Spring

It is really feeling and looking like spring around here.

I am loving these poppies that I planted this year.

I was most surprised to discover that it would produce multiple colors

for blooms on the same plant.

Tonight we had a spring thunderstorm with another one coming along behind it by a few hours.

Some areas are getting golf ball size hail.

I hope we won't as it will not be good for my garden.

The Pea Pod Fairy

I think the pea pod fairy must have come last night.

I swear over night these pods appeared!

So cool.  

I will have to get my little granddaughter over to pick them soon 

as she just loves picking things in the garden!

I am just doing a little container gardening this year.

I don't need much and am not up to doing too much work in the yard.

The carrots are doing well and the lettuce is needing to be thinned.

This tomato plant is already blooming,

while the other one is not as large.

The smaller one just came up on it's own

so I am not sure how well it will do.

And then there is the Bay tree that I repotted.

I got it from a cutting at a class several years ago.

Obviously it is quite hardy

because it has been neglected when I had to be out of town.

I am sure enjoying my yard this year.  

And so glad the Pea Pod Fairy came!

Gate Guard

I need a name for this fellow.

I first ran into him Saturday as I was transplanting some flowers I bought.

He was on the flat and did not want to leave.

But I finally coaxed him off onto another pot on the bench.  

Since then I have found him hanging out in the sun by the gate catching bugs.

He does not seem to be the least bit afraid of me.

And is gaining a bit of weight so it must be a good spot.

Obviously something had a go at him as you can see by the holes in his back.

He was quite thin on Saturday and I did not think he would live.

But the spots no longer look oozy so maybe he will.

They do seem to be tough little critters.

Since I am not fond of bugs he is quite welcome to stay!

Hoping for magic

I got a really late start on a garden this year but figured, what the heck.

So here it is mid December and the fruits of my labor are still pretty dinky.

But gosh darn it, a mosquito just followed me back in the house!  And it was in the mid 70's today so maybe, just maybe some of that holiday magic will reach my garden.  

Leftovers or recycling?

This past winter we had long hard freezes which are very rare and I decided I had lost most of my plants since I have the philosophy that if it can't survive on it's own it doesn't belong. Well, I do water most of the time. But covering plants just goes against my grain. That being said I fully expected to have to replace almost everything after this unusual weather and I have done that with some but have been pleasantly surprised by the resiliency of many others. Could it be because I do not coddle them that they are hardier?

At any rate I thought I would share this wonderful return. Now the morning glories sprouting in the back, I half expected. Half expected because they do reseed themselves but as I said I do not coddle so it was a 50/50 chance in my book. But the green onions! Now they grew beyond my dreams. One of the baggers at the grocery store told me that if I planted the root end of the green onions I was buying that they would grow. Hmmmm. I could not resist and since I just throw away that part I poked them into the dirt and watered when I thought about it. That was last fall. Look at these babies now.

I actually know nothing about growing green onions. Was I supposed to pull them before they bloomed? Do you think I can harvest these and replant the root end again? Anybody ever done this? I haven't seen that bagger again so I can't ask him. This is cool. Even if I pull them and can't eat them I am happy that they even grew and bloomed.

Oh yeah, and being into reusing things did anyone recognize the 'pot'? It is the lid from an old kettle style bbq grill. That vent makes perfect drainage. And the pink 'bird' was a gift from my daughter made from a gourd!

Spring

Spring will officially arrive tomorrow but my Azalea is so pretty already. I had put it in this pot originally so I could move it around until I found the perfect location, even though I intended it to be planted about a foot from where it is in this photo. A few weeks ago I decided that was indeed the perfect place and had someone over to dig the hole only to discover that the phone line not only runs RIGHT THERE but it was only buried about an inch deep!!! I know they are supposed to put it deeper than that and am just very grateful that it was not damaged. Trouble is that is the perfect spot and my mind just does not want this planted anywhere else. So for now it remains in the pot. But it is stunning, don't you think?

What a beautiful day

Today was a beautiful fall day. And when I looked out back I saw this striking butterfly. I have never seen one with such a geometric design.

Tree Topping

This afternoon I had one of the China Berry trees out back topped.

Victor told me this was easy!

Not only did it not look easy but it was so brutally hot and humid today that I was miserable just sitting on the patio watching and taking photos.

We were thrilled when it clouded over and a breeze picked up followed by thunder. They finished cleaning up just in time!

These are just a couple of the photos I printed off for him to send to his mother.

I hope she enjoys them. I am afraid it would make me worry!

Did you notice that he was using a machette?

Only at the end did he switch to a chainsaw.

He certainly earned his supper tonight!

Bearing Fruit

I love watching things grow. I loved having gardens when I could. And I love watching this grape vine mature each year. This year it will bear fruit. Here is a photo of the progress. I was actually out looking for likely leaves to make jewelry. I need to start more silver grape leaves and am impatient to do so. But today is Mother's Day so I resisted the impulse to 'work' and took some photos instead and went back to reading on the patio. We won't have many more cool days before the summer heat, humidity and mosquitoes set in. So I am enjoying this as much as I can.

Watching things you love grow. Directing the young so they mature to productivity. I guess that is what most mothers do. Pruning is sometimes a difficult task but the results are worth it. I am truly blessed.

Pineapple Sage Reborn

My Pineapple Sage survived the pruning and came back nice and full. That's it on the table behind the garlic chives and pineapple mint. The patio is looking inviting although I still have work to do that has been put on hold. I overdid while helping trim the tree out front and set off my Carpal Tunnel. That requires complete rest which is extremely difficult for me to do for more than a day or two but I am doing the best I can. In the meantime I will enjoy some fresh lemonade and cookies on the patio. Care to join me?

