Punxsutawney Phil may not have seen his shadow yesterday, but any groundhog around these parts certainly would have. I guess it's lucky we don't have any groundhogs, then, isn't it?

What I did see during Saturday's warm and gorgeous weather was an Admiral butterfly. There's a Sulfur Yellow bopping around the yard today, and new buds on the oak tree, so maybe spring is on its way, after all.

As usual this early in the spring, my gardening efforts are focused on the pots around the back porch. I picked up two pots of shrimp plants and two of pineapple sage while visiting my mother over the holidays -- both are naturalized in her backyard. The sages still seem happy in their original pots, but the shrimp plants have both been transferred to terracotta. I had originally intended to plant them directly in the ground, but I think they're better off in pots for now.

It's still much too early to plant anything in the garden itself. I've been turning the soil in the front bed, and cutting back the bamboo, but we'll see at least one more freeze before spring truly takes hold, I think. If not, the wind in this area is awful in the spring -- I've seen it snap new little tomato plants right off at the soil. So, I'm contenting myself with turning soil and mulching, getting ready for the plantings to come. I also bought a little pink and yellow primrose from the grocery store and have it potted on my porch table, where it can be a cheery reminder that more is still to come.

Hello, all, and welcome to a new solar year!  (Or, the fourteenth b'ak'tun, if you're so inclined.)

It's been a long, dry few years here in Texas, and my garden hasn't fared well, but I think the drought has finally run its course (knock wood). I lost the large hedge in front of the house and the bamboo on two sides of the back yard before it was over, but the bamboo is now making a comeback and so am I.

The Lady Banks rose is still taking over in the front, and my Pink Iceberg is doing well, too. The little Bridal Wreath Spirea has bloomed each spring, regardless of the heat and arid weather. The volunteer native lantanas are hanging in there, and look like they're ready to stage a new attempt at world domination come spring. I've also got a little potted strawberry papaya on my back porch, a freebie from the Horticulture Department at the Uni where I work. It's not the ideal weather around here for a papaya, but it seems to be doing well if a little frost scorched in places. I'm dragging it in every night when it gets too cold.

On a more personal note, I finished my graduate program last December and have found gainful employment as an archaeologist over the past year. Score one for Right Livelihood. In January, I'll be sending in the last bits of my application to the PhD. program at the University of Calgary. I'm very excited about that.

I have a lot of plans for my garden for the coming year or two (assuming I'm not in Canada by next August). I'm collecting stepping stones and flagstones to make a labyrinth in the back yard, and have been eyeing small chicken coops online. I've also found plans for a small earth oven that looks like it might be just the right size for my little back yard. Over the next couple of months I'm going to take advantage of the sad condition of the front lawn to get rid of it entirely and sow wild flower seeds.

In the meantime, I'm doing some hiking around the area and enjoying the outdoors as much as possible. The photos I'm adding to this post aren't from my garden this year, but from some of my hikes in the area around.  I'll have more photos of the garden over the next few weeks, I hope.

What's Blooming in Patricia's Garden?

Well, it looks like spring is finally here, save for the late March freeze we always have. I thought I'd post a few pictures of the pretties I'm finding in my garden this week.

Mom's Christmas gift bloomed very prettily for me. Everybody got either an amaryllis or paperwhites this year. She thought they were kind of cheesy, but I thought they were a perfect gift.

I'm happier with the pink iceberg this year. I think it just needed some time to develop... and maybe a little rain.


The lantana is bent on world domination once again. I forgot to prune it back in February.



Here's Sebastian. He's not quite sure about that thing I'm holding in front of my face.

The yellow half of my Lady Banks is making an appearance. Hopefully the white half will start blooming soon, as well.

The lavender continues to bloom its little heart out. Hopefully it will continue through the summer this year.

Selkie's found his favorite napping spot.

This Mexican Petunia is coming up in a sheltered spot. It somehow survived the whole winter and is blooming early.

Say "Hello" to Oreo.

The daffodil bucket hasn't produced any flowers yet this year. I'm still hopeful, though. Maybe later in March.

