Transplantation - The Move to Austin Agrodolce

For a long time I put all my garden posts here at Gardenista.

In between garden posts, I'd toss off my gloves and put aside my trowel long enough to post about food and fun and recipes and everything else over at Austin Agrodolce.

Eventually it all got to be too much - the split nature of posting on both blogs - so I am hereby folding Gardenista into Austin Agrodolce.

I know it will be more fun for me to have everything in one spot, and I'm optimistic the rest of you will find it easy enough to set up new reading roots.   So, are you with me?

Ready, set, FOLD!.http://austinagrodolce.blogspot.com/

And after the robins came these guys

Back and forth, also a lot of singing going on, very pleasant visitors.  Y'all come back, now!

Passing through

There are a lot of these in my backyard this afternoon, feasting on berries and calling a lot.  To each other? Trading routes in?  I have no idea.

Sorry guys - these berries come with a side of construction noise.

I think they are very handsome, and I'm glad they dropped by.  I am grateful I was paying attention to the trees and saw them outside the windows.  Temperate as it is today, the construction noise from the Nearly-A-House across the street has my windows closed most of the time.

Well HELLO Zone 9A!

I don't know about you, but with the new hardiness zone map issued recently, I am apparently a half-zone warmer than previously extrapolated.

Seriously, I'd been feeling the shift all along but thought it was mostly a lack of hormones.....

What about you?  Are your extreme minimum temperatures higher than previously projected?  This could mean some expensive errors at the nursery for ahem!, caff!, some of us.  (And no, Virginia, the new projections are not reflective of global climate disruption.  They are rather the results of better computer models based upon more specific information made available since the last zone maps released in 1990.)  

I wanted to be amongst the first...

to wish you good fortune in the Chinese Year of the Dragon...

If the weather here in Texas continues on in its dragonesque tendencies, we'll all face challenges in managing our plants, much less our expectations.  That said, the milder days have brought some relief we ought to enjoy while we can!

Change in scenery

A house across the street from us sold last February or so.  We'd heard the plan was to remodel, but as of Thanksgiving, no work had gotten underway.  Then we got a letter from the new owners (apologizing in advance for noise, traffic,) that treated the project like very small potatoes - stating as no variances were needed they were sure their make over to a more livable home would be little to no trouble for the neighbors.

After reading the letter we relaxed, figuring they would be doing most of the work inside the existing structure.  Soon after the letter arrived a porta potty was set up.  The very next day a side deck was wrenched off and hauled away.  An iron gate and vintage looking light fixture all disappeared at some point in the process.  Surely to be re-used, we thought but then.....

We were shocked (and sure, a little entertained as well) when over the course of the next three days, a crew of two or three along with a front loader demolished the structure entirely.

So far no construction barrier has been erected.  I suppose any fencing would get too much in the way of loading up the bits and pieces of house into the series of delivered dumpsters.

That means the locals have had plenty of time to gawk close up at the new view....

Oh Deer(e) me.

  Not sure if this is an example of life imitating art or what.

Here's a little something that could use your help to grow....

Fall Color in Texas?

There are those folk who move to Texas and then spend a fair amount of their time here complaining about the ways things are.

I get the impulse.  Complaining isn't just ragging about a problem, it is also a form of reverse bragging.  When I talk about the tough situations I am dealing with here, or things I am doing without, I am not so much calling into question my original decision to live here as I am inviting you to admire me for my strength of character.

Fact of the matter, you live in one place you have to worry about hurricanes.  Or earthquakes.  You live in some other place you don't do anything but read about other people's hurricanes and/or earthquakes (though hopefully not both in one place).

One of the major complaints about living in Texas for gardening types, once you get past the season of Death Star Dominance running May through mid September or so, is that there is not a lot of "Fall Color".

The Central Texas tree line is dominated by so many oak and juniper trees with their green all winter status that even though creeper vines, sumac and cedar elm trees do their best to give us a few pops of yellow and orange and occasionally red?  We simply do not get a brilliant display of leaves in Fall colors the way other parts of the country enjoy.

