Tag: xeric

Summertime Garden

I tend to get warm and discouraged in the summer because weeks of hundred plus weather is rough. But then I remembered I have a summer garden. So I went out to get some pictures. We’ve had a decent amount of rain this summer. I’ve only watered twice. But these plants also love the sun. Because we did the front yard remodel a lot of this doesn’t look like I’d like, but I’m trying to be better about seeing the trees and not obsessing about the forest.

Greg’s mist-flower is visited by butterflies constantly.

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Sotol backed by weeping love grass and purple three awn. There’s a wasps nest in there I need to clean out. The mail person is getting grumpy. Also there are still bluebonnets in there.

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Lost a native agave, but the gopher plant and daisies are more than making up for it. 

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The lower garden has been filling in nicely with more grasses and mistflower. A Mexican Buckeye will eventually lord over the proceedings. 

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White lantana bordered by the ever popular pride of barbados. 

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And this front bed always looks effortless (even when it is 25% weeds).

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Nyborg Cemetery

I’m currently in Nyborg, Denmark for Unity’s Hackweek. They brought a bunch of employees to a seaside resort and let us program for a week. It’s tempting to just stay inside, but I’ve managed to sneak away a few times to look around.

For gardening fans the most amazing discovery was Nyborg Cemetery. We walked by it on the way to see the Nyborg Slot (a castle), but I had to return and check out this amazing garden.

The first thing you noticed walking into the garden were the terraces. Graves were built into them.

I took a closeup of the following plant. From above it looked live a succulent. But up close it looked almost like a fir. A very low growing ground cover.

The garden was built for discovery. I went one way while the rest of my companions went the other. I found this lovely fountain which was somehow completely hidden until you turned a corner.

Ultimately the thing I enjoyed the most was the geometry of the foliage. It felt very elegant, very much in keeping with the strong lines of modernest Danish design while staying incredibly lush and verdant.

You can see how the garden interacts with the neighboring homes in this picture. It’s delightful.

I feel like modernism is so frequently associated with spare rather than lush. Love these lines.

Although from some vantages the repetition can fell a bit overwhelming. 

And finally I took a photo of this lovely grave. I just really enjoyed the detail. Forgive the zoom, I try not to tromp around on top of things in graveyards. 

Now I really want to visit more graveyards like this. I’ve visited some in New Orleans. Which are your favorites?

Wow. What a change! I had 3 trees removed. The before and after from the front of the house is above. While it feels really shocking right now, I’m pretty sure that lovely Live Oak is going to fill in nicely, and I have so much new room for planting. 

That’s the last of the invasive trees. Now I need to get rid of the Nandina…

My sotol that I transplanted in my last update still appears to be alive! And I’ve had no complaints about getting poked attempting to enter the house. We’ll see how it does this summer.

There were complaints from people being attacked by our toothless sotol as they attempted to enter our house. Today, since the ground was super wet, I decided to attempt to move it.

I went to Body Pump at the Y last night, and then moved this plant, and can say that my upper body is now officially on fire.

But it’s moved. Top is After, Bottom is Before. I think you’ll see in the next wide-angle that it’s the right location.

And if it dies (which it probably will because I was none too nice with its roots), I know exactly where to plant the replacement.