Plants-o-rama

Today was a beautiful winter day in Austin, Texas. Calm, blue skies, 65 degrees, and John and I planted and planted and planted our new beds. It was fabulous. We have a ton of space to fill and we're just getting started...40 purple coneflowers, 18 black-eyed susan 'Irish Eyes,' a button bush, 3 chile pequins, 5 flame acanthus, bamboo muhlies, some dwarf yaupons, rosemary, golden thyrallis, and a whole flat of salvia 'Indigo Spires' (not what I was actually thinking of planted, but it sort of fell in my lap, so I ran with it). A few pix from the nice December day...

A random coneflower decided to bloom.

Planted some new succulents in the steel succulent bed.




I love the hot pink on this succulent.


The butterflies started cruising in just as the Indigo Spires went into the ground. Here's a painted lady, Vanessa cardui.




The beets are growing big. I've never successfully grown these, and these are the best I've ever had!


Super hot peppers on our native Texas chile pequin. These are really tiny peppers, but they seem to pack a potent punch. Can't wait to cook with them.


Some of the small new plants in the beds.


A winter queen, Danaus gillipus, sucking minerals from the soil beneath the leaf mulch.


Flotsam after a hard days work...