Heirloombulbgirl

Tag: Gardening blog

  • Gopher Baskets for the Roses

    A fairly unknown fact is that I once had a rose garden that was featured in a 3 page article in the Dallas Morning News Garden Section. True story! I absolutely adore Antique Roses. My Dallas garden was home to over 43 beloved Antique Rose Bushes, intermingled with fabulous Heirloom Bulbs. It was my joy. My little neighborhood watched the garden transformation through all three of my pregnancies. My husband was often questioned by neighbors if I really should be jumping on a shovel at 9 months pregnant in the heat of August. Those were good rose-growing times! Fresh flower bouquets of big and fluffy cabbage-style rose blooms. Children learning about the different varieties of Antique Roses, and my husband losing all control over his front yard grass.

    I now live in the Texas Hill Country (enough said). Over the last decade, I have tried to grow over 40 bushes in the gopher-infested land. All I did was create a gopher buffet. It’s not *if* they will eat my roses, but when. The gophers have wiped out every single rose bush I have planted…except one. Not great odds are in my favor. I’ve tried everything, and I mean everything. I even have a useless barn cat.

    This last week, I have stepped up my gopher-game. With a little click on Amazon, I ordered a nice supply of wire mesh gopher baskets. I had no idea gopher baskets were even a thing. Why didn’t someone tell me I didn’t have to make my own out of cut chicken wire?!! I’m quickly learning that Amazon is like Christmas every morning. The baskets arrived yesterday and I’m SO EXCITED! I have 5 bushes, saved in the nick of time, currently resting and regrowing roots in terracotta pots.
    Before Spring hits, I plan to basket up all the roses and the nice, young specimen plants I’ve recently planted. I will have to re-dig and re-plant.
    Typical.

    I also plan to basket up many of my bulbs. Gophers enjoy eating the roots of Spider Lilies, but will leave the Oxbloods alone. (Oxbloods are supposed to be toxic).

    With the water well and the gopher baskets, it will be SO enjoyable to watch the gardens finally take root. I often tell folks that gardening is like learning music, it is a journey not a race. But it’s also nice to see a completed garden project. A job well done is quite satisfying.

    I wonder if I will ever experience the thrill of a finished project? Take a look at my gardens and you will quickly find out the answer! 🙂

    Happy Gardening, my friends!

  • The Backwards Garden

    “Mr. Privilege, It’s a Laramie… No, that’s not right.”

    ”You’re upside down, Sir.”

    The iconic scene in the 1970’s movie ‘What’s Up Doc’ is a perfect way to describe the gardens at the Agape Haus Music Studio. I am the first to admit that I did everything backwards. It is now the 8th Winter after the flood, and I am *still* finding, moving and discovering plants and bulbs that were hurriedly dumped at the music studio. Call it a continuous Easter Egg hunt for adult gardeners. I also like to move plants around like other people move their furniture, so no plant is safe from my shovel.

    I garden backwards…

    I’m upside down.

    I am the upside down gardener who creates nothing out of something, and I like it. I like the challenge of being completely unorganized and nonsensical. I like having a garden full of only foliage, questioning my own sanity at any given moment. Basically, I just really like my sweet little backwards garden. 🙂

    If you are up for the challenge, here are a few illogical steps to create your very own backwards garden. Trust me, it’s fun.

