the side of the tank as it's 130 pound bulk is rolling towards you isn't pleasant!

Here are some pictures of the tank in position and getting filled with 394 gallons of water:

After visiting the nice people at Hill Country Water Gardens and purchasing some great water lilies and bog plants, I think it's all starting to take shape!

I'll post more on the great pond plants I got there! But for now: 

I am so excited for the weather to warm up so I can add some little mosquito fish to the pond... and of course for those lilies to start blooming. One of the plants already has two buds on it! oooohhh. Can't wait!!

One project down...

Yesterday was a big day for me as I finished my garden path!!

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were spent installing metal edging to define the path. By the way, I do not recommend trying to hold, shape, and hammer metal edging by yourself. It's quite difficult but isn't impossible. Just don't get your finger between the metal stake and the sledge hammer... it hurts and there will be blood.

 

Thursday I loaded up the kid and the dogs in the pickup and headed over to the rock/gravel yard. Driving over I was still wishy washy as to what material I wanted to use for the path. Hubby liked the decomposed granite (DG), I liked the pea gravel. 

Both materials had issues that I had read about online. The DG could get mushy and muddy when it rained, and could also wash away. We do have a slight slope to our backyard and I worried that it would end up washed down by the back gate if we had a good downpour. Also, I had read it tends to get tracked around as it sticks to shoes. No problem there as we remove our shoes to come into the house. It was pretty though, and looks very natural. I was leaning towards the gravel, but had read that it's difficult to walk on if installed too deep, and because it is round it cannot lock together and compact. Gravel also tends to get kicked onto lawns and into flower beds and it's difficult to push a wheelbarrow across. However, it would drain well and wouldn't wash away as easily.

OK... I made a decision. I would go with the decomposed granite. I needed one yard, but since the truck can only hold a half-ton, I decided to get a half yard and drive back the next day for the other half. 

Back home, I loaded up my first wheelbarrow full and noticed it was rather difficult to push across the lawn. Hmmm... suspicion confirmed, the tire needed air! Should've done that before I started. Push, push, push across the lawn. Dump load. Fill tire with air. Second load and whoosh, out went all the air again. Push, push, push across the lawn. Dump load. What the *#@%!!  Apparently, the tire was so badly dried and cracked, it just couldn't hold any air. Off to the big box store for a new wheel. 
Thanks to my handy son for replacing it for me! 

Alright, things are really starting to happen now. Since rain was forecast I wanted to get that first half yard spread out by the end of the day. Here it is:

I was starting to rethink the choice of  DG. I hadn't gotten to the compacting part yet, but the dogs were walking around with dirty orange feet. Not good. Overnight we had a good rain shower, and it made for muddy orange doggy feet. UGH.  Fortunately, I had to go back to the gravel yard anyway. Tried a different gravel yard and found a nice chipped limestone gravel. Perfect, as it will compact nicely because of the uneven edges. 

 

Two truckloads of gravel later and voila!

 

So that's one backyard project down... 

Progress is my middle name!

Drizzly day yesterday; rainy overnight; cool overcast day today... perfect conditions to grab a shovel and start my big re-landscape project! Can't wait to get started!

Flashback one year ago, February 2011:

Not exactly great conditions for gardening. 60 degrees today, clear skies and warm sunshine... Luv-erly.

OK, so two years ago I built my raised bed "potager" garden and had some issues (scorching sun and hungry bunnies) which caused me to re-think that area of the garden. Just as well it wasn't overly successful: ants and woodrot, yikes!

I felt bad that after all that hard work building those beds, they didn't last very long. However, launching a big sledge hammer to them was WAY fun! I'm feeling better already!

A "before" wide-shot from the back deck looking down to the back yard:

And today's progress:

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl... I think a perfect day to visit The Home Depot and get some edging to define the path and patio area for the bistro table. I've left an open area for my stock tank pond, so I might pick up some bags of sand to make it level.

Then to order the garden soil and gravel. I'm thinking pea gravel instead of crushed granite for the path. There's a slight slope down to the gate and I'm worried about run off and puddles. I so love the look of a gravel garden.

I went to The Natural Gardener nursery  two days ago and bought some pretty blue and white pansies to go in the flower boxes on the club house. I can't wait to get back there to buy some nice perennials for those back beds. And of course, I'll have to do some research and figure out which water lilies will be appropriate for this area... exciting! Any one have any good suggestions where I might go for those?

So much work to be done, I feel a little overwhelmed with the size of this project. Hubby just took off for four weeks for work. It's a great time to get this done, just kinda wishing I had the extra set of hands and strong back.
It's going to be slow progress.
I can do this.
Any progress is good, right?

Oh, and I even pruned the roses in the front yard! Phew!

And now my shower beckons!