Living Fence Update

The living fence is really filled out now. I've still not trimmed them.

Living fence

Roses all blooming despite the Rose Rosetta

Living fence blocking the view of road

Pick Knockouts all in bloom

Spanish lavender is so beautiful this year.

Blooms Today

Every spring when the iris bloom, it's like seeing old friends...
Spin-off. 

Moonlit Water
Everyone should have a least one
iris tucked in the garden.

Large beautiful yellow - have lost the name
of this one.

Heirloom iris clump growing by the road is
quickly multiplying. 

The Texas Mission Almond tree is producing
fruit this year!

The living fence, Elaeagnus, is still coming along...
patience in the garden! 

BEFORE photo of the Elaeagnus shrubs

First One

The first iris to bloom - Footloose. The Elaeagnus leaves have all
turned a beautiful silver color.

Living Fence Coming Along and Iris

The living fence is slowly coming along.
I can't decide whether to shape into a
box hedge or leave them bushy.

Before photo

Spin-off, an Heirloom, and Footloose iris

I thought I had killed this beauty - Moonlit Water.
She is alive and well.

These iris are in the rose bed.

The Iris Are Back

I just love this time of year - everything is new and
green. In Texas when June arrives, everything begins to
look a bit raggedy and stressed. The silvery bush to the
 left is one of the remaining Elaeagnus, in front,  that
survived the drought in 2011. It seems to be
doing well now. I did plant it a little bit to close to the
Pink Knockout rose, which is to the right. I planted
the dark purple iris last summer in front of the
Red Knockout roses. I planted the Heirloom iris on our
embankment last summer as well and they have really
multiplied!

Heirloom iris on embankment.

Sky Spirit iris just bloomed this morning.
This one is in the backyard. Behind it is
another Elaeagnus that was almost
dead in the Summer of 2011. I
moved some of them to the back for
tender loving care and now they look great. The
red "schoolhouse" birdhouse is now
home to what I believe are Eastern Bluebirds.
They are a beautiful blue with orange bellies.

I also moved some of the Footloose iris to the front.
I think they look great by these rocks. This
is usually the first iris to bloom in my garden
and is very prolific and looks stunning planted
alongside tall white iris. I bought this
several years ago from Schreiner's Iris Gardens online.
They are based in Oregon.

Here they are in my previous garden. I brought
the white with me, but haven't seen them this year so far.

Rethinking Living Fence

Well - I've lost nearly all the "living fence" shrubs due to the extreme drought here in Texas. I thought when I planted the Elaeagnus that they could survive without much rain. I guess high temperatures and no rainfall were more than they could take. I noticed around town that the large established ones are dead also. Now, what to replace them with - maybe privet? This blog was suppose to be about transformation - little did I know that the transformation was not forthcoming. But as a gardener there is hope. Maybe the transformation will be - but not this year. 

Living In A Geodesic Dome

I moved the Crimson pygmy dwarf barberry that was in the
 front flower bed to the back yard.
 I decided I would rather have
Drift roses in that bed.

Today's bounty. The tomato on the right
 is the Black Krim.

I moved the Purple Oxalis from the front
flower bed, which gets mostly sun (I thought
putting it in the back of the flower bed under the
crepe myrtle tree would shade it) to the shade garden
in the back yard.

Miss Muffett Caladium with the Purple Oxalis behind it.

I moved Golden Prize daylily to the front yard. You
can also see how the living fence of Elaeagnus shrubs
is progressing. The two Natchez Crepe Myrtles
have not bloomed yet.

I have photos of the outside of the "dome", so I thought maybe
you might be curious as to the inside. This shot is of the upstairs
living area that has a massive skylight window in the
center of the ceiling.

It's somewhat of a challenge for hanging artwork
on the walls. Upstair the walls are
really domed so I solved this with
decorative easels.
Not all the walls are domed, so you do have some
flat wall spaces.

Looking up to the upstairs area from the main living area.

Downstairs living area with the massive fireplace.

Stone floor as you walk in the front door. Steps down
into main living area. Back of fireplace is on the left side
of picture.

Back of the fireplace. This is what you see
when coming in the front door.

Looking down from upstairs
toward the fireplace.

Skylight over the first floor living area.

Another shot of first floor skylight. 

Decorative woodwork over the window

Decorative woodwork over the windows.

Demise Of Compact Holly

This is a picture of Compact Holly Ilex crenata 'Compacta' that I took
in February. The bush on the right I dug up and put
in the back yard to try and nurse it back to life. It got a later start than the
one on the left.  See next photo.

This is a photo of it's demise. It still has some green on it, so
maybe it will come back with tender love and care.

Tiger Lily

I guess most people are bored by zinnias, but in 100 degree weather
these are the stars of my garden.

I like how they all have different forms.

I pinched the tops of the coleus and stuck them in potting soil to start some more. I had
previously done this - it took about 2 weeks for them to root. I want
to plant them in mass by the 'Firehouse' Nandina.