Are you Cereus?

My Night Blooming Cereus produced its first bloom of the season last night. The large flowers open after dark, usually around 11:00 PM, and are very fragrant. Unfortunately, the flowers do not last long. They are usually wilted within a few hours of sunrise the next morning.


This is one of my few potted tropical plants. It is very easy to care for. I keep it watered and shaded from the hot afternoon sun during the summer. During the winter, I bring it into the garage and forget it.


The Night Blooming Cereus will bloom off an on throughout the summer and fall. It often has several flowers blooming at one time. I have another plant that appears to be a different variety. It had its first bloom last year, but I did not notice it until it was wilted. I am looking forward to to seeing this plant bloom this year too.


The garden is looking reasonably well in late July. The temperature has been fairly moderate and it has rained a few times. Even with the rain, we are several inches below normal rainfall amounts and experiencing Stage 3 (sprinklers once every other week) watering restrictions. So far, I have not watered any plants other than those in pots, the vegetables and new transplants.


I was a little surprised when I received a call last week from a member of the Plano Garden Club. The group's garden tour committee wanted to come by to see my garden and talk to me about having it on their tour next April. I knew I would be hearing from the group at some point because another member of the group asked if I would consider it when she visited my garden during the Plano Water Wise Landscape tour last month.


I explained to the caller that my garden it was not looking all that great right now because my native plants were going dormant for the summer. (These photos make the colors look more vibrant than they really are.) I said I would have plants blooming again in September once the temperature begins to cool and we receive a little rain. She said she already drove by my house and thought the garden looked great.


She explained that it is necessary to line up gardens and prepare publicity well in advance of the tour date. So the committee of three came out two days later and saw my garden in a rather unkempt state.


I had not done much maintenance in the last month. The weekend before this photo was taken, I started removing some spent spring wildflowers and that left patches of bare soil. I still had several patches of wildflowers that were brown and were going to seed. I also have late summer blooming Eryngo (to the left of the pathway)that are growing taller than me. Even so, the committee was impressed and very interested in including my garden on their tour. Being susceptible to believable flattery, I agreed.


The next step? A photographer is coming out this week to take photos for a tour feature in a community magazine. I was thinking, "Are you serious? It is almost August! Can't it wait a couple of months? Can I submit my own photos?" Nope. But I am not quite as concerned about having the garden photographed at this time of years as I was. Most of my above photos turned out better than I expected so I am expecting a professional photographer can make the garden look even better. 

Speaking of Garden Tours...

On May 18, I attended the 13th annual White Rock East Garden Tour & Artisans. This tour showcases gardens and work of artisans in the Forest Hills, Little Forest Hills, and Casa Linda Estates neighborhoods in East Dallas near White Rock Lake and the Dallas Arboretum. The nine gardens (three in each neighborhood) are within a few blocks of each other so it is easy to make several stops without putting many miles on the car. 

Starting the tour in Forest Hills, a dinosaur in front of to the Comini Garden on Whittier Ave seems a little upset that visitors have disturbed her gardening. So be it. This garden was certainly the most popular and interesting on the tour, even though plants were not the focus of the garden.

Stock tanks and water features were everywhere in this garden. There were so many stock tanks, you would think you were in Austin. This was the first time I have seen stacked stock tanks. Water pours out of the wall through an air conditioning duct boot and into a small stock tank set upon a larger stock tank. Water from the smaller, slightly tilted stock tank overflows into the larger tank.

A boardwalk guides visitors around the front yard.

While an anole takes it all in stride.

Another stock tank in the front yard. This one has water flowing through an old-style hand pump.

The boardwalk widens to make room for a small seating area with a fire pit.

 The boardwalk guides visitors around to the backyard and alongside an in ground pond.

A little further into the backyard is a partially submerged stock tank which is somewhat disguised by corrugated metal and flagstones. Another piece of corrugated metal is used to create a waterfall effect.

Here is the water feature from  a different angle. In the background is the covered patio for a small structure called the Lake House.

The Lake House is complete with a bed, rocking chair and assorted fishing gear. Old bed springs on the wall are used to display fishing lures. Someone may have suffered some misery here. I did not notice the hand coming out from under the bed until I was reviewing pictures at home.

A second structure in the backyard is called the Camp House. The Camp House has a camping and hunting theme.

If you have a Lake House and a Camp House, you also need an Outhouse and this is the name of the third structure in the backyard. The Outhouse has a working toilet, sink, and shower.

