A wonderful, yet short lived rainstorm came through for us a week ago and my Texas Sage is in full bloom. I could hear the bees buzzing from quite a distance as I stepped outside. Thank goodness this tough drought hardy plant has done so well this year.

Texas sage a bee magnet after a little rain storm

Busy at work!

This last weekend we went on the Austin Pond tour. Wow, what a great event! You get to visit all these beautiful gardens belonging to folks that have kindly opened they garden gates to the public. It was so inspiring to me and I just loved it. One of the gardens was magnificent .Once I get my other gardens settled I will focus on building a pond. Hmmm maybe when we have a little more rainfall….

Beautiful pond and look at that great dry stack rock wall behind it!

Not all of my focus was on ponds however. I found some great inspiration from this beautiful vegetable garden. It was made with dry stacked rock, and fenced in to prevent deer browse. We have a lot of deer out here north of Austin and they can do extensive damage to gardens. Now if only I could get my hand on some rock like this so I can start building my veggie garden.

He likes to lounge on the birdbath in the heat of the sunny afternoon. He’s a very laid back kinda guy. Although he almost had a heart attack when he saw me sitting in the garden one day. I tried to sit very still and the poor guy couldn’t figure out if I was a real human or a stuffed one. He kept coming closer to see if I would move. He was making weird little chipping noises, probably stress related….

I built another garden in semi shade in the backyard. About 30 feet by 15 feet in size.  I included the perennials from the list above in this bed. Only time will tell how well they all do and if they survive the winter. However during this process I was amazed at how fast the wildlife moved in. After immediately setting out 3 birdbaths after we moved in , we saw 4 Eastern Bluebirds at the end of November. Other birds that appreciated the water and seeds were Cardinals, Titmice, Song Sparrows, Lesser Goldfinches, American Goldfinches, Cedar Waxwings, House Finches and Dark-eyed Junco among others.

They particularly loved the shallow dish of water on the ground and enjoyed the mid-morning baths. I was hoping the Bluebirds would stay during spring and was pleased to discover that they have raised two families since then. The first nest had 4 eggs of which all fledged. The last had 3 eggs, of which I believe 2 fledged. Last I checked 2 weeks ago there was only a single egg in a nest box and the female eastern bluebird was sitting in it.

I also hung a little decorative gourd in the back garden right near my dining room window. I did not expect any bird to use it as a place to raise a family since it was so small, but within about a week a family of Wrens busily setup home, collecting grass clippings, leaves, and other soft material from my back porch and surrounding garden to make a nest. I had no idea they could fit in there but several weeks later 3 Wrens fledged the nest. I was so happy. It was surprising that my working in the garden near the gourd did not discourage these feisty birds, although they did successfully chase off a squirrel who was coming down the tree for a sip in the nearby hanging water dish.  Wrens are perhaps my favorite birds because they are so courageous, gutsy, cheeky and full of life. They also keep the insect population around my firewood pile and my back door screens under control. They energetically scour all the nooks and crannies and even will pluck the odd unsuspecting beetle or moth from the screen for us. What neat birds!

I also discovered a pair of cardinals build a nest in the Yaupon Holly outside my downstairs bedroom window.

Since water has been such an issue with this drought I have put out 4 bird baths. One has a little sun powered fountain in it and the birds like to fly through it. I also have a shallow dish and the 2 toads that I have seen in my garden have been seen sitting in it. Perhaps to stay cool? I have built another shallow dish with pebbles and soil, which I keep moist for the butterflies.

The place fills up. Standing room only.

The birds here in Texas are beautiful. I was so pleased to see the painted bunting feeding along with the cardinals every evening. The scissor tail flycatcher is spectacular and I have a pair of road runners visit the bird bath every morning before they scamper off to the back field.

It’s been a wonderful experience moving to Texas and learning about the local insects and wildlife as my gardens have expanded. I was surprised one evening to see a fox come up to one of the bird baths to take a quick sip before running off into the shadows. I feel blessed to have this opportunity to work with nature and learn so much while doing so.

I live on a 4.5 lot north of Austin Texas.  When I first moved here in November, 2010  it was just mowed field with several large mature Live Oaks.. Every Ashe Juniper (Mountain Cedar)  and other native shrub and tree had been removed from the lot. Consequently there is evidence of significant erosion on the front side of this lot since no tree or shrub roots are left to hold the soil from washing away in strong downpours. Luckily the lot still had 4 Redbud trees which were evident here in early spring as they started to bud out and were very much welcomed by the bees. I noticed that the bees would come out of their homes during warm days in winter to visit my blooming lemon tree, that I had set out during warmer sunny days in winter. I am glad they pollinated the tree and spared me the task.

After spending December and January researching native and adapted plants and also trying to focus on water wise plants for the area, we started building a 50 foot by 10 foot south facing front garden at the end of February.  It is a raised garden as the soil here is mostly shallow clay and limestone rock.

Future place for the first front garden

This is about the time I  also put up two Eastern Bluebird nest boxes about 100 feet apart on opposite sides of my land, facing east after seeing 4 of them visiting my birdbath every afternoon.

I purchased over 40 shrubs and perennials including: Salvia Greggi, Wooly Butterly Bush, Dalea frutiescens, Flame Acanthus, Rosemary, Texas Sage, Turks Cap, Thryallis, Black Eyed Susan, Calylophus, Coreopsis, Blackfoot Daisy, Copper Canyon Daisy, Gaura, Firebush, Esperanza, Bicolor Iris, Texas Lantana, Lamb’s ear, Echinacea, Jerusalem Sage, Henry Duelberg Sage, Cherry Sage, Mexican Bush Sage, Rock Rose, Russian Sage, Pink Skullcap, Society Garlic, Texas Betony, Prickly Pear Cactus, Red Yucca, Softleaf Yucca, Inland sea oats, Coral honeysuckle, Plumbago.

I also planted 20 trees all around the yard including: Dessert Willow, Mexican Buckeye, Texas Laurel, Honey Mesquite, and Eve’s Necklace.

Garden in progress