Art Glass in the Gardens

The Blue Moon Garden Club took a trip last weekend and visited the Dallas Arboretum. It was a perfect time to be there - the weather cooled off, the pumpkin display was installed and the Chihuly art glass exhibition was there.

We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful glass nestled in the gardens so artfully.

 

 

Jimmy Turner and his staff at the horticulture department of the Arboretum did a great job complementing the art work with the plantings. The view above shows blue and green spheres among bright orange marigolds. Makes me almost like marigolds. To the left is one of the first sculptures you see when entering the Arboretum. I loved the juxtaposition of the croton in the foreground to the red and yellow glass in back.

 

We were there during the day with hundreds of school children, much to our dismay, but they have nighttime showings, which would be lovely. The exhibit has been extended to the first of the year, so if you haven't seen it yet you still have a couple of months to fit it into your schedule. I recommend getting there late in the afternoon to see the glass and the gardens in the light, then staying after darkness falls to see the sculptures lit up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I heard this tall sculpture is spectacular at night.

New Season, New Plants

Finally, there is a hint of autumn in the air. Nighttime temps have dropped into the 60s and there is a rumor of highs in the 60s this weekend. For some, especially in Texas, this signals football or hunting season, but for Southern gardeners it proclaims the start of a fresh, new growing season.

So we are ripping up our warm season annuals in anticipation of planting cool season annuals.

 We started with two beds in front of the gift shop.

 

I thought you might want to see what we took out, as it was still looking pretty good at the end of summer.

This "Snow Princess" is the only alyssum we have every grown that will survive the summer in Texas. It is covered in flowers, but the foliage was becoming a little bare.

This is the second summer we have had the 'Diamond Frost' euphorbia, aka Texas baby's breath. It blooms dainty white flowers all summer long and survived last summer's severe heat and drought. It had gotten so big we had to dig it up with a shovel, we couldn't just pull it out.

Here is my plan for that bed now. This new snapdragon looks interesting: Arrow Orange. I got this picture from the breeders website. Think it is slightly color-enhanced? With Photoshop, you just can't tell exactly what they will look like in person.  Now is the best time to plant snaps. They will bloom and provide some color this fall. When the flowers fade, cut them off just down the the topmost set of leaves. They will stay green all winter (unless it is unusually cold), then burst into glorious bloom in spring.

 

I might combine them with Citrus Mix pansies, although if these photos are accurate representations of color, the oranges will clash. May have to pick out the orange pansies.

 

 

Ditto on these erysimums, wallflowers. I wanted to try them to see just how cold hardy they are, but may have to stick with the yellow only.