There was a passing mention of failed attempts in the garden and also
new things to be learned but, if there were answers given or shown, I
missed them. I'd be interested in knowing what was tried and didn't
work and what was new to be learned for someone new to gardening in
Austin ...... enquiring minds want to know

Howdy folks,
In regards to this message:
The best sound of 'rustling leaves' I've heard is standing under the
bats emerging from Bracken Cave. Bracken Cave is just outside of San
Antonio and is the home of the largest bat colony in the world. The
sound of all those bat wings flapping is amazing to say the least. You
might have a hard time attracting that many to your yard though. ;-)

-Nancy

Hmmm, maybe not that much rustling,we do want to be able to
meditate in the garden.

For folks who missed the show on Victoria's garden, KLRU's web site
runs a weekly download of the 'garden of the week' at:

http://www.klru.org/ctg/gardenomonth/index.asp

They only keep it up for a week until the next show.

I thought Victoria might want to download it for a keepsake.

Speaking of downloads of TV clips, for folks who have good machines
and can download that sort of thing, I did a public service TV
commercial sponsored by K Eye news, promoting Partners in Education
and featuring a clip of some of my kindergarden gardeners doing their
thing. They are very cute, and I'm not as a bad as I imagined I would
be. You can see that at the K-Eye news web page at:

http://keyetv.com/event/ape/coyle.shtml

We are planning for the start of the school year in August so I'm
psyching myself up.

Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 21:09:12 GMT, "Texensis"
wrote:

There was a passing mention of failed attempts in the garden and also
new things to be learned but, if there were answers given or shown, I
missed them. I'd be interested in knowing what was tried and didn't
work and what was new to be learned for someone new to gardening in
Austin ...... enquiring minds want to know


Not just new to Austin gardening, but to gardening is two agricultural zones
warmer than where I lived in USDA Zone 6b, to Dallas, 7a, to Austin, 8b.

I suppose you could say when I lived up in Dallas I planted azaleas after seeing
them in their utter glory in the Park Cities in Dallas. What I didn't know was
that, there was a strip of soil about a mile wide from upper Denton County to
probably a county lower than Dallas County which was very acidic. As was soils
in Tyler.

Oh, I made mistakes with certain roses, plants which thrived in sun up north
could barely take morning sun down here. The vast differences in habitat for
the wildlife and coming from living on the water on Long Island, to inland Texas
where 4 of Texas' ten regions meet.

I don't recall if that was actually on the show, but I did make mention of the
vast species which are naturally occurring here because of the richness of not
only four regions meeting, but the corridors which connect them. There are
species which will only really thrive INside of the corridors, some can move
about one side to the other and down the center of the corridors...it can get
complicate with phenology and how things work, why they work and when.

I am working on a book which will be sort of a manual for northerners who move
south. Not just to Texas, but the whole south. I suppose it will be geared
toward Texas, particularly where we are now in and around Austin. I have no
idea when it will be finished, but I have the title in mind and I am gathering
information and forming opinions and giving it a fair shot. It's not a fast
process.

Victoria

On 6 Jul 2003 20:06:05 -0700, (Steve Coyle) wrote:


We are hoping to attract bats, and I wondered if anyone had luck
with the Bat houses, and if there was something else that needed to be
done besides putting up the house to attract them.

I believe the Eagle Scouts did a study in whatever way they conduct a study and
came up with having bats come sooner if some guano was around the bat house.
Since I get a lot of guano from a local bridge where a million or so bats live
in summer, I have plenty! When we put the bat house up, we took an old, cotton
sock and filled it with guano and got it wet to really steep in the sock.

Other than that, I'm told, build it and they will come. They need to be at
least fifteen feet off the ground.


The Dalai Lama, or as I like to think of him, 'the big smiling
dude" is great.
I was really struck by something he said when they asked him for
his reactions about the Buddhist statues being blown up by the
Taliban.
He said something like "While I don't think they should be blowing
things up it's important to remember they are just statues." Then he
gets his big smile," ...and besides the people in that area are very
poor, they could be getting some money from tourists if they leave the
statues alone."

Well, in Buddhism, it is taught not to become attached to objects. I have the
easiest time of that in my life where nature if concerned.

I always say security is not what I have, but what I could live without.

As for calling H.H. "'...the big smiling dude...'" well, he is far too special
in my life to call him that, but I could easily understand why you call him
that. He is the embodiment of The Buddha of Compassion. Not even HE can work
that perfectly.

If your interested in helping the Tibeten exiles, there are ways
to sponser refugees, it doesn't take all that much to help out with
living quarters and education for those living in the exile
communities set up in India. I wore my 'Tibeten Relocation:Project
Austin' shirt to work one day and the owner of the Nursery, ( Who
shall remain nameless) asked me if the shirt was for a new Chinese
restaurant.

