Those dogwoods are beautiful Linda....I wonder if they could handle the humidity down here? They would look great in my "woodland-like" front yard...under the shumard and live oak trees.
Debbie
Gardening with Texas Native Plants & Wildflowers, Part 10.
Josephine, here's a pic I took today of the Desert Willow. I'm not very good at describing color, but with this I don't have to. And Debbie...Roughleaf Dogwood occurs across the Southeast also. Sounds pretty adaptable to different soils, etc. Doesn't have splashy blooms like the Flowering Dogwood, but I really like it. And the birds really crave those white berries!
Thanks Linda! Another "must" have for me....
Debbie
Linda, your Willow looks just like mine very pretty indeed.
Debbie if you want a Roughleaf dogwood I can give you one when you come by here, I will reserve it for you if you want it. Of course it is small, but they grow quite fast.
Mary lee, I am so sorry about the storm, we are fixing to get one here tonight, last night 3 houses burned in this area because of lightning.
Josephine.
Josephine, the damage I had was so minor, it can hardly be called damage. But it was just so strange and unexpected. I've always put plants there under the eaves for protection and they've come through fine. And they looked so strange sitting right there in their pots with sparkling white roots and no dirt.
The houses that burned, were they near yours? That's pretty scary. There was some damage in Fredericksburg that I heard about on the news tonight, but the reception was so bad I couldn't tell who owned the property. It was a station in Austin and apparently their antennae was damaged or something. I do know the creek near our house was flowing way over the bridge.
The storm last night was mild for us, just rain and some lightning and thunder, no strong winds, so Thank the Lord.
The houses that burned the other night were not close to us. The storms have been rather fierce around here, but we are not in the usual path.
Josephine.
Had an early morning repeat of last Saturday morning here this am...nothing quite like being awoken at 6:00 on Saturday morning to thunder shaking the glass in the windows. We had much heavier rainfall and much greater winds with this one, however. I can see from the windows that there's no major damage, so I'm thankful...but I see plants laying on their sides....I'm out to access the minor garden damage.
Take Care all and have a happy day getting dirty in the garden!
Debbie
YEA !! Got 3/4 inch rain in a 2 hour period. As my Grandmother would say, "This is a good soaker". My grass (yes I have some) is really happy.
Everything is happy for last nights' rain, wonder if we'll get some more tonight? It's apparent that I need to stake my habanero pepper plant, each time it rains like this the soil is too damp in the pot to help it stand up to the wind.
My skullcap is almost fully in bloom, a nice sight to see. Blackfoot daisy has been blooming for a while, but is more fully in bloom now.
Brave woman you are to eat those Habaneros!
Really I'm growing them for my son. I used to be able to handle jalapenos, no problem. With age seems to have come less tolerance for them, so I know the habaneros are out of the question, lol.
We were planning to go somewhere yesterday morning, but the rain kept pouring. Finally I said what the heck, we left and within a few miles we were pretty much out of it. So I guess it was just sitting there on top of us for hours, not moving. Welcome rain, no complaints, more than an inch on top of the 2.5 we got last time. But I know there's people whose cars and even houses were damaged in the general area by hail lately. Too bad, it's like every time rain shows up this year, it causes problems for some. My yuccas will be finished blooming soon. Deer usually eat the bloom spikes of the ones outside my fence, but I have a few inside.
Hot and "chewy" here today....got a lot of work done, but had to come in for a brief A/C break. Found the perfect spot to plant my frostweed from the RU. Can't wait to see it bloom in fall. About when does it start blooming?
Debbie
Debbie, normally it bloomsin July or August, but some of mine are starting to make buds already, which is very unusual.
Lots of big hail in the wee hours yesterday. We're looking a new window in the dining room, new vinyl siding top to bottom on the front of our two-story home and attached garage, perhaps a new roof, and the pickup with lots of dents. But compared with what the same storms did in the Waco area a while later, we were very lucky. It was a scary looking storm on the radar when it turned coming out of Brown County and aimed right at us. Then the line of storms behind it made a bow. I lived in Lubbock in 1970 and don't like rotation in thunderstorms!
