Mexican Petunia

Look what's blooming in the garden! I happened to notice the first flowers in the patch of Mexican Petunia growing under my bedroom window as I was leaving for work yesterday and had to stop and take a couple of pictures.

Until I moved into this house, I never really appreciated the Mexican Petunia. Sure, it's pretty. Its little purple trumpet-shaped flowers have a texture like crinkled tissue paper, and the dark green leaves always look nice and cool on hot summer days. However, the flowers, while pretty, aren't particularly showy. They tend to get lost in the abundance of foliage, and there's a lot of foliage in which to get lost. I sort of considered them a "whatever" plant, the kind you stick in a spot because you don't really know what else to put there, a placeholder until something better comes to mind. Over the last couple of years, though, I've gained a new admiration for this cheery little workhorse.

Although it has a rather limited range from zone 11 to 8a, within that range Mexican Petunia, or Ruellia brittoniana, is a tough little plant and if you want butterflies and hummingbirds in your garden, it's definitely one to try. Mexican Petunia will bloom from early summer until first frost and the nectar drinkers just love it. It can be invasive in optimal conditions - gardeners in the warmer areas along the Gulf Coast might do well to avoid it - but in my hot and dry location it stays pretty much where it's wanted.

It's a reliable performer along the side of the house nearest the driveway and doesn't seem to mind the mostly shady location. Most references say to keep it moist, but I've been able to keep it happy by running my soaker hoses along that wall to the front gardens. Whenever I water the front beds, the Mexican Petunia gets a bit as well. When it does get out of bounds, I just mow it. The plants of the species varieties grow to about three to four feet high, but there are some more compact versions available on the market as well.

Regal Lily

“If only one lily is to be grown, it may well be this.”

George Slate, Lilies for American Gardens.

The Regal Lily is a species lily, Lilium regale, that was introduced into the gardens of Europe, and then America, around the turn of the 20th century. It is the parent lily for many of the trumpet lily hybrids that currently grace our gardens. They are early summer bloomers, and are hardy from zones 8b through 4 in the US. The stalks carry from five to ten blossoms per head. The scent is reported to be heavenly, and I can't wait to find out.

Last night, I found several flower heads forming on my Regal Lilies, ordered from Old House Gardens (that's also where I first saw the above quote.) They were leaning over, so I used some of the ever-present bamboo to stake them up - that's wild Queen Anne's Lace growing behind them (I know, I know, but I like the stuff.) I'm looking forward to seeing these lovely ladies in action.

Summer's Here -- A Bit Early

Well, summer's officially here in Central Texas. The temps broke 90 deg F, and I broke down and turned on the air conditioners. Bye-bye $56 electric bills. It'll be interesting to see what the bills are, actually. The window units will be on some times during the day, but I've still got all the lights switched over to compact flourescents and I got rid of the television months ago. I was shocked by how much my electric bill fell once I got rid of that power hog; if you must have one, definitely put it on surge supressor and turn off the power when the set is off. You'll have to wait a couple of minutes for the unit to warm up, but the cut in power consumption is definitely worth it.

I haven't done much in the garden the last couple of weeks, and I'm afraid it shows. There's plenty of weeding to do this long weekend. I started it this morning, but will have to wait for cooler temps this evening to do any more. My Homestead Yellow day lily started blooming a week or so ago, and the red and double red varieties were close behind it. The little pink scented one hasn't even set a bud, but the leaves look nice and healthy. I wish I could say the same for the fancy dark blue Agapanthus I ordered. The medium blue varieties are setting new leaves, but the dark blue one is barely hanging on. Sadly, I'm afraid we may be too hot and dry for it. There won't be much I can do to help it, either. We're already on water restriction for the summer.

Weekend before last, I spent building some book shelves in my workroom/ library. I've been looking for bookcases that I can afford, but apparently all I can afford is cheap and ugly, so I went down to Home Depot and bought some 1x12 #2 pine lumber, which they cut to the necessary length, and some steel shelf brackets and a cross-check level. I painted the wall where I wanted the shelves, attached the brackets, painted them the same color as the walls and attached the shelves. Here are the results. Not bad if I do say so myself. I just need to paint the shelves themselves and add more on the other side of the window and over the top.

