Gardening for nature, walks with my dogs and the books I’m reading.
- Thread starter MarkD
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MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
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- San Francisco Bay Area
Hi Jackie. Do you garden in Texas and if so what is the deal with Blue Bonnets, are you allowed to plant them in your own garden and if you do can you then pick them yourself?
Good morning Mark.....yes I do garden, kind of limited now though, I live in a rural area in Northeast Texas and there are no restrictions on what we can plant.
I have tried Blue Bonnets several times in the past with no success. I see very few in this part of the state, so maybe it is the soil.
BlueBonnets are prolific in the Hill country of Texas which is Southwest of me. This is a favorite place to visit in the spring and anyone can pick the flowers. The state Highway Department planted Blue Bonnet seed on the Interstate Highways a few years ago but I think the success of that was scattered....I remember reading that the success with the germination of Blue Bonnets depends on many factors, but they are beautiful...in the Hill Country.
I have tried Blue Bonnets several times in the past with no success. I see very few in this part of the state, so maybe it is the soil.
BlueBonnets are prolific in the Hill country of Texas which is Southwest of me. This is a favorite place to visit in the spring and anyone can pick the flowers. The state Highway Department planted Blue Bonnet seed on the Interstate Highways a few years ago but I think the success of that was scattered....I remember reading that the success with the germination of Blue Bonnets depends on many factors, but they are beautiful...in the Hill Country.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
I quite understand the need to limit our gardening. It has finally caught up to me too. I'm actively moving plants out of my side garden that I want to retain to the back garden or the strip our front. Eventually the side garden will be much smaller. All of this will go:
Perhaps Blue Bonnets might be one of those plants which wants fairly particular conditions but given those is almost unstoppable? In California our state flower is a poppy which seems to come nearly everywhere. In dense fields where they proliferate they can be stunning but I would rather see those blue bonnets if only for the novelty.
I've been to the fields near Lancaster, CA but not since I've had a smart phone. So not my photos:
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Wow....how beautiful!...on our last trip to your beautiful state there were pink wild flowers everywhere, low growing. I think they were of the thrift variety, I took a small sample home but of course it did not live. We missed the poppies, I forget what time of the year we went.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
On Saturday June 7 we've been invited to a friend's amazing garden for some fun and a meal. He is the driving force behind the garden but his wife the retired doctor is also into it. He has a lot of really cool plants and a huge beautifully laid out garden. We were there last year in May. Here are some photos from that trip.
The house sits at the highest end of the garden and there are large areas for entertaining there. Then there is a grand staircase leading down to the bottom.
There are zigzagging pathways through some wilder looking areas of the garden to the sides of the staircase. So a person can change levels without taking the stairs. I'm hoping Lia and her walker will be able make it part way down on these.
My very favorite new plant discovery growing in a rocky area for succulents.
But there was a lot of competition:
The house sits at the highest end of the garden and there are large areas for entertaining there. Then there is a grand staircase leading down to the bottom.
There are zigzagging pathways through some wilder looking areas of the garden to the sides of the staircase. So a person can change levels without taking the stairs. I'm hoping Lia and her walker will be able make it part way down on these.
My very favorite new plant discovery growing in a rocky area for succulents.
But there was a lot of competition:
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Green flowers used to be an obsession of mine. There are several noteworthy ones but the only one I still have in the garden is called Mathiasella bupleuroides, which is in the carrot family from a plant first discovered in Mexico.
Mine has been in my garden quite a few years now but it hasn't flowered well every year. But this year it is off to a good start.
One I like even more but will never grow here is the Camperdown elm.
I took this still from a video but while I was there I only took videos as they captured it so much better.
It's history:
The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii', commonly known as the Camperdown Elm, was discovered about 1835–1840 (often mis-stated as '1640') as a young contorted elm (a sport) growing in the forest at Camperdown House, in Dundee, Scotland, by the Earl of Camperdown's head forester, David Taylor. The young tree was lifted and replanted within the gardens of Camperdown House where it remains to this day. The original tree, which grows on its own roots, is less than 3 m tall, with a weeping habit and contorted branch structure. The earl's gardener is said to have produced the first of what are commonly recognised as Camperdown elms by grafting a cutting to the trunk of a wych elm (U. glabra).
