The Landscaper

Happy New Years Eve everyone!!!!

This is one of my favorite fountains in Houston. It is on Allen Parkway and it is so much fun to go and watch people playing with their dogs.
The dogs actually get in the fountain and then run like crazy. It's great!
I will probably drive by it today and take advantage of it's calming effects.

Can't wait for 2009 to get here :)

Who said you can't have some color in the Winter time.

Here in the Blue Glazed pots (pots - Joshua's Native plants in the Heights) we have a variety of texture and color. I recommend a little bit of fern texture, some bold foliage, a bit of Variegated
material and something creeping or cascading.

* Starry Eyes Nierembergia
* Thelmas Pink jacobinia
* Nierembergia garacilis / Pink Buttons
* Variegated Pedilanthus/ Lady's Slippers
* Kingwood Torch Coleus
* Bellis-English Daisy

Thanks to Tree Search Farms, where the pickin' is good when other nursery's tend to be
bleak this time of year.

If you have any questions on what works this time of year, feel free to contact me through this blog or email me.

Happy Holidays!!!!!!

Hanging out with my Pug Pepper on a cold and wet day, taking care of some internet business.
Obviously she get's a little too comfy cozy.

Jatropha integerrima:
Common names are Peregrina or Spicy Jatropha
Family:Euphorbiaceae
Zones: 9-10 (sensitive to frost)

Peregrina is a evergreen shrub or small tree with glossy leaves and clusters of small star shaped bright scarlet flowers.

A native to the West Indies and is especially known for being cultivated in Cuba and Florida.

This wonderful plant has also been discovered to be a great source of Bio fuel. It is being grown and harvested in large capacity throughout many parts of Africa just for this sole purpose.

Peregrina is a spectacular shrub when in bloom, attracting many varieties of Butterflies and Hummingbirds.

Jotropha is a very diverse genus which includes cactus like succulents, herbaceous perennials and woody trees. It can be trained or pruned easily to form a single trunk tree/espalier, or it can be trimmed as a dense flowering shrub. It likes well drained soil and can be drought tolerant.

Please Note:
Keep all parts of this plant out of the mouths of people and pets, for it is extremely toxic if ingested.

Please feel free to write me to ask any questions you might have and I would love to hear your comments on my blog.

All the best,
Portia

Schlumbergera (shlum-Ber-ger-uh) or Christmas Cactus

Is a fun and quite easy cacti to propagate.
Simply remove a section at the joint, dip the bottom in a rooting/hormone solution and plant in a sandy soil. Bury it down in the soil a quarter of it's length deep.
Place the container in a well lit area with indirect sunlight (not too bright) and keep the soil evenly moist.
The cutting will show signs of new growth with in 2 or 3 weeks.

I recommend planting the cutting in a nice Bonsai container and trim it occasionally to give it an interesting shape and growth pattern.

This is a great plant to share with friends, family or other members of your local garden club.

Please feel free to ask any questions.
Enjoy!

Cyclamen & Pine Needles from reality on Vimeo.

Tagetes Lemmonii:

Genus: tagetes (Tag-e-Teez)
Species :Lemmonii (Lem-on-eye)

This wonderfully fragrant perennial is hardy in zones 8-10 .
A Fall bloomer that loves the sun and requires little water. A great choice for low maintenance "Zero-Scapes", attracts butterflies and is well suited for hill country and habitat themed gardens.
Easy to sculpt if out of control, just make sure you trim it in the early spring so it has plenty of time to produce the fall blooms.
If you have an issue of Deer eating your plants, this one is considered a Deer Repellent.
Copper Canyon Daisy is one of my favorites this time of year.

There is nothing like a New Orleans courtyard.

It is the perfect combination of a beautiful formal, southern, native landscape seasoned with European flair.

You get a sense of reincarnated romance.

This fabulous retreat has been around since the era of Napoleon.

Busting with French and Spanish influence the visual experience equals the spectrum of delicious eateries.

I cannot wait to return.

Autumn in Houston can be just the best. Not too cold and not too hot.
Perfect weather is what I would call it. A certain briskness in the air, suddenly I see more people out walking their dogs and couples holding hands while taking their walks.
Plenty of flowing moss blowing in the breeze, as you see here.

Sunday Inspiration

This Sunday morning I read an article in the New York Times on an amazing and talented artist/architect.

Her name is Maya Lin.
An Asian American women who started out designing and building monuments.
The article left me wanting to find out more about Maya.

Maya developed a passion for both art and architecture and refused to decide to specialize in one or the other and by doing this she defied the rules.
Most people told her it would not work to her benefit and that she was making a grave mistake by not choosing Art /verses/ Architecture.

Now Maya spends equal amounts of time creating both, in fact, she has taken it a step further by implementing an environmentally conscience mind to the equation.

Maya Lin, an amazing woman, environmentalist & Art-chitect!

I hope she inspires you as well.

What a wonderful day it was.
Thanks to Jennifer McClure and Carla Gwinn at the St. Marks Methodist Church Children's Development Center, I was able to spend time with two groups of 4 and 5 year old children.


I had the honor to teach & install a Butterfly Garden with 31 children.


We planted a variety of color and butterfly attracting specimens.


The looks on the faces of this bunch of wonderful bright spirits was priceless.


This garden was in honor of Ms. Rose.


Thank you again Jennifer and Carla.

What a great day in Houston, Texas.
There seems to be hopeful energy in the air and people are happy and excited.
It proved to be a good day in the stock market with a strong rally.
So, all in all it has been a very positive day.
Who will be president??? Hmmmm???

Here is the Templet project after a spruce up for the season.

This property faces East and can handle full sun or partial shade.
The palms are Dwarf Pygmy Dates and will not stay small forever but will look great for a very long time.
We will transplant them later when we are ready for a change.


Decorative Cabbage and Kale are wonderful accents for the cooler weather.
We also added some Sweet Alyssum for some white.
This is newly installed but will fill out the space quickly and will look even better in a couple weeks!

Dark green, gray, dark purple, silvery green and white are the color elements we used here.
A good combination.

Happy Halloween every one!

Hope you had a great day.
Mine was very productive as we completed the Smith building and the Charles Lewis rental property on Lamar. His personal property will need some additional attention but will look great when we are done.Two irrigation systems installed and also installed new Zoysia and Flagstone at Kevin & Nancy's. It looks great! Will down load before and after photos this coming week.

Have a great weekend!
Wooh!... what a week.

This day was amazing. The weather was great and I finalized a design for a client.
The design addresses the clients need for peace and calm with attention to texture and habitat attracting material.( The Wakasey Project)I will take before and after shots later. Having a little soup for dinner and watching CNBC.

Enjoy yourself!

November is almost here and the weather has been perfect for landscaping and gardening.
You can plant most anything you would in the Spring, just remember deciduous varieties will lose foliage around this time and until the last frost in late February.
Be aware of cold sensitive varieties like Gingers,many tropicals & decorative grasses will go dormant.
Feel free to ask me about anything you are not sure of.
The Fall season is actually better for planting in Houston, since it gets so hot in the Summer here. The plantings have more opportunity to develop a good strong root system before the extreme heat sets in.
Varieties of Roses, Azaleas, Camellias, Junipers and many herbs & veggies love cooler weather.

Get out and have some fun!

Happy Gardening!

The Pioneers of Prime Time TV "Vietnam" from reality on Vimeo.

What a gorgeous day today was and a Saturday off.
Having some down time and spending some with Deb, chatting with my friend Dawn and getting my PJ's on early. Just took a quick walk with my Black Pug Pepper in the front garden, contemplating working in it tomorrow a bit. Hmmm?? What to plant where??? It looks pretty good now, just something small in some places. Maybe Petunias for color and Pink Scull Cap and some Pink Salvia. The weather is wonderful, hope it stays a while. Got a call today to start a project in Cherry Hurst for Meredith and Justin. Yeah!!! Been looking forward to this one :)
Now it's movie and tea time.

Well it is about 6:30 at night and just finished a salad.
Looking out the window at a thunder storm that just moved in.
We really need the rain.

Finally wrapping up some of the proposed work for 5 of the federal buildings and getting ready to tackle Galveston.
After a short visit to Galveston, to asses the damage of Ike. I was saddened by all the destruction there.
Almost all of the vegetation there is wiped out. There is no sign of wild life, no birds. Nothing!
I could not believe my eyes.

It will be a long process to get it back to where it was or better.
will add photos later.

It is Tuesday and we managed to get the new seasonal plantings in.
The main focus has been the Smith building and I received a thumbs up from Mr Centeno today. That was a good feeling.
It was brought to my attention that the next priority will be "Galveston" Hmmmm????

It is Monday and time for some color change out.
Out with the old and in with the new.
No pictures tonight........ but there will be some posted soon.
We will have the before and after shots of the Smith building.
The focus is the courtyard and entrance of the building, so we are changing out 20 containers to start.

Moving right along on this Thursday. We went out on a limb.



























It was time to start trimming the trees damaged from Ike.




























We noticed lots of men in uniform walking around.
It felt like a military base.

Well.....
we started the Smith building. Just cleaning the beds and adding mulch.
Tomorrow we will be trimming all the broken and damaged tree limbs.
They have lots of trees.





















It was about 4:30 in the afternoon and these CRAZY clouds started moving in.
It was magnificent to watch the formations and how quickly the sky changed in color and shape.


































My customer seems really happy so far :)

Well, it is Tuesday and it is already night time. WOW!!!

I have everything in line to start a new project venture tomorrow.
New clients, "commercial" clients.
It will be more challenging since I am used to strictly residential projects.

Looking forward to seeing what a difference I will make.

Tomorrow is simply cleaning all the grounds and flower beds, then adding new mulch to 5 buildings.
It will take me about a week to complete.

Next will be changing out all the plants and seasonal color for Fall/Winter.

Going to bed early tonight so I can get my Landscaping rest!

(i will have photos of the project tomorrow!)

I am new to this old world of blogging, so please bare with me.

Having no idea what to expect, I am really hoping to meet like-minded individuals through this blog & by taking this opportunity to help teach others about anything from how to plant native and habitat attracting plants, that in turn, help the environment.

Within this blog I will be introducing some of my favorite plants - and there is no time like the present to mention my first.


"Curcuma Australisica" Ginger, for the plant of the week.

A spring and fall bloomer, likes a humid climate and a partial sun environment.




And a shout out to my friends Deb Smail & Dawn Houser for believing in me and giving me the inspiration to start this new blog.


Happy Gardening!

Poisionous to your PETS Did you know the Sago Palm can Kill your Dog or Cat?

Over the Christmas holiday a friend and I spent some time at the Katy Freeway "Animal Emergency Clinic." AKA: Veterinary Emergency Referral Group Inc. Her Pug "Abigail" was not feeling well. During our wait we observed a couple that had brought their dog in after chewing on a Sago Palm Pod. After 4 hours of emergency treatment, due to radical kidney failure, the dog did not survive. This devastating event could have been prevented if the couple had been aware of how poisonous Sago Palms really are. Since that experience, I have made it my mission to find out more about poisonous plants in our residential landscapes. I have compiled a list of the 11 most common, some will probably surprise you.

>Lilies : (most varieties) Various members of the Lilium Genus, Easter Lilies, Tiger Lilies, Stargazer Lilies, and some species of Day Lilies.

>Castor Bean : (Ricinus communis) This plant grows anywhere from 3 to 14 feet tall. Is Red/Purple in color and develops large maple leaf like foliage. It just takes one single bean to kill an animal. (FYI: 3 chewed and ingested seeds will kill an adult human)

>Sago Palm : (Cycas revolute) This lovely palm is very common in the city of Houston and can be a great accent for a front or back yard. Unfortunately, dogs have been known to play football with the pod of the Sago Palm. Be aware that the pods contain little seeds and just one or two seeds, if ingested; can cause sever clinical signs and death.

>Rhododendron, Azalea : (Rhododendron spp) On this beauty, the plant as a whole is toxic and can cause anything from diarrhea to cardiac arrhythmias to seizures.

>Japanese Yew : (yew Taxus) All parts of this plant are extremely toxic. Yews can start out shrub like and eventually turn into tree form. Do not let your pet chew on the branches of this plant, as for this one works fast and furious. Yews have been known to kill a dog before any signs begin.

>Autumn Crocus: (Colchicum autumnale) also dangerous/deadly to pet birds.

>Foxglove: (Digitalis purpurea) deadly.

>Aloe Vera: (aloe vera) extreme sickness & deadly.

>Lily of the Valley: (Convalaria majalis) deadly.

>Oleander: (Nerium oleander) deadly to all animals.

>Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: (Brunfelsia australis) extreme sickness & potential death.

I want to personally thank Dr. Laurie Noaker and her kind staff at the Veterinary Emergency Referral Group Inc. (713) 932-9589 for their work and continuous efforts in making us more aware of the everyday dangers that could harm our loved ones.

For more information visit the ASPCA website (Animal Poison Control Center) http://www.apcc.aspca.org or contact Portia at Leyendecker Landscape for a poisonous plant consultation or any other gardening needs. 713-426-0649

Below are informative links on additional toxic plants for dogs & cats.

Dogs
Cats

this blog post is a test.
on blogger.com
to see the ease of a personal blog.
one day while working in the garden -
i spied this lovely dragonfly.
it was as if he posed just for me.

adding habitat attracting plants is very easy.
& extremely easy to maintain, since they are
more than likely native to your area.

i live and work in zone 9.

for more about me and my services please visit:
www.leyendeckerlandscape.com