Toni, our entire front yard is beds of perennials,shrubs, bulbs, and a few cacti that are deer and drought resistant. I actually have two salvias that were found growing on graves in Texas. One is a blue, Henry Duhlberg, and the other, a white, Augusta Duhlberg! The back yard garden is my indulgence. I have a large rock patio and limestone paths. There's not much planting area, so I don't mind re-buying certain plants each spring. I love being outside and puttering in the garden.

Zig, if it was "all done," I think my garden would be boring to me. I like the hunt for new or unusual plants, and I like to share them with my friends and neighbors. The disappointment of losing a plant is shortened by the anticipation of the hunt for a new one...or two! I will say that losing the palms still smarts a bit!



Pod, you nailed it! I love remembering some of those plants I lost to the freeze or drought!

I agree. I love to "zone push" but you do have to be prepared for the worst. Gonna lose some, but half the fun is in the trying.

I love pushing zones and end up finding that some plants are tougher than they are suppose to be.

Pushing the zone limits is fun!
And some plants have just not been tried here.

A few years ago a home on the Garden Tour had the whole front yard in tea roses,
not hardy here. Every fall they bring in bales of straw to mulch the tea roses.

There are some micro climates in a yard which may be warmer or colder than the zone.

I like the way you all think!

Bubbles said:Melvalena, I think we just have to have an attitude adjustment! I've given up on some things that I know I have to baby too much. I bought some poppy varieties yesterday in 4" pots to plant and hopefully get seeds from for next year. No more palms for me, even tho we're having a palm expert speak to our garden club this summer. BTW, did you hear the meteor last night????

No I did not see or hear it! I was inside a night club giving dance lessons at the time and heard about it on the radio during my drive home. Did you see it? I heard people saw it from San Antonio clear up to OKC!

I'm done pushing zone limits. I'm tired of hauling things in and out, I'm tired of wasting my money too.

Everything but the dusty miller I bought last year died during the summer! EVERYTHING! Even plants that were supposed to survive!

I guess they didn't get enough head start before the heat set in.. or maybe it was the June hail storm that stripped every plant of every leaf just before the heat set in?

AND I WATERED!!! We were not on restrictions here. Just couldn't water between 10am and 6 pm.. (who would do that anyway??)

Though our winters are mild compared to zone 6 and lower our summers are brutal. Your mid summer gardens are all dead and dried up here in April/May.

Our plants still have to go through May, June, July, Aug and a good bit of Sept before there is relief and they can't depend on rainfall either.. there is very little after the first of June.

I hate cacti and succulents don't impress me.
I suppose I'm just frustrated right now. I'll get over it and carry on....

DH and I go out in the middle of our street when they announce the space station is going over! (Last year, or year before last, the space station went over , followed by the shuttle a short time later. No more shuttle now tho.) We can see it for quite a while, considering how fast it travels. Sometimes the neighbors go out with us. Seems it's usually around 6:30 or 7 at night when it's visible. Love to star gaze too. Would have loved to have seen the meteor or whatever it was.

If I remember correctly, we had 90° days in April last year. I was out in it way too much. It took a toll on my skin. I ordered some hostas, knowing "they don't grow in Texas." I have big pots of them that have adapted to my shady backyard. Yep, I'm a zone pusher.

Thanks Kristi. And that saying is one of my favourites "Far better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all". I've lost many times in many ways, but have been left with lots of great memories.

Sandi, I do zone push, but really from the other direction. There's a few things involved. Our temperatures don't drop much, but many plants do depend on a significant drop. Then there's day length. Many plants like long days in their growing season. Here the difference between the longest and shortest days is around an hour. And whilst we have high humidity for most of the year, during the dry season (winter) it can get very low during the day with high temperatures. It's quite a juggling act to try and work around all the different factors involved. One slip up and it can be a bit devastating. It hasn't stopped me, but it's affected my direction from time to time. Guess I'd be bored without the challenge though.

In my wildest dreams, I would never have thought of planting cacti and succulents here in Austin. But I am learning to embrace the plants that like our dry, hot summers. I had 'em in Tucson, Arizona, and I can plant them again (with a few prettys in between, maybe)!