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cajunbarry (Barry Landry)

Member since: July 06, 2009

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Bonsai and Miniature Gardens
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Landscape Designers

Location:

Austin, Tx 78704
USDA hardiness zone 8B

Name:

Barry Landry

Member since:

July 06, 2009

About me

I am a landscape architect and gardener in Austin, Texas

Current project

Putting the finishing touches on a 7 acre college campus botanical garden and designing the Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial Garden in San Antonio, Texas plus residential landscape designs in and around Austin, San Antonio and Brenham. Plants are reviving from the heat and dryness of summer, a drought said to be the worst in central Texas in 1000 years. Luckily, all of my hobby bonsai made it through so far and are looking better as the weather cools into autumn.

Type of gardener

hobby hybridizer, bonsai enthusiast, planting designer, variegated and otherwise bizarre plant lover, miniature gardens, botanic garden frequenter

Favorite garden activity

waiting and watching for things to bloom, clipping and pruning, enjoying a morning cup of coffee in the garden

garden wall

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43018053/ns/today-today_people/t/not-dirty-play-dirt-world-naked-gardening-day/?fb_ref=story_text&fb_source=home_oneline
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cajunbarry commented on 05/13/11
Hey Buddy! How&#x27;s life in Austin? Hope all is great with you! We had a wonderful, though hectic summer... super fun. <br/> <br/>Hey, can you check out this plant and see if you can ID it? <br/>http://www.digthedirt.com/contributions/5741-Can-anyone-ID-this-plant- <br/> <br/>Thanks and hope you&#x27;re great!
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chief cultivator commented on 09/04/10
Your new projects sound terrific! I am interested in hearing how the botanic garden comes along - daunting but exciting at the same time, I am sure!! Congrats!
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gardengirl commented on 04/22/10
Hey Cajun Barry! Check out my post on my adventure in Cajun Country this weekend! <br/>http://www.digthedirt.com/contributions/1381-The-Cajun-Frenchie <br/>
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chief cultivator commented on 01/26/10
Dude, With all due respects, you were technically east of "Cajun Country"...Mississippi is a whole 'nother world, as you probably saw ;-) However, I am glad you rescued little Cajun Frenchie Wasabi from the piney-red-clay-hill-country! What an adorable dog, I remember y'all having a 'yen' for French Bulldogs -- and Pugs! Congrats on yet another very cool doggie. How 'bout them Saints? Mardi Gras I hear will be Saints-themed this year. Hey, as of last week I am in private practice as a landscape architect on my own. I am currently working on a botanical garden proposal for San Antonio's Palo Alto College, which looks like will be full-time until August. Included are a bat and duck habitat, butterfly and hummingbird gardens and lots of native plantings. I have a few residences in Austin and San Antonio that I am working on designs for, so it looks like I am headed in the right (leap) direction. I "linked in" with Eileen today, haven't heard from her in years...how have you guys been? Still need to meet for coffee in A-Town - you say when.
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cajunbarry replied: on 01/26/10
Hey There! Check out a post from Lily called HELP! Muscadine grapes! Thouht maybe you&#x27;ve come across this being a coutherner :-) <br/>Happy Thanksgiving!!
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chief cultivator commented on 11/24/09
Hi Cajunbarry! Another gardener posted a contribution about planting bulbs in Austin - and I was wondering the same thing, specifically about daffodils - can we plant now?
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gardengirl commented on 11/20/09
Paper whites and most narcissi can be planted now. I would wait a couple weeks for a surer chance of cold weather before digging to plant the daffs. Bulb booster or bonemeal tend to help get them started. My favorite spring bulbs for Austin are the different varieties of Tulipa clusiana, the lipstick tulip. Although not imperative, I usually chill mine for six weeks before planting, usually by Dec. 15-31st. They frequently naturalize and repeat bloom year after year here. We are on the cusp of Hippeastrum season (Christmas "amaryllis"). I always plant my 'spent' Dutch amaryllis after New Year's in protected beds against a brick wall in shade at my house. Once they get into their proper cycle of bloom, watch out in April and May, when they bound with lots and lots of blooms!
