Hardscaping

“Biddy from Sligo”

ESPatch Dec 1, 2012 6 comments

I thought this week I would start off with something a bit different, like a wee tune on my practice chanter just to put your nerves on edge. Someone told me recently that the chanter (a learning and practicing instrument for the highland bagpipes) sounded like an old Atari video game!

A keen observation.

“Star Raiders”…one of my favorites…oh yes, it had…radar.

The tune is a 6/8 jig by P/M G.S. McLennan called the “Biddy from Sligo” and I believe it was adapted from an old Irish fiddle tune. Sligo is located in the northwest of Ireland, about forty miles from the border with Northern Ireland.

And if you are unsure what a “biddy” is, it is a woman, usually a garrulous old one, a great word – garrulous.

Note to self: You really must work on developing a circular breathing technique.

Cold fronts have brought with them some amazing sunsets this past week.

Calm down Alex, they are just street lights!

And the ominous green glow I am sure is not a competitor Mr White…

….though they were on campus…everybody, calm down.

No sooner had Thanksgiving day arrived, the “can we get a Christmas tree now Pa, can we?” (repeat x14.5 more times) started. The .5 interruption was for a “oh for heavens sake…YES, lets go and get a Christmas tree!”

Okay there was no “Pa” involved in the conversation, but it seemed like there should have been.

Returning with the tree, I had the usual scrummage to get it into the house and supported in its incredibly annoying (too big for the tree) base. Clawing and orbiting away underneath it for some time, turning annoyingly short screws into the trunk and finally giving an annoyingly dense lower canopy water, I emerged triumphant…covered in sap and needles, sarcastically humming in a twisted key: “tis the season to be jolly”.

I trudged off in 80 degree weather to get the decorations from my shed.

They wasted no time getting reacquainted with some shiny old friends.

Concentrate.

Kumo is also getting into the spirit of the season,

“Halleluiah!”

I hear him every day practicing his choir solo.

Moving ridiculously along:

“Throw another…

…on the barbie mate.”

And what a great display the langoustines have put on this year.

A shrimp-plant cocktail.

Justicia brandegeana

A great plant for vibrant shade color, drought tolerant, tough and slightly eccentric, shrimp plant is supposedly one of the best hummingbird plants for shady areas, although I have yet to see one on mine.

I really enjoyed this stock tank for a while,

but recently a chunk of the horsetail reed died, the Persian ivy looked like a moth-eaten old rug and well the whole scene had started to generally grate on my nerves.

Digging out a stock tank employs the same strange physics as Doctor Who’s Tardis, it is amazing how much earth comes out of a small tank. I also resurrected a whole bunch of old flagstone and bricks and rocks that I had forgotten about that I had “conveniently” swept under the carpet / tank some time ago. Argh.

I will spare you a description of all the unmentionables that scattered around my ankles as I pushed over the now-emptied stock tank, but I will say this…Brrr.

I believe my impromptu highland dance performance would have won a trophy if under adjudication.

Here is the area all cleared out awaiting a fresh top-dressing of decomposed granite and possibly a future archery target.

“Shhh!”

Finally:

How about this for a celosia seed head!

Thanks for a great day at the Ranch J&W, we all had a blast.

Stay Tuned for:

“Jings, Crivvens, Help ma Boab”

All material © 2012 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Fantastic Mr Phlox”

ESPatch Oct 12, 2012 5 comments

Here is snippet of a small back garden overhaul that I have just completed in central Austin this past week.

The property had a few limping shrubs and lots of bare dirt and drainage issues.

A naturalistic corner water feature was introduced as a focal point to a new patio, introducing the sound of running water to entice birds and nature.

Here it is plumbed up, mid-construction.

Quite a few hours were spent shuffling moss boulders around to get the desired two-tier wells to flow naturally and to eliminate any splash-off that would deplete the reservoir over time.

When installing water features I try to create as much visual depth as possible, lots of overhangs,

and deep cavernous caves.

The flagstone echoes the color of the of the moss boulders. The gray gravel (Tejas black) slows down water flow and improves drainage, it blends naturally into Mexican beach pebbles around the fountain.

Back in the Patch:

It is the time of grasses.

Purple fountain grasses come to life this time of year as the sun sets,

providing movement and a dramatic effect when planted together in large stands.

The Patch Hell strip got a bit of a facelift this week with some left over Tejas black gravel.

So much gravel I will now have to go back in and dig out this drowning agave.

The opuntia tree in the background has grown considerably the past few years,

the woody base looks very prehistoric leading up into the crazy antler paddles.

The gravel also contrasts well with chartreuse bamboo muhly.

Here is a frosty trio,

Gaura, rosemary and artemesia ‘silver king’.

Gaura lindheimeri

This plant is also known as whirling butterflies, describing how the flower heads dart and move around on long and slender stems. Planted into a sharp soil this plant shows up every year without fail and has even spread to a couple of new locations across the sidewalk.

Like canna I remove spent flower spikes to prolong the bloom period.

Fantastic Mr Phlox also started to bloom this week,

providing refreshment for this skipper, perhaps a clouded skipper?

Palm grass brings a touch of the tropics to central Texas. They also grow extremely fast and are great for filling in large areas.

I have mine planted under the shade of my post oak and another predominantly in sun, it doesn’t care.

Like myself, it responds well to an occasional summer beverage.

Old yucca flower spikes make great futuristic “fire swords”, he has played with this one for days and I am constantly tripping over it on my back deck. Just when I thought this particular fire sword was about to disintegrate,

I noticed this…

…This will be the third flower spike (brand new fire sword / health hazard) for this soft leaf yucca this year!

There has been a lot of activity in our Michelin Star Patch restaurant.

This waiter diligently took our order,

and in no time a hearty fall “broth” was presented, wait, is that plumosa fern in there as a garnish?

Hibiscus is also festive, turning from green to golden-red.

Pride of Barbados seeds are getting prepared to free-fall from the safety of their capsule.

Almost there now.