The one nearest me grows at the old estate garden of Filoli in Woodside, California. The estate was built for the owner of one of the richest gold mines in California about 25 miles south of their home in San Francisco in 1917. Every year they plant tens of thousands of tulips which are also stunning but the blooming of the Camperdown elm steals the show for me.
Here are some videos which I think do a much better job of showing what it is like to be there.
And this one showing it from across a lawn.
Mine has been in my garden quite a few years now but it hasn't flowered well every year. But this year it is off to a good start.
One I like even more but will never grow here is the Camperdown elm.
I took this still from a video but while I was there I only took videos as they captured it so much better.
It's history:
The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii', commonly known as the Camperdown Elm, was discovered about 1835–1840 (often mis-stated as '1640') as a young contorted elm (a sport) growing in the forest at Camperdown House, in Dundee, Scotland, by the Earl of Camperdown's head forester, David Taylor. The young tree was lifted and replanted within the gardens of Camperdown House where it remains to this day. The original tree, which grows on its own roots, is less than 3 m tall, with a weeping habit and contorted branch structure. The earl's gardener is said to have produced the first of what are commonly recognised as Camperdown elms by grafting a cutting to the trunk of a wych elm (U. glabra).
The one nearest me grows at the old estate garden of Filoli in Woodside, California. The estate was built for the owner of one of the richest gold mines in California about 25 miles south of their home in San Francisco in 1917. Every year they plant tens of thousands of tulips which are also stunning but the blooming of the Camperdown elm steals the show for me.
Here are some videos which I think do a much better job of showing what it is like to be there.
And this one showing it from across a lawn.
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MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Well I'm waiting for Lia to complete her MRI and thought why not share the photos I took this morning?
There is something new trying to bloom here, the largest of the Watsonias, Watsonia vanderspuyiae from South Africa.
The buds have finally started unfolding.
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It is quite tall and the foliage is much heavier and strap-like than other of its kin.
In the side garden there is an Echium wildpretii in bloom which I haven't grown for some time. Somehow its seed are not as eager as its hybrid offspring Echium 'Mr. Happy' or I'd always have some of these in the garden. This one isn't quite as tall as I am.
This one taken April 23rd when it first started blooming.
Anyone else have something new blooming in yours or a garden you visit?
There is something new trying to bloom here, the largest of the Watsonias, Watsonia vanderspuyiae from South Africa.
The buds have finally started unfolding.
It is quite tall and the foliage is much heavier and strap-like than other of its kin.
In the side garden there is an Echium wildpretii in bloom which I haven't grown for some time. Somehow its seed are not as eager as its hybrid offspring Echium 'Mr. Happy' or I'd always have some of these in the garden. This one isn't quite as tall as I am.
This one taken April 23rd when it first started blooming.
Anyone else have something new blooming in yours or a garden you visit?
Wow that’s very unusual @MarkD
This is where we are staying at the Gold coast at present
it’s very neatly maintained …the other end is a huge swimming pool / spa
most of the plants including some palms don’t grow in the open in South Australia it way to hot they just burn and die but being tropical here most things grow well here ….except stone/ citrus fruits cause they have bats
things like melons / mangos / sugar / bananas are grown in QLD
This is where we are staying at the Gold coast at present
it’s very neatly maintained …the other end is a huge swimming pool / spa
most of the plants including some palms don’t grow in the open in South Australia it way to hot they just burn and die but being tropical here most things grow well here ….except stone/ citrus fruits cause they have bats
things like melons / mangos / sugar / bananas are grown in QLD
hearlady
Every Day is a New Day.
- Location
- N Carolina
So many breathtaking photos!
Gardenlover
The world needs more love
A very happy place! Thanks for sharing it with us.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
I just shared this on a different thread and though I'd better post it here too where I'd have a better chance to find it.
