2014 so far is shaping up to be a bummer of a year. We've barely gotten over an inch of rain and the local weather forecasters are not optimistic about much precipitation in the next two weeks. What we are receiving is a lot of wind, which is normal in West Texas. Yesterday and today we're experiencing high winds so there's not much gardening going on. However, the yesterday morning was decent and the Lubbock Arboretum held its annual plant sale. The Arboretum relies heavily its small devoted group of volunteers and donations from the public. They are a prime example of an local group doing the best they can with very limited resources.
A bed of May Night salvias beckons visits to sit a spell at the entrance to the Arboretum.
Besides plants, there were rain barrels and seeds available for purchase. As soon as the obnoxious winds settle down in two days I can plant the Bush Zinnia and Love in a Mist seeds I purchased.
Since I was already there I took the opportunity to sign up as a member of the Arboretum and strolled around a small section of the grounds to check out what was growing and blooming. Isn't this a sweet little two story birdhouse?
Not sure what this is pretty purple flower is as unfortunately there was no accompanying plant tag.
Entrance into the Arboretum where a tent was set up for visitors to pay for their plant purchases. The volunteers actually had to take the tent down around 11:30 due to the wind repeatedly knocking it down.
Texas Gold Columbines putting on a lush show. Below is a purple variety growing next to the gold ones.
The pink wildflower below is supposed to be easy to grow here but I've killed it the two times I've tried to grow it.
View down one of the many crushed gravel walkways at the Arboretum.
Not sure what these yellow flowers were but they seemed happy growing in various beds along the walkways.
This was a nice looking Euphorbia plant. I've never planted them in my garden due to the sap being an irritant but they are structurally attractive plants.
Last weekend I spent several hours dividing my daylilies and dragged down three bags full to donate for the sale. I ran out of steam before getting around to dividing the irises, which is pity since one of the volunteers told me Saturday morning that they'd had several requests for irises by visitors to the plant sale. So my goal this summer to to photograph the various irises when they bloom to document what colors they are and then next year when I dig some up for the plant sale I can print out pictures to accompany the plants. The reblooming, scented daylilies I donated this year sold out fast I was told so I'll try to donate a few more of those next year too.
