austin wildflower

This beautiful plant was one of the first plantings I made in my garden, along the pathway to the back garden and I can't remember its name.

I thought originally it was some kind of skullcap because I didn't know anything about plants when I bought it, but its behavior is almost identical to Texas red sage (Salvia coccinea) so I'm thinking that I planted a variety of red sage called "Coral Nymph'. Both can get quite rangy by the end of the summer, are the same height (1 1/2 to 2 feet) and have similar leaves and both like growing in the same dappled shade conditions. I thought that Salvia coccinea was more of a tender perennial treated like an annual here but this pink sage is almost four years old and has been green in winter.

Nearly every summer we pack down the house and leave for a month or two to visit friends and family abroad. Packing down the garden is becoming more and more of a challenge. I'd love to meet other fellow travelers with Texas gardens--to figure out how they manage to keep it surviving during the brutal summer months. The larger my garden grows, the harder this task becomes. It's not just the waning vegetables or annuals that need tending but even the larger "sustainable" places of my garden.

It might be too soon to say this, it being just early August and we have two more months of hot (i.e., 90s-100s) to go, but I am already able to see what of my new plants and garden are worth trying again, what needs to be moved, and what I would never plant again.

Viola 'Etain', a perennial viola in some climates, died during our three-week stay in Europe. Partially because a friend accidentally turned off the drip system in this area, but I have a feeling it would have needed daily watering anyway. I loved how much these bloomed in spring and even through the early days of June, but they do need water. I think I will pass on these again (although they have a beautiful fragrance, if you can find them!).

Time magazine did a special this week on organic gardening and my favorite local nursery, Natural Gardener. The article and video concerns the trends that are happening in the younger generation with gardening, as a part of a "New Frugality" series. This was the place that really inspired me to garden. More than just a nursery, it's a wonderful place to spend a morning with coffee in hand. There are a number of display gardens and it really shows off what one can do in the Hill Country near Austin with its rocky limestone soils and wizened junipers.

April is gorgeous and sad at the same time. Gorgeous in that all the spring flowers are in operatic bloom, sad in that they are at the moment right before they decline. Every moment in the garden is precious in that way--at any day's notice, this momentary show will start to look seedy, weedy and making way for the summer heat. My poppies are stretching for light now that all the trees have filled in so I am trying to at least capture them on film as much as I can.

The sweet peas will be the first to go in the heat; most of them are already riddled with powdery mildew...