I do support programs for Tibetan Nuns. www.tnp.org

Speaking of Tibetens, I'm designing a meditation garden. An eight
by eight screened in pavillion in a wooded grove. I've been playing
with plant choices, and was thinking I would really like foliage
plants that had a nice rustling sound in the breeze. Kind of like the
wind and rustling sound effects to' Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' in
the Bamboo forest scene, but without all the Bamboo.

Having a lot of fun with it.
Ya'll take care.

Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

"animaux" wrote in message
...
| On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 21:09:12 GMT, "Texensis"

| wrote:
|
| There was a passing mention of failed attempts in the garden and
also
| new things to be learned but, if there were answers given or shown,
I
| missed them. I'd be interested in knowing what was tried and didn't
| work and what was new to be learned for someone new to gardening in
| Austin ...... enquiring minds want to know
|
|
| Not just new to Austin gardening, but to gardening is two
agricultural zones
| warmer than where I lived in USDA Zone 6b, to Dallas, 7a, to Austin,
8b.
|
| I suppose you could say when I lived up in Dallas I planted azaleas
after seeing
| them in their utter glory in the Park Cities in Dallas. What I
didn't know was
| that, there was a strip of soil about a mile wide from upper Denton
County to
| probably a county lower than Dallas County which was very acidic.
As was soils
| in Tyler.
|
| Oh, I made mistakes with certain roses, plants which thrived in sun
up north
| could barely take morning sun down here. The vast differences in
habitat for
| the wildlife and coming from living on the water on Long Island, to
inland Texas
| where 4 of Texas' ten regions meet.
|
| I don't recall if that was actually on the show, but I did make
mention of the
| vast species which are naturally occurring here because of the
richness of not
| only four regions meeting, but the corridors which connect them.
There are
| species which will only really thrive INside of the corridors, some
can move
| about one side to the other and down the center of the
corridors...it can get
| complicate with phenology and how things work, why they work and
when.
|
| I am working on a book which will be sort of a manual for
northerners who move
| south. Not just to Texas, but the whole south. I suppose it will
be geared
| toward Texas, particularly where we are now in and around Austin. I
have no
| idea when it will be finished, but I have the title in mind and I am
gathering
| information and forming opinions and giving it a fair shot. It's
not a fast
| process.
|
| Victoria

Thanx for your response. The real truth about gardening around here is
that no two years are the same and what worked once may never work
again!

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 13:35:19 GMT, "Texensis"
wrote:


Thanx for your response. The real truth about gardening around here is
that no two years are the same and what worked once may never work
again!


Which is why I am making the switch over to native plants. Removal of anything
foreign or invasive, and plants after having two growing seasons (actually 4
since we have two per year instead of one long one) not performing are being
removed and replaced with more appropriate plants.

Since I've started using native plants I now see them everywhere. A simple
ground cover as frog fruit. It has tiny, delicate flowers and now that I have
it everywhere, I see it all around town in parking lots, backs of stores, open
fields and such.

Nature is a treasure for me. I'm so glad I discovered it.

V

I noticed the cans that serve as "watering holes" for the lizzards. Do you use
mosquito dunks on those?

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

I noticed the cans that serve as "watering holes" for the lizzards. Do you use
mosquito dunks on those?

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

I do, but rarely does the water stay long enough. It evaporates rapidly in the
sun. I like the cans because I can't tolerate a sterile looking environment.
Our garden represents order in the chaos, on purpose.

Since living here four years, I haven't noticed much of a mosquito infestation.
We're about a thousand feet from Brushy Creek and in the direct eastern merge of
the bats, out from McNeil Road bridge. Who knows why, we haven't had a lot of
problems.

I do believe the fish in the small pond take care of it in that regard, but the
pond still has a dunk in it at all times.

Victoria


On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 16:49:32 +0000 (UTC), (Victor M.
Martinez) wrote:

I noticed the cans that serve as "watering holes" for the lizzards. Do you use
mosquito dunks on those?

animaux wrote:
Since living here four years, I haven't noticed much of a mosquito infestation.
We're about a thousand feet from Brushy Creek and in the direct eastern merge of
the bats, out from McNeil Road bridge. Who knows why, we haven't had a lot of
problems.

It's probably the bats, they eat an amazing number of mosquitos.

I do believe the fish in the small pond take care of it in that regard, but the
pond still has a dunk in it at all times.

They do. We don't use the dunks in the pond, only on the bird bath.

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

All those azaleas in the Park Cities were the brainchild of a man named
Lambert (there is still a Lambert's Landscaping in Dallas). He knew that
the rick folks could pay to have their plants pampered - like with
regular additions to the soil to keep it acidic and lots of watering.
And if one dies, just plant another. I think he started putting them in
sometime in the 1950's.

