Rethinking My Patio and Veranda

This has been a long, hot summer, and it's been a tough one for me too.

Last year I battled a virus that kept me housebound for weeks at a time.  I 

finally turned the corner this past May and started to feel like myself once

again.  Then we went on vacation up in Austin for the 4th of July, and by

the time I returned home, I had relapsed.  Today, thankfully, I finally feel

like I am back on the road to recovery.

One thing I learned during this relapse, is that I need to keep things simple.

I had worked so hard on the garden around the potting shed, and for a while

it was really lovely and I was so happy.  Once the South Texas heat blew in,

the garden began to suffer.  No matter how much water I gave it, everything

eventually started to look ragged and tired.

At some point durning my garden glory days, and prior to my garden fatigue,

I found a woman named Linda Vater on YouTube.  She is an Oklahoma City

gardener with a great love of potager gardens, and topiaries.  She understands

the battle with relentless heat and was getting frustrated at the same time as I

was.

Her suggestion is not to allow annuals to dominate, but to work with more

perennials.  When I look at what is still working in the garden around my

She Shed, it's the perennials that still look fairly good.  

She also suggests filling more big pots.  This idea has been perfect at the 

edge of my veranda.  I can move them as needed, and care is not a hardship.

So, more big pots filled with plants will be on the patio.  I can even grow 

little cherry tomatoes in a pot. 

I am also very excited about trying my hand at creating boxwood topiaries.

Linda has many in her garden rooms, and they are so attractive.  I also 

learned about Southern Living Plants.  I have a lovely big rosemary from 

Southern Living which I purchased locally, but did not know that I could

order online for home delivery too!  I am in zone 9a, so it's helpful to have

a resource that has may heat resistant options.

The link for these plants is Southern Living Plants

Here is a tour of Linda's backyard.  There are many great videos on this

channel.

Here is a link to her Instagram account:

Potager Blog

So there you have it.  I am feeling better and more enthusiastic about 

my garden.  I'm itching to get going, so stay tuned!

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley