Nectar of the Gods

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Meredith

This post is dedicated to my father in honor of his birthday tomorrow, November 13 — he thought this plant was just as beautiful as I did when we were in Mexico last year for my sister’s wedding. Sure, it might be weird to dedicate a post about a plant called Exotic Love to one’s father, but whatever. Happy Birthday, Daddy!

The Exotic Love Vine (Ipomoea lobata) is proving to be the most vibrant and heavy bloomer in my fall garden — just when I think it can’t possibly get any better, it does.

Native to Central America and South America, this vine grows like crazy with nary a bloom until fall, when it explodes with eye-popping stalks of cascading red, yellow, and white blooms.

This vine is also Firecracker Vine and Spanish Flag with good reason, but I seem to prefer calling it “Exotic Luvvvvv Vine.” I’ve also had the theme song to “Love Boat” stuck in my head while creating this post, with my own version, “Love Vine.” Sing it with me now, The Love Vine… promises something for everyone…. (I’m happy to report that I did not actually know all of the original lyrics… just, uh, most of them.)

What is thrilling me right now is that the lower blooms have opened up, creating little cups that I like to imagine are filled with the nectar of the gods.

From dawn to dusk, there are bees all over, seeking the sweet liquid provided by the nectaries.

I haven’t seen this many happy honeybees since I was growing cantaloupe, when they were all abuzz for the pollen. Now it’s a sugar frenzy. Somewhere nearby, there must be a hive with some really yummy honey in production.

When the blooms are spent, they dangle like little lanterns.

The bees, of course, take advantage and lap up the sweet liquid.

Wasps are other eager drinkers, and they’ve been playing nice with the honeybees. I just wish that the blooms had come earlier in the season so that I could have seen hummingbirds at the flowers, too.

Seeds are in production, and I plan to collect them and share with my local gardening buddies. I hope to grow this lovely vine year after year after year…

This year, the vines decorated an obelisk-type trellis and made a rather impressive shrub-like shape, hiding the trellis deep within.

Because the vines had reached the top of the obelisk, they wrapped around one another, creating a nifty rope.

Next year, I’m thinking it will be fun to see how tall the vines can grow — wouldn’t it look pretty as a blooming wall of the house?

In other news, I have a really cool chrysalis hanging in a very terrible spot — the middle of my back door’s door frame. I’ve got an idea of the species, but if I don’t move the chrysalis, my high-maintenance husky is likely to destroy it in one of his endeavors to scratch his way into the house if he’s been outside too long. Tune in for the next post when I document my first-ever “Chrysalis Movin’ and Gluin’.” Unless the husky gets there first…

Happiness Is a Smiling Dragonfly

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Meredith

Ohhhhhh, I’m a zombie. Two days of hard physical labor, and one mortared limestone-block retaining wall later, my friend Richard and I hobbled to our respective homes, sore and broken. We built the wall, along with my husband’s help on Sunday, in preparation for the pending arrival of a 5,000-gallon rain tank at my son’s school. We also built and mortared two benches for the school’s butterfly-hummingbird garden. The results are wonderful, but we’re paying the price physically.

Today is the first day I’ve been able to think and move again. It seems like ages since I visited my own garden, camera in hand. But this morning I ventured out, and I was pleased to see a friendly face.

This little dragonfly smiled at me while it rested on the spent blooms of a Mexican sage. I can’t tell you what kind of dragonfly it is, other than a very sweet little flyer that warmed my heart as it warmed its wings.

Thanks for the smile, little dragonfly. I sure needed it!

Elsewhere in the garden, the frogs were busy doing happy frog things in the pond, and though I’m seeing fewer butterflies as fall progress, I was still happy to see fluttering skippers, fritillaries, Queens, and Monarchs this morning. I even found a large Giant Swallowtail caterpillar on my hop tree, about to go to chrysalis stage.

And this little guy — one of many all over my garden, the school garden, and Austin gardens everywhere — munched away on an Esperanza.

