The Garden Guide

Flew The Coop

Every spring we have a couple of Eastern Screech Owls come visit and nest in a tree cavity or old woodpecker hole.  We watch the parents come and go at night disappearing into the tree cavity with insects and worms.

Mother Owl watching us closely to make sure we don't get to close to the nest.  She actually drops acorns and tree bark down on you if you place your chair to close to "her" tree.

The Mom ducks down suddenly camera shy as Dad joins her to see what we are doing.

Then one night we saw her swoop in and out so quickly that we knew she didn't feed the yet to be seen baby owl.  Puzzled...we waited.  Pretty soon the Mom and Dad Owl began to call out to the baby from a nearby tree.  Finally he shyly poked his head out at the bottom of the tree cavity and then disappeared again.  This went on for probably an hour before he got brave enough to climb to the top of the tree cavity.

Here's the little guy up close.

 

"It's a long way down!"

 

Getting braver he finally peeks his head out.

"It's a long way up!"

Finally he scrambles out and starts his climb.

And off he goes!  He climbed way up into the tree canopy where Mom and Dad joined him for his first flight...not to be seen again until next spring.

Agave Rescue!

I know I haven't been posting much lately.  Truth be told my writing and my flower gardening have both been suffering due to lack of time...I've been super busy turning five of our eight acres in an organic vegetable farm and setting up a CSA (community supported agriculture) program. 

But I have to tell about my new agaves!

I did a post last year about my Agave scabra that we found growing wild on our property and transplanted to the area we call "the desert". Now there are some new kids in town. 

I don't know what kind of Agave they are (feel free to help me out here), but I do know that someone ripped them out of the ground and dumped them on a nearby dirt road.  My husband (who as you've probably noticed brings me random presents from time to time) is the one who discovered them and brought them home to be nursed back to health.

They were in pretty bad shape, but we found them a nice spot for them to recover.

It looks like they wrapped a chain around these poor guys and literally ripped them out of the ground!

 

But in just a matter of weeks the battle wounds are fading and new leaves are preparing to unfurl!  Looks like they're gonna make it!

Going ALL Out!

 

I have a container filled with a red geranium, asparagus fern and Amaryllis.  The Amaryllis was given to me several years ago, and each Spring I usually get a single bloom on each one. 

Imagine my surprise when....

...there were two!

And they didn't stop there....

Now my husband has been walking by this container for years and the other day he paused beside it and asked, "when did we get this plant?"  I laughed and told him we'd had it for years, but he'd probably never noticed it before since it has never bloomed liked this. 

Yep, this year it went alllll out!

 

 

Pretty Prickly

I know that some people just love to grow Cacti. 

I know they come in many unusual shapes and sizes and have seen many striking cactus gardens.

I know that I'm not that much of a fan.

I have a couple of small cacti and that's about it for me.  But, in a way I can understand the fascination...it can be pretty amazing when they bloom.

Every spring this cactus sprouts big ugly gray growths amid its spines.

Which turn into these gorgeous flowers.  Can you believe how striking the colors are?  The petals which are so sheer and chiffon-like are such a contrast to the tough spiny body.

Hard to believe that something this gorgeous comes from something so plain.

Plant Pick - Rosemary

Who cannot wait for spring each year...I know I can't!  Each day brings new shoots, blooms and buds!   But, after wandering around with my camera to capture some spring, I decided to back up a little and give praise to my ever constant Rosemary ('rosmarinus officinalis') before moving on with more spring stuff.  (I was wearing shorts the other day when BF Robin called and said they had snow on the ground in Friona, so why not talk a little more winter!)

Rosemary doesn't have showy blooms to speak of and is not a fancy plant by any means, but one I can always count on to get me through the dull winter months with evergreen color (zones 8 to 10) and occasional tiny periwinkle blooms.  I've always heard that Rosemary is pretty finicky, but mine seem to thrive on neglect.  I just water occasionally and go after them with hedge trimmers a couple of times a year to keep some shape.

Huge mounds of Weeping Rosemary grow over a rock wall and drape into a bed of river rock we created for drainage.

Upright Rosemary standing tall behind a limestone boulder - a good end to the back corner of the yard.  Definitely something to look at when the grass is brown and gone for the winter.