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cajunbarry replied: on 11/21/09
Thanks so much!
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gardengirl replied: on 11/22/09
Hi cajun! gardendreamer posted a plant in her gallery and is asking what it is- can&#x27;t figure it out... do you know?
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FigTree commented on 10/27/09
hey fig, I posted on the "comments and rating" of the image in gardendreamer's gallery. I'll bet the fall color is awesome up in your neck of the woods. I have visited the Washington Park arboretum and University botanic gardens this time of year before, the fall color is awesome, even by New Englanders' standards ;-) If you haven't been, a few hours in your local incredible arboretum and botanic gardens will be time well spent, inspiration is guaranteed for the willing, and it's nominal, or free! http://depts.washington.edu/wpa/index.htm cajunbarry
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cajunbarry replied: on 10/28/09
definitely going! thanks cajun... everything is really beautiful up here- wasn't expecting it to be so amazing, but the colors are out of this world. It is getting really cold here and the rains have started...! boo hoo. hope you come up sometime and we can do some serious garden partying :)
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FigTree replied: on 10/28/09
Cold and rainy in Austin today too ;-) better than 105 degrees in the shade in August down here! Seattle is a beautiful place...
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cajunbarry replied: on 10/30/09
Cajunbarry, where do you have your stromanthe? These plants are shade lovers and lovers of moist, humus-rich soil and humidity. I have the perfect site for it on the north side of my house. Needs no special care. The large clump in my photos are in filtered shade under a date palm where the soil is a little better than typical Florida sand. I have some in full shade as well. My mother has a good bit at her house, but she didn&#x27;t even know the plant&#x27;s scientific name. She calls the plant &quot;Shade&quot; as it is known commonly around here, and for good reason.
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Daylilyjoy commented on 10/22/09
Here in Austin, they need to be grown indoors like the prayer plant or rabbit tracks plant. Thanks for the note, it makes me miss the tropicality of my old south Florida days. It has been raining all day today in Austin, I am thinking BLUEBONNETS! Cajunbarry
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cajunbarry replied: on 10/26/09
Thanks, Cajunbarry, for letting me know about another terrestrial orchid. I&#x27;ve never heard of bletilla. It&#x27;s always exciting to learn about a new plant! I would have no idea where to get one though. I&#x27;ve never seen it at a nursery or in a garden--just spathoglottis. I like that bletilla is cold-hardy! My ground orchids sometimes get frost-burn, but they always recover.
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Daylilyjoy commented on 10/09/09
Hi Barry <br/>Sorry for the delay in my response. I&#x27;ve been in Japan. How ARE you!! So great to hear from you. I love the link you sent with the English Gardens. If you squint and drink gin, it looks like our place ;-). <br/> <br/>What are you designing these days? Have photos? <br/>Karen
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Karen Weir-Jimerson commented on 10/07/09
Hi, Cajunbarry, it&#x27;s nice to meet you virtually as well. I&#x27;m obsessed with Ti Plants and also have Zone Denial Syndrome. Mine sometimes get burned by frost or freeze and have to be cut back. I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, though. In bigger towns not too far from me, the tropicals seem to never get burned. I think cities are a couple degrees warmer. So you&#x27;re a landscape architect, huh? You&#x27;d die at the sight of my garden! I just buy plants I like and plug them in willy-nilly. Kinda shameful, really. I started with a blank slate, but couldn&#x27;t afford to do it all at once, so I&#x27;ve just been buying a few plants every month for the past several years. We were lucky to have a huge old oak tree and a mature magnolia, but they are right on the property line, which precludes me from installing a fence. Instead, I&#x27;ve installed a (very) mixed shrub border around the whole yard.
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Daylilyjoy commented on 10/05/09
