Gardening
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Dock Building
Chris has been itching to rebuild the deck and extend it out over the water for a full-fledged dock since we moved in. He’s had the pieces for the base of the dock stashed under our carport for months, staining them as he could. Finally, before Christmas he put them together and waited until today to install them in the water. Next he’ll cut the boards for the top and install them, staining them afterwards. Eventually he’ll put the deck in too! Several months ago he bought two Adirondack chairs online, put them together and stained them. They look fabulous and will look even more fabulous when they are on…
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Winter Solstice
Yesterday while it wasn’t raining and the air was a perfect 75* and balmy, I took a series of short videos around the garden. I was searching for the beauty that is hiding somewhere amongst the dead and brown in the garden. It’s there, you just have to look a bit harder. Today we’re expecting rains for the solstice and a continuation of some warmth with maybe a dip down into the 50s and 60s, but nothing like it was two weeks ago. This is my kind of winter. We’re going to spend solstice doing some final Christmas shopping, and I’m going to do a little housework and then some…
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The Almost Winter Garden
+Oakleaf hydrangea offers beautiful foliage this time of year. +A ginger shows the damage the freeze gave to tender tropicals. +Fred has to escape the wrath of Tom. +Chris harvested some carrots. Just a bit early for them. +The bees play hide and seek, scaring us a few weeks ago into thinking the colony was dead. We had a couple of days of warmer weather and all of a sudden they were all out. Apparently they hide well in their hive. +Alyssum from seeds we sowed last spring. Some made it through the summer, a great surprise for me. +The flowering ‘maple’—aka: Abutilon has weathered the cold and decided to…
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The Little Things
The last few weeks I’ve mostly avoided being in the yard or garden. I think I attempted to do a little bit early in the week of Thanksgiving, but for the most part it has been cold and dreary, and too depressing to be outside. Depressing because most items are dormant or have died from the freeze. Well, I hope they didn’t die, at least. Let’s just go with dormant. If there’s anything that is abundant in the garden right now that would be the greens. Greens everywhere. With some radishes, and a carrot Chris attempted to harvest today. The carrot was still a bit early. The crazy thing is…
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Thanksgiving Cactus | Schlumbergera truncata
As the basket of cactus hung from our guest bathroom shower curtain rod, it started blooming. This started late last week, and I made the note that this so-called Christmas cactus was more like a Thanksgiving cactus. I was being smart, joking about it. Little did I know there actually is a Thanksgiving cactus, a separate species from the typically known Christmas cactus….and this is it. I went out to check the tag that is still hanging on the pot and it indeed gives it as Schlumbergera truncata, though they have the common name as Christmas cactus. But my research shows that there is a difference, and they bloom off…
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Sweet Potatoes Out — Onions In
You can see what Zoe thought about harvesting potatoes. Luckily she changed her tune a few potatoes in! Our harvest this year was not nearly what it was last year. I bought slips of ‘Beauregard’ and ‘Purple Passion’ and only the ‘Beauregard’ produced potatoes. It was a big failure for the ‘Purple Passion’, which unfortunately took up probably half the bed. I think my brother was in hog heaven as he assisted Chris in digging up the potatoes. A chance to garden?? Sure! See? Only about half of a five gallon bucket full. Not like last year’s harvest. Oh well. Live and learn—only ‘Beauregard’ from now on. I think Curt,…
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Clematis crispa | Texas Native Plant Week
It wasn’t until we moved to Texas that I discovered the awesomeness of native clematis species. We encountered this species while working Big Thicket National Preserve two years ago and since then we’ve become enamoured with the plant, looking for them in nurseries we visit. Ours is growing well on a trellis in our garden having put on blooms multiple times this summer. The bottom photo is from a seed pod we found in the Big Thicket. In Texas the species is located in moist areas in the southeastern section of the state, while the similar appearing Clematis pitcherii is found in the central and western portion of the state…
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Gaillardia aestivalis var. winkleri | Texas Native Plant Week
I have to admit, I’m a huge fan of Gaillardia. Commonly it is known as Indian blanket or fire wheel however, I like to refer to it by its genus. This genus is relatively hands off in regards to fussiness; plant it and it thrives. You may see the more commong Gaillardia pulchella or aristata and even aestivalis, but other varieties such as this one are more rare. This particular species is endemic to southeast Texas—only. Here are a couple of interesting links in regards to its history. In our garden we, like always, had to fend off the deer and hope for the best. When the plants were finally…
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Calyptocarpus vialis | Texas Native Plant Week
Horseherb, aka: straggler daisy, is an interesting kinda-sorta native plant. You see, we have some *in* our flower garden from a pot that we bought, and where we bought it from called it native. It wasn’t long after we bought it that I actually paid attention to the grass around my yard and noticed that the same plant grew throughout the yard, intermingled with the grass and other weeds. It had been on my mind for awhile to check the plant out online and follow-up with digging more information on it, and finally a few weeks ago I actually looked it up. I had a suspicion that perhaps it wasn’t…
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Lobelia cardinalis | Texas Native Plant Week
Cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis, is a showstopper in the garden. When it sends its flaming red stalk up to bloom, it’s hard to take your eyes off the plant! Ours is a very recent addition to the garden and has had its share of abuse from our feral cats using the stalks to lean up against, which in turn have left the plant leaning on the ground instead of in an upright position. Nonetheless, the plant continued to live and bloom, though now the blooms are fading into seed pods. Typically this plant is found in moist locations, such as stream edges, ponds, or moist bottomlands. It seemed to do…