Upping Diversity

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Meredith

This past weekend I attended one of my favorite events of the year, the fall plant sale at the Wildflower Center. I look forward to this sale all year long. I knew I’d try to be budget-wise going in, but I also knew there was a good chance I’d blow it. I blew it. I was having too much fun. Plus, there were so many plants that I felt belonged on the NEED list.

My goal was to increase the native diversity here at Great Stems — I get such pleasure out of adding to “the list.” Besides, the more diversity, the more wildlife I attract. Win-win, for all of us… and the world! My treasured finds this time?

Soapbush, Guaiacum angustifolium — this plant is even cooler in person than the info one can read about it. It’s native to south Texas and the Edwards Plateau, and when it blooms it will have beautiful, fragrant purple flowers. Unfortunately, deer apparently like it, so here’s yet another plant that will get planted in the backyard. It’s the larval host for Gray Hairstreak and Lyside Sulphur butterflies, though the latter are found more in south Texas.

Dwarf Palmetto — I kept delaying buying one because they are such slow growers, but they’ll never grow in my yard if I don’t plant them. I’ve got an area that gets saturated when it rains, so I’m hoping they’ll like it there.

American Smoke Tree, such a beautiful tree. Apparently its blooms look like puffs of smoke when viewed from a distance.

Check out the pink on this Pink Gaura. I couldn’t resist, nor could my neighbor. People followed us around wanting this plant.

Other plants I’m thrilled to have:

White Leadwort
Coralberry
Twist-Leaf Yucca
Crag Lily
Purple Leatherflower (Purple Clematis)
Scarlet Leatherflower (Texas Clematis)
Lindheimer’s Senna
Shrubby Boneset

I did pick up a few extras of plants I already had but wanted more of — with my big yard, it is an ongoing process trying to fill it in. And I picked up a variety of plants for the school — Sandpaper Tree and Lindheimer’s Senna, included — both great plants the tactile-oriented can appreciate.

The boys and I have been tackling the front bed, a shady area that has just needed a lot of work for a long time now. A few plants have done well, but other major ones all died. I did some transplanting of the ones that were struggling and replaced the ones that didn’t make it. I left room for the new plants to grow, and we’re sprinkling Pigeonberry and some shade-tolerant wildflower seeds to eventually fill in the gaps.

Was I clever enough to take a before picture? Not even vaguely. It will take a couple of years to see this area start to fill in, but at least the plants are in the ground and already on their way!

Good Morning, Pavonia

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Meredith

A Rock Rose by any other name would be just as pretty…

Here in Texas, our native Rose Pavonia, Pavonia lasiopetala, just loves the hot summers. When other plants curl up for protection from the baking sun, the Rose Pavonia opens up its flowers and puts on a beautiful display.

A gorgeous metallic turquoise female sweat bee (Halictidae) covered herself in extensive pollen grains by visiting the flowers. This behavior not only identifies her as female in the sweat bee world but also distinguishes her from a Cuckoo Wasp, which is remarkably similar in appearance.

The Pavonia flower closes at night and reopens in the warm sunlight. I just love its closed state, like a little flower puppy or kitten all curled up and sleeping. Here is the Brazilian Rock Rose, Pavonia braziliensis, looking like a tiny peppermint-candy rose bud.

When it opens, it is a striking white version of its Texas cousin.

That’s Firebush just behind it, another heat-loving plant. I’m glad these plants enjoy the Texas sun — they remind us of the good side of our hot summers (but thank goodness fall is approaching).

Passiflora lutea, Yellow Passionflower

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Meredith

Oh, hey, it’s raining. And I know why. It’s because it’s my watering day (city schedule), and I actually took the time to water this morning. You know what happened last time I took the time to water? Yep, it rained. Yes, Murphy’s Law continues to be in full effect at Great Stems. Also, my son left the electric mower out in the backyard, with the cord still plugged in. That perhaps added to the rain potential. I know I’m repeating myself about this, but hey, whatever it takes to get some rain around here!

Regardless of my pitiful attempt to water this morning, my plants needed the extra drink from the rain and the overcast relief from the 100+ weather and full Texas sun we’ve had lately. The plants I didn’t get to water are right now grateful that nature took pity on them, since I melted in the morning heat and had to stop.

