tel: 512 280-1192 Thursday, July 28, 2016
Nursery Notes: all of the city's gardeners must have been cele-
brating the unexpected arrival of summer rains this week. Our
rain gauge came up just shy of 5"over the 3 days, reports Dave
Sargert. / Summer sales continue: free tobacco plant with every
purchase. All basils and moringas, buy one get one free. Prides
of Barbados, blue plumbago, esperanza and bougainvilleas - all
$12.99 for 2 gal. pots (reg. $15.99). / Hardwood mulch for $4.99
(reg. $5.99). Finally, Dave reports that the nursery is 'a Poke stop.'
His grandchildren, who play Pokémon GO, have been delighted
with their discoveries. Please come by for a visit! 🌷
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Thanks to all for your messages of support in response to last
week's news update on our delayed move to the Marbridge Found-
ation. Wrote Steve Barnick: 'Glad to hear it is still moving forward.
I love the circle of life that puts you back at Marbridge.' Said
Julie Zoch: 'Thank you for the update! We are rooting for you guys
and truly appreciate you and your lovely nursery.' Thank you,
thank you, thank you! - Diane and Chris 🌷
Easy Caprese Salad: at this time of year most gardeners have
basil aplenty, and maybe some tomatoes are hanging in there from
the spring. Just add some mozzarrella, balsamic vinegar and you
have the ingredients for a perfect summer salad to go with your
evening meal. ActiveRain 🌷
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The Garden Club of Austin meets tonight: learn how to grow
plants using hydroponics from Troy Smith of Brite Ideas. Recep-
tion: 7 p.m. Program begins at 7:30 p.m. Zilker Park's Garden
Center Auditorium, 2220 Barton Springs Road. The club, formed
63 years ago, always welcomes new members. Club🌷
Air plants in Dallas: what a joy to discover this charming shop
'Dirt' in the Big D's Bishop arts district last weekend. Apart from
selling mysteriously beautiful air plants (such as the crown-like
Tillandsia xzerographica in the photo), owner Sonya Eudaley
creates little frame full of ordered petals and plant parts. Dirt 🌷
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Central Texas Gardener: Learn about attracting wildlife with
native plants from Barbara Wright. Plant of the Week is the fragrant
Abraham Darby from David Austin. Trisha brings on the butterflies
with heat-loving annual zinnias. Saturday: 4 p.m. Sunday at 9 a.m.
or on-line. KLRU. 🌷
In Praise of Prides of Barbados
by Chris Winslow
If I could only add one plant to the landscape a year, my choice
the moment would be pride of Barbados. This member of the pea
family (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) is one of the showiest of the land-
scape perennials in central Texas.
Native to the West Indies, it is also known as dwarf poinciana. In
the tropics it grows into a large shrub or small tree.
If you plant one around Buda, Kyle or Austin, winter cold snaps
will freeze them back, and generally you can expect them to reach
a height and width of only 5 - 7 feet.
The showy flower is what they’re all about. The flower clusters are
orangey-red with yellow edges, approximately 8 to 10 inches across.
Each cluster has crinkled petals 2 to 3 inches across. In addition
the flowers produce bright red stamens that extend beyond each
flower.
The main requirement for ‘prides’ is sun. Plant them in full to part
sun, and they will flourish. They aren’t too fussy about soil, and
will be equally happy whether it’s acid or alkaline soil.
Another important requirement is good drainage. They have shown
a great tolerance for drought-like conditions and are a great candi-
date for xeriscape gardening and water conservation.
Its fern-like leaves offer a nice background to its showy flowers.
As the flowers are pollinated, usually by butterflies, they produce
bean pods. By fall, the seed can be harvested for planting in the
spring.
When dried, the bean seed coat is very hard and needs nicking or
weathering to germinate easily. I usually collect the seed and give
them an acid bath before planting. With warm ground, the scarified
seed will begin to grow in 2 to 3 weeks.
Pride of Barbados is an herbaceous perennial in our climate. It breaks
dormancy in the spring, flowers mostly in the summer and fall, and
freezes back with the first cold spells in late fall and winter. You are
almost assured of a comeback in the spring with a layer of mulch
and occasional winter watering. (Prides of Barbados are in stock,
for $12.99 for 2 gal. pots).
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If you are familiar with this plant and would like to grow some
similar varieties, there are two more of these desert flowering
plants to consider.
The desert or Texas Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia gilliesii) grows
6 to 8 feet tall and has similar fern-like foliage with large yellow
flower clusters with large red stamens.
The Mexican Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana) is actually
a native of the Rio Grande Valley. This variety has golden, frag-
rant flowers borne on racemes 3 to 6 inches long.
Both grow under the same conditions and will add spectacular color
to your perennial landscape while keeping your water bill to a
minimum.
If you would like to see a great specimen, just drive to the entry-
way of Leisurewoods, on FM 1626. There’s a beautiful example
on the right side of the entryway. This plant has been returning
every spring for as long as I can remember.
Happy Gardening Everyone!
Contact newsletter editor Darrel Mayers 🌷🌲 🌿 🌵 ☀️ 
🌻
🌻 with any ideas for articles or interesting links:
internationalrain@yahoo.com (hitting 'reply' to this email won't work)
Visit the website: It's About Thyme And here for facebook
internationalrain@yahoo.com (hitting 'reply' to this email won't work)
Visit the website: It's About Thyme And here for facebook