This one is likely a Salt Marsh caterpillar, a type of Arctiid and as such commonly referred to as a Woolly Bear. I remember as a child seeing some of these caterpillars by the hundreds when I lived in Corpus Christi, and I remember as well that we kids looked out for one another, teaching our friends that you shouldn’t ever touch fuzzy caterpillars. In this particular caterpillar, the hairs have been known to irritate skin, even causing a rash.

I don’t see a smile on this caterpillar’s face, but it still gave me a warm and fuzzy greeting, all the same. 🙂

Nice to be back in the garden! 🙂

Fifteen Years

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Meredith

Happy anniversary to my hubby of 15 years — you’ve made me bloom in this garden we call life.

How Much Do You Love Dirt?

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Meredith

Would you rub your face in it?

Or would you swan dive into it?

And then do this?

Is this where the saying “dirty old man” comes from?

Technically these guys are enjoying dirt and water… a.k.a. MUD. They are the Sturdy Beggars of the Mud Show at the Texas Renaissance Festival. A classic show, and always entertaining.

But I realized that I’ve really become a gardening geek when I found myself thinking — “that mud just doesn’t look good for plants. Needs more compost.” I even found myself drawn to the artificial flowers they stuck in the mud, wanting to decorate with more real flowers.

Geek. That’s me. On the other hand, I don’t rub my face in mud.

How about this 12-foot tall Walking Tree Man?

The honeycomb and bird’s nest are a nice touch.

My Favorite Tree, Anacua

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Meredith

I love trees. I love listening to the rustling of the leaves as the wind blows through them. I love the way sunlight gleams through the branches as you look up into the canopy. I love watching birds chirp down at me from above and seeing the amazing grip that squirrels use to dart up a tree trunk. I love the different textures of bark and the way insects climb trunks like they are on a little pedestrian highway. And I love the green, green leaves of trees and the way the veins and shapes make each leaf unique. But of all trees, at least those in Texas, I have a very favorite one. Meet Anacua, or Ehretia anacua.

Anacua has another name. It’s often called Sandpaper Tree, because the leaves of this gorgeous plant are very, very rough. It’s actually a very pleasing roughness, if that makes sense — those who are tactile-oriented will know what I mean. This plant is FUN to touch. You can see the little bumps on the leaves that contribute to the sandpaper-feel.

Anacua is native to Mexico and Texas, and its northern range is central Texas. Farther north, the tree freezes back in the winter. But if you ever have a chance to come visit this area, seek out an Anacua — it is so worth it just to touch the leaves. That’s how much I love this plant. In the meantime, go get a bit of medium-grit sandpaper, close your eyes, and give it a rub — that’s pretty close to how these leaves feel.

My trees (I have two now) are only about 3-4 feet high, so it will be awhile before I can show them at full size, up to 50 feet tall. But the leaf color is gorgeous. The tree is considered semi-evergreen, replacing its leaves briefly in the spring. During the year it will produce white flowers that are a bee favorite, and later it will produce orange-colored berry-like fruit that birds enjoy. In fact, the berries are the reason the tree has yet another common name, Sugarberry. Right now my trees are at least resting spots for butterflies like this Silver-Spotted Skipper.

Anacuas thrive in limestone soil, by the way. Good thing I have plenty of that! Grow, little trees, grow!

What’s your favorite tree?

Busy, Busy, Busy

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Meredith

Well, haven’t I been the slacker, not posting anything on Great Stems for a few days? I’ve missed my blog. But I have an excuse. This past week I:

Took care of friends’ kids at a school carnival
Planted many plants in our fall garden
Organized two major habitat events at my son’s school, which also meant picking up loads of compost, plants, and other supplies, sending a gazillion e-mails, and putting out signs
Held a Kindergarten Seed Stomp for the school’s wildflower meadow
Led a volunteer workday at the school to remove photinias and nandinas and get native plants in the ground

Oh yeah, and I was sick with a cold in the middle of the week, too. Somehow I survived, recovering just in time for the big events. Phew! Thankfully, my garden does well on its own, but I must get out and water my veggie seedlings and new plants today. And this upcoming weekend, remarkably enough, we’re having another habitat workday at the school. Round 2!

