Archive for August, 2008

New Blooms and Veggies

By ⋅ August 8, 2008 ⋅ 3 comments

I bought this The President Clematis from the Natural Gardener in the spring of this year, and it was green and covered with large purple blooms. I planted it in an eastern exposure where it gets full morning sun, and the top part of the plant gets midday and afternoon sun as well. There are garden sage plants at the foot of the plant to help shade the roots also. Several weeks after I planted it, the weather turned very hot and dry and all of the blooms fell off and the foliage started to turn a bit brown. No new growth was evident at all, until last week. There are now several new branches putting out leaves and setting flower buds. I am so pleased. I put this plant at the front entrance to the house hoping that it would be worthy of being showcased.

The Damage Done

By ⋅ August 6, 2008 ⋅ 6 comments

Little did I know when I was admiring this sphinx moth earlier in the spring of the year, that it would turn into a monster worm that would try to decimate my tomato crop. I found three tomato hornworms in my tomato patch this morning, and much damage was already done.

Rain is Coming

By ⋅ August 4, 2008 ⋅ 5 comments

The most reliable predictor of rain here in Central Texas is the Texas sage, Leucophyllum frutescens. When this plant blooms, rain is on the way. There has been many a time when the local weather forecasters are not predicting rain, but my Texas sages are all blooming like crazy, and within a couple of days we will get rain. It is almost uncanny how reliable these plants are. Anyway, they are all blooming now in anticipation of the rain we are expecting from the tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico.

Blackberry Lily

By ⋅ August 3, 2008 ⋅ 2 comments

I inherited this plant from a friend who moved from the area a couple of years ago, and I had not identified it until now. I haven’t grown many lilies or irises in my life, so I wasn’t really sure if this plant was an iris or a lily. I took some close ups of the blooms friday and googled ‘orange lily’ and looked through the images until I found the one that matched my plant. It turns out that this plant is actually an iris that has been classified as a lily. The botanical name is Belamcanda chinensis, and the common name most often used is blackberry lily because of the black seed clusters that it produces in the fall. According to the Univ of Wisconsin horticultural site, this plant can be easily started from seed, so I think I will try to cultivate more of them this winter in the greenhouse.

Harvesting Peppers and Tomatos

By ⋅ August 1, 2008 ⋅ 4 comments

Although it has been extremely hot so far this summer, I am starting to bring in a pretty good harvest of jalapeno and bell peppers, and tomatoes. I admit that I am using a lot of water to keep these plants happy enough to be bearing good quality produce, but the results are definitely worth it. I harvested over two pounds of bell peppers – small, but meaty and juicy, and almost two pounds of jalapeno peppers – all very nice looking. The large tomatoes are just starting to ripen, and they are fairly good quality, and the cherry tomatoes are producing lots of really tasty fruits.

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