Monday, July 20, 2015

An Evening Neighborhood Stroll in Austin, Texas

Sometimes live has its own ways and this weekend it was taking me to a trip to Austin, Texas on short notice. Honestly, I love it when this happens, especially when I get to see a place, that I have never been to before.

As a passionate gardener, what first struck me is that Austin is much greener than I expected. I thought it would look much more deserty, but no, lots of green trees there, especially Oaks, some very mature and tons of Crape Myrtles. And lawns, vast areas of green lawns. One thing was as expected though, it was hot and when I say hot, then I mean hot. Highest average temperatures were around 97 F/ 36 C and lowest around 75 F/ 24 C. At 7:30 pm when we did a stroll through an East Austin neighborhood, where our accommodation was located, it was still 91 F/ 33 C.

I had the camera with me and would like to share with you some shots I took.



This beauty is 'Pride of Barbados', Caesalpinia pulcherrima, which was growing right in the front yard of the property where our cozy, self-catering cottage was located. This plant really seemed to enjoy the climate in Austin. We saw it growing and flowering prolifically in many places and it didn't seem to need much care.



I love how this front yard did go so well together with the house.



Same house, photo just taken a little bit more from the right side. The natural stones that they used for the hardscape looked great.



I guess this is a Rudbeckia growing together with a purple leaved plant, that I don't know the name of.



We saw this purple leaved plant quite often growing in Austin and each time I found it pretty stunning.



Thinking out of the box and growing tomatoes with the lasagna method directly on a regular lawn strip by the street. Seem to work well! Austin is proud to be weird.



I love how this shot turned out. I had to photograph directly into the sun, which usually ruins a photo, but here it is perfect how the sun is shining through the old Oak trees.



There were plenty of well grown Agaves to find in Austin.



Here is a bluish one.



A more modern style front yard.



The way the sun light hits the house and the stone sculpture caught my eye.



A white house I can never pass up without getting excited about it. Love the French doors!



Even sewer caps are decorated with the Lone Star of Texas. 



My husband was longing for a cold local beer after a hot and exhausting day and we popped into the Thunderbird Cafe. Nice cafe with mainly a younger crowed of guests.



They had plenty of local beers there to choose from.



Returning back after a long day to our temporarily home the 'Pride of Barbados', backed up by a red Oleander, still fascinated me.

I can't believe how fast the time flew by in Austin. Now we are already on our way back home and the wait for our air plane to board is a good time to get this post out. Hope you enjoyed seeing some impressions of an Austin neighborhood.

We heard that San Diego got some good rain (unfortunately there was some flooding, too), while we were out of town, which is very unusual in summer and I can't wait to see how my own garden responds to it.

Wishing you a great week!

See you in the garden!

Christina



17 comments:

  1. Beautiful impression from Austin. I love the house you are showing and the beautiful orange flowers.
    Have a wonderful day.

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  2. Oh, I would love to get to Austin someday. I enjoyed your tour--especially the views of the homes with their gardens. Lucky you to have this fun trip!

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  3. What fun, Christina! It was hot (although not quite that hot) here too, as well as very muggy, but the rain, when it came, brought the temperatures down nicely. I think the purple plant you photographed is Setcreasea pallida, commonly known as purple heart. It's considered a succulent, it's drought tolerant, and it should grow for you in San Diego.

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  4. Such fun Christina, and very nice planting a too :) we'd so love to visit Austin one day...

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  5. Thank you for showing us a part of Austin I'm alway curious about other homes, gardens and habits.
    Some beautiful houses and I could not help laughing about the tomatoe growing in the front next to the street. Of course the "Pride of Barbados" is my favorite this time, it is a beauty which I have seen on several places visiting Mexico.

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  6. Oh, wie interessant. Ich finde es immer wieder sehr spannend, Pflanzen in verschiedenen Regionen zu sehen. Das Bier würde mich sehr interessieren, leider viiiel zu weit. Ihr habt ja nicht das Reinheitsgebot und braut auch mit Mais, wenn ich richtig liege. Schmeckt bestimmt auch lecker. Die neuen Mischgetränke allerdings mag ich nicht.

    Sigrun

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  7. I really enjoyed seeing the pretty homes and plantings in Austin! Such charming cottages under the tall, shady trees - it looks so quaint and inviting. Beautiful and unusual plantings, too. Thanks for giving us a peek! Glad you finally got some rain.

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  8. What a lovely place to visit! Thank you for sharing with us.

    I have a yellow flowering Pride of Barbados.

    Kris is right in her comment about the purple flowering plant. I have it and it grows great with little care. Tradescantia pallida ~ Purple Heart.

    An ice cold local TX beer sounds like a nice refreshment on a hot day.

    Hope you got some of the rain for your gardens.

    Love & hugs ~ FlowerLady

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  9. The combination of the Pride of Barbados and the red Oleander is spectacular.
    The purple leaf plant is Tradescantia pallida 'Purpurea' we tend to grow it in pots indoors here as it is too tender to be in the garden. It is named after John Tradescant the elder and his son John Tradescant the younger, who were gardeners to the royal family.

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  10. Cet endroit est charmant, les fleurs sont fraîches et originales et les ambiances sont très agréables à découvrir. J'ai du mal à imaginer que toutes ces plantes poussent sous un climat chaud, très chaud et trop chaud pour moi. En France, aujourd'hui, dans ma région, le thermomètre atteindra 36° et demain nous aurons peut être une petite pluie.
    Belle journée

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  11. It's greener than I imagined Texas would be too. The agaves are amazing.

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  12. Hallo Christina,

    danke, dass Du uns mitgenommen hast nach Texas. Schön ist der Blick in die Vorgärten und auf die tollen Häuser. Den Stolz von Barbados, der hier glaube ich Pfauenstrauch genannt wird
    habe ich bei uns noch nie gesehen. Wahrscheinlich ist es ein Gewächs das in unseren Breiten nicht wächst. Obwohl ich denke derzeit könnten wir mit den Temperaturen gut mithalten, haben wir doch seit Tagen eine Hitzewelle mit ca. 38 Grad.

    Liebe Grüße,
    Ingrid

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  13. A very nice home garden! I like the Caesalpinia pulcherima, here we call it Kembang Merak, means peacock flower.

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  14. Precioso viaje y los jardines me encantan. Un beso.

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  15. Dear Christina, thanks for showing the city of Austin. It has a Mediterranean feel. I did not expect that. I admire you, in the heat of 39 C, taking pictures! Poeh, Groetjes,
    Hetty

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  16. Nice photos and plants from Austin! Amazing tomato planting :)

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  17. Adorable gardens! what a nice place! Home sweet home)))

    xoxo, Juliana | PJ’ Happies :)

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