Blooms & Beyond: Year-Round Color for Your Garden

Wondering how to have year-round color in your garden?   I recently gave a presentation to the Grapevine Garden Club on this topic and the video was posted to YouTube.   Click HERE to check it out!

The plants mentioned in this talk are geared toward the Dallas/Fort Worth area in hardiness Zone 7/8, but if you live in other parts of the country, maybe it will inspire you to think through the seasons and how you can add color to your garden with plants that are hardy in your area.    Click HERE to see the plant list.

Below I've listed the garden centers and resources I mentioned in the presentation.

Here's to hoping you have something colorful in your garden all year long!

Toni :-)

Grapevine Garden Club
grapevinegardenclub.com

Stegall's Nursery & Plant Farm
stegallsnursery.com

Metro Maples
metromaples.com

Neil Sperry
neilsperry.com

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

TCMGA
tarrantmg.org

Fort Worth Botanic Gardens
fwbg.org

Backyard Bling #4 - Luxury Tweet

I've always loved the look of a dovecote birdhouse perched above a long sweeping border of perennials.

Several years ago on a trip to Wisconsin to see my family, I purchased this decorative "dovecote style" birdhouse for about $20.  And if you've ever priced an English dovecote, then you know that that was such a screamin' deal that I could not pass it up.

I placed it among the perennials in a long sweeping bed in my backyard.  

Good to go, right?

This birdhouse has served me well, giving me photo ops even in the dead of winter.

Well, you get what you pay for, 

and let's just say this birdhouse has seen better days.

It lasted about five years, so I would say I got my money's worth out of it.

Since my garden was on tour this spring, I decided a renovation -- make that demolition -- was in order.    Every time the wind blew, I knew this poor little birdhouse was just one step closer to being a pile of rubble on the ground.

So to the internet I went in search of a new birdhouse.   I may have been swooning over the English dovecotes, but the price was just as dizzying!   I kept looking and finally came across Hatterashouse.com.   I found just what I was looking for, placed my order, and within just a few weeks, I received this lovely copper-topped birdhouse!

This picture was taken in April when the 'Little Henry' Sweetspire was in full bloom.

As a side note, the Red Admiral butterflies just loved the Sweetspire this spring.

This birdhouse is not all bling.  It is move-in ready!    I sure hope the birds like their new home as much as the butterflies loved the blooms below.

Now the birds can tweet in luxury :-)

Toni 

The Alphabet Jumps to June (M, N, O)

Another alphabet installment as June draws to a close....

"M"

is for Mahonia 'Soft Caress'

 One of my new favorite plants!!

I love this new soft variety of Mahonia for shady spots! 
I've added several to my garden this month.

*  *  *

"N"

is for Nesting

For several years now Mallard Ducks have nested in our front flower bed.

 

And this spring Mourning Doves nested in hanging baskets 

on our side porch and back porch

"O"

is for Orange

I do not use a lot of orange in my landscape,
but reseeding Cosmos adds a punch of color here and there in the garden.

The bees seem to enjoy it :-)

'Aztec Gold' Daylily
is a reblooming variety that adds another touch of orange

And the orange-tipped Mexican Butterfly Weed (Asclepias curassavica)
attracts orange Monarchs in the fall.

As the alphabet journey continues to July,
stay tuned for "P," deserving of a post all its own.

For previous garden alphabet posts, click the letters below:

A-D

E-H

I-L

Until next time...

Toni :-)

An Alphabet for April (A-D)

"A"

is for the acrobatic Anole that hangs out on the head of my "peacock crane."   I love watching his antics as he sits on his perch above the pond.

"B"

is for the beautiful blooms of  Larkspur and 'Henry Duelberg' Salvia that have created a sea of blue in my front perennial bed.

 "C"

is for the cheerful Calylophus that brightens each side of 

my driveway.

"D"

is for the mourning Dove that has nested in the hanging basket on my side porch. She has a couple downy-feathered babies kept close under wing.

Happy April ....

Toni :-)

Hungry for Spring

A sure sign that spring is near

is when the hungry birds arrive.

Last week the cedar waxwings arrived.   

Usually about the first week of March a large flock lands in my next-door neighbor's bur oak tree...

and then promptly devours the berries on their 

Possumhaw holly tree below.

And this week the robins arrived.   

A wave of robins descended in my backyard 

and gobbled up earthworms.

To learn about the American Robin Migration Tracking Project, 

click here

I hope the birds...and spring...will be arriving in your area soon!

Toni :-)