Today I want to highlight a happy little vine I’ve found growing and blooming in my yard. This is one of our native Passionvines — Passiflora lutea — also known as Yellow Passionflower.

It puts out this adorable miniature version of the larger, better known Passionvine flower, with yellow-green as its primary color. The flower is about 1/2 inch in diameter. Just as cute as a button!

The leaves of the Yellow Passionflower are gently three-lobed and easy to distinguish. They are hosts to many butterfly species — including fritillary and longwing species.

As is often my luck, or more Murphy’s Law perhaps, the Yellow Passionflower plants I actually purchased are very small, while the largest vine on the property is the one that just showed up on its own. I’ve already seen a fritillary caterpillar on one of them — yay.

The larger Passionflower below, ~~Passiflora incarnata~~ Passiflora caerulea, is certainly more showy than its cousin, but I am delighted to have both (Edit: Apparently my plant is Blue Passionflower, Passiflora caerulea, not the native incarnata/Maypop variety I once thought it was. Thanks for the correction, Scott! It sounds like Blue Passionflower is a good vine to keep, so I’m happy to do so.).

I’m trying to collect other varieties of native passionflower, but so far Passiflora lutea is the only one I can say I’m successfully growing. Of course, I have several unidentified vines in the backyard. Perhaps one of them is another passionflower!

Note: I just attempted to go out to take some pictures of the little passionflower vine in the rain. It started raining harder. Gotta love Murphy.

Growing Up

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Meredith

I love the rain. Everything just looks so green afterwards.

But even without the heavy rainfall this week, which I was so grateful for (by the way Austinites — you can thank me for the rain on Wednesday because it was my watering day and I got up and watered– Murphy’s Law was in full effect, because the rain showed up that evening… now if you got hail, too, that’s not my fault…), this year we are enjoying massive growth of pretty much everything in the garden. I suppose that sounds reasonable, as in the plant world we are in Year 2, at least for some of our plants — the rest are still young. Following the saying “Sleep, Creep, then Leap” — it is clear that our plants are enjoying a growth spurt!

I am envisioning a garden of giants before long — the thought crossed my mind that I might have to trim some of these back at some point. Whoa, that’s too much for this girl to think about right now.

But take a look at this Rock Rose, one that I don’t even remember planting in that spot. It’s massive. Right now I’m just letting it do its thing, but I’m sure that other gardeners are wisely shaking their head, saying that I’m going to be dealing with lots of little Pavonia babies everywhere and soon. (Here’s where I’ll tell you that one of my other Pavonias already made lots of babies, as I discovered a couple of days ago. And it was a much smaller plant!)

On the plus side, I hope that the natural shade that the larger plants in the butterfly garden will provide this summer will help the smaller ones get through the heat and sun. Downside is that right now everything appears to be the same height. Somewhere in the middle of all that is a Texas Kidneywood, as well as a Barbados Cherry, which at some point should provide the height variation the garden needs. They need to be in their Leap Year, too!

All around the garden, I’ve got new plants I’m excitedly watching. Exotic Love Vine, an annual vine from Mexico and Central/South America, still hasn’t produced any flowers, but I find myself admiring its beautiful leaves everyday. I guess the love effect is already, well, in effect, even without the amazing blooms it hopefully will produce. Maybe they bloom in fall.

Now check out this great stem — hoho, Great Stem.

Now at 4-foot tall, this Cinnamon Sunflower is already bigger than some of my trees. Still no evidence of blooms. The leaves themselves are the biggest leaves of any plant I have on the entire property. For comparison, I placed a Pomegranate leaf on one of the Sunflower leaves — I still don’t think it does it justice.

For the record, the Cinnamon Sunflower’s growth is putting the Giant Sunflower’s growth to shame. I haven’t taken pictures of the Giant yet, so it better do some catching up!

The Passionflower is blooming like mad. I’m still waiting for the Fritillaries to show up.

But here’s a little Phaon Crescent come to visit.

The Purple Coneflowers are doing some strange things this year, but at least they are officially blooming. Some big, some small, some tall, some flat, some wide, some droopy…

This odd Coneflower has a striped appearance.

Speaking of Great Stems (giggle), here’s another one. Check out the thorns on this wee tree, a Toothache Tree, or Prickly Ash. The thorns are currently longer than the stem is wide!

