Inside Austin Garden's Tour 2011

I was fortunate enough to get a sneak preview of the Master Gardener's 2011 Garden Tour yesterday, and enjoyed wandering through four of the six properties featured this year.

What I took away were wonderful ways to feature whimsy, colour, and structure in your garden, as well as, (of course) very cool close-ups of intriguing plant shapes I hadn't seen before.

The first stop on the tour was Rebecca Matthew's Garden.

This picture is of a 'staghorn fern' which apparently grows in next to nothing in the way of soil,

and as it gets older the central core gets larger and larger, out of which the 'stag antlers' grow. It was very tropical and kind of prehistoric looking. I want one!

Then there was the penguin head buds which turned into rather lovely, yellow, irisy-type blooms.... but of course the penguin head was more entertaining for me.

Rebecca's garden definitely wins the whimsical award. From a wall of inspirational plates,

to a chandelier adorning the outdoor seating area,

from the watering-can fountain (how cool is that!)to a smattering of yarn bombing just for good measure...

Through it all, enticing pathways lead you on to each new surprise.

There was definitely lots of garden fun to be seen here.

The tour is today from 9:30 to 5 I believe. I have pictures of the other three gardens we visited, and hope to post them soon, but first blogger was out of commission, and now my slowly dying computer won't let me get to my photos. AAARRRGGGHH!!

Inside the Easter Lily

This is my entry for the 'Gardening Gone Wild, Picture This' photo contest. The theme for this month is called "Lighting: A Closer Look," and since I am fairly enamoured of my Easter Lilys, I decided to enter this picture. I love how the yellow stamins glow mysteriously from inside the bell, as the outside light shines softly through the over-lapping petals. What a lovely pattern they create.

An Interesting Find on Mother's Day

I have been eyeing these strange long pods that have appeared on the new Butterfly weed plant for a few days now, because last year's plant (which is slowly coming back) DID NOT have them. I know they didn't have them because obviously I would have taken pictures of such a cool thing. Hmmmm.
When I went out on Mother's Day morning to greet the garden, I discovered that the pods were starting to burst open and inside are these carefully packed seeds looking like beautifully carved brown scales:

See how they are lie so perfectly against each other?

And attached to the seeds are little bits of white fluff,

So that each little seed can 'wing it's flight o'er all the earth'....

And away they go. SO pretty!

Mimosa Anyone?

Like delicate pink fireworks...
As when watching fireworks, do you find yourself saying,"OOOOO, AHHHH,

OOOHHH

WOW... OOOOOO,

Definitely the pink ones are my favourite..."

And like fireworks, the display is intense but brief, and then gone. And we are left waiting for the next occasion.

The start of the fence building saga..

Well, here is the first of the fence sections.... Beautiful right? I think making the whole thing may kill me, but it was also pretty satisfying.

On the other side of the house is my gate. Now, I am inordinately proud of this accomplishment (which I did ALL BY MYSELF) (even if it does have a fatal flaw), so feel free to tell me how great I am multiple times...
Now I have to finish the rest of the fence and somehow fix the fatal flaw. No. I'm not telling you what the flaw is, because I want adulation not criticism.

Sorry, We aren't done with Easter yet.

The Easter Lilies are starting to bloom. They missed the actual day (they always do), but at least it is still the Easter season. And yes, those are rain drops in the first photo.
1)"All Glory, Laud and Honour, to Thee Rain Clouds on High..."
2)"Rain on, Rain on in Majesty
Rain on, or all our plants will die..."
3)"It is raining, It is raining, Let the whole wide earth rejoice,
See the darksome cloud that's brimming,
full of glorious morning rain...."
(Three of my favourite Easter hymns to accompany the pictures)

Up close and personal with Easter:

Emergence of the Cone

The Echinacea seems to be fully established which is quite a thrill, as I have not managed to have one return for a second summer before. It is fun to see how the 'cone' slowly opens, and pushes up, and turns from green to orange.... quite amazing really.

Kind of looks like a spirograph at this stage: