Doing My Rock Garden

This used to be my old fish pond. I filled it in many years ago after a snake ate my fish and the liner cracked. Since then it's been nothing in particular, but it still has the old rock border around it which was concreted in. I've grown tomatoes, watermelons, and weeds in it. It is highly visible from inside the house, and I was tired of it looking like crap, so last year I started a concentrated effort to make it look nice.

It gets full sun ALL day long. The soil holds water well, but "normal" plantings still have a tendency to wilt every afternoon in the summertime because of the intensity of the high-summer radiant heat, so I am doing it all in desert rock garden type materials.

Back when it was a fish pond:

2000

2004

 

2016 (home to a tomato plant): 

Black Cherry herloom tomatoes - prolific and delicious!

 2020 (even the cosmos fried last year):

2021 (so far, and granted it's been raining like crazy):

'Moonshine' yarrow

 

Purple Ice Plant

'Robinson' Crab Apple & Collards

'Robinson' Crab Apple blooming tonight.  It's beautiful!

This is last year's collards blooming, hee hee...!!

Asparagus starting to make an appearance over the weekend...

And lastly, strawberries starting to show some new growth!

Passion Vine

Passion vine were particularly beautiful this year! This was a gift from one of my nursery customers, and I didn't think it would be hardy here in Lubbock so I planted it in a protected space by my front door but it has handled the our Lubbock winters just fine!

Click HERE to learn about the symbolism of the passion vine!

Crabapples

I planted five crabapple trees last February to attract pollinators.  Four of them are blooming right now, and the fifth is setting buds.

'Royalty'

Dark pink blooms, purple foliage 

 'Robinson'

Light pink, almost lavender blooms; green foliage with blush on new growth

 'Prairie Fire'

Hot pink blooms, green foliage with blush to new growth

'Profusion'

Pink blooms, green foliage with blush to new growth

Other pictures from around the yard today...

 'Chanticleer' Pear

Heavy blooming ornamental pear with red to purple fall foliage

 'Lynwood Gold' Forsythia

A little past bloom, but still beautiful!

Part of the little stone path I built around the pear tree with larkspur to the right, nandina in the back, oregano and red yucca in the foreground.  This is where the dogs turn around while making laps around the yard, so I finally decided to build the path to try to protect the soil and the larkspur growing beneath.

Also, there are little tiny peaches that have set.  The biggest ones are only about a quarter of an inch, but if we can avoid a late freeze, we'll have peaches for the first time in three years!!! 

A Weed by Any Other Name

My bird seed has gone to the weeds.

The birds in my yard always shoot bird seed all over the place when they are eating, and some of it always goes to seed.  At least this year I got something sort of nice out of it!

I don't care if it's a weed - I like it.

(The not-so-glamorous view.  Yes, I've been mowing around it.  Busted.)

Alternative view:  Points of interest can be found in the most unexpected places!

Crape Myrtles

Crape myrtles come in a variety of colors and sizes to add punch to your summer landscape.  Below is a standard 'Natchez' crape myrtle from my landscape that was planted about three years ago from a five gallon from Sparkman's Nursery.

White bloom on the 'Natchez' crape myrtle

Hot pink bloom of the 'Carolina Beauty' standard pink crape myrtle.

Standard crape myrtles will typically grow 12' to 15' in our area.  Also available are the Indian series crape myrtles (8' to 10' tall), dwarf crapes (4' to 6' tall), and weeping crape myrtles (15" to 18").  All are available in shades of pink, lavender, and white.  The taller varieties can be pruned up into a tree form or can be allowed to grow unpruned as a large bush.

Crape myrtle in the background with 'Cabaret' miscanthus grass, rosemary, and marigolds in the landscape.

  

Crape myrtles exhibit an interesting characteristic called exfoliating bark which can be seen below.  This is healthy and natural for the plant and will add layers of texture and interest as your crape myrtles mature.

Exfoliating bark on a crape myrtle trunk.

Crape myrtles are deciduous which means they lose their leaves in winter, and they will typically give you some yellow, orange, and purple fall color in autumn.

 

Red Yucca

You're probably starting to notice the unique blooms of the red yucca all over town.  Scientifically named Hesperaloe parvifolia, red yucca provides easy color in the landscape. 

Grown primarily for it's tall, pink showy blooms, the foliage is evergreen and does provide some interesting texture year round.  Once established, it doesn't require much care.  Enjoy the summer color, and then remove the bloom spikes once they are spent.

Irony

In a world of uncertainty, you can rely on certain steadfast truths such as the following:  Mother Nature will shoot you the bird.  On a regular basis.  As with this marigold growing by my front door.

'Gold Flame' Honeysuckle

My 'Gold Flame' honeysuckle is in full bloom right now, and it is georgeous!!

Honeysuckle is a super, easy-to-grow ornamental vine for our area.  The 'Gold Flame' variety has salmon pink blooms with a yellow throat.  Also available in the garden centers right now is the 'Coral' variety which has bright orange blooms (I always thought the names on these two were the opposite of what they should be!) and 'Halls' honeysuckle which has fragrant white and yellow blooms.  'Halls' honeysuckle is probably the one you remember "tasting" when you were a kid!

Close-up of a 'Gold Flame' honeysuckle bloom.

All of the honeysuckle varieties can be grown as a ground cover or on a trellis or topiary.  It will twine up just about anything, but it won't stick to your fence or wall.  Once estabilished, honeysuckle doesn't need much water, but it does require vigilant pruning as it can rapidlly overtake an area of your landscape. For that reason, I prefer to grow mine on a free-standing iron topiary my mom gave me for my birthday a few years ago.

Topiared honeysuckle covered with blooms.

Honeysuckle prefers full sun but is tolerant of some shade.  It blooms most heavily in early spring and will continue to bloom sporadically through the summer.

A word of warning:  I did manage to kill some of mine several years ago by overwatering it.  My nursery customers at the time were amazed by this because killing honeysuckle is hard to do!  If overwatered, it can develop powdery mildew (it looks like white baby powder on the leaves), and if you still keep watering it (which I did!), it will die.  Other than that, you'll have an easy time with it and enjoy the blooms (and fragrance of the 'Halls') for most of the growing season.

Birthday Flowers from Wortham

Thought you might like to see how pretty my birthday flowers are!