We’re fortunate to have two species growing — Zanthoxylum hirsutum (shown) and Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (very much still a sapling). If you haven’t heard of these trees, they’re fun. Chew on a leaf and your mouth goes numb for a few minutes. Back in the old days, they served to help with toothaches, hence the name. Bonus — a larval host for the Giant Swallowtail butterfly! I look forward to our trees getting bigger.

Venturing back to the butterfly garden, I paused to admire a strawberry-like annual, the Gomphrena, that I spur of the moment planted a couple of weeks ago. It’s a dwarf compared to the older perennials, but I appreciate the red color that was needed in the garden.

And ugh, a decision to make. This rogue not-native Lantana has popped up in the yard near the pond. Now I have to decide whether to pull it. This is why I stick to the native Lantana urticoides/horrida (Texas Lantana–has orange/yellow/red blooms) — I don’t want to contribute to the easily-spread other kind. I know where it came from, too — my neighbor had one. Had. I notice she pulled it out this year.

Over in the veggie garden, I discovered an abundance of peppers! Garden Salsa peppers, and they are inspiring the Mexican meal we will have tonight. I didn’t even see them start out as babies, and here they are.

Meanwhile, their leaves are getting munched by these little culprits — tiny (but pretty) grasshoppers. The admiration stops there. They are munching on my peppers, my tomatoes, and my Exotic Love Vine. Stop it, grasshoppers!

The tomatoes are certainly growing up. They’ve outgrown their cages, keep trying to topple over, and so bushy I’m feeling a little concerned. Next time, I’m going for the big collapsible and way over-priced Texas cages.

The runner beans have grown up past the trellis. I’m hoping we’ll actually get some beans before the heat of the summer really hits us. I feel we’re pushing the season a bit.

And the perennial Bell Pepper is producing fruit again. I look at this plant in wonder — it survived last year’s terribly hot summer, made it through fall and winter without any attention from me, and here it is, still growing. I didn’t know they could do that. Talk about pushing seasons!

Plants aren’t the only things growing up around here. I’m about to have a teenager in the house (egads). And at 12, he’s already 6-feet tall. We’re going to do a final “kid” measure tomorrow, the day before he turns 13.

And these fledgling cardinals showed up this morning. Three of them. I love how their feathers are in transition. Mama and papa should be proud! You can tell my blood sugar was dropping at the time — the camera was shaking! I’d eaten breakfast, but only just. Not enough time to hit the bloodstream, I guess.

I’m pleased that birds are finally starting to pay attention to the thistle feeder. I abandoned the thistle socks awhile back due to the damage the eager birds were doing — I kept having to replace the feeders. But wow, they did love those socks. It’s not off the project list — I just needed a regular feeder to keep around constantly.

Yeah, I see you squirrel. I know what you’re up to. Yeah, I know you see me, too. And yes, I saw you on the birdfeeder this morning. I noticed the young squirrel nearby, too, watching you do it. Naughty squirrel.

So the organic garden is growing up. The birds are growing up. The squirrels are growing up. My kids are growing up. And I guess the evidence is there that this gardener is growing up, too. If I haven’t already done it, I guess I have to do away with my newbie status officially, my crutch when I don’t know what in the world is going on in my garden. But the greenery around means I must have done something right, newbie or not. If in doubt, add compost — that’s my motto! I’m loving it and ready for more.

For a look back at the garden beginnings through its first year, visit this page.

Whatnots

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Meredith

I just couldn’t come with a title for this one. But I had fun taking photos!

The Cinnamon Sunflower is about 3 feet tall now, but still no blooms. Looking pretty snazzy even without the blooms, I must say.

I never realized how fun milkweed seeds are, fresh from a pod. Hopefully some of these will germinate — I need more milkweed!

Still damp from a gentle rain, the Passionvine is happily entwining along its trellis. With luck it will hide our A/C unit soon, at least until the caterpillars start munching!

Passiflora flowers just might be the most bizarre flowers out there. I mean seriously — how on earth did nature come up with that crazy design?

The tripod of a stigma at the top looks like some alien straight from a sci-fi movie.

The coneflowers are huge and teasing me with blooms to come.