    1. Get some flower bulbs (the more the better) and plant them anywhere in your yard.
    2. Don’t mark your flower bulbs because that would be too logical. If you do happen to mark the random clumps of bulbs, make sure to use labels will either come off or get rubbed off. If your markers *do* last an entire season, invite the gophers to chew up your wooden markers (the ones that you hand painted). Spouses with weed-eaters work well too.
    3. Once you fill up your yard with randomly planted bulbs, the bulb foliage will go dormant. This is when the fun really begins! Make sure to forget where the bulb clumps have been planted. Now, you are able to dig in your yard and completely disturb your flower bulbs every single time you put your shovel into the earth.
    4. As you dig, debating about the specimen plants that should’ve been planted FIRST in your garden, you will accidentally hit some random bulbs that you forgot about. That’s normal when you’re upside down. Now you will have to wait an entire year until the bulbs come up. Thus, another year goes by without specimen plants. (You remind yourself that you should’ve marked those darn bulbs with appropriate markers, but you will do it next year with more useless markers).
    5. Always hand paint artistic gardening signs on surfaces that will peel. This is huge. Signs are best when you can’t read them.
    6. Most of your flower bulbs will be happy in their new home, but always second guess nature. Spend your time moving your bulbs here and there (randomly ofcourse), giving sun-loving bulbs plenty of shade and visa-versa.
    7. Enjoy every single moment spent in your much loved, backwards garden. 🙂

    Happy Gardening, my friends! I’m off to go dig!

  • The Texas Pomegranate

    Some of you know, but most of you don’t, the disgusting soil I have to work with at the studio. Even the word “soil” to describe the studio grounds is being grossly negligent as a writer. Perhaps I should describe my land in politically correct terms…the land is “soil-deprived”, or an “enriched-deficient” plot of horror. Most gardeners would run and hide from the catastrophic elements that are continually at war against gardening. Whether it be moles and gophers, rock and rubble, thermal hot spots in drought conditions or just a plain thorny sticker crop. I simply can’t catch a break. Except in the rare moments when I get to look upon a job well done. Inspiration overrides all seasons of exhaustion and frustration, and I simply get to hold the fruit of my labor. And oh, how sweet it is!

    The Texas Pomegranate is truly something to behold. I call it the Texas Pomegranate because I honestly don’t know what variety this beautiful tree is. I received the tree as a gift when I first bought the music studio. Apple John, a dear friend and mandolin extraordinaire, has an Apple Orchard deep in the Texas Hill Country. John also cultivates Pomegranate Trees. This tree was one of the first plants that found a home at the studio. The Pomegranate became a landmark in the garden, planting all shrubs, flowers and Heirloom Bulbs around it. When cherished plants died in times of drought, the pomegranate grew only stronger.

    ”Is that all you got?!”

    The Texas Pomegranate is also unscathed by destructive critters that lurk underground. For a few years, I had a beautiful antique rose that nestled herself up to the pomegranate tree. Then one day her roots were completely chewed up. Once again, the Pomegranate grew only stronger. It honestly doesn’t make sense how the palate of a gopher can be so refined as to distinguish between the roots of a salvia or rose!

    I’m not a gardening expert on much, but I do take notice the drought-hardy plants that thrive in lousy soil. The Texas Pomegranate is one of those jewels. For great native plants, I shop at Greensleeves Nursery in Pflugerville, Friendly Natives in Fredericksburg, Backbone Nursery in Marble Falls, or The Natural Gardener and Barton Springs Nursery, both in Austin. I love each of these shops for different reasons. The mainstay is to shop a local plant nursery that focuses on native plants for your area. DO NOT SHOP BIG BOX STORES FOR YOUR TEXAS POMEGRANATE TREE OR ANYTHING FOR THAT MATTER. (Notice all caps? I’m a bit passionate about supporting small garden shops!)

    Happy Gardening, my friends!

  • Saving the Gardens for Miss Margaret (part 3)

    There are a lot of meaningful endeavors in life, but saving Miss Margaret’s gardens is definitely one of my favorites. I’m honestly not sure why I’m so passionate about old flower bulbs, but the only way to explain it is that it’s in my blood. My Dad loved old architecture and old photos. As a child, my Dad instilled a profound understanding of preservation. A deep desire to save something that will be lost. When I see bulb foliage, there’s a sudden urgency to hop barbed wired fences with a shovel. My son even bought me a mini shovel to carry around in my car. I must admit, my little digging passion is just weird. I can’t explain it. I’m just compelled to hop that fence. I feel like an addict, desperately seeking my next fix of old rotting houses and “No Trespassing” signs. If I had a dollar for every time my family told me “We aren’t bailing you out of jail” I’d be rich. There are countless reasons why I shouldn’t do what I do, and only one reason why I should….the beautiful 100 year old Oxblood Lily bulb that I’m holding in my hand.

