Plants That Are True Drought Survivors

Last week Robin @ Getting Grounded posted her plant list of "drought survivors" and asked what plants survived in other people's gardens. Here's a summary of what did and did not survive this past summer in my garden. I've broken my lists down into three categories: what survived and thrived, what barely survived, and what did not survive. Let me remind you that I am in north central Texas, just south of Dallas, and that we had a hellacious long, hot, dry summer. I am hoping this is the worst summer I will ever witness; whatever made it through this year is a winner for sure!

What did survive and thrive:
Agaves ~ Yes, I guess they are primarily for hot, arid regions; they all did well this year. I've never grown them before, but Brenda @ Cozy Little House got me hooked when she gave me one in the spring when I visited her, and I added several to my collection as the summer wore on. They are all in pots, as I fear our winters will be too harsh, so they had the added luxury of being moved around the yard as the need arose. And I've babied them because they are all small and I'm unsure how to care for them.

Crepe Myrtles ~ They bloomed long and profusely; I think they actually enjoyed the summer!

Datura ~ My moonflowers tolerated the heat well and bloomed as well as they've ever bloomed, of course, I don't know if you can even kill these, they tend to be invasive anyway.

Duranta ~ This leggy, shrubby plant did well in a large pot sitting in direct sun all summer. I guess that means it's indestructable! It gave me lots of tiny purple blooms and is now showing off a multitude of golden "berries". I'll add more of these next year.

Hidden Lily Ginger ~ I got this late in the season from Ronnie @ My Sanctuary and kept it in a pot, so it had a little extra tlc and shade, but it grew and multiplied beyond my wildest dream. Because of this plant, I will be adding more gingers to the garden next year. Any suggestions as to which varieties anyone?

Hummingbird vine ~ I've never, ever had any problem growing them. This year was no exception. I sow them directly into the soil, then just water regularly and they never fail me. If you looked at them, you'd never known we had such a hot, dry summer. They are just now beginning to stop blooming.

Lantana ~ Does lantana ever die? I don't think so. Mine loved the heat and never failed to produce bright golden yellow flowers. This was also one of the same plants that flourished about 10 years ago when the grasshoppers were so bad.

Liriope ~ This is another plant that even the grasshoppers won't bother. It tolerates the heat and dry conditions well.

Mexican Petunias, tall variety ~ (okay, are these the same thing as Ruellia? I can't tell them apart, so these could be petunias or Ruellia) These must be cousins to the crepe myrtles, they, too seemed to love the heat. The hotter it got, the more intensely they bloomed. They are heavy drinkers, though and if I didn't water them twice a day, they'd be wilted over by mid afternoon.

Nandinas ~ I have older, established nandinas in the front and new, small ones in the back. In both locations, they showed no signs of stress, even with minimal watering.

Rosemary ~ Yes, it grew, it thrived, it loved the hot dry summer! I have seriously considered tearing out the boxwood hedges and planting large rosemary bushes!

Southern Wood fern ~ I got a tiny 4x4 pot at the beginning of summer, and it's quadrupled or more in size! It is lush and cool and doesn't look like it sat in the heat of a Texas summer. It stayed in the shade, but heck, down here, it's hot even in the shade! Next year I'll get several more of these! It was my first year to dabble with growing ferns; I had 3, and only 1 variety flourished, read on for reports on the other 2.


What did survive, but barely:
Autumn fern ~ First year to try this, and it just didn't do much. It sat in the pot looking unhappy, with brown around the edges of the leaves most of the summer. It's alive, but not very pretty.

Four O'clocks ~ They bloomed, but not as well as they usually do. I don't think their scent was as heavy as usual either, although I may not have been outside to enjoy it as much, either. Fewer blooms meant fewer seeds, so I hope they will come back from the roots.

Japanese Red Fern ~ No matter how shady it was, or how much water I gave it, the tips of the leaves appeared fried. It grew very little and barely hung on.

Lamb's Ear ~ The lower leaves seemed to melt into the hot soil. They dried out quickly and had to be watered twice daily during the intense heat. Since my lamb's ear is potted, I kept it in shade as much as possible, too.

Lavender ~ It's in a pot so that it get proper drainage, so I could move it about as necessary. It didn't grow a lot, but I guess the fact that it hung on might qualify it to be moved to the "thrived" category, since I usually kill lavender the first year I have it. I think it is just allergic to me!

