Gardening
Butterflies are Back
We planted carolina jessamine next to the dog pen fence outside our office window several years ago, and I continue to be pleased with how it is spreading on the fence. It is evergreen, and blooms from February through November (on and off). It thrives in the shade, and attracts many butterflies. When I saw […]
What’s Blooming This Week at Lost Valley Gardens
Here are some of the photos that I took this morning to journal how things are looking at the beginning of spring this year. I selected my favorites from a set of 38 photos. Click here if you want to view the whole set as a slideshow. I love the look of these lavender colored […]
Put Out My First Tomatoes of the Season
Yesterday seemed like the perfect day to put out my first tomato transplants of the spring. The soil in my raised beds was still cool and moist from the recent rains, and the forecast for the week is for mostly cloudy days in the low 70s and moderate nights in the mid 60s. More rain […]
Signs of Spring at Lost Valley Gardens
We had a high of 89 degrees yesterday, and just a few short weeks ago we were covered with ice. The transition to spring has been swift this year. I look forward to spring, but I also dread it because I know what will follow – a very long, hot, dry summer. According to Jim […]
The Spiral Walking Meditation Garden Project
The photos below show different aspects of a spiral shaped garden that Ron worked on over the winter. I do not have any interesting background or trivia to share about this design at the moment (if I get some I will certainly add it), so without further ado, here are the photos. I believe that […]
Babies are Being Born Every Day in the Nursery
The seeds have been germinating for less than two weeks, and many of them are already well along. I keep planting a flat every day or so, so the production should continue throughout the growing season. I am pleased with production so far, especially considering that my old seedstarting mats aren’t working and I am […]
New Gardening Blog
Welcome to the new Lost Valley Gardens Gardening Blog. I have decided to divide my current blog, Life Is An Ongoing Process, into two blogs; one for my personal passions, hobbies, and interests that are not gardening related, and this blog for my gardening related pursuits. I have imported all of my gardening related posts […]
What’s Going on at Lost Valley Gardens
Spring is just around the corner here in central Texas, and it is time to get the Lost Valley Gardens nursery and plant production operation back into action. Our landscaping business has been steady, even through the winter. Ron has been working on a deck for the past few months. That project continues to go […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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