I’m not sure whether it was the rain or the change in temperature, but I finally got a Checkered White butterfly to hold still for a photo.

And a Dainty Sulphur — both of these butterflies usually tend to dart around like mad if I get too close. Gotcha, little flutterbies!

I’ve been noticing more wasps visiting the dill lately, and the caterpillar deaths have increased, so I decided it was time to create a butterfly tent. Within a day we had our first swallowtail chrysalis. The tent is a collapsible $9 laundry hamper — much cheaper and much larger than the “butterfly kits” you can buy online and in various stores.

Okay, what’s this bug? Good guy? Bad guy? Found him on my native White Honeysuckle bush. I guess I could go look him up.

In other news, I found little slimy larval stuff eating one of my tomato leaves. I took a picture, but they’re gross and I decided that they messed with my pretty zen pictures, so I’m not posting it today. The slimy things are in the compost bin now. I don’t know whether they’re good guys or bad guys, but they were working as a team and my gut told me I didn’t want more of them around. And there was a leaf-footed bug on another tomato leaf. Little booger got away. Gah. But at least I’m onto him.

Native Discoveries

Posted on May 6, 2010 by Meredith

I’ve been so busy planting natives that you’d think I’d know a little more about the natives growing, ya know, natively in my yard. But the other day I posted about my little gem Eve’s Necklace, and now I get to report on some others I’ve since discovered growing mere feet away.

If you still wonder how in the world I might have missed them, I have two words for you. POOP ZONE. Yes, it’s the area of the yard that we’ve long left to the dogs. All three of them. How’s that picture in your head now? <grins>

So… Silk Tassel. Several months ago, this wonderful shrub was hidden by evil nandinas that sought to obscure this jewel from our sight and mind. But we slew the dragons, and our treasure we never knew we had was rescued. Of course, I did actually purchase two saplings of Silk Tassel this past winter, never knowing I already had it on the property. Now I’ve got a set! Birds eat the berries, by the way. Yay for wildlife value!

See the soft velvety underside to the leaves? It’s a great identifying feature, and it’s a delight to the tactilely sensitive. Mmmmm, soft…

Next is a mulberry tree. I was always worried that this large-leafed tree was an invasive and it turns out it’s a native Red Mulberry tree — native to central Texas, in fact! It’s even a caterpillar larval host — Mourning Cloak butterfly.

I love, love, love the green leaves.

And look, it has berries! I hear they’re tasty.

Third discovery in my garden — Ashe Juniper — tremendous wildlife value for this plant. Birds love its berries, our endangered golden-cheeked warbler relies on its bark for nesting material, and it’s a larval host to the beautiful Juniper Hairstreak butterfly. This wonderful plant has a bad reputation for causing allergies in central Texas, and it’s often mistakenly referred to as cedar. But it’s okay in my book for all that it does for da birdies and flutterbies.

And lastly, a creeeeeeeeper. That’s how I like to say the word. Say it with me in that dark, almost evil voice of a mad scientist, creeeeeeeper. Good.

Specifically, it’s a Virginia Creeper. Typically they have 5 leaflets, but sometimes you’ll see 3 or 7.

Some people confuse it with poison ivy when it grows wild in the woods. While it’s not poison ivy nor poison oak, I should point out that you shouldn’t roll in it. Some people are as sensitive to it as if it were poison ivy or oak, and they get a similar rash.

But guess what, it’s a larval host, too, baby! Several species of sphinx moths begin their lives on these plants.

I’m a happy habitat mama!

The Graceful Eve’s Necklace

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Meredith

Eve’s Necklace, Styphnolobium affine/Sophora affinis, also known as Texas Sophora. I once underappreciated this small native tree growing wild in my sideyard, because as a young and small sapling dominated by the cedar elms above it, it was hard-pressed to grab my attention.

As the small saplings became bigger, however, I began to notice the black string of pearls — its seed pods — for which it earned its name.

And its light to dark green leaflets I always dubbed as “cute.” I’m so technical.

This spring, however, the pink wisteria-like blooms finally caught my eye, and I have been spending many a morning gazing up at the somewhat wispy understory trees.

With more available sun, I know, it gets much denser and takes on the more classic tree look. It can also eventually reach 30 ft, but my tallest is about 15 feet, and I suspect it will always stay less than 25 feet tall due to its location under the much larger shade trees.