As I was getting ready to leave the garden, I passed by this stock tank combo with a large metal elk standing nearby and two decoy ducks in the upper tank. There were several other water features at this garden that I did not photograph, including additional stock tanks and a swimming pool. The homeowner allowed visitors to step into sections of her home for a look around. It reminded me of a cowboy museum of sorts.

The next stop was the Blanchard Garden on San Fernando Way. Yuccas, agaves, palms, and a few other shrubs grew in the beds near the entrance. Around in the backyard was a swimming pool and lots of lawn. What interested me most in this photo was the metal roof.

Even more interesting to me was the fence. It was made with horizontal planks attached to PostMaster fence posts. I would certainly consider a fence like this if I had not put in a new fence a couple of years ago.

This is a view of the fence from the inside. 

On to the Little Forest Hills neighborhood. This is the Kimberlin Garden on Santa Clara. A cedar post arbor spans the width of the sidewalk near the street. 

In the backyard, another cedar arbor divides the backyard into two distinct areas. A rose garden is on the house side. Sorry, no photos. Too many people.

On the back side of the arbor is a sitting area with a fire pit.

On the way to the next garden on Groveland, I walked by this garden. It was on the tour last year and you can read Shirley's account of the garden at Rock-Oak-Deer. This house is currently on the market for $450,000. It is an interesting house and garden, but a bit pricey for a 1,550 square foot house. Open house this weekend.

The house next door has a large gravel driveway around the house with a few plantings near the house and street. It is a little stark, but definitely low maintenance. Shirley had a picture of this landscape in her post as well. I have no photos to share of the garden on Groveland that was actually on the tour.

The last stop is in the Casa Linda Estates. The Mason Garden on San Saba is on a large, sloping creek lot. I thought these flagstone steps leading toward the creek were nice.

Here is a shot showing visitors crossing the creek.

After leaving the Mason Garden, I walked next door because this garden caught my eye while driving down the street and I wanted a better look. It is a long way from the street to the house. Visitors must walk down these steps.

And then they cross a bridge before climbing stone steps to get to the house. The garden has several rock terraces to help level out the grade. For a moment, I considered how I would landscape this property if it was mine.

And those are the highlights of the 2014 tour from my perspective. 

Chicken Coop Tour

Yes, I am a slow blogger. I attended the A Peep at the Coops urban chicken coop tour in East Dallas on April 18 and I am just now getting around to making the post. Why? Because I would rather be gardening and attending gardening events than sitting at my computer and typing. So, a month later, here is the post.

Interest in backyard chicken farming is growing in Dallas, especially in the area around White Rock Lake. The tour was an interesting opportunity to see the different breeds of chickens and sneak a peek into people’s backyards. Several of the chicken farmers had nice gardens or ponds so it was like a coop, garden, and pond tour all in one.

The stop in the photo above was one of the most popular on the tour. The owner builds chicken coups that are sold at local nurseries. Not only were there chickens on this stop, there were...

peafowl...

turkeys and goats (not pictured). I did not expect to see so many farm animals in a residential area of Dallas.

Here is a pond that was at another stop on the tour. The pond was built on a slope and was surrounded by Japanese maples and other lush vegetation.

The next stop was the home of Mariana Greene, a garden columnist for the Dallas Morning News. The small backyard was packed full of plants, pond and chickens. The Chinese snowball (Viburnum macrocephalum) by the house was eye-catching. Mariana frequently writes about her chickens in her column, so I will not give them any additional press in this blog. Since their adoring public was clamoring at their cage and I did not get an opportunity to visit with them anyway.

I did get a look at some of the colorful eggs produced by Mariana's chickens.

I thought this metal winged dragon sculpture was interesting. As I recall, it was around 8 feet tall.

This rabbit caught my eye because the pattern on its side looks like a rabbit. Do you see it or is it just me?

Since this was a chicken coop tour, here are a few pictures of the many chicken breeds on display. Sorry about the quality. Chickens do not keep still and it is difficult focusing through chicken wire.

The chicken coop above had curtains. I guess chickens need their privacy. Actually, the owner said she closed them during cold weather to help keep the chickens warm.

For the record, I do not have any interest in raising chickens. Besides, although chickens are legal in Dallas, they are not permitted in Plano. I would not mind if some prairie chickens or quail wanted to take up residency in my prairie—if they could survive the neighborhood cats.

This weekend is the Garden Conservancy's Open Days Tour in Dallas. Maybe I will post some photos before next month, slow blogger that I am.