Pineapple plant

I decided to treat my daughter to some fresh pineapple this week. I don't know much about picking pineapples so I just chose the one with the nicest looking top. (What else?) She said it tasted fine. And of course I planted the top.

But lo and behold while I was outside doing that I chanced to look at the one I had planted earlier this year. The one that had died from neglect while I was recovering from my surgery. Well what do you know? A new shoot has come up like a Phoenix rising from the ashes! What a surprise that was. Now if I the cold that's coming just doesn't kill them. Maybe I should bring them inside...

Any suggestions on how hardy these are?

First Bloom

I was out back checking out this velvety black beauty that was single handedly decimating my mint when low and behold I looked up and saw the first bloom on my Pineapple Sage.  Does this mean it is officially fall?  It feels like it as it was only 80 degrees with a slight dry breeze!  Which explains the slightly blurry photo, as it kept moving.

September on the Third Coast

It is September which means the temperatures are starting to cool down to mid to low 90's for the highs and lows dipping occasionally into the 70's!  My chives are in full bloom now and have such a lovely fragrance, which is seldom mentioned.  Chives are the one thing I have managed to not kill here.  And I have them in several locations around the yard with seeds from last fall still left.  Maybe I should consider edging the driveway with them.  Or better yet as a border out front, but they probably won't get enough sun there.  Oh well, I will continue to enjoy them out back and share the seeds with anyone who asks.

If this photo looks slightly 'softened' it is because the humidity causes my camera lens to fog up so I have to act quickly to get a photo most days.  Just another challenge.

Real Monarch or Imposter?

Aren't these great photos my granddaughter shot of the caterpillar munching away on the milkweed plant? I keep hoping to raise Monarch Butterflies. I got hopeful when this plant came back and the butterflies started laying eggs. We even saw a couple of caterpillars but they keep disappearing. Then we saw this impostor. He looks very much like the real thing which is his camouflage. Apparently monarch caterpillars taste bad. I think someone forgot to tell my local birds because they aren't surviving here. The big giveaway is that this impostor has an extra set of 'spikes' in the middle while the real thing just has two at each end.

Actually if you look closely at the first photo, (click on it for a full size version), you can see the real monarch caterpillar peeking through a hole in the leaf to the upper left of the impostor.

Week 7 of the Recipe Challenge

This past week has seen triple digit temperatures here making cooking very undesirable. So I took advantage of the sale on pineapples and tried my first fresh pineapple. Oh my gosh, it is wonderful! So sweet. However, instead of twisting off the top as the directions showed, I sliced it off so as to be able to try starting my own pineapple tree. My reading suggests letting it dry out a few days before planting. I will keep you posted as to the progress. I realize eating fresh fruit isn't exactly trying out a new recipe but it was the best I was willing to do this week. Hopefully next week we will be a little cooler.

Growth

OK I was warned and didn't listen. Darlene said that the watermellon plant would really spread out. But I never dreamed it would grow along the top of the fence! This could get interesting if fruit starts setting up there.

In the left corner is crook neck squash which is starting to produce while in between is garlic chives that really needs to be thinned out. The grape vine on the fence is doing well this year.

I need to get busy with my jewelry and use some of these interesting leaves. The pure silver grape leaves are especially stunning and I did some sketches last week of new ideas.

Not looking good

So do caterpillars sleep on their backs?

Something New Update

The caterpillar was starting to wander outside so I put him in the butterfly tent and brought him in. That meant that every few hours I had to go get a fresh leaf from the Milk Weed for him to munch on which has kept me occupied every time I was home today. But I think he has about doubled in size. I am not sure if you can tell from this angle or not.


One of my hobbies is tatting. I learned to shuttle tat a number of years ago but then discovered needle tatting a few years back at the Houston International Quilt Festival and was sold. If you have ever wanted to learn to tat I recommend Needle Tatting. So for awhile now I have belonged to a needle tatting group. While not terribly active at posting some are quite prolific tatters that I am in awe of. At any rate today while posting back and forth we got on the topic of weaving and I learned something that I did not know but want to try out, namely soaking the sticks in vinegar to 'rubberize' them. Won't be in the near future but something to keep in mind as one of my 'projects' is to weave a basket using pine needles from my son's yard.

Milk Weed

We made another trip to Maas Nursery (one of my favorite places) and I brought home this Milk Weed.

If you click on this next photo for a close-up view you can see some of the orange and black Assasin Bugs. The girls assured me they are good bugs before I put it in my car!
This is also a close up of the seeds which are not all that easy to harvest. But I really want to grow more next year. And why, you ask, would I want to grow a weed, much less go BUY one?


Look closely and you will see that I was fortunate enough to bring home a caterpillar that LOVES milk weed. I know he looks similar to the one from my parsley but this little fellow doesn't dine on parsley. I put the trellis behind the plant hoping he will climb up there when he is grown and make his chrysalis there. I will post a picture of it if he does.

By the way, I recently read that basil repels mosquitoes! Now I am glad I chose to put that Cinnamon Basil on the table next to the glider. I know I have been pleasantly surprised at how few mosquitoes I have seen in the evenings considering all the showers we have had.

Blooming

The Cinnamon Basil has begun to bloom and they are such delicate blossoms and colors! I worried that the rain predicted for tonight might ruin them so I ran out and snapped a few quick shots. This a such a lovely time of year around here although it is beginning to warm up, but tomorrow will be cooler and I hope to do some more weeding next week.