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.

Well, It's Been a While...

But now I'm back. The Fall semester is nearly over, just a couple of papers to write and a final exam to take and I'll be free for the holidays... sigh... I'm not so sure my GPA will survive the semester, but I have. Sometimes I wonder why I'm doing this to myself at all, especially when I look in my study and see all those balls of yarn and the shelves to finish putting up and the sewing machine I haven't even broken in yet. I guess I'm just a little down about it all at the moment.

My company has been tied up in temporary lay-offs for the last month or so. I'm only now being affected with the three-day work week that we're all on at the moment. At the end of December, the permanent lay-offs begin. We'll have to see where I am at the end of the month.

With everything that's going on right now, I'm afraid the garden's gone by the wayside for the time being. I haven't had a chance to do more than mow and now that it's getting cold the grass will be going dormant. Maybe I'll get out and do something next weekend once the school work is behind me.

I did get a chance to watch a mockingbird enjoying my chile piquins earlier in the week. They grow up through the front steps every year and keep the birds happy all winter.

On top of everything, I really need to start working on my grad school apps again... sigh...

Why am I doing this again?

It's Dry Out There

It is dry, dry, dry. I've been watering every couple of days or so, but it just seems to disappear by the next day. We're in drought restrictions for the summer, now, so I can only water enough to keep everything alive at the moment.

Just a few minutes ago, though, the wind kicked up and some dark clouds are building. The bamboo - dry and crinkly as it is - is leaning over almost double out there. Hopefully we'll get some rain out of this, but lately it seems everything just skips right over us and dissipates in the air. You'd think, dry as it is, we wouldn't have mosquitos, but it doesn't seem to have deterred them any.

There's a new generation of baby barn swallows peeping out of the nest in the eaves this weekend. The previous set still perches in the porch eaves at night, hunting the bugs attracted to the porch light.

There are a few things blooming. I couldn't get a decent photo of the lantana, which is blooming its little pink and yellow heart out, but here are a couple of photos from the garden today.

There's Only so much Mowing one can do with a Weed Eater. . .

I do own a lawn mower. I'm stating this for the record, because if a stranger were to look at my lawn right now, they wouldn't be able to tell. I've been the proud owner of a Black and Decker electric mower for about a year and a half.

I've read complaints that electric mowers just aren't as efficient as gas powered mowers, but it's never been an issue in my garden. My yard isn't big to begin with, and I'm frankly not picky about mowing. So long as I can see to walk through the grass to get to the flower beds safely, I'm good. In my opinion, a lawn isn't something to be worried over. At best, it's utilitarian; at worst, it's taking up valuable planting space. Also, with gas prices getting so high and that brown haze we've been seeing around Central Texas increasing over the last few years, I was happy to find a mower that could do the job as well as I desired cheaply and without added exhaust. The quiet engine was an added bonus.

A few weeks ago, my mower stopped dead, halfway through the front yard. It just stopped. There had been this rattling sound when I'd first started it up for the season, but I hadn't been able to locate the source, so it wasn't exactly a surprise. I just didn't think it would be difficult to get it repaired. Then I started looking for a repair shop.

None of the small engine repair shops around here will touch the things. I finally located a repair shop whose owner directed me to the local Black and Decker service center -- who knew they had one? Not I. Local, by the way, is a relative term. It's in North Austin off Mopac. I'm -- not.

Anyway, long story short, my poor lawn has been without a mower for about a month. That's right, a month in prime Central Texas growing time. Which is why, every so often while waiting for the parts that have been on back-order, I've gone a bit wild with the weed whacker. I'll have my lawn mower back next week, though, and all will once again be right with the world.

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.

Camera!

My new camera has arrived. It's a Canon PowerShot SD750 with 7.1 megapixels, which my daughter tells me is fine for what I want. Now, I can start showing more photos with my posts, as soon as I figure out how to use the thing. Here are a few beginners' shots.

