Miscanthus from Cindy at "My Corner in Katy"

Here's one of several beautiful grasses that I dug up from a fellow master gardener's yard. Her blog -- "My Corner in Katy" -- is a great inspiration for anyone gardening in the south. It's much more impressive in person though!

April blooms

This salvia greggii is doing great now that I moved it and gave it more room.





The violas and pansies are still doing great. I have been trying to think what I will replace them with when the weather warms up for real.

Blooming in April

I read that hardy geranium -- this is Rozanne -- does not do well in the humid south. I am hopeful that this is not true for my yard because it is an awesome plant to have! The Iceberg rose above is my best repeat bloomer. It has been fairly disease resistant and during the very hot months I spray neem oil on the new blooms to keep the thrips away. I have eight of these, including one climbing -- see the picture of the copper trellis my father built -- and would recommend this rose for anyone in Zone 9 as long as it gets six full hours of sun, preferably morning.

Blooming in April in Zone 9

The Indigo Spires salvia, plumbago and mandovilla here are all survivors of Hurricane Ike in September. I just finished planting nine new Indigo Spires salvias in the front beds for a mass effect and will publish the photo when the begin to fill out. A GREAT addition to Zone 9 gardens. As long as the plumbago is cut back a third every now and then it will bloom all year for me. I have read that mandovillas are an annual for Zone 9 but mine never die back. They also bloom for me all year. They also have thrived in very hot afternoon sun.

What's Blooming in my Zone 9 Garden in April

The "Senorita Rosalita" cleome was just planted in the beginning of March. I purchased several of these Proven Winners gallon plants at Home Depot. I am amazed at how fast they have taken off and am always, always pleased with any plant that I put in my garden that is a Proven Winners plant -- of course, assuming that it is placed in the proper growing conditions!

Love the windows, too ...

The way that the windows open on the building is not something we see very often here in the south. They definitely add the charm factor to the building in a big way.

The Cupola

The cupola on top of the garden building. Almost tried to save money and not get this and am so thrilled I did!

My Garden Building

Here is my garden building that sits in my backyard. It is right to the side of the new borders that are going in and I am working on the garden that will surround it. I purchased this building late last year from http://www.gardensheds.com/ and never regret the insane amount of money that I spent getting it built and getting it here from up north. It is awesome!

Here is looking back at the house.

Long Borders - View from the House

Here is the view that will be of the long borders from the house.

New Long Borders - The Beginning

This is the first stage of a pair of 50 foot borders that I have just begun. I hope, hope that they come out the way I am envisioning. I stole this idea from Gordon Hayward -- my favorite garden design author -- in his book "The Intimate Garden." His borders are in Vermont and I am trying to figure out good substitute plants for Zone 9 to get the same look. I had my landscape crew come in and dig out the sod and they added about two inches of good garden soil. Need more soil though. Will be adding a few river birch trees at the front of the left border and the back of the right. I am planning on filling the borders up with various ornamental grasses, shrubs, small trees, perennials, annuals and bulbs. Would love any suggestions! Eventually I will have a bench at the end of the borders and/or a gazebo that I will have my father build. Stay tuned! Vikki