I know very well what it takes to move a large boulder. I hired a team of four strong young men to install three of them in my garden with the largest weighing 1500 pounds. I'd hoped to have the gentleman-customer experience but it soon became clear that it wasn't going to happen without my throwing my minimal strength into the effort too. Here is my old dog Fletcher sitting on probably the largest one back in January of 2010;
Fortunately I had on hand a couple of salvaged ten foot lengths of four by twelve redwood which we were able to use as a skid and an old heavy plastic concrete mixing pan. The biggest one required that we wet the wood with the hose as we went with ropes pulling it from in front and digging bars prying from behind. When it came time to pass it between the birch trees we even used the wood skid for that and that brought its widest point to a place it would fit.
This is where the biggest one went.
And here all three have been placed but the ground is still pretty torn up.
And here is the same area more or less cleaned up.
By February I had built and installed my redwood bench.
By March it began to look like they'd always been there.
I know very well what it takes to move a large boulder. I hired a team of four strong young men to install three of them in my garden with the largest weighing 1500 pounds. I'd hoped to have the gentleman-customer experience but it soon became clear that it wasn't going to happen without my throwing my minimal strength into the effort too. Here is my old dog Fletcher sitting on probably the largest one back in January of 2010;
Fortunately I had on hand a couple of salvaged ten foot lengths of four by twelve redwood which we were able to use as a skid and an old heavy plastic concrete mixing pan. The biggest one required that we wet the wood with the hose as we went with ropes pulling it from in front and digging bars prying from behind. When it came time to pass it between the birch trees we even used the wood skid for that and that brought its widest point to a place it would fit.
This is where the biggest one went.
And here all three have been placed but the ground is still pretty torn up.
And here is the same area more or less cleaned up.
By February I had built and installed my redwood bench.
By March it began to look like they'd always been there.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Oh you’re in New Zealand? I wonder if you are familiar with a gardener there named Mary Ruston who calls herself Moosey? She used to have active forums on which I participated long before Fakebook. I still see her on Facebook occasionally but her garden was probably even bigger than mine.
Moosey's Country Garden
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Hi @Veronica I thought I'd invite you to my diary thread about my garden mostly. This is what I was wondering if you might have started. If you don't care to start your own, please know you are welcome to post garden pictures here too. I like seeing other gardens (a lot).
I'll just go ahead and take this occasion to post some of my more recent pics from the garden.
Last Sunday we had almost 20 our friends, my wife's group of a women artist friends and their partners. In the last pic I am pointing out some plant as I gave a tour around the garden.
I'll just go ahead and take this occasion to post some of my more recent pics from the garden.
Last Sunday we had almost 20 our friends, my wife's group of a women artist friends and their partners. In the last pic I am pointing out some plant as I gave a tour around the garden.
Hi @Veronica I thought I'd invite you to my diary thread about my garden mostly. This is what I was wondering if you might have started. If you don't care to start your own, please know you are welcome to post garden pictures here too. I like seeing other gardens (a lot).
I'll just go ahead and take this occasion to post some of my more recent pics from the garden.
Last Sunday we had almost 20 our friends, my wife's group of a women artist friends and their partners. In the last pic I am pointing out some plant as I gave a tour around the garden.
Just stopping by to have look and say hi.
Those gardens are way above my pay grade.Your garden is just too amazing. Ive always envied gardens like yours. Im too old to even
try that now.
I just have simple Midwest country gardens that Im in the process of downsizing by eliminating out lying beds and squishing things closer together. This year has involved a lot of catching up. Because of the husband I let a lot of stuff go. And last year we had a drought so I lost some plants and needed to fill in.
Also the state snatched part of my front yard to put in a turn lane. Its been a job moving all the flowers located there.
They cut down all the mature maples so now my front yard is full sun.
Hostas and other shade plants next to house were getting fried and needed moved.
Hopefully next year things will settle down around here.
And I like rocks too. I scored a ton from an old house foundation across the road.
One big blue one almost did me in dragging it up the drive with a hand cart.
That was in my late 50's. I wouldnt attempt that now.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Oh you’re in New Zealand? I wonder if you are familiar with a gardener there who calls herself Moosey? She used to have active forums on which I participated long before Fakebook..
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Just stopping by to have look and say hi.
Your garden is just too amazing. Ive always envied gardens like yours. Im too old to even
try that now.
I just have simple Midwest country gardens that Im in the process of downsizing by eliminating out lying beds and squishing things closer together. This year has involved a lot of catching up. Because of the husband I let a lot of stuff go. And last year we had a drought so I lost some plants and needed to fill in.
