01 April 2024
On my wildflower drive up the Willow City Loop last week, I stopped at Wildflower Seed Farms in Fredericksburg, Texas to check out their planted wildflower fields. The corn poppy has burst!
If the lightning hadn’t been shining and the thunder was rumbling, I would have stayed longer to take more pictures. But just then I got a call from my husband back home in Austin telling me that lightning had just struck a live oak tree in our yard — boom! — knocking out a landscape light in a treetop, pulling low-voltage wires out of the ground and destroying the plastic coating, and blowing a transformer door off its hinges and placing it 25 feet across the yard. There was no storm when it happened. Lightning just fell from the threatening sky. It appears to have traveled down the landscape lighting wiring to the control box and outlet in our house.
The power went out, one outlet in the house caught fire, and the wifi router and sprinkler system controller burned out. Everything else, including the wood, miraculously seems to be OK. The repairs are still in progress, but we consider ourselves lucky. It didn’t hit the house directly, the tree was unharmed and we’re fine. It’s a good reminder not to mess around outside if you see lightning or hear thunder.
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Digging Deeper
April 6: Come out to Austin’s Mayfield Park on 4/6 for Mayfield Park Gardening Symposium & Fundraiser, from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. This annual park benefit includes a raffle, plant sale and garden speakers.
May 4th: Explore “splendid backyards, perfect pools and pergolas, and outdoor rooms and gardens” at ATX outdoor trip 4. 5. from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Landscape architects, designers and builders will be on hand to answer questions. Tickets are $33.85 for adults, $17.85 for children 10-17.
May 11: Save the date for Austin Home’s Great Outdoors Tour on 5/11.
May 18: Go to Dallas on 2024 DCMGA garden tour 18. 5. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $18 if purchased online before 6pm on 5/17 or $22 after 6pm on 5/17 or at the event. For a quick overview, click here.
June 1-2: Take a two-day bar and garden tour in and around Austin at the annual Austin Pond and Garden Tour, held on February 1 and 6 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $20 to $25.
Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I host in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners several times a year in Austin. These are limited attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and request to be added. Season 8 begins in the fall of 2024. Stay tuned for more information!
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