    She survived the Great Depression.

    She survived World War 1 and World War 2.

    She survived floods.

    She survived drought.

    She survived decades of love and care.

    She survived decades of neglect.

    She is a worthy preservation project indeed! It is hard to imagine the changing landscape that little bulb experienced over her last 100 plus years. Even if, for no other reason than antiquity, that flower bulb deserved to be saved.

    Just look at Miss Margaret’s lovely Oxbloods! Happy, healthy and preserved for generations to come.

    What became of Miss Margaret’s gardens? Well, that is a sad story for another day. Most of the bulbs were salvaged, the historic house was demolished, and the land became a cemented parking lot. I can still see the stained glass and the curled wooden staircase in my mind.
    If you are able to come to the Agape Haus Studio open house on Dec 20th, rumor has it that Santa left Oxblood Lilies for gifts for everyone! 🙂

    Happy Gardening, my friends!

  • Monarch Migration 2025

    This year’s butterfly migration was unlike any other I’ve ever seen. So many pictures from all over Texas showed an increase in Monarchs. I think what is most awe-inspiring is the same butterflies that were feasting on the Cow Pen Daisy in Texas were in Canada not too long ago. That, my friends, is simply miraculous.

    The Fall Monarch migration depends largely on pollinators. A Monarch Butterfly will fly thousands of miles south, in need of energy sources and rest along the way. After much curiosity and research, I discovered that Monarch butterflies actually remember food sources. Somehow, this understanding is passed down from generation to generation. Food sources become instilled in the pathways of Monarchs. Butterflies remember!

    Over the past decade, I have worked endlessly on restoring the studio grounds for a natural habitat. I have planted many different natives and other butterfly pollinators, but the Cow Pen Daisy was the game changer. Once I brought in Cow Pen Daisy, it was on! Each year, the Monarch numbers doubled. This year, I have a Monarch sanctuary. A place of recharge and rest. The Monarchs arrive on an invisible pathway in the sky, and rest in the shade of the old Live Oak Trees. They enjoy the food sources available, and sleep safe and sound on tree branches.

    It’s not too late to start planning for next year’s Monarch Migration. Let’s face it, gardeners rarely let idle time slip through their fingers. We are always thinking about the next great thing to add to our garden oasis…whether it be a project, a pond, a plant or a butterfly habitat. Remember, there’s always room in the garden for more beauty, bulbs and butterflies.

    “Go ahead and splurge. It’s the only way”

    Happy Gardening, my friends!

  • The Multigenerational Family of Bulbs

    Just look at that! What a sweet family photo!
    Scott Ogden, in his book Garden Bulbs for the South, describes the growth of Oxblood Lilies perfectly…
    “No other Southern bulb can match the fierce vigor, tenacity, and adaptability of the Oxblood Lily.”
    After 30 years of rescuing, growing and preserving Heirloom Oxblood Lilies from old German homesteads, I have to agree. There is an incredible family unit that is found in each clump of bulbs that has been lifted.

    Scott Ogden came for a visit after our house was destroyed in the flood in 2018. I was in the process of moving all the gardens and bulbs to Agape Haus Studio & Garden. Scott had heard that I had lost my cherished copy of his book, so he and a gardening friend came and brought me a signed copy! We walked through the gardens, and I showed them my restoration goals for the scrappy, rock-infested land. I also showed them the beautiful old Live Oak trees with sandy loam conditions that were PERFECT for bulbs. They both looked at me like I was crazy.

    “That’s a lot of work”

    After all, I was a full-time working musician with a family to tend to.

