Spring Flowers

I have not been doing enough garden photography. Despite pessimism about Bluebonnets I’ve had quite a few. Of course a lot of the times when you hear rain forecasts you’ll hear “especially East of IH-35”. I think we’ve definitely seen a lot more rain than many parts of Austin.

Mealy Blue Sage with Red Yucca spikes in the background.

While my kids are getting older and less interested in hunting Easter Eggs, my old dog *has* discovered the fun of hunting Easter Eggs and I'm finding the ones she finds discarded around the yard.

Cutleaf Daisy. This came from planting Native American Seed's Shade Friendly Wildflower Mix.

The annual winecups are everywhere in my yard and I do not mind at all. Pictures do not do them justice.

Some pretty Larkspur.

Switch grass. I know most of y'all don't like it, but I do.

I planted a kitchen garden this year. I've got some onions going to seed.

In the front we have a yucca bloom spike surrounded by white mealy blue sage.

Fluffy Texas Bluegrass.

The remaining bluebonnets are fading. But you can see lots of Greg's Mistflower in the background getting ready for the hot summer months.

Plains Coreopsis? Beautiful in any case. You can see the bluebonnets going to seed in front.

And an amazing Retama in full flower.

P.S. I’ve still got 4 hogplum bushes growing. We’ll see, we’ll see…

Texas Hog Plum

We went on a New Year’s Day hike this year at Hornsby Bend. It was a nice hike, but I saw a tall bush I hadn’t really noticed before. I looked it up and it’s Colubrina texensis - Texas Snakewood or Texas Hog Plum.

Colubrina texensis

After all of our Loquat trees died in the great freeze I’ve been trying to restablish screening plants. I noticed that Texas Kidneywood is a good screening plant in Winter, even though it’s decidious. Its branches are so fine and interwoven that it provides pretty good screening. I noticed the Hog Plum has a similar habit.

I ordered some seeds off of Etsy. I’m still very amatuer when it comes to growing things from seeds. I think most of my success is just accidental. In any case I squealed the other night when I saw this. Julie came running to see what was going on.

Hog Plum Seedlings

Fingers crossed, we’ll be getting some new bushes this year, and I’ll have some to share!