So the picture above shows the results of some serious work by strong and determined volunteers. The pile shows why one should skip planting Red-Tip Photinia, because once you come to your senses, you’ll have a beast of a plant to deal with (or plants as the case may be, given that Photinias are typically planted in groups for screening purposes). Not only did it take lots of adult and kid volunteers, lots of muscles, and lots of tools — we still had to tie the monster plants to a trailer hitch just to yank them out of the ground. Ten of them. Whoever planted them years ago also stuck them right up against the foundation. That made it extra fun for the volunteers, let me tell you.

I didn’t get a picture of our Nandina crew, but about 30 of those plants were removed as well, by volunteers with Weed Wrenches — best tool ever, other than the power of a two-ton vehicle against a Photinia.

By the end of the workday, we had many native plants in the ground, with more still to be planted. Already the school looks so much better. Hurray for our volunteers!

Back on the home front, the Fall Asters are busy blooming like mad.

And my long-awaited bloom explosion of the Exotic Love Vine has finally arrived, making me just as passionate about the flowers as ever.

It’s easy to see why this pretty vine is also called Firecracker Vine and Spanish Flag.

And I’m excited to discover a new native in the yard. Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima) — it just popped up in the butterfly garden.

I’d seen the plant elsewhere in the yard but didn’t know what it was, so often I yanked it when I got nervous. This one managed to reach bloom stage, and now I happily know that it’s a keeper. I’d rather it be over by the cactus, though, than in the middle of my Lantana. Hmmm, what to do, what to do.

I’m off to the garden to hunt for caterpillars. I went to an Austin Butterflies Forum meeting last night and brought home caterpillars in need of plants to munch on. It was too dark to set up a caterpillar hotel, so I just let them climb onto their respective host plants, hoping that I’d be able to find them again in the morning. One species in particular is new to me — Gold Rim (Polydamas) Swallowtail — so I want to keep them safe to adulthood. The others were Fritillaries, of which I already had plenty of caterpillars, but also plenty of Passionflower to support more. Wish me luck!

Romancing the Stone

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Meredith

I know we have a bad deer population here in Austin, but when a buck turns to a deer statue for affection, I find myself wishing he had a real girlfriend.

Poor guy was with my neighbor’s deer statue all day, giving it all sorts of… attention. The buck is probably wondering why his companion won’t follow him to a safer spot. Even though we don’t need any fawns around, I do hope a real doe shows up to keep him company.

Two Years and Growing

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Meredith

Wow, is our garden really only two years old? What a difference time has made. But you know, photos really don’t show all the physical effort that went into a garden, do they? Like giving birth, I think I’ve managed to block out all the pain and labor it took to get here.

In 2008, this is what our pitiful, sun-baked yard looked like when we started to plan our garden.

And just two years later, it looks like this:

It’s been an incredibly busy year for us, and believe it or not, we really didn’t get to garden as much as we’d hoped. But I promise you, we were very productive all the same.

To see more of how our garden and house have changed this past year, visit our two-year reflections page (now on the sidebar, as well).

The best thing about garden blogging is that I can go back in time and see how far we’ve come. LOVE IT. And if you are thinking about starting your first garden, be sure to take Before pictures! It’s so worth it.

Rock Star

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Meredith

My oldest son made this statue for our front bed garden. I absolutely love it, and I love watching my kids get inspired to create things for and from nature. Statue Man will be our new garden guardian!

What’s neat is that he also provides cover for little lizards and toads. Just perfect for this wildlife habitat.

I’ve been working on our two-year garden update, now a few days overdue. It’s prompted some necessary clean-up around the yard. And all the plants we bought this last weekend have to go in the ground first, too. But I can’t wait to get it all done. Our garden has grown, and I can’t wait to show it off!

I invite you to check out my other post today at Beautiful Wildlife Garden — all about personalizing your haven by recreating what you enjoy out in a natural habitat.

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!