    “Well, I *did* tear down an old ratty house next door, in between violin lessons, just to save that tree. Crazy is as crazy does.” 🙂

    I grabbed a shovel and dug up an enormous clump of old Oxbloods. This multigenerational family of Oxbloods had been featured in an article “Saving the Gardens for Miss Margaret”. Scott and Greg couldn’t believe how huge the clump was, and how many hundreds of bulbs were in that bulb family clump! They also couldn’t believe that I was “just giving” them these beloved bulbs. Yes, Oxbloods have a pretty high street value for fellow gardeners. In my mind, no one really “owns” their flowers…they are meant to be shared and enjoyed. We are all just care takers for the Lord’s creative beauty through nature and gardens.

    As Oxblood Lilies grow, the old bulbs get older and larger, babies bulbs grow and swirl around the parent bulb until they finally grow big enough to be on their own. These offshoots then split off and start their own little families. The baby bulbs grow into parent bulbs…hence, the multigenerational aspect of the Oxblood Lily.
    Yesterday I dug up a nice clump for donation. As I divided the bulbs, I counted 22 very large old Grandparent bulbs, not including the all the parent and littles.
    Old bulbs grow and multiply faster than smaller bulbs, but don’t worry, we all become our Grandparents’ someday! We just need to keep nurturing and watering during growing season.

    if you’d like to have some beautiful Oxblood Lilies added to your garden, simply email me, check out Etsy (it’s usually sold out tho) or come see me at the studio 1st and 3rd Fridays, by appointment.

    Happy Gardening, my friends!

  • The Second Flush of Oxblood Lilies

    A few weeks ago, the first of the Oxblood Lilies appeared. This is always a glorious time for the Southern gardener, and a beautiful way to welcome in the Fall. The first flush of Oxbloods is a sigh of relief. Summer is finally over! I imagine the first few blooms are likened to that of a reconnaissance crew, just checking out the weather and overall surroundings to make sure it is, in fact, Fall. The first flush is nice, but the second flush is the real deal…

    The homemade fudge sauce on an ice cream sundae.
    The quiet, gentle snowfall on Christmas Eve.
    The green piece of sea glass on a beach in Cornall, England.

    The second flush of Oxblood Lilies is nothing short of magical. The rich, intoxicating shades of dark, crimson red are exactly what one would imagine an Oxblood Lily should look like. During the second flush, the weather has also cooled down a bit (supposedly), and the flowers last much longer. The growing conditions become much more favorable of having viable seed-producing pods. I’m not sure if all Oxbloods have the “second flush” growing habits. An Oxblood clump has to become established to provide numerous blooms. Given enough time, your Oxbloods will be a multigenerational family of bulbs.

    The attitudes of Heirloom Oxblood Lilies that are 100 year old stock (and beyond) are quite different than other young whipper-snappers in the garden. These old gals have been through a lot…the Great Depression, World Wars, the Beatles, the technology age of garden neglect and homestead teardowns. That’s a lot for an old bulb to take in and process. If the weather isn’t quite right, the main flush will simply hold off.
    Patience is indeed a virtue. In my garden, the first flush typically contains only a few scattered blooms out of each clump. Yes, they are lovely to behold and yes, I do enjoy the first flush as much as I love a single chocolate cookie right out of the oven. But the second flush…Omygoodness. The second flush is the entire plate full of warm, gooey, right-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies. It’s simply incredible.

    Please reach out and let me know how your Oxbloods are doing. I do have Oxbloods available if any of you are without. It’s never good to have a garden with bulbs.
    email Heirloombulbgirl@gmail.com for more information.

    Until then, enjoy this wonderful season of Oxbloods!
    Happy Gardening, my friends!

  • We’ve Broken Up…..

    “Not to brag, but I once had a compost pile that rivaled even the sexiest man alive. Sorry, Ladies. This compost was mine.”

    A few seasons ago, in the cool of the morning, I posted this sentiment on social media. On that wonderful Spring morning, I truly was in love with my compost pile. I had the world’s greatest compost pile, pulling out a whopping wheelbarrow of compost each week for my gardens.