Mint ~ My spearmint hung on, but it just couldn't get enough water to make it happy.

Petunia, old fashioned ~ My grandmother's old fashioned petunias began to fade fast when the heat got intense. Now that fall is here, they are perking up again, but the heat of the summer was a difficult time for them.

Plumbago ~ This did okay in a pot in full sun on the patio, but not as well as last year. I can tell that the heat took it's toll because it didn't bloom nearly as well as last year, and if I didn't give it a drink twice daily, it wilted terribly.


What didn't survive:
Artemesia ~ It looked good in early spring, then almost overnight died and melted into the hot, dry Texas soil.

Hollyhocks ~ They looked promising in spring, but once the weather heated up and dried out, they were goners. I will replant next year, and I'll give them a bit of shade.

Moonflower vine ~ It simply vanished. It was transplanted, brought home, and replanted, so it was stressed to begin with. It was doing okay, then it just *poof* and was gone. A true garden mystery; I may have to try again next year, as they are so pretty when they bloom.

Salsa Jasmine ~ To be fair, it was a tiny plant, and we all know they just don't tolerate harsh conditions the way larger, established plants do. Maybe next year I'll start with a larger plant.

Snapdragons ~ For the first time in my life, I lost snapdragons! I thought they were indestructible. No matter how much water I gave them, they shriveled and died. Next year I will give them a spot with a little shade.

Yarrow ~ Same as the artemesia, bloomed and looked great in spring. It died so quickly I couldn't even find traces of it in the flower bed; it literally disappeared. I will plant more, this is the first time I've ever had yarrow to die, and I think it was just this freaky hot summer.

After reading over this post, I feel better about my garden. Once I see it in print, I think I didn't have as bad a year as I'd thought previously. I did have several plants that thrived, even though I lost more plants than I usually do. I'll just plant more "thrivers" next year!
I'm interested in hearing your list of survivors! Leave me a comment or point me towards your blog post.

Tea and Chocolate

Two of my favorite things! Why didn't I ever think of trying them together? I just did and I love it! Whenever I'm sick, my body seems to crave things, and I tend to give in to the cravings. While I was sick with the flu last week, I couldn't get enough to drink. On one trip to the kitchen, I stood at the pantry trying to decide whether I wanted some of my favorite Mexican hot chocolate, Abuelita (by Nestle) or a nice hot cup of my favorite chai (Celestial Seasonings is one of my favs). My feverish brain told me to try them together!

I turned on my electric tea kettle to heat the water, then in a small pot I combined one chopped triangle of Abuelita (it comes in chunky discs that are scored into about 8 triangles) along with a couple of chai tea bags. When the water was boiling, I poured it into the pot and let it steep. When I removed the tea bags and stirred the concoction, I was left with a heavenly, albeit murky brew!

Another lesson learned: don't be afraid to try new things! You are often rewarded with a wonderful new treat.

I'm feeling better now, and I can't help but think maybe it was the magical combination of tea and chocolate! I had to laugh out loud to myself this morning when I read a comment Robin (Getting Grounded) left me on Twitter that said "Nurture yourself with lots of tea and chocolate". That is exactly what I did!
Thanks to all my blogging, twittering, and facebooking friends who sent me well wishes. I am now feeling much better. I'm still running a low grade fever, but hopefully it will break soon and I'll be good as new! At least while I've been laid up with the flu, I've been able to catch up on my blog reading; I was 300+ posts behind! OK, I'm off to read more blogs...

Rain and Other Things

Since the rain began Thursday night, our official rainfall has been 5.71" (as of 4pm Sunday). And it is still coming down in nice light showers. We now know for sure that we have no potential flooding problems; everything is draining nicely, thank goodness!
We've spent the better part of the weekend watching it rain. I know, we lead exciting lives, don't we! Don't be jealous, some day your life will be this exciting, too! The air is cool and refreshing, no air conditioning needed. We've had the front door open, the full glass storm door provides an unobstructed to the west, and the double french doors from the garden room look out to the east.
Between showers, I tiptoe out to peek at my plants, just to see how they are faring in all this rain. This morning, this is what greeted me when I stepped out the front door...Yes, those are my Oxblood Lilys! I guess they decided to arrive "fashionably late" this year. They are welcome, even late!
Here's what they'll look like in full bloom.Thanks to Miles for this photo, these are his oxbloods currently blooming down in Mexia.
I, personally could sit and watch it rain like this for weeks, but the little ones are getting bored and want outside badly. Remember the box Grammy sent the Naked Ladies in? This is what it looks like now, thanks to Chili.Not too bad, you're thinking? Well, look at the big picture.It's not like he doesn't have toys, either. Aunt Angie at Madam Zelda's sent him this beautiful sock monkey action figure (we don't dare call it a d-o-l-l) two weeks ago. Here's what it looks like now.Little Chili loves his sock monkey! He's loved it's face off already, along with an arm and a leg and an ear. Little boy is just hard on his toys, what can I say!
Well, I see the showers are starting up again, I'm going to grab a glass of iced latte and watch it rain a little longer! I hope it's raining where you are...
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By the way, I can never decide how to spell Lily. I looked it up several places on the internet and apparently it can be spelled lily, lilly, and lillie. So if you see it spelled all different ways, even within one of my posts, rest assured, all spellings are considered correct!