Hmm. Well. Yes, I waited too long for the broccoli. At least it's pretty. It also gives Chupacabra something to hide under. (How did such a pretty cat get that name? He earned it.)

10 Most Stylish Men in America

There's not much gardening going on yet, but this headline on MSN caught my eye. All I can say is, if this is the best we can do, we're in serious trouble. Really, is it too much to ask that a guy not look like he pulled his clothes out from behind the sofa cushion this morning?

How Much Time Have You Spent in Cemetaries?

That's the question I wanted to ask the twenty-something who was sitting behind me in the restaurant this evening. I had to get up and leave before the urge to take him by the scruff of the neck and rattle his teeth for him got too strong. The topic of conversation -- or, rather, monologue -- that was being loudly aired was childhood vaccinations. The speaker was waxing passionate over the unnatural introduction of toxic substances into the body and how vaccinations were more dangerous than the diseases they were intended to prevent and about the children he would father in the future who would never be endangered by them. I very much wanted to get up and ask him: "How much time have you spent in cemetaries?"

I have spent time in cemetaries. I've spent time in cemetaries for historical research, to identify the location of family plots, simply to walk and take in the reflections of the tastes and lives and loves of people long gone. I spent time talking to an elderly lady who came to walk the aisles and visit with her parents and husband in the family plot and with a long-dead baby sister who was buried -- oh, she wasn't quite sure where. The family of an itenerant lumberjack hadn't been able to afford a coffin, let alone a headstone. The child, felled by some unnamed childhood disease, had been buried in a boot box in a donated plot somewhere near a large tree.

Another question I have for this young man: "Do you really want to return to a time when parents buried three or more children in the space of a week?" I've seen those headstones, too, lined up along the edges of family plots, rows of little lambs sleeping among lilies, with birth dates ranging over years but dates of death all too close together. Those parents didn't have a choice, they didn't have a way to stop the death that came for their children. We do. Those parents would have been amazed, thrilled by what we can do for our children -- and, knowing what they knew, bewildered by what some of us would refuse to do.

Oh, Look! Lavender Does Bloom!

It apparently just waits until the middle of winter to do it. Although, you couldn't tell it was winter by the weather around here. We've been enjoying temps in the seventies for this past week or so here in Central Texas -- which will be more than accounted for during the summer, of course, so we're enjoying them while we can. I've been off work since Christmas Eve for the holidays and have spent the last few days piddling around the house and garden and sprawling on the various porches with books and cats. I've recently discovered J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) and have been through three of her mystery novels since Christmas. Thank goodness for Half Price Books!

I'm starting to get that hopeful gardening feeling again. This past summer was brutal to the poor plants. I lost a lot of the newcomers I put in last spring to the heat and dry weather, but the lavender held on, as you can see above, and the double bridal wreath spirea and the two rose bushes survived as well. The Lady Banks actually put on a lot of growth, I've had to re-stake her to keep her from sprawling across the yard.

My mom gave me some of my grandfather's old-fashioned red Guernsey Lilies (aka Red Spider Lilies) to plant again. We'll see how they do, since the cats have devoted themselves to digging up every bulb I plant at least twice this fall and winter. They're tough little bulbs, though, so hopefully they'll manage to hang on and put up flower stalks next summer and fall.

The official name for these bulbs is Lycoris radiata, but this is not the red Lycoris you'll see in most catelogues. I always knew there was something off about the Lycoris being offered in the garden centers and in catalogues, they just didn't look quite right. The entry at Old House Gardens confirms it: Grumpy's Guernsey Lilies are triploid, the new selections are diploid. Something about that changes the way the flowers look, at least to me.

Shelli's Engaged

Here's a photo of my DD and her new husband-to-be. He came by last Saturday and asked my permission, which I was happy to give. Erik's matured into a lovely young man over the last few years and he's got a good head on his shoulders, so I'm sure they'll be fine. He proposed on Tuesday during a horse-and-carriage ride through down-town Austin.

They won't be getting married too soon, though. Erik has another semester at his university and Michelle graduates next December. Shelli was saying something about this next summer, perhaps.

Anyway, best wishes to both kids and all my love.