Bloom Day : March 2012

All of my favorite gardening blogs participate in "bloom day" on the 15th of each month showing off the fruits (or rather flowers) of their labor. This is my first time to participate. Boy do I have quite a bit blooming after the recent rains. :)

pineapple sage 

not a true bloom, but the crape myrtles are about to pop!

evil, evil spiderwort buds....

you can tell from the leaves that i mow this stuff down all the time... 

the dianthus i planted, let die, never water, yet still comes back year after year

salvia greggii

verbena 

mexican bush sage coming back nicely

love, love, LOVE my hot lips salvia :)

white salvia greggii with my primrose jasmine in the background

some form of salvia i have never planted that randomly appeared between some bricks in the front 

the salvias i DID plan in the front :)

i think my redbud may be dying one limb at a time, so i need all the bloom pictures of it i can

Good Pinterest vs. Bad Pinterest

Inspiration #1 - GOOD

via

I thought this shirt was super cute and decided to try my hand at beading. I looked a little over the directions but improved it a bit. I used glass pearl beads, contrary to the instructions not too heavy, and while I did read the first few instructions, I decided that I didn't like how they attached the beads. In mine, I ran the thread in between the layers of the neck so that it is invisible sewing. Took about an hour maybe(?). The result was pretty awesome. :)

shirt bought for $6 at the Gap at Christmas, glass beads bought for 50% off at Hobby Lobby

i like that the pearls detract from the fact that i have no make up on :)

Inspiration #2 - BAD

via

I actually chose to follow the directions on this, and despite the fact that the picture makes these yogurt dots look just so precious, they were anything but. I dumped some Yoplait Harvest Peach yogurt into a plastic sandwich bag, cut off the corner like when applying frosting, and made little dots on some freezer paper. An hour later I had this:

Aw! Cute, just like in the blog... Only problem? As soon as you take them out of the freezer they start melting. IMMEDIATELY. Thick, soupy mess. Not the cute, genius idea I thought it was. Bummer. :(

I ♥ Hill Country Water Gardens & Nursery

O       M       G

Today, after having lived less that 5 miles away for 3 years, I visited Hill Country Water Gardens & Nursery for the first time. I have always assumed they only dealt in aquatic plants (as the name might suggest), but upon arrival I was excited to find 1) my Mexican Bush Sage - the subject of my quest, 2) a fairly extensive selection of Texas natives - trees, bushes, perennials, and annuals alike, including a bicolor sage that I rarely come across, 3) beautiful fountains whose sounds make your experience very relaxing, and 4) a HUGE selection of pottery and yard/garden art! 

Don't buy big box.... So much of their stuff is mislabeled and not in the greatest shape when you buy it anyhow. So much of their stuff doesn't do well in Texas to begin with, definitely not with our current climate. 

Find a local nursery you can fall in love with. I've always been a walking advertisement for the Natural Gardener and Barton Springs Nursery, but I am so pumped to find a great one in my own neighborhood! Like Natural Gardener, HCWG&N has free Saturday classes plus events throughout the year, like Night at the Ponds with local wine tasting and live music. 

This Saturday is their Gardeners Gala which features a huge plant sale just in time for prime planting season, live music, and demonstrations. 

SHOP LOCAL! SHOP FROM PEOPLE WHO KNOW WHAT THE HECK THEY ARE SELLING! SHOP AT A PLACE WITH AN ATMOSPHERE!

Spring Break: In the beginning...

countertop celery update

farmer's market scrambled eggs - the yolks were the same color as my midget oranges

there's a DATE on this stuff?????? whoops...

one of three stacks of my beloved Oprah's going to recycling that I whittled down to just the dog-eared pages 

pictures do not do my closet justice for how clean and roomy it is now!

vertically folded my tshirts in the closet drawers just like on Pinterest - it DOES make it easier to find shirts!

playing around 

All in a Weekend: A Pictorial

organic cauliflower at the Lakeline Farmer's Market

interesting herb at Barton Springs Nursery

ELECTRIC mower I bought and assembled - starts crazy easy

Mexican feather grass

the start of my touch&smell garden: spearmint, grey bush sage, pineapple sage (YUM)

lemon thyme - another touch&smell plant

more of the rebirth of my Mexican mint marigold

the butt of a celery stalk that I "planted" in a bowl of water. look at it growing!