Eve’s Necklace loves alkaline soil, of which I have plenty, and it is quite adaptable as long as the earth is well-drained. It’s fairly fast-growing and germinates well on its own. It’s native to Central Texas and hardy to Zone 7.

The tree has moderate deer resistance, but the deer in my neighborhood have left the saplings alone. It serves as a pollen and nectar source, and when dense enough it’s a good nesting and cover site.

There’s an advantage to living in a place for years and not doing anything with it — one is that sometimes you get to find gems like Eve’s Necklace coming up naturally. I think that I’ll scatter the seeds about to get some growing in other places around my yard. I won’t eat them though (not that I would) — they’re poisonous!

EDIT: My husband’s response to reading this was “Huh.” Turns out he had no idea we had Eve’s Necklace in our yard (he’d probably never heard of it either). It’s a good thing I write this blog, so he can learn about our yard!

Return of the Swamp Thing

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Meredith

A spontaneous pond cleaning turned me once again into the Creature from the Black Lagoon, or barring that, at least the Swamp Thing. Six hours spent mostly in a pond cleaning out winter sludge and muck, with the remaining time spent repotting water plants, turns one into a rather disgusting and smelly abomination. And no, once again, I did not take a picture.

It was time for a spring cleaning of the pond, that’s for sure, but what really prompted it today was yesterday’s trip to the Wildflower Center Plant Sale. I didn’t quite get there at my normal early time, so I now know what it’s like to be at the back of the line (note that everyone is admiring the bluebonnets off to the side of the path).

Not only that, but I had to park way off in a neighborhood close to the highway, so it was quite a trek with my little wagon. But this line is nothing compared to the one at check-out. I’ve never seen it go to the back of the sale area before (comparable to a full block or two distance), and the wait was so long — I think for some it took close to an hour just to check out!

But I enjoyed myself, and I did get to visit with a couple of fellow Austin garden bloggers and other friends. I controlled myself and only took a wagonful home, and this time it included some pond plants — hence my venture into sludge and slime! Had it not been dark by the time I got everything done, I might have taken a picture after all… but only of the pond, not of the Creature.

Happily six of our nine goldfish made it through the winter. I’ll find out in the morning whether I managed to kill any of them with my massive pond cleaning.

And now it’s time to go enjoy a margarita and help my back recover from my day in the swamp…

Sustainable — Loving and Living It

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Meredith

“Sustainable” — it’s the new catchword and the new black. It’s a word I’m trying to reiterate over and over again with my family, and now that I’m leading a big habitat project at our elementary school, it’s a term I’m making sure our students know, as well.

Doves, mind you, don’t seem to understand the word “sustainable” nor the word “reduce,” the little wasteful gluttons. But on occasion, they do lend themselves out for a nice winter picture, so for the moment I’ll forgive them.

It warms my heart to see how many bloggers are spreading the word about environmental care by encouraging fellow bloggers to think, act, and make lifestyle changes in regard to taking care of Earth. Suzy at HipMountainMama is leading One Small Change, Dee at RedDirt Ramblings recently hosted a reel mower giveaway, and Jan at Thanks for Today has established the Garden Bloggers Sustainable Living Project.

This post is multi-purpose. One, I need to report on my One Small Change progress for January and February. Two, I want to partake in Jan’s Sustainable Living Project, and three, I want to share all these bird photos I just got this morning! I’ve been trying to find woodpeckers in the trees for months, and I was shocked to finally see one — at our birdfeeder!

Taking all these shots, I was reminded that our kitchen window could really stand a good vinegar wash.

In my own garden, as many know, I’m dedicated to planting as many drought-hardy Texas native plants with organic methods as I can. My plants are like my children — I want to nurture them when they are young, help them grow up big and strong, and guide them to being able to make it on their own. Someday, we might move away from this house, and if my plants aren’t able to survive without care, they might not make it. I also long to be lazy — the better my plants can establish, the less I’ll have to do… one day.