    But not now.
    Not this pile.

    Not in the Texas Hill Country where it’s a dry, dusty, buggy, snake-filled, scorpion and hornet infused landscape of rock. This compost pile was a different relationship altogether. I have come to realize the unhealthy love for something refusing to give back needed to be let go.

    Let’s all face it….Gardening in the Hill Country is nothing short of miraculous. A girl has to wear big boots in our area to stomp out all nature’s garden-haters that naturally exist in and around the yard. Heck, I can’t even get a gopher to quit eating my roses Let alone all the other natural elements. So yesterday, I took a moment, in the 100 degree heat, and looked deep into the soul of my compost. I realized then and there that our relationship was one sided and I was through.

    Done.

    I broke up.

    No more pouring into the compost pile when I was getting nothing out.

    No more hours spent on nurturing something that remained dry and brittle.

    No more wasted time spent on reviving a relationship that was doomed from the beginning. Honestly, I don’t even think it tried.

    Sometimes it is good to see where your emotional energy goes. Is this relationship even reciprocal? Does the Compost even want to try to work things out? I think not. I have flipped and flipped, only to find a dusty end to my endeavor. There was no heart present. No sweet aroma of what once was….So I broke up.

    There will be many of you compost-lovers out there who will try to talk me back into my relationship. I know, I know. I’ve broken up with my compost piles in the past only to desperately try to work things out again.

    Not this time. I’m done. I’m going to go “cut and drop”, and work on disassembling the relationship.
    I feel good. I feel free. And I’m finally happy without my deadbeat compost pile.

    Happy Gardening, my friends!

  • The Love of Heirloom Bulbs

    This.

    The old paper.

    The old-style calligraphy.

    The old Latin text.

    The old botanical art.

    I love it all. I’ve always been drawn to antiquity, whether it is a flower, an old black and white photo, historic buildings or a page of music that my violin teacher’s teacher wrote upon in the early 1900’s. My love towards preserving the unseen or the forgotten has been a passion for as long as I can remember. Love can be manifested in many different ways. The love and preservation of the Heirloom Flower Bulb has been a deep-rooted passion since for as long as I can remember.

    My first taste of an Heirloom Bulb came literally in the form of a beautiful pink cabbage-petaled Peony. Peonies smelled intoxicatingly delicious, and well, yes… I licked the sap off those gorgeous flowers. Licking sap off the Peony is not recommended as peonies are poisonous. Children, like myself, are not meant to play “Bumblebee” with poisonous plants. In fact, I often tested my boundaries with the wild things by way of eating wild mushrooms, the neighbor’s raspberries, random flowers and lilacs. I loved all flowers, even the ones I ate, but I grew very fond of the old Peonies. It fascinated me that flower bulbs came back year after year, no matter what. As a child, this was nothing less than magical.

    Neighbors down the street noticed my love for flowers and poured their knowledge into me. Rabbi And Mrs. Horowitz greeted me at their front door with scissors and a vase. I suppose they knew that I would hack at their Heirloom Roses inappropriately if they didn’t teach me properly. I have such fond memories of their gentle ways, the beautiful rose garden in their backyard with heirloom rose cuttings that came from their own family members. Mrs. Horowitz took time sharing the stories of her roses and taught me, a young child, how to love and respect old plants. (I have tried to create a rose garden in their honor, but unfortunately the gophers have other plans). :/

    After the Peonies and the Horowitz Heirloom Rose Garden of my childhood, I became an Heirloom Iris addict. It wasn’t long after my family relocated to Colorado Springs that I found an abandoned Iris garden in the empty lot next to our house. My Dad and I spent hours unearthing the old fountain and Iris rhizomes that had been covered up after decades of neglect. A neighbor had told us that at the turn of the century, the gardens on West Cheyenne Mountain Road were eye-stoppers. The neighbor actually showed us an old black and white photo from the 1940’s of cars lined up to simply drive by the gardens. Rare black Iris were in abundance. We lived in that house just one year, but it was one of my favorite houses that I ever lived in. Years after we moved, I took my own little family by the old Cheyenne Mountain house in hopes of retrieving some historic Black Iris. Unfortunately, much to my great sadness, the gardens were bulldozed and the lovely lot became a common McMansion. I will always treasure those timeless moments of sitting on the ground with a hand shovel, gently unearthing the garden alongside my Dad.