Just In Time

Today is my Mama's birthday; she would have been 87! Always, for as long as I can remember, the oxblood lilys bloomed on her birthday. Like clockwork, they'd pop up a few days prior to this and by September 11, they'd be blooming. All week, every morning I'd go to the front door and see if there were any signs of them. There were not.By Wednesday, I was feeling sad, knowing there wouldn't be any lilys blooming on Mama's birthday. But when I went to the door to look for the oxblood lilys which weren't there, this is what I saw...I opened the box and you'll never believe what was inside... bulbs! Not just any bulbs either, but lilys! Grammy at The Empty Nester had sent me a box of Naked Ladies Lily bulbs, and they arrived just in time for my Mama's birthday! Thanks Grammy, you can never know how wonderful it was to find lilys at my door that morning! I'm going outside to plant them as soon as I finish this post, so next year when they bloom, I'll be thinking of Grammy and my Mama. I love it when plants have wonderful memories attached to them. This is what they'll look like; I borrowed on of the photos Grammy posted earlier in August when her Naked Ladies were blooming...I searched to find a few new photos of Mama that I hadn't already posted, and came up with a few. This one is Mama with her sister Rosie, taken in the early 1940's.A more recent photo, and one of my favorites is this photo of my parents in the 1990's in front of the wisteria Daddy planted. This was a great year for wisteria, and Daddy could always make them flourish!
I took an old photo of Mama and colorized it. Her eyes were a pretty shade of china blue, so I tried to capture the color here.Remember all those old photos that the photographers hand tinted? (well, maybe not, unless you are over 50) That's the look I was going for. She didn't sign her name, simply "Lots of Love", and I can't think of any phrase that fit my Mama quite as well as "lots of love", because she was full of love! Happy Birthday Mama, I love you and I miss you!

Swapping Plants

My friend Ronnie (My Sanctuary at 210 Stewart) and her daughter Kathryn visited me this weekend! I hadn't seen Ronnie since I retired two years ago, so the visit was a real treat. We keep in touch via emails, facebook, and our blogs, but we don't see each other in person much. Thanks to the internet, friendships can be kept alive that way, isn't it wonderful?
Ronnie and Kathryn didn't come empty handed, either. They brought a trunk full of plants! Here's a photo of all the goodies she brought me:She brought lots of herbs, different aloes, and all sorts of other plants. Some I'm familiar with, some are new to me. All are welcomed. To borrow from Will Rogers (sorta) "I never met a plant I didn't like."
My beloved helped empty out Ronnie's trunk, then helped load it back with goodies from my garden. Funny thing, as many plants as we both have, there are still lots we see in each others' gardens that we don't have. We are working to correct that!
After Ronnie and Kathryn left, I went outside to water my new plants and see exactly what all she'd left for me. It was like Christmas morning! Aside from the larger pots of plants, there was a box full of cups containing new plants! There was another box full of tiny plants and cuttings! True to her organized ways, Ronnie even labeled everything (almost) for me. Some had the names written on the side of the pot, some had markers inside the plant, and some even had their names written right on the leaves! Leave it to Ronnie to think of that! And look at the neat way she packaged the small cuttings:She went to the trouble to wrap each cutting or tiny plant in a wet coffee filter, then cinch it together with a twist tie! Good job Ronnie, I appreciate the trouble you went to!
I got all the babies potted up this morning, and I didn't even waste the coffee filters, I repurposed them, putting them in the bottom of the pots, to keep the soil from washing out the bottom of the pots!
There were two plants that either didn't get labeled, or the label was lost. I was unwrapping and unboxing plants wildly, so I may have accidentally lost the marker. If anyone can identify either of these plants, drop me a line, please!
This evening, since it was cool enough, I sat on the patio sipping a glass of wine admiring my new plants and trying to decide just where to plant each one. Hey Ronnie, wanna come back over and help me plant?????????