Finally, week before last I spent volunteering at the 2008 Mississippian Iconography Workshop, and annual event at Texas State University, hosted by the Center for the Arts and Symbolism in Ancient America. This was my second year as a volunteer. It's an invaluable opportunity for students to meet and watch some of the leaders in our field working. It was great fun, as always, and I finally got up the nerve to talk to one of the professors about his university's graduate program. He was encouraging and offered to read my statement of purpose before I submit it, for which I'm very grateful. The Cahokia Mother and Child Pipe is Mississippian, but really has nothing to do with what we were doing, I just like the photo and needed a way to get Blogger to acknowledge the new paragraph. It's made from bauxite and was found in Madison County, IL.

I apologize for the formatting. For some reason, Blogger has chosen to ignore any and all paragraph separations in this post, no matter how many times I reformat. Sigh.

Nocturnal Visitations

Look who came to visit late last night - or was it early this morning? Either way, a sphinx moth popped in through the open window and bounced around the living room until I turned off the light and he found his way back out to the porch. Some one else who has done much more research than I has a wonderful post on sphinx moths, here.

We had another visit last night as well from a katydid. Selkie had a great time stalking him all over the living room. Don't worry, the katydid was never in danger. This first picture is the closest Selkie got. The katydid is up on the window sill.

Cypress Vine is Back

I'd almost given up on the Cypress Vine this year. I planted one last year that just about covered the porch in the couple of months it was there before the first freeze, and I loved it. Although this vine is an annual, according to all the websites, it self-sows freely; in fact, the jist of the comments was "plant it once, have it forever in your garden - and your neighbors' gardens - and their neighbors' gardens. . ." So, I wasn't worried.

However, as the spring has been rolling along I've been watching for the seedlings and not finding them. They just didn't seem to be coming along at all. This weekend, though, I noticed about four of them, good strong little plants. I'll just have to wait until they're a little bigger and move them to where I want them.

Cypress Vine is a remarkably pretty vine, with delicate, bright green fern-like leaves and clear, bright red star-shaped flowers. It will grow up to 20 feet or more in a single season, and is amazingly drought and heat tolerant. I grow it on my front porch in an area with a strong western exposure that wipes out most other vines and all hanging baskets. The Cypress Vine loves it.

Cypress Vine is a member of the Convolvulus family, and the genus Ipomoea -- the same genus as the Morning Glory. All parts of the plants of this genus are highly toxic. The seeds of the Morning Glory were once highly valued for their hallucinogenic properties, and contain both D-lysergic acid and D-isolysergic acid. Chemical analysis of residue found in the bowls of pipes recovered from Mesoamerican sites as far back as the Olmec civilization have been found to contain the remains of Ipomoea seeds and tobacco, which has hallucinogenic properties of its own when used in great amounts. The common Morning Glory, Ipomoea violacea, is one of two plants that have been identified as the Aztec pharmaceutical and religious plant ololiqui, the other being another member of the Convolvulus family, Rivea corymbosa.

Darwin Note: The above information is provided for interest only. Do not try this at home; all of these plants are highly toxic and will most likely kill you long before you stumble upon the correct dosage. Don't become a casualty of natural selection.

Herbalism References:

Schultes, Richard Evans and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers. Healing Arts Press: Rochester. 1992.

Wilbert, Johannes. Tobacco and Shamanism in South America. Yale University Press: New Haven. 1987.

Long Overdue Post

It's been a while since I posted; I'm afraid the second half of my semester got a bit more frantic

than I had anticipated. I've almost finished with finals, though, and I seem to have survived another semester with my GPA intact. No more classes until next fall, so I'll have a bit more time to devote to the garden and crafts. Here's hoping for a nice relaxing summer before I have kick it into gear again. Of course I still have to finish my grad program applications this summer, too.

Here are a few pictures of what's going on in my garden the past month:

The patchwork wallflowers have been blooming their little hearts out. I just love these little guys. They'll bloom from now until Christmas.

Here's another shot of the wallflowers with a Venus' Looking Glass coming up in the middle of them.

The Texas native Pink Evening Primroses, or as we used to call them, Buttercups (because of their yellow pollen) are making their annual attempt at world domination. I've got it as a volunteer in both flower beds, across the yard and throughout the ditch.

Remember the fairy statue? Can you find her in the next picture?

And here's a close-up of that native Verbena.

The rose I wasn't sure about is blooming nicely. There's a bit of a problem with powdery mildew, but nothing too terrible. I guess she's a keeper.

Kitties in the garden:

Suzy Q

Selkie

& Suzy, again.

Finally, the swallows are back for another year. There are four little nestlings huddled up in that nest. It's almost too small for the lot of them. That wasp's nest in the corner of the porch is history. Their mama and papa ate every one of them.