Carol
Encased in Ice
It has been below freezing here in the valley since last Sunday, and the freezing rain, sleet, and occasional snow has turned our place into a winter ‘wonderland’. It is pretty, but there is at least a half an inch on ice covering everything, and we are hoping that the precipitation will stop until the […]
New Photos – Caterpillars, Butterflies and Bees
These are the last of my fall photos. I finally got a shot of a monarch (last of the photos). I am not sure what type of caterpillar the first photo is – I am still researching it. I thought the caterpillar in the third photo was a monarch, but after doing a little research, […]
Starting to Put Christmas Decorations Up
Cool weather (finally), college football conference games, NFL contenders (Go Saints!! Isn’t Drew Brees incredible!) starting to pull away from the crowd (a little), all sure signs that Christmas and Winter Solstice are approaching. This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite times of year for many reasons. But, there is also the painful […]
More Butterfly and Garden Photos
The arctic air mass is coming our way, and by tomorrow it will be in the 30s. That will spell an end to my butterfly photography for this season, but I did get some pretty good shots from my last batch. These were all taken with my Canon EOS Rebel with wide angle zoom lens. […]
What’s Happening in the Greenhouse?
I know I haven’t done much blogging lately. It is sometimes hard to find the time. But work is keeping me very busy at the moment – which is good, and the nursery and gardens are consuming most of my other waking moments. The weather has been wonderful (although a little more rain would be […]
Happy Halloween Y’all
I took this picture a few weeks ago when the moon was full. It is a little out of focus because I wasn’t using a tripod, but it is still a fairly nice shot. I hope you get lots of ‘treats’ and no tricks. Carol
New Butterfly Photos
I selected a couple more of the most recent photos that I took with my ‘analog’ camera to share. They are both shots of butterflies that are common to the Central Texas area. The first one is of a Gulf Fritillary, and the second one is of a Black Swallowtail. I have been using the […]
Trying Out Snapfish for Photo Processing
I like taking pictures with my ‘old’ Canon EOS RebelG with a Tamron AF 28-300mm wide angle – zoom lens better than my digital camera, but I didn’t have a convenient way to get my film processed and obtain prints and digital images. So I researched some available options and found Snapfish. They were the […]
Favorite Photos
Ron has been scanning some of the photos we have taken with our Canon EOS Rebel camera. I have selected two of my favorites to share with you. The first one is of a painted bunting. It was taken through the window of our laundry room. We have painted buntings here regularly in the spring […]
The Circle Garden
The circle garden began as a water garden, which we constructed when we moved to this property eight years ago. A large circle, surrounding a native persimmon tree, was excavated to a depth of 2 to 3 feet, with a width of about 5 feet in most places. The pond was then constructed using a […]
Garden Tour – Raised Beds
As promised, we continue our tour of the Lost Valley Gardens test and market gardens today. These gardens were built over the past two years to test different varieties of vegetables, herbs, and perennials growing in raised beds in our area (Central Texas – eastern edge of the Edwards Plateau). We tried growing vegetables in […]
A Morning Stroll Through the Gardens
I decided that it was time to take some pictures of the late summer garden as it transitions into its fall phase. This is perhaps the most colorful season of the year on our property, or maybe it’s just that spring seems so far away. One thing is certain, summer is NOT a growing season […]
Blue Shades Verbena
Wilma’s verbenas. Blue Shades Verbenas And this is what they look like in bloom.
Cantaloupe in the Garden
Ron’s Cantaloupes We have gotten several nice cantaloupes from the garden this year. They have been a little small, but fleshy and sweet.
Fall Crops Are in the Greenhouse
Well, it may be 100 degrees outside, but it is a cool 80 degrees in our greenhouse at the north end near the evaporative cool wall. All of my transplants are doing very well, and should be ready to put in the ground in early September. Take a look at some of the plants we […]
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