PLANNING A GARDEN....THE STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE OF

I love planning the garden each year.

The winners,

the losers,

deciding on what to keep,

and what to never EVER try again.

Are you excited when you plan your garden?

I wonder how many other gardeners are like me....I keep ALL my plant tags.

To plan a garden, I divide the tags into three categories:

PLANTS that I should KEEP or enthusiastically try again,

PLANTS I should perhaps try again ONE MORE TIME,

and

LOSERS! (I'll bet we all have a stack of losers)

Next I go through all the garden photos from the past Spring and early Summer.

This is always such a pleasant activity on a winter's day.

I look for parts of the garden I REALLY like and that don't need any changes at all.

If you're like me, you're never completely happy, but 99% happy will do! LOL

Then I start looking through my photo files for 'WHOA, WHAT IS THAT PLANT'

images from other gardens we've visited.

This is a Homestead verbena from the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas.

It doesn't DIE or get powdery mildew. It's the stuff dreams are made of.

After finding some WHOA plants, I start looking for some WOW garden ideas.

I have lots of agaves, but what I like about these from Castroville, Texas is the

step down pattern of largest in the back flowing down to the smallest in the front.

I need to redo my agaves to make them FLOW like this nice planting at the Alsatian Inn.

 

Finally, I pretend to be Simon*, the former judge on American Idol and look for the problems in my garden schemes.

The plants in the front of the wall have a nice pattern and they carry a theme, whereas the plants behind the wall need some changes. Also, the pottery is distracting so it has to go.

This is a better use of pottery and a pleasant display.

*****

So what's next?

Today I'm dividing my winner and loser tags.

I'll share my plans for the winners in my next post along with

a down-sized color scheme. I'm very excited about these tags and finding these plants at the local nurseries.

In the meantime, enjoy dreaming about your garden!

David/:0)

Salvias....are in my winner's stack!

 

*Would you like to see the ULTIMATE UNDERDOG shock Simon?

One of the most heartwarming moments I've ever seen on a video!

The lesson: Don't judge a book by its cover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7knUFWY2P44

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



IMAGINE IF EVERY HOME CAME WITH A 500 GALLON AQUARIUM & HOW THIS IS LIKE GARDENING

Imagine that instead of non-gardeners being forced to have a garden with their home, they were forced to have 500 gallon aquariums! What would they do?

Would they let all the aquarium fish die?

No grass here...all the fish have died.

Or would they keep it simple & beautiful, but with no fish swimming about?

A new home in our neighborhood...imagine the flowers that could grow here!

Would anyone ever think of getting rid of the fish and filling the aquarium with concrete?

When this person was caught selling cars from his home,
he made a hasty retreat.
It's still for sale.  

Perhaps the people would learn to love the little fish and add their own personal touches to the aquarium.

A beautiful little garden with some great landscaping styles
found here in my neighborhood.

And then there's the case where the new owner takes all the real fish and replaces them with mechanical look alikes. They swim and act like the real fish, but inside are just robots. The living plants that were once in the aquarium are all replaced with plastic and they too have little machines that make them sway with the current.  The new perfect aquarium costs $30,000 and for this, you never have to feed the little fish again!

Some non-gardeners are looking into synthetic lawns due to the drought.
Here's an example of one in our area. Indeed, the non-gardener has a beautiful, perfect lawn all year long!
Syn-lawns are guaranteed for 8 years. Many roofs are guaranteed for 20 and even 30 years!
Though perfect, I worry about the earthworms underneath and about replacing worn out syn-lawns.
Where do you put the old one?
By the way, I love the house, but the syn-lawn has me bewildered.

Yes, that 500 gallon aquarium could contain only water and that would be fine with some people!

The new 25th street Row House project. Minimalist gardening at its finest.
Buy hey, at least the earthworms have a chance to reach the surface.
Plus, the grass they've selected is native to the area and will have awesome blooms this Autumn. Still, must it be monoculture?

 It reminds me of the works of Donald Judd and his famous art out in Marfa, Texas.

And you can click here to see that they are very cool inside.

So what's the point of showing you all these bold new moves by non-gardeners trying to maintain lawns and gardens?

Rock rose is crawling over the fence to meet you.
 (Photo from my garden)

Believe or not, your non-gardening neighbors notice your garden.

They may even start to ask you questions.

Korean grass can take heat and humidity and feel and look ultra cool.
 (Photo of my garden)

You might introduce them to new ideas and 

show them how easy it is to grow native plants.

My newest little fish for the aquarium ~ Coreopsis 'Route 66'

You might even walk across the street and give them some of your plants.

I'm greatly influenced by the superb garden blogs I read and so are others.
The yellow flowers are a gift from a blogging friend.

We weren't born with garden trowels in our hands (at least some of us weren't) and somewhere along the way someone very nice taught us how to garden. They lead by example.

Maybe it's our turn to do the same. 

It's an exciting time for our neighbors to start gardening. Never have there been so many plants, so many garden styles, and so many garden blogs to help the beginner! I'm glad you are part of it! :0)

*****

On a personal note,

today or tomorrow will mark the 99,999th pageview for my little garden blog here along the Texas Gulf Coast. When the counter turns to one hundred thousand I think I will faint with joy. I really can't believe it.

And it's all because of you.

Thank you for taking the time to visit Tropical Texana!

Happy Gardening,

David/:0)

~ My Xeric Garden ~