Outdoor time!

Now that we will be starting our fourth year in Texas, we know that this time of the year is when you have to enjoy the things that are thriving in your yard.  Once the hot summer days come, those plants will go into survival mode and not be as showy.  We have had a lot of rain this spring so everything is  looking great.  I started a flower bed on the back of the house which almost faces completely North.  I know that flowers that bloom need sunshine, but in Texas they also need afternoon shade.  I started out with some yarrow and purple cone flowers a few years ago. I have divided them in the fall so that I could fill in the whole bed.  I love repeating the same flowers throughout the bed.  I also have a few small hostas that I planted around the irrigation heads so the at the water can still spray as it's suppose to.  I am thinking next year Tom is going to need to change out the height of the heads because my perennials are getting larger.

Early this year I added some white lily bulbs and they are so pretty right now.  I also planted a clematis but it will take some time for it to build up a root system before it will show off.  Then a few weeks ago I added the rain lilies.  My latest addition was a hydrangea bush I got for Mother's day!    I hope they surprise me a little later this summer.  A few iris and a few mums that my sister shared with me last summer are coming along.   I am so excited to see how well it is doing. It is a whole lot different growing perennials here than up north.  I will continue to add things I see growing well in this area.  The plants are filling in pretty well, but I know for sure I will be adding some more lily bulbs and would love to find some red tulips that will return year after year. They are getting harder to find since everything started to get hybridized.

 I am so excited to have a southern magnolia planted in the back yard.  Tom has convinced me to add a couple more.  So that may happen next February.  The large white blossoms smell so good, I just wish they lasted longer.

 

The final picture is a fig tree. It is starting it's third summer with us.  We got quite a few figs on it last year and this year we will probably get two crops.  They are a very interesting tree as they don't flower but produce fruit.  This is the first year it hasn't died back to the ground during the winter.  We thought we had lost it the first year, but after reading up on it it's very common for that to happen until the tree gets to the age of three.  I am very pleased to still enjoy my passion to grow things, although we have scaled back the size of our yard with this move dramatically.  I knew as we are getting older it gets harder and harder to garden the way we used to.  So last year was my last year to have a veggie patch.  I will continue to grow a few herbs and found that planting them in a planter with some flowers it a great way to fit them in.  Tom and I really love going out every day and checking the progress!  Life is definitely good!