flowers
The Colors of Spring
Aside from having to deal with allergies, spring is a wonderful time of year. The garden is really coming to life now, and every day brings new blooms, birds, and insects. I find it is easy to get so busy with gardening ‘chores’ that I miss the changes taking place all around me. But today, the activity was so intense, and the colors so bright that I had to stop and take some pictures.
Trellis Header Up and Rafters In Progress
Trellis construction has been slow, but steady. With every additional element the structure looks better and better. The header boards are completed and the posts have been cut to length, and the structure balances well with the size and scale of the retaining wall below.
Copper Canyon Daisies and Giant Swallowtail
The Copper Canyon daisies in the front courtyard are blooming profusely now. I planted them last spring and was surprised when they started blooming about a month after I planted them. I thought they only bloomed in the fall, but perhaps I was mistaken. There are only three plants, but they have gotten quite large […]
Butterflies, Caterpillars, and Moonflower Seeds
The gardens are alive with butterflies, bees, birds, and caterpillars. Yellow and white skippers are abundant, and swallowtails, monarchs, painted ladies, and fritillaries are frequent visitors as well. The front courtyard, which is visible from most rooms in the house, provides a picture window view to all of the activity.
Monarch Migration
November is the month that the Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico, and I have been anticipating their arrival this year since we have more flowers this year than in past years. I saw my first Monarch of the year several days ago. Yesterday there were quite a few of them here feeding on our marigolds and mealy sage. I got several nice photos of them with their wings closed, but wasn’t able to capture one with their wings spread. They are very skittish. With some luck I will have more opportunities to get the full dorsal shots I am after.
Finally, Fall
Fall gardening is in full swing here, despite the warm afternoon temperatures. We have had a couple of mornings in the 40s this past week, which feels pretty brisk first thing in the morning, but by 9 am it is already getting warm. I was out harvesting jalapenos and tomatoes for salsa-making this afternoon when […]
Rain is Coming
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
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.
First Passion Vine Flower
I have never grown passion vine before, so this is my very first passion vine flower. I like the scarlet color of this variety, Passiflora Coccinea. It works well with the red knock out rose hedge that lines the fence that the passion vines are growing on. I also like the large dark green foliage […]
Texas Hill Country Garden Art
The previous owner of our house was a collector of many things, among them was old farm implements and tools. When we purchased the property we inherited these items. They have been scattered about and moved around over the years we have been here, but I just recently decided to use some of them as garden art. To be honest, my decision was prompted by a spot I saw a couple of weeks ago on Central Texas Gardener. They were featuring a Hill Country garden that included alot of garden art, some of which was old tools and farm implements. I got inspired and asked Ron to rustle up any artifacts that he could find laying around the property that looked interesting.
Watering and Weeding
It’s been five or six weeks since we have had a measurable rainfall. Add to that temperatures in the upper 90s and winds at 15-20 mph every day, and that equates to spending a whole lot of time watering just to keep everything alive. Even though almost everything I grow is either native to our area, or well adapted to the dry conditions and high temperatures, they still require a bit of water to keep going, especially when they are first getting established which many of my plants and trees are.
More Roses – Featuring Caldwell Pink
I spied a butterfly on a parsley plant this morning, but by the time I grabbed my camera and got out to the herb and vegetable gardens to take some pictures of it he was no where to be found. So I took the opportunity to take a few pix of the Caldwell Pink rose […]
As Good as it Gets
The weather here in Central Texas has been ‘as good as it gets’ for the past few weeks. The temperatures have been a little below normal, and the humidity has been low. Even the wind has been more gentle lately. All of this means that the gardens are growing rapidly. I am struggling to keep […]
Spring Showers and March Madness
An early morning walk with the dogs and Ron this morning provided a perfect opportunity for taking some photos of the gardens. I selected some of the best shots and put them into the slideshow below. There are many more on my Flickr page, and the full sized jpegs are there as well if you […]
New Spring Blooms
This is the first time I have tried direct seeding poppies. I planted them in the fall, and they are finally rewarding me for keeping them alive through the winter. California Poppy The ice plant over-wintered well and I expect it will produce many blooms this year. I am planning to take some cuttings off […]
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