Construction Continues

The construction project here at the Alamo is in full swing. The 2 new sets of french doors are in; they open my den/garden room up onto the patio. Here's a photo of them and the new patio cover from the yard. The patio cover was a spur of the moment addition. I told my carpenter Paco that I'd eventually like to cover the patio, and he said he could do it now, while adding the doors. The cost was minimal, so I decided to add it now. It's just a simple wooden frame topped with dark gray panels of corrugated polycarbonate. They are very similar to the fiberglass panels I'd planned on using. The polycarbonate is much thinner and lighter, and lets in more light than fiberglass. I'd never heard of it, but decided to give it a try; it's inexpensive, so if I find it doesn't block enough sun, I can always have it reroofed with fiberglass.
I couldn't have imagined the view I'd get when the doors went in! Here is the view from inside the garden room looking out. I couldn't be more pleased, this is a perfect place to sit and read, enjoying my garden when it's too hot to be outside.
While I'm thrilled to have a beautiful view, I think I'm even more thrilled to have *LIGHT* pouring in! My living room is surrounded by rooms, with no view to the outside, so it is extremely dark, even in midday. I jokingly called it the bat cave; well, no more! Here's the view from the living room now:I can sit in my favorite chair in the living room now and see the back yard. Before the view out the living room door was mostly wall, with just a hint of yard peeking through the one window and small glass in the previous door.
Of course, as with all projects here at the Alamo, this remodel has to pass inspection. As you can see, two of my inspectors are busy on the project right now. So far the job has received two paws up. They seem to enjoy the view every bit as much as I do, and when they are outside waiting to come back in, I can see them and go open the door. I'm finding though, that early mornings I tend to throw the doors open and leave them that way until about ten o'clock or so, when the sun gets higher in the sky and the a/c starts kicking on. Then we all come inside, close the doors, and sit in the (unfinished) garden room and enjoy the view.
Hopefully we'll get the paint, trim, and tiles down soon and have a complete project to show off!

Out With the Old, In With the New

The buzz word around here lately has been "doors". We've been replacing exterior doors. Those of you who know me understand why this has taken so much time. I am the queen of indecision, so it took me months of thumbing through brochures, googling, and photoshopping before I found just what I wanted. I knew this cracked wooden front door had to go, I just wasn't sure what style of door to replace it with. Remember I posted several photos I'd altered with photoshop to get an idea of what they'd actually look like and asked for everyone's input?
After 2 months of waiting while the door was ordered, then returned and reordered because it arrived with the wrong trim and threshold, it's finally here...I am loving the way the light floods into the entry! In the afternoon, there are hundreds of jewels of light dancing on the tile, and it's thrilling to see after living in the dark for so long. All I lack now is deciding whether to paint or stain the trim and adding a new rug in the entry. Oh, man, more decisions...
Completing the front door project gave me a little boost of confidence, so I decided to go ahead and tackle the back door project. Ever since we moved into this home (two years ago), I've been wanting to turn this dark little den/library into my own little garden room. As you can see, there isn't much of a view right now, and it's awfully dark. Originally, this little room was a covered porch that ran the length of the patio. The former owners closed it in and made a bonus room out of it. Too bad the walled it up instead of installing more doors or windows, because it looks out into the back yard. I've wanted to open it up so that during the heat of the summer and the cold of the winter, I could still enjoy the garden. Finally I got up the courage to begin the project. I decided on 2 sets of french doors side by side; that will give me 12' of unobstructed view outside! The doors I decided on have blinds between the glass, so the blinds won't bother the kitties and will hopefullybe easier to keep clean.
Yesterday I hired the contractor, and he's hopefully going to get started by the first part of next week. Wish him luck, I'm not the most patient person to work for! Now all I have to do is move a few things out of the room and a few plants off of the patio, and it'll be ready for construction to start!
Here's a final look at the patio before construction begins. You know me, I can't resist a chance to play around with photoshop, so here's my rendition of what I hope the back patio will resemble once the doors are in place!I can't wait, I'm sooooooo excited!