 

And there's those tiny periwinkle blooms I was talking about.

Signs of the Time

We've already got spring flowers blooming and trees and shrubs budding out.  It seems like most everything is eager to start showing off. Or maybe flaunting is a better word since Saturday was our average last frost date.  I wonder if they remember the Easter freeze of two years ago?

Showy Columbine (Aquilegia 'Origami Red & White')

Dainty flowers on Purple Shamrock ('Oxalis Triangularis') glowing in the shade.

Dianthus all pretty in pink.
 

My old faithful - African Bulbine ('Bulbine frutescens")

 

Mounded purple Lantana getting started on its nonstop summer blooms.

 

And last but not least, Weeping Jasmine blindingly bright in the evening sun.

Has Spring Sprung...Already?

It seems like just yesterday I was writing about our Bradford Pear showing off its fall color.  Turns out that was back in December and today that very same tree has decided to announce the imminent arrival of Spring.

From a distance the Bradford Pear doesn't look like much...

But if you look a little closer, there is definitely some activity going on.

 

 Looking even closer to discover the first of the dainty flower clusters that in a matter of days will take this tree from barren to breathtaking!

 

Workin' on the Weekend....

Sometimes it seems like we tend to un-do a lot  (probably too much!) of what we've done at our house.

For instance, when we first moved onto our property, it was so sloped in places that it was pretty much un-usable.

At the front of the property the slope wasn't too great, so we did some low rock walls to terrace it.
 

We had big plans for this area which is right at the entrance, but nothing wanted to grow there.  What was originally supposed to be gorgeous flower beds got taken over by some Bermuda grass which was a pain to mow and not what we wanted there at all.

So, this weekend we got busy!! 

I dug up the poor little palm tree and oleander that had somehow managed to survive and got them out of the way.

While my husband ripped out two of the rock walls working carefully around the Live Oaks and our treasured Magnolia tree.  

Here is what it looked like after he took out the lower level wall.  Believe me...it got worse before it got better!

Never mind the fact that it looked like a bomb had exploded!

And then he hopped on the backhoe and started building a new rock wall...one rock at a time.

 

While I was the "lucky one" on the ground with numerous fun items at my disposal such as the shovel, pick, rake, sledge hammer, level, etc...

Its a lot like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together...each rock has to fit just right and everything has to be level. 

 

After two rows of rock we called it a day.  We plan to put one more layer on and continue the curve until it dies out naturally into the existing slope.  Then we will fill it all in with loads of dirt.  In the end the ground will be probably 18" higher and with even less of a slope and better soil, hopefully, we can have the lush garden area we've dreamed about.

Frozen Fun!

One day it was 83 degrees, the next morning about six-ish it was 65 degrees and a few hours later we had already fallen to 45.  It got down in the twenties and the little bit of moisture we received turned to ice.  So, if you can call it an ice storm - then we had one Austin-style.

I opened the back door and saw some ice on the steps and immediately grabbed my camera and headed out.  As I wandered around taking some pics, I had to laugh at myself.  I guess its been too long since I've lived in the Texas Panhandle, because this would be more like a regular spring morning instead of our "big" ice storm in January!

The Oaks shimmered with ice on their leaves and it was so bright and festive under the morning sun it was almost blinding.  It seems like some of the most breathtaking moments are just not meant to be captured on film.

My Silver Maple's barren branches were coated with a slick film of ice.

The Mexican Fan Palm was a little worse for wear, but it has withstood worse than this.

The huge leaves of my Philodendron looked more like ski slopes for any creatures full of daring.

And before I was through exploring, the ice was already starting to melt...

 

One Man's Junk....

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the old saying that goes something like "One man's junk is another man's treasure". 

One day a while back my husband came flying down the drive in his big Dodge, backed up to the trailer, jumped out, hooked it up and was already heading back out when I got to the drive.  He slowed (but not by much) and grinned as he hollered that he "was going to get me a surprise and would be right back!"

And that is how I ended up with my latest treasures...

One is an old seeder of some sort and the other a plow maybe?  I don't know what it is...but I love them.

He knows me well!