Yes it’s too much for me now too and I don’t have a budget for help. So I’m delete the sixty foot wide side garden in favor of making room for my stepson’s van and trailer and perhaps a small building to house someone if we should ever need a lot more care.
Also the state snatched part of my front yard to put in a turn lane. It’s been a job moving all the flowers located there.
They cut down all the mature maples so now my front yard is full sun.
Hostas and other shade plants next to house were getting fried and needed moved.
Hopefully next year things will settle down around here.
And I like rocks too. I scored a ton from an old house foundation across the road.
One big blue one almost did me in dragging it up the drive with a hand cart.
That was in my late 50's. I wouldnt attempt that now.
So sorry about your maples! That was terrible.
Did something happen to your husband? Hope not. Of course something will eventually take us all out but no hurry!, my wife is dealing with a lot of health conditions. At 72 I don’t get off Scot free but I am realizing I just can’t keep up with this whole garden any more
Feel free to post pictures of anything happening in your garden that catches your eye. I find a garden is made up many small moments.
Aint it the truth. Old age gets us all in the end. So far Im keeping up. Its just taking me longer and I need to take more breaks.
. I know that will change in the future so Ive been "restructuring" same as you to make things easier.
For example I have close beds and distance beds and fence row beds.
Close beds are close to the house and get the fussy stuff and get viewed up close.
Distance beds get viewed from a distance. I pull the nasty weeds like rag weed.
I encourage the nice ones like goldenrod, iron weed, queen annes lace, joe pye weed and milk weed.
Fence row beds are where the extras go and everybody gets to duke it out with the weeds.
I was not happy about those maples for sure. Some of them were 4 feet in diameter. Not to mention all the mature hostas and other shade plants under them.
Im sorry your wife is having health problems. I hope she is okay now. I chat so much here I forget we dont all know each other.
I have posted my life history in the past. Im 75. He would have been 73. The husband passed in 2022 after a long illness. I let stuff go before. After I was tired out and kinda chilled for a while so I let more stuff go. Im back on track now
RadishRose
SF VIP
- Location
- Connecticut, USA
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Aint it the truth. Old age gets us all in the end. So far Im keeping up. Its just taking me longer and I need to take more breaks.
I know that will change in the future so Ive been "restructuring" same as you to make things easier.
For example I have close beds and distance beds and fence row beds.
Close beds are close to the house and get the fussy stuff and get viewed up close.
Distance beds get viewed from a distance. I pull the nasty weeds like rag weed.
I encourage the nice ones like goldenrod, iron weed, queen annes lace, joe pye weed and milk weed.
Fence row beds are where the extras go and everybody gets to duke it out with the weeds.
I was not happy about those maples for sure. Some of them were 4 feet in diameter. Not to mention all the mature hostas and other shade plants under them.
Im sorry your wife is having health problems. I hope she is okay now. I chat so much here I forget we dont all know each other.
I have posted my life history in the past. Im 75. He would have been 73. The husband passed in 2022 after a long illness. I let stuff go before. After I was tired out and kinda chilled for a while so I let more stuff go. Im back on track now
Very understandable. I'm glad you're finding life beyond the loss of your husband. My wife is 82 so actuarially I'll probably be the one tasked to continue alone. We always figured it would go that way and I always thought I'd be better able to cope. We'll see.
MountainRa
Senior Member
- Location
- Upstate SC, USA
@MarkD I love your gardens.
One aspect of aging that I never thought of in my younger days is how depressing and discouraging it is to not be able to keep up with my gardening interests. I think that is why I have been gradually increasing my indoor houseplants. I can still manage them without feeling overwhelmed.
One aspect of aging that I never thought of in my younger days is how depressing and discouraging it is to not be able to keep up with my gardening interests. I think that is why I have been gradually increasing my indoor houseplants. I can still manage them without feeling overwhelmed.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
I’ll keep that in mind as an option. Thanks.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Got back to the Arizona garden on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto last Friday. Mostly cactus flowers there.
Cora-123
New Member
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
Cora-123
New Member
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
Is it true that cactus fruit is edible?Got back to the Arizona garden on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto last Friday. Mostly cactus flowers there.