Hey Barry! Garden Writers was amazing... so lots of old faces and some great gardens. Plants Delight Nursery was definitely a favorite, as I have ordered from them often, getting some of the best mail order plants I have ever received. <br/> <br/>Hey, I created a new group for Garden.com alumni! Come join it at: <br/>http://www.digthedirt.com/groups/10-garden-com-alumni/join
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chief cultivator commented on 10/01/09
Hey CajunBarry! <br/>I&#x27;m headed to Austin next week, and then on to the Garden Writer&#x27;s Annual Meeting! Would love to try to connect while in town.
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chief cultivator commented on 09/17/09
Cliff, it is wednesday the 23rd...are you still in town? We need to touch base, man.
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cajunbarry replied: on 09/23/09
Hi Barry! <br/>It&#x27;s kaarina, lisa&#x27;s sister. I am digging the dirt big time! Hope you are well. <br/> <br/>
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FigTree commented on 09/11/09
Barry, <br/>I have some news - email me please. <br/>Sally Brackett <br/>sallydb@grandecom.net
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go native commented on 09/01/09
Hey! How&#x27;s the heat in Austin?!!
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chief cultivator commented on 08/10/09
Hi CajunBarry! I love all the pics you posted! Makes me miss Austin! I am gad you hooked up with Mesogeo! You would LOVE their nursery on Bainbridge! It is amazing!
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garden slug commented on 07/21/09
Barry- <br/> <br/> Sure is a dahlia. It&#x27;s called &quot;Chic&quot;. Another one of those little dark-leaved offspring that was likely bred out of Dahlia coccinea palmerii, the tall Mexican &quot;grandmother&quot; of the dark leaves. We used to grow coccinea palmerii every year. It&#x27;s the tallest and blooms longest. But then everyone kept asking for shorter dahlias. <br/> What can you do? <br/> <br/>Terry at Mesogeo
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Mesogeo Garden commented on 07/18/09
I love it!!! Only you would find an article about Hortisexuals!! I think I&#x27;m going that wasy as well :-)
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chief cultivator commented on 07/17/09
silver pony foot dichondra works really well for us in Seattle... though the season for it is a bit shorter. I use it inerplanted along this awesome basalt rock wall, and also in my Big Red Sun dish (I miss it!).
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chief cultivator commented on 07/17/09
Thanks for the long message! Two of my big agaves are suffering in the heat - lower parts starting to yellow. My turk&#x27;s cap is happy as can be and so are my herbs (all thanks to the sprinkler system.) Rumor has it that it might be in the mid 90&#x27;s sometime next week. We can only hope! Oh, I see a tomato turning red outside my window...I am off to get it before the birds and ants do! I think it&#x27;s a &#x27;solar set&#x27; variety.
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gardengirl commented on 07/16/09
Glad you are here! I love your profile picture. The drought and heat is really bad to date - I feel like it&#x27;s all I can do to keep my own stuff alive too. I am hoping for a good crop of tomatoes this fall if we can make it through the heat!
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gardengirl commented on 07/15/09
I&#x27;m right near the Oasis. We&#x27;re on a hilltop. Very slightly cooler, but rockier than usual. I&#x27;m really pumped about this site and getting to know more Austin gardeners. By the way, the ferns you posted were amazing.
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in the weeds commented on 07/15/09
Looks like you&#x27;re in Austin, too. We should have lunch some time.
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in the weeds commented on 07/15/09
Seattle has transformed into the Bay Area from a weather perspective for the past 2 months... but we&#x27;re back to cooler weather this week. Garden looking good this year, though we are still trying to push the tropical envelope, which means some failed experiments :-). Be sure to &quot;friend&quot; Lisa - she&#x27;s gardeslug :-)
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chief cultivator commented on 07/06/09
Hey Barry! Glad you&#x27;ve become a &quot;digger&quot; :-). We have a lot of work to do in building our new online garden, but it&#x27;s super fun! Let me know what you think!
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chief cultivator commented on 07/06/09

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