-Nancy

Yes, but if you look at the soil survey from that entire county and surrounding
counties, there is a corridor where soil samples had been taken and those soils
were neutral to acidic, perfect for azaleas. People have dogwoods in some
spots.

I won't deny the old money in that area and how much they pay to maintain those
beautiful plantings, but it doesn't change the "chasm" of acidic soil between
two alkaline spots.


On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 22:09:54 GMT, "N. Woolley" wrote:

All those azaleas in the Park Cities were the brainchild of a man named
Lambert (there is still a Lambert's Landscaping in Dallas). He knew that
the rick folks could pay to have their plants pampered - like with
regular additions to the soil to keep it acidic and lots of watering.
And if one dies, just plant another. I think he started putting them in
sometime in the 1950's.

-Nancy

WoW! Thanks to this group, I was able to catch it on the re-run today at noontime.
I ran out of the office and home to not miss it. I am so glad I did! I love the
prayer flags too. I wonder how they hold up in the central Texas sun. You must
replace them regularly or they would bleach white I would think.

The datura sure looked pretty. I am very impressed with all your hard work!

Best to You -- Gae

animaux wrote:

My thanks to you all who have taught me how to garden in Texas. Boy, it sure
was a ton of mistakes. Now I have a prairie garden and it is so much more
enjoyable. Just this morning I saw a skink out there.

V

On Sat, 05 Jul 2003 22:12:26 GMT, Elliot Richmond
wrote:

It's beautiful.

Thanks for sharing with us and other Central Texas Gardeners.

Elliot

Elliot Richmond
Freelance Science Writer and Editor

Howdy folks,
In regards to this snippet
"! I love the
prayer flags too. I wonder how they hold up in the central Texas sun. You must
replace them regularly or they would bleach white I would think.

They do bleach out in the sun, but I like the way that looks, like
the old flags you see on the stupa's. I always like a few reminders of
'impermanence' to remind me that I'm not the only one getting old and
decrepit.
There are a number of places in town you can get them, saw them at
the Natural gardener, but if you do some digging on the net you might
find a mail order place with a good price. In addition some of the
..orgs that help with refugee work raise money selling products, which
is a nice way to spend your dollars. I believe the Tibetan Nun's
project that Victoria mentioned ( she put the URL in her post in this
thread ) sells some products, I don't remember if they did flags, but
it's a good group and the site is worth is a visit. ) and there are
other sites you can find, doing an advanced search on 'tibetan prayer
flags'. A portal site for links I use is :
http://www.tibet.org/Relief/

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

Speaking of the Tibetan Nun's project, after 9-11 we got very
concerned mail from a sponseree who was worried about us and wasn't
sure how far away from the WTC, Austin Texas was,which was nice to
think of someone on the other side of the world taking the time for
prayer for us, and it was timely concern we apreciated, given our
families siutation regarding those events. I have a lot of regard for
the work that particular group does, and think they are well worth
supporting.

On 11 Jul 2003 07:08:19 -0700, (Steve Coyle) wrote:

Howdy folks,
In regards to this snippet
"! I love the
prayer flags too. I wonder how they hold up in the central Texas sun. You must
replace them regularly or they would bleach white I would think.

They do bleach out in the sun, but I like the way that looks, like
the old flags you see on the stupa's. I always like a few reminders of
'impermanence' to remind me that I'm not the only one getting old and
decrepit.
There are a number of places in town you can get them, saw them at
the Natural gardener, but if you do some digging on the net you might
find a mail order place with a good price. In addition some of the
.orgs that help with refugee work raise money selling products, which
is a nice way to spend your dollars. I believe the Tibetan Nun's
project that Victoria mentioned ( she put the URL in her post in this
thread ) sells some products, I don't remember if they did flags, but
it's a good group and the site is worth is a visit. ) and there are
other sites you can find, doing an advanced search on 'tibetan prayer
flags'. A portal site for links I use is :
http://www.tibet.org/Relief/

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

Speaking of the Tibetan Nun's project, after 9-11 we got very
concerned mail from a sponseree who was worried about us and wasn't
sure how far away from the WTC, Austin Texas was,which was nice to
think of someone on the other side of the world taking the time for
prayer for us, and it was timely concern we apreciated, given our
families siutation regarding those events. I have a lot of regard for
the work that particular group does, and think they are well worth
supporting.

Post left fully intact as I agree with every word. Tibetan Nuns are the most
gentle souls on the planet. We can help them by purchasing their merchandise,
and/or selling their handmade bracelets in shops. I'm trying to get some here
to spread around and sell in the many, many shops we have in Austin who actually
care. Their website address where you can help is:

http://www.tnp.org/help/products/index.html

Also visit their home page from there to find out more about these gentle souls.

www.tnp.org