    Fast forward to my early twenties. I was now in central Texas during Fall. Need I say more? It rained, and what seemed like overnight, Oxblood Lilies popped up all over town. I’ve never been the same since. Oxblood lilies seemed to grow wild where my in-laws lived, and I began to ask around about the red lilies growing everywhere.


    “Those are just weeds”

    “Well, can I dig up your weeds then?”

    “Help yourself”

    Thus started the first bulb dig 32 years ago this Fall. I’ve been digging ever since. I’ve salvaged a lot of old bulbs from homesteads and historic home teardowns. I’ve jumped barbed wire fences, been face-to-face with rattlesnakes, dug in the rain in front of bulldozers, broken more shovels than I care to admit and all the while…the Lord keeps whispering “Just Keep Digging”

    Honestly, I don’t even know why. My hands hurt, my body aches and I have countless thorns in my fingers on any given day….and I love every minute of it. 🙂

    We’ve all read “ To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Heirloom Bulbs live that quote. They are worthy of every single “blood, sweat and tears” (and broken shovels) of bulb rescues.. Heirloom Bulbs will outlive your grandchildren’s grandchildren. This weekend, the Rockwall Master Gardeners are doing a very special class featuring Heirloom Bulbs. Chris Weisinger, from Southern Bulb Company, will be giving a presentation. You can purchase Heirloom Bulbs from them. A fantastic way to start your weekend!

    Happy Gardening, my friends!


  • Spiders in the Garden (part two)

    Fall in Texas is not defined simply by weather patterns. Fall in Texas is defined by the exquisite red blooms of the Oxblood Lily and the red Spider Lily. Few flower bulbs are as bold and vivacious as these flower bulbs are. These lilies are tough, surviving years of neglect, and provide a happy reminder of good times to come in the Southern garden.

    My first Spider Lily was found at our little home in Dallas. The lily grew in a crammed flower bed next to our sidewalk. I tried multiple times to retrieve the bulb, but I’d pull out only chunks of the bulb…only to have more Spiders in the garden the following year. The house was a 1950’s cottage style house of 1,100 square feet. People were a lot more content with simplicity back then, and cherished their flowers. The folks that lived in the house after the original owners let the garden beds go. The Spider Lilies were the only flowers that remained. I fell completely in love.

    Normally I am not drawn to “fancy”, but Spider Lilies are different. Their fanciness comes from a place of the heart. The bold flower is so vivid, it can be spotted from anywhere in the garden. One single Spider can rise tall and demand attention from onlookers, but humble enough to allow other flowers to bloom beautifully the rest of the year. Spiders aren’t like Bougainville, which take over the conversation. Spider Lilies are content to shine for a few weeks, then let others do the same. Spiders compliment other plants without stealing the joy.

    A single Spider is noteworthy, but I have found that flower bulbs do enjoy being a part of a family of bulbs. I always plant my flower bulbs together in groups of 5 or more, spaced loosely, but close enough for roots to touch. Spiders thrive planted in families. Spider lilies also enjoy afternoon shade, knowing that a Texas Summer is brutally hot. Protect your flower bulbs from the extreme elements. Planting native ground covers or gentle perennials are also helpful. More of under-planting and over-planting in subsequent blogs. For now, if you can get your hands on some Spiders, they are a great addition to any garden. Try Southern Bulb Company, Old House Gardens or the Tyler or Rockwall Master Gardener Bulb Sales. All great choices 🙂

    Happy Gardening, my friends!