Here's the fairy statue peeking out from among the oregano, verbena and evening primrose.

Sweet alyssum is growing around the rosemary at the foot of the steps.

English Thyme growing along the walkway, with it's little tag. The tags are ceramic and were made by one of the Fine Arts majors at the University. She sells them at the ceramics booth that they sponser several times a semester as a fund-raiser.

And finally, a potted Diascia sitting on the porch.

Those are all the photos I have for now. I'm going to have to wait until it's a little cooler this evening to take a few more.

On another note, my Suzy Q is back! My pretty calico kitty disappeared just before the last freeze and I was very worried about her. I'd given up hope of seeing her again and was only hoping that someone had taken her in. That's apparently what happened, because she showed up this morning, looking a bit thin and hungry, but with a pink collar that was a couple of sizes too small around her neck! I popped the collar off and she seems much happier now. She's cuddled up with one of the other cats right now.

A Goal Reached and a Two-fer Surprise

I reached my first weight loss goal this weekend: twenty pounds! I'm down to 200 pounds and had to go out and buy new clothes for work and school, since nothing I had that still fit was suitable. Shelli and I hit the Coldwater Creek outlet at Prime Outlets on Sunday. I can't afford to do that often, but it sure felt good to be down a full size in pants and tops!

Lady Banks had a surprise waiting for me when I got up this morning. She now has four lovely blooms -- two yellow and two white! When I looked closely, I could see that the two different colors were from two distinct tines emerging from the soil. It looks like whoever was rooting the cuttings got mixed up and rooted an "Alba" cutting or two along with the "Lutea" cuttings. Once she matures, there will be a fountaining mixture of white and yellow blooms. Another happy accident for the garden.

New Additions in the Garden

After spending the last couple of mornings digging up yellow clay and mixing in compost and sand, I've finally made some new additions to the front bed. I've planted some thyme along the walkway -- probably too close to the walkway, but we'll see. There's a delphinium behind the cooking sage and to one side of the new rose bush. The Double Bridal Wreath Spirea will go into the ground tomorrow in the bare spot on the western end of the wax myrtle hedge where it will hopefully be happy.

A new rose, Brilliant Pink Iceberg (the image is from Stockphoto) is the new centerpoint of the bed. I didn't actually intend to buy this variety. One side of the pot was labeled Gruss an Aachen, a lovely pale pink floribunda with a fairly modest growth habit. The plan was for two roses in this bed, the Gruss an Aachen toward the middle and to one side, and something a bit larger toward the back. I didn't see the label on the other side of the pot until I got the plant home. I looked it up online to get more information, and based on the description decided to keep it.

Brilliant Pink Iceberg is a sport of the more familiar white Iceberg. It has a similar growth habit to it's parent, in other words, it gets big -- sometimes very big. It is a repeat bloomer, flowering from spring to first frost, with moderately scented blooms in a mixed bright pink and white. It has no thorns, and as such is not in any way deer-tolerant -- something of an issue in Central Texas -- but I haven't had any deer problems in this area, and with the local pastureland being developed into subdivisions -- don't get me started -- I don't expect to see them become a problem in the future. It is very disease hardy -- a definite plus as I absolutely hate spraying anything on roses or coddling plants along. It's one the reasons I tend to grow old roses in the first place.

So the Pink Iceberg gets to stay, and the garden plan gets revised. It will probably turn out to be a happy accident, but next time I'm looking for a rose, I'll head over to the Antique Rose Emporium.

Here's a photo of what's been done so far (the new camera is on order from Amazon.) Still to come, there are some agapanthus bulbs on order, deep and medium blue, and I'll still need to pick up some fern-leaved lavender for the middle of the bed, in front of the rose. The daylilies still need to be shuffled around a bit and some of the scabiosas will find a home between the lavender and the thyme. Then I'll fill in the bare spot at the front with lamb's ears and either more thyme or some parsley.

Tomorrow, I'll start tackling the bed on the other side of the walkway.