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Gardening

My son is in bed and my husband's washing up, so I'm snatching a few minutes to update you on my garden. It all started with a visit to the plant sale at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens...


Actually it all started before that, with a fair bit of research about heat-loving perennials. I knew I wanted something easy-care that we didn't have to water too much. The climate is so different out here that I had a crash course in previously unknown plant names and varieties. It paid off at the sale, though, where it was really useful to recognise a few things and have some idea what we wanted.

This is the bed once planted. From far left, clockwise:
Turk's cap, which you can hardly see in this photo
Wormwood, with pretty silver-grey foliage
Autumn sage - sages or salvias are generally very Texas-friendly
Coreopsis or tickseed - the seeds look like ticks, apparently; they don't attract them, fortunately
Blackfoot daisy, with the white flowers
Another yellow coreopsis and another blackfoot daisy

This is actually less than half of a big bed with nothing in, but it got rather expensive buying plants. The rest will have to wait.

Close-up of the coreopsis

I was pleased when the turk's cap bloomed recently. It has beautifully shaped flowers.


Blackfoot daisy

The sunflower is a more recent addition, free from a Prairie Fest. We also have a couple more growing along the back fence which have sprung up by themselves.


Some nice window boxes came with the house. I replanted them this spring.

And this is my vegetable/herb garden. I debated a few different options for getting an actual vegetable patch going, but in the end stuck with the pots one more time. Our yard is solid clay and ridiculously hard work to dig.

Left to right in the box: coriander/cilantro, oregano, thyme, parsley.

In the pots: 3 tomatoes at the back, with serrano peppers on each end, and mint, basil and rosemary at the front.


We didn't grow this watermelon, but it kind of fits with the theme. I think it may weigh more than Toby.

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