The hailstones were huge, and everywhere they hit, there is considerable damage. My huge Great Pyranees came over the gate of her pen and hit the back door at a run just as I opened it to peek out at the hail. She spent the night inside! Who can argue with a ninety pound muddy, scared dog in the middle of a hail storm! I dried her the best I could and gave thanks for tile floors.
Robert will stand in line at the insurance office in the morning. He loves to go to town to visit anyway, so he'll have a good time. Big advantage of a very small town!
I am so glad I did not have most of my new plants from the RU set out yet. I checked on the ones that were, and all were okay! Our veggie garden, not too far from the house, has little damage. We got almost 2 inches of rain as well, so that part is good.
Patricia, I am very sorry about the bad storm, that hail can do so much damage in a short time, it is so sad to have things destroyed, and then the cost of putting everything back together, but what can we do? We must adapt to the circumstances.
Josephine.
That is so true, Josephine, and having everyone in the community and area safe is so much more important than replacing a few broken things.
Patrob--glad you and yours are OK. Hope they hired some extra help at the insurance office....keep us posted.
Yes, Patrob, I was thinking about you last night. We had just a little sprinkle last night. But I think we've had about 8" in the last 2 weeks. I was surprised how workable the dirt was in the beds. I had one large bed where the grass was so bad we almost needed the lawn mower in there. Some spots were very wet, and some were almost dry.
You have to put up new siding on your house Patricia? If you have to completely redoe all of it look into using hardy board. It's made of cement and paper. It's supposed to hold up much better than vinyl or aluminum. So far it's doing great on our house.
We had siding put on this last year. I was surprised when we got bids and the steel 'seamless' siding was cheaper than the others. It turned out great. They cut and form it on site. We are very pleased.
Oh, Patricia, I'm so sorry about your hail damage! Another time to give thanks for insurance I guess.
The insurance agency had four people (this is a VERY small town) answering the phone this morning when Robert went in. The younger partner in the company is a neighbor and had damages similar to ours. At this point they were taking names, phone numbers, and a brief summary of damages. All will be repaired in good time. I am sure there was rotation as a neighbor 500 yards away lost windows on the east side of his house. We had no visible damage except on the north but will have the roof examined. We were very fortunate and are very grateful.
I am very happy for you Patricia.
Josephine.
I hope all goes well Patricia and that we'll see you in Austin for the nursery tour.:)
Patricia, boy, that's good to know that you avoided something even worse!
I'm certain I should have cut back my Russian Sage earlier in the year so it would get fuller, but I see it is now starting to bloom. Is it too late to prune back? And my Salvia Leucantha is starting to bloom! What's up with that?
Hope the rains spare everyone tonight and tomorrow---caught this turk's cap starting to bloom late this evening.
Maggie, my Salvia Leucantha always puts on a spring flush--it's about 8 years old--I just trim it back after I enjoy it for a week or two.
I jealous, dmj1218. My turks caps have yet to bud as of yesterday evening. Get home late on Tuesdays and it's dark. I know .... flashlights... but I'm tired!
I've often thought about a miner's hat w/built in flashlight kippers.....lol
My Turks Caps were blooming about a month ago but have stopped for a breather (I guess.) I've had a hummer visiting at dawn & dusk, really enjoying my Navajo Bright and Coral Nymph salvias... and trying my humongous hollyhock, as well (time for that thing to come down, I need to find someone with a chainsaw, lol!)
Mary, I have 3 hollyhocks to plant from the RU and I keep remembering what you said about yours. I can't decide where to put them. But with these storms, I am too chicken to put them anywhere. Rain is great, but hail - please, enough is enough. I have atleast 2 dozen things from the RU still to plant and I have a bed cleaned out to put them in. But....not yet.
Dear friends, this thread was getting too long again, so I have started #11
Can you beleive it? Let us continue having fun learning from each other.
Josephine.
Here is the link to the new tread, http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/600816/