As a native who moved away and then returned, I've seen in other places what others are saying they are missing here every Autumn.  But.

I would propose to you that there IS indeed some Fall Color in Texas.  I will offer to you there is a color I have named specifically for this time of year when cooling temperatures can (though they aren't this year!) bring rain, and all the plants seem to breathe a little easier for having survived another August/September.

The predominant fall color in my yard is.....Gratitude GREEN.  And I am grateful for every bit of it after the heat we had and the drought we are still having.

Other than that?  We Texans can simply aim our eyebeams downwards a bit and thoroughly enjoy the riotous Autumn blooms of Salvia and Cosmos, remaining reddening peppers, yellowing Meyer lemons......

Another way we Texans cope is by taking color provision into our own hands.  Keeping in mind the likelihood our drought/water issues are here to stay, we have created some extra xeric color for year 'round.  

This triangular bed, aside from being a dramatic shape that grabs attention for all its angularity, provides pops of color we especially appreciate in the Fall and Winter months, when the rest of the garden action is a bit more subdued.  The mulch for the bed has been created from shards of our own broken plates, a couple of retired coffee mugs, and any gaps were then filled in using thrift store plates and saucers.

Part art, part family china history lesson.

Occasionally I rearrange the colors.  That can be predictably tedious.  Usually I simply try to recreate a somewhat uniform covering after pulling a weed, say, or after disruption from insects or armadillos or both, without being too tied to any particular design.  The mosaic will tolerate being carefully stepped upon in an emergency, but mostly I try to keep my clodhoppers off and out of this bed as I do in any other.

The shards are laid out on and gently pressed into a bed of gravel so they allow water to percolate through and can be raked up and out of the way if the need arises.  The broken plate mulch mosaic does not fade in the sun (though it can get dusty!) nor does it require any particular temperature ranges or supplemental water for support.  I'll admit, I'm quite smitten.

So.  Fall Color?  Yup.  We've got that covered.

One final note today.  I realized as I pulled the following photo out to post, that I will have little room to criticize a certain political candidate who experienced a 53 second long "human moment" as part of a televised national debate recently.

What IS this????

I must have planted this vine, or at least scattered seeds for it at some point last Spring or early last Summer.  That much I vaguely recall.  The vine has climbed up out on top of a bank of leggy tropical salvia surrounding it on a slope in the front beds. The 2-3 inch wide, delicate ghostly white blooms appear, one at a time, suspended above the salvia tops opening during the morning hours.  

I have no idea what the name of this is unfortunately, can't remember to save my life.  Will it be back next year on its own or if I should try to be harvesting seeds....?  No clue. 

Help a gal out if you know what this is?  It would be mighty neighborly of you.  

Landscaping for free

Some people pay to have their property worked over.

They have crews show up with mowers and blowers and trimmers.....

No mowing or blowing here but plenty of trimming going on.  Unfortunately it is of the unscheduled, unsupervised, unplanned variety.

This Hibiscus has been taken back to its main stems.  I should have known better!

Check out my latest "landscaper" at work:

How many leaves and flowers do you suppose it takes to fill that buck's belly?

He certainly didn't move on because he was full.  His meandering down the street was prompted by my getting too close.  This buck has plenty of other yards to pilfer from sans photographers or frustrated gardeners either one.  To which I say "Yessir!  Move right along Bambi!  Nothing good left to eat around here!".

Reporting in

I have been working through an especially long laundry list of garden to-dos around here.

This is partly a result of the heat and drought keeping me holed up indoors for weeks at a time all summer long, and partly due to the already dicey situation created by last year's long term ankle injury.

By the time I got around to the weeding/soil turning in our two most active garden beds, working to overcome the months of neglect was its own punishment.

