Creative
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Silent Sunday | Clematis crispa seed pod
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Sunday ’round here…
Lots of good things I’ve read in the past week or so on the ‘net. Thought I’d share: +Dr. Who Regenerations: A compilation of all of the Dr. Who’s through the years. I’m personally fond of David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston. That’s when I first started watching, however sporadically I watch. +Sour Cream and Onion Kale Chips. I tried making kale chips about a month ago or so and while some tasted well they didn’t come out how I imagined. Chris turned his nose up at them and while they didn’t taste bad, they weren’t as crunchy as I thought they’d be. Not sure what I need to do next…
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Big Thicket Pitcher Plant Trail
On our way home from Beaumont we stopped by the Pitcher Plant Trail in the Turkey Creek Unit of the Big Thicket. We showed up just after sunrise, Chris was a bit miffed we didn’t get there a few minutes prior, but I think it worked out anyway. We’d been to this trail before last November but the pitcher plants weren’t blooming or looking too swift. Now they were blooming and looking great! It’s only about an hour from Beaumont so I’m sure we’ll end up there again during our next two months in Beaumont. I tried the white background thing again but it wasn’t that great, however I got…
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Shangri-La Botanic Gardens: Orange, Tx
Great white egrets nesting Itea virginica and white ginger flower Bunny, something I don’t know, beaver dam, and green heron Pond covered in small and giant salvinia, an invasive exotic Banded water snake, Nerodia fasciata The same day we went to the Beaumont Botanic Gardens we drove over to Shangri-La Botanic Gardens to see what they had in store. This was an affordable garden, $6 entry for a regular garden tour and then $10 for a garden tour and a boat tour down a bayou to a few of their education centers and maybe to see a beaver dam or two! We opted for the $10 and arrived there when…
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Texas Wildflowers: Gaura coccinea, Scarlet gaura
Scarlet gaura is a fairly common herb growing in the central and western United States. Part of the evening primrose family, Onagraceae, it seems to have a variety of color shades. A quick search yields photos of truly scarlet flowers to pink and then white varieties as well. It seems that this plant can be a bit weedy but it has drought tolerant attributes that would lend it to be good in a garden. I might have to add it to mine one day! –Gaura in the garden –Dave’s Garden on gaura –A blog on gaura in the garden –Gaura coccinea information
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2800 Miles Ago
Today is April 20th. And in pot smoking lingo it is 4/20. Now, I’ve never smoked pot but I do know some of the lingo and when I saw that it was 4/20 I remembered that we were on a ridge above Watauga Lake in Tennessee, somewhere near the 420 mile mark. I remembered this because there was a hiker named Strider, one of at least two named that, who was young, maybe 18, and had this desire to get to mile 420 on 4/20 so he could smoke a joint—or perhaps a few. He wasn’t anywhere around us on that date, but we were at shelter there and wondered…
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Beaumont Botanical Gardens
On our Sunday off a week ago in Beaumont we took a trip to a few botanic gardens. One of them is a free to the public garden, the Beaumont Botanic Garden. We arrived too early to see the conservatory but we did a tour of the garden. I think the rose garden was the most stunning but they did have some other beautiful parts in the garden. Several people were taking graduation photos. We’re off for at least a week as we switch projects down in the Big Thicket but when we return we’ll drop by the conservatory and see what’s blooming in there.
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Texas Wildflowers: Oenothera speciosa, pink evening primrose
Growing up I knew these flowers as buttercups. They would be picked and put into cups to enjoy and I can see my niece Zoe continuing in this fashion as she already collects dandelion flowers from my parents yard. It was only recently when my brother made a comment about them being primroses that I did some research and realized that was what they really were! This perennial is native to the central plains down into Texas and is a prolific bloomer. In fact I’d say it is the prominent flower on the roadsides now. I was thrown off that this was an evening primrose because these flowers are blooming…
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Texas Wildflowers: Trifolium incarnatum, crimson clover
I was drawn to this flower while photographing the white bluebonnets and was sad to read that they were not native wildflowers. These European natives are now used for roadside stabilization and as a forage crop for cattle but have taken over some areas and tend to shove natives out of the way. Too bad it isn’t a native because it sure is pretty! –FAO factsheet Other wildflower series: Indian paintbrush Texas bluebonnets
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Texas Wildflowers: Lupinus texensis, the Texas bluebonnet
The second in a series on wildflowers: Texas bluebonnets are the ubiquitous sign that spring has sprung in Texas. Well, there area few other signs, but when you are driving down the highway and see the flowers blooming, you know it’s time to start digging in the dirt and pulling out the shorts—maybe! The bluebonnet is one of five state flowers. That is, all five lupine species are considered the state flower! Texas bluebonnet story. A few years ago I grew some in a container in Florida. They did pretty good for the climate and some day I’d love to grow them again. Of course there are the beautiful fields…