Several salvias are going great guns, shooting up and terminating in buds. But a few spring flowers are hanging in there. Such as several varieties of dianthus. My favorite is an unassuming little pink which has not only survived for the past five or six years but in it’s modest way gradually covered more of the garden.
To tell the truth I’m exhausted by spring. The sunshine, bursting buds, and growing numbers of flowers in the garden have whipped me into a frenzy of activity. Over and above the need to get into the garden and plant, I find myself drawn to any task the garden has to offer. The lure of being outside in the lovely spring weather we've had was to hard to resist.
Over the past week I have received my seed order from Pinetree Gardens, all nineteen packets of them. So far I have planted Cleome (White Queen), Cosmos (Sensation Mixed), Gaillardia Pulchella (Sundance Bi-Color), Lemon Mint (Monarda Citriodora), Zinnia (Classic White) and finally Tarahumara Chia a herb. The last is a mystery to me but I thought the description looked interesting. The remainder of the seeds, mostly warm weather vegetables, will go in my vegetable patch in the community garden.
As I tend to order seeds from a catalog the way I order from a menu in a restaurant, with eyes bigger than my stomach, I will no doubt have a hard job fitting all my seeds into the vegetable garden. It is at present home to newly transplanted tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil and fennel. Not to mention peas, lettuce, sorrel, beets, carrots and potatoes which have been there, in some cases, for months and are gradually maturing. Trying to fit everything in is probably going to be impossible which I predict will lead to anguished decisions over what to sacrifice. 
My Crepe Myrtles are just starting to leaf out. I had to get my sewer line replaced two summers ago, and the digging process cut right through the roots on one side. Last summer did not suit them, but that may have been the weather as well as the damaged roots. I hope they will do better this year. I envision them in great billowy clouds of color overhanging the driveway. Maybe this will be the year… The gardeners perpetual cry of optimism. As the humidity and temperatures climb I am finally forced to face the possibility of summer. I’ve been able to put it out of my mind while the cool nights and clear days persisted, the present being so much better than anything else I could imagine. Now I will cling to the idea that plants like warmth and therefore sun. Not our July/August sun but they will respond to longer days and warmer temperatures for a few months before we all get fried.
It's been dark and threatening all day with the feel of rain in the air. We have not had much rain this winter and every little bit is welcomed by me and all the gardeners I know. We did get some fairly heavy rain today but not for long, and although I can hear water rushing down the creek I doubt we had more than 2 inches. But the spring flowers will respond to every little bit and they are bursting with buds that just haven't quite come out yet. Some that have are below.
These Bletilla striata (Chinese Ground Orchids) I first saw at Mayfield Gardens and loved. It took several tries but I've finally got them to start blooming. When my Byzantine Gladiolus bloom they will have a similar color. I seem to have various shades of purple blooming at present, which suits me as I'm fond of that color. I hope the Betilla last until the Byzantine Gladiolus blooms. 
Here is a not very good photograph of some freesia's that decided to bloom this year. I must have planted these bulbs about three years ago and some tragedy (hail, dogs, etc) seems to destroy them each year. But this year they seem to like either 1) the amended soil, 2) the lack of rain 3) or the mild temperatures (cross fingers), I'm not sure which. It could just be that they have finally settled in and decided to make my garden home. I hope so as they are a beautiful soft mauve color and people who don't suffer from allergies tell me that they have a lovely scent.
I'm looking forward to a little cooler temperatures and I hope sun tomorrow. My Iris are looking rather bedraggled at present but they always seem to perk up when the weather suits them. I am in sympathy with them as I've noticed the same thing in myself.
My front yard last year. I had been trying to establish a garden for the previous three years and had finally defined the beds and reduced the lawn by about a third. I have been trying to work with the soil already there partly out of a desire to see if I could and partly to save money, as it would cost a fortune to truck in dirt. I still have quite a lot of St. Augustine grass and my plan is to enlarge the beds at a later date.
I am located just east of Mopac and north of 45th Street in the Rosedale area of Austin. I, and my garden are sitting on a solid limestone ledge covered with black clay, no deeper than ten inches and frequently shallower. I collected every bag of leaves I could find two years ago and had a huge compost heap mostly composed of leaves. Luckily the wet summer help decompose the compost pretty quickly so that I could put wheelbarrow loads of the stuff on every bed. Added to that was a load of horse manure, decomposed granite and when I planted, a yoghurt pot of peat moss. Gradually the soil is looking better and after loosing about fifty percent of all my plantings I've got a much better average. At least ninety percent of my plants survive. I'm still trying to get that established look where the plants cover all the dirt and beds look as if they're errupting out of the garden. I live in hope.
This is another view of my garden which shows my front walkway and my hardscape of decomposed granite and concrete pavers with river rocks to soften the edges. At the moment I have the front garden and one side of the house pretty well organized, it just needs filling in as I come across suitable plants. I still have the back garden and the other side of the house to get established.