Bermuda grass and nut sedge were predictably well established with a network of root systems that were at once tenaciously dominating the top 6-8 inches of soil and at the same time doing their usual "I am SO fragile I will break off before you can dig me out or pull me up!" routine.

I worked and worked and rested and then worked some more.  I wrestled out tip bag after tip bag filled to the brim.   For all that I must actively ignore a gnawing doubt.  It is quite likely all my efforts merely took the pointiest part off that weedy iceberg.

Hopefully next weeding session will find me grateful for what I could get out rather than cursing how much was left behind.  I am fully aware whatever I don't get today will be back to spurt up and stick out green tongues to taunt.

I was at least well supervised at all times.  

 And I did get a last bit of produce out from between the weeds.

Trimming up the Poke Salat "trees" brought them back to the form I appreciate while reminding me to be quietly grateful for how resilient they are.

And I have a fairly clear idea of where next year's bluebonnet patch will establish itself.

I cleared a small patch for a packet of mixed wildflower seeds we got as a promotional "gift".  

And decided not to put the water rooted basil out into the wilds.  I'll pot it up in the greenhouse instead and keep fingers crossed for enough production to spruce up an occasional salad.

There are other projects nearing completion.  Three last bags of mulch will go out tomorrow, weather permitting, and the mosaic mulch bed will be spruced back up for its own photo session soon.

Wherever you are I wish you plenty of time this weekend to get your work done with enough sunshine left over to enjoy your accomplishments.  

Busy as a....

There are days when posting makes sense.  Then there are the days when there is so much to do before cooler weather is here to stay that sitting at a computer just isn't in the cards.

There is soil to be turned, weeds to be pulled with everything but the seed heads to be added in to the compost pile.  There are coneflower seed bombs to be launched into desired areas.  The list of what needs to be done is a long one.  Hopefully I'll be back soon with progress reports.

I am off to get started.  Bye for now!

Wishes for Your Weekend

Here we are, preCandyFeast, preTurkeyFeast, preTreeFeast...just a good old weekend coming up in a month finding many of us finally experiencing wonderful weather.   However it looks in your neck of the woods - have a good weekend.

TO: Cooler Temps

FROM:  Central Texas

SUBJECT:  THANK YOU!

Trio of hanging Pomegranate blossoms

House Wrens are nesting here in the palm fibers

Salvia basking in the sun

Salvia again - this growing in dappled shade

Yes more salvia - this is its time of year to shine

OK maybe I have a little Salvia "problem"

 American Lady Butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis)

Fall Obedient Plant (yeah, amongst the SALVIAS)

What we call "Lisa's Lantana", marking the final resting spot of  a beloved family pet.

Liar Liar Blog on Fire

To Each Their Own

I don't have giant spiders or enormous metal pumpkins.

Doesn't mean I don't enjoy them when displayed with panache.  I do.

What I do have is time and a certain sort of imagination.

I won't categorically state these are or are not wonderful to behold.

But so far they make me grin every time I look.

{Reminder:  Click on any photo to view a larger version with more detail.}

Begin Began Begun

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He had whiskers on his chinnegan,
Along came the wind and blew them in again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan. Begin again!

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He kicked up an awful dinnegan,
Because they said he must not sing again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan. Begin again!

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He went fishing with a pinnegan,
Caught a fish and dropped it in again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan. Begin again!


This children's song has a lot to teach about blogging and gardening both.  


Circumstances change, a practice that was once easy is made more difficult, the gap between what should be and what is becomes stretched.  Nothing new under the sun there.  


Or here.


As is usual this time of year, I've kept an eye out on the hummingbird feeders.


Not to watch the birds when they feed, but to watch and see if there are indeed any birds actively feeding.

The two Special Ops Hummingbird Strike Force, the irritable guys who show up annually to resume staking out both a front and back feeder as their exclusive territory, seem to have moved on.  

No migrating stragglers have been spotted for at least 10 days in our little corner of the world.  