My biggest project at the moment is guiding our elementary school to become a Certified Schoolyard Habitat. We’re putting in a new butterfly-hummingbird garden as Phase 1, and the list of Phase 2 environmental projects is growing — we’ll be putting a water collection system and more. Co-existing with this habitat project is another project for the 3rd- and 4th-graders — learning about wildlife habitats and then teaching the community about them through 3-D murals. The excitement over habitats is spreading fast, and I feel so good helping our students become environmental stewards.

On my sidebar, I call myself green-blooded. While my blood might *look* red, especially when I cut myself on a thorny spine or do some other clumsy thing in the garden, my heart and soul are always thinking about ways to protect the environment, and so my blood really runs green. If you put on your special Super-Enviro-Power goggles, you’ll be able to see it. If you don’t have any, then I’ll just raise my hand in a Vulcan greeting.

In January, for One Small Change, I did three primary acts for the environment: I removed all remaining nandinas from my property, sending the bushes to city mulch and throwing away the berries. I also took all our old leftover chemical products, bleach, and paint from our past to the Austin Hazardous Waste Facility, and some from two of our neighbors. We’ve been using natural cleansers for a long while now, and finally the evidence from our former lifestyle is gone, gone, gone. And finally, I’ve been learning many different organic products to help gardeners stay green. I feel more knowledgable about offering green solutions to problems in the yard. Understanding the soil food web was a big part of this. It all begins in the earth, and truly everyday is Earth Day in my book. (Officially, Earth Day is celebrated on April 22).

This month, my son asked us to make something for the wildlife for our February change. We are going to make a bee box or two and a screech owl house. Looking ahead to March, I think I want to train my family to open blinds daily to let the light shine in, and I want to strategically place mirrors to help get more natural light across our house without having to turn on artificial lights. There’s a tendency in this family to become inert in regard to opening/closing the blinds, and the result is way more “turning on the lights” than should be necessary. Right now my study blinds are open, and the cats are on my desk watching the birds outside, and the puppy is occasionally growling and barking at the hanging plant hovering outside. No, pup, it’s not an evil threat, but it would look nicer if the plant in it hadn’t died this winter.

I feel so hopeful this year that Earth is finally getting the kind of attention it so needs and deserves.

Take care of yourselves and our wonderful Earth this spring, and always. And live long and prosper.

Hugs,

Meredith

The Beauty of Lost Maples in Fall

Posted on November 29, 2009 by Meredith

Lost Maples State Natural Area, near Kerrville and Vanderpool, Texas, is beautiful year-round, but it is the fall colors of its bigtooth maples and other deciduous trees that draw in the crowds. The park is named for its pocket of bigtooth maples that were brought to its canyons by Ice Age glaciers. The maples do well because of the park’s microclimate, though in any given year the fall colors are dependent on that year’s rainfall and temperatures.

During our visit, the woods were a colorful palette of greens, golds, oranges, reds, and browns. The colors come from the Bigtooth Maples, Red Oaks, Lacey Oaks, Flameleaf Sumacs, and other trees, and even vines such as Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy.

Sometimes the colors were all present on the same tree.

But when the trees were ready, they really did the colors right.

Aside from the pleasing flora, the park offers miles of trails, springs, rivers, overlooks, grasslands, fern-covered canyon walls, and more. During the fall, visitors will wait in car lines for two hours just to get into the park. We cheated by going on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and we had no problem getting in. After the 3.5-hour drive from Austin, we were ready for some exercise!

The dogs were very excited to be there, too. Most of the pictures in this blog were taken after their energy wore out a little. Guess why?

Lost Maples’ most popular trail is a short, relatively easy walk, but we opted for the almost-5-mile East Trail. Shortly into the hike, we were met by a sign that read something along the lines of “Steep Trail for the Next 1.5 Miles.” It was not just steep — it was very, very rocky, too. And you know, what goes up, must come down.

But it was worth it to see the beauty of the area for miles around.

The mountaintop was covered in Ashe Junipers and various grasses. The boys imagined a scene from an African savannah, with lions lurking about.

As we made our way down the other side of the mountain, the stunning fall foliage came forth again.

Though the dogs were worn out by the end, they didn’t mind a final jog.

On our way home, we stopped at Stonehenge II, a smaller version of its more famous archaeological wonder of a cousin. It also has an Easter Island-like statue. It was getting dark, so we snapped a picture and headed on. A nifty spot to visit — we’ll go back in daylight.