In fact, I've seen more butterflies this past week than I have hummingbirds.  Which is saying something.* So I took down our hummingbird feeders and put them in the dishwasher to get them clean for storage until they are needed again.  

[*This year, considering reports that GMO soybean planting has nearly eliminated milkweed thereby threatening the survival of Monarch Butterflies, along with the more obvious hardships caused by our drought and heat, we've seen very few butterflies.  Maybe one or two a day are working the Fall Gratitude Blooms along with a smattering of bees, but nothing like what we usually experience. ]

Move over feeder, it is the bird house gourd's turn.

So ends another S/Hummer season.  Pool floats are out of the water, a shovel leans against the house close to a garden bed that is past due for a thorough turning over.  The need for work continues even if the nature of the work has shifted gears.  


And, oh, yes, there is this one other shift of note.  I am back at the blog again.  Yup.  I suppose you can just call me Ms. Finnegan.

A visit to Lake Buchanan - Let's Play Guess That Plant!I

{Reminder - simply click with your cursor on any photo to retrieve a larger version}
Growing up my Daddy liked to pile us all in the car after church was over and then drive us what felt like hundreds of miles out into the country to eat Sunday lunch at a family style restaurant in the Hill Country.

Funny how the ride home was always so much shorter than the ride there.

Along the way he would point out flowers that caught his eye, every single cow or horse or goat grazing behind a fence.  My little brother and I would sigh and complain and sure, yes, we would ask "are we there yet?".   I would roll my eyes and wish for the earth to swallow me up and get me A W A Y from these old people in the front seat who thought driving out to the boonies was a reasonable enterprise, much less a fun way to spend time.

Fast forward a few decades and predictably enough, the Hub and I are now the geezers in the front seats, enjoying the countryside, pointing out livestock and wondering aloud what the name of this or that flowering plant might be.

Our own experiences as kids taught us a thing or two.  Our children are all grown up now.   We don't drag them along, heck, last go round we didn't even invite them.

This past weekend specifically, when we took the opportunity to check out the relatively new Canyon of the Eagles Resort out on Lake Buchanan, set in a 940 acre nature park.

I'll let you peruse their web site on your own if you're interested.

We had a nice lunch in the all but deserted restaurant with spectacular views from a high bluff overlooking the North shores of the lake.

We were both quite taken with the Senna Lindheimeriana.  These were in bloom all over the Hill Country.

I'd never seen climbing snapdragon before.  I think it is charming.

Art imitates life or life imitates art?  You decide.

Pollinators were busy everywhere we looked.  This hummingbird was really working over the Turk's Cap.

The grounds featured very lightly landscaped mostly native plants.

Not sure if this was intended to be scenic or is the resort's actual firetruck.

Down by the water there were huge slabs set out as tables and benches for picnic lunches.

Truth be told however, what we enjoyed most was the overcast day bringing cooler temperatures.  The change of scenery included a good look close up at the after effects of so many inches of rain from Hermine on the Texas Hill Country.  Many plants I knew or could easily identify.  There are a few however that I simply can't get a handle on.  Anybody want to help out?

I think this was a blue heron (left) sharing shoreline with an egret.

Final Update:  Winner winner chicken dinner!  This is (according to Mr Smarty Plants again - this guy is absolutely THE go-to guy for help with plant ID - Croptilon divaricatum, otherwise known as Slender Scratchdaisy.  How fun is that for a common plant name?

This was my first sighting of Spurred Butterfly Pea (Centrosema virginianum).

Update:  I have on authority (Mr Smarty Plants himself!) this dragonfly is a Flag-tailed Spinyleg - probably a male. 

Update:  Mr. Smarty Plants and Lancashire Rose have both IDed this as Bull Nettle.  Thank you!

Yet another heron - they were all along the shores of the lake.

I think these large fellas are quite handsome when they are found far far away from my own plants.

Please feel free to chime in with the missing plant names in the comments section.  All part of the fun.