Insect Porn

I hesitate to even type that title as who knows the new visitors I might get.

I came across these two guys in my veggie garden. A lot of loud buzzing going on. At first I thought maybe it was one trying to drag a dead friend along. But then I looked closer...

At least they look their best for the occasion in their iridescent colors.

Bow chicka wow wow!

Loud and Clear

If Texas Sage's are supposed to be prophetic in their flowering, indicating upcoming rain, then mine are shouting madly "Incoming!!!!"

September-Let the Gardening Resume

The heat and drought really killed my desire to be out in the garden, but I feel some revival of my gardening passion with the small rains we have had in the past week and the knowledge that summer is coming to an end. Perusing my Texas Gardener for September, I can see I have my work cut out for me.

-Go veggies. Time to plant for the fall. September in Central Texas means planting Snap Bush Beans, Broccoli, Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Kohlrabi, Potatoes and summer squash. My tomatoes that I cut back by half in August are going gangbusters in growth and will hopefully set fruit as temps at night cool down. And I'll be adding compost before planting and mulch after planting.

-Haircuts for everyone-I'll cut back any summer bloomers that are looking tired or leggy to encourage a new bloom cycle.

-Spray my St. Augustine to prevent brown patch that might occur with the cooler temps. I had this the past few years until I fired my lawn man and began treating it on my own. I went organic.

-Make a list of plants I want to move. I'll wait to do the dividing or transplanting until slightly cooler temps in late month or early October.

Geez, I had better clear my schedule to make room for my gardening.

And now for something completely different...

Did you know there is a type of mold nicknamed "Dog Vomit Fungus"? It's actually not a fungus but a slime mold. And yes, they look like dog vomit, usually bright orange or yellow.

Fungus Slippery when they're now but they harden up and get paler. Kind of marshmellowy in appearance. I had some of these in my beds last year when it was so consistently wet from the rains. No surprise that none of them appeared this year with the drought. But I fielded a quiestion at the Master Gardener desk this morning on them.

And when we're all showing beautiful pictures of flowers, sometimes it's good to throw in a little dog vomit.

Plight of the Honeybees

Just in case you thought caring about honeybees wasn't cool, check out this video.

Revival of Color

So yes, I missed Bloom Day. But even if I had remembered, I would have boycotted because everything was so, well, crispy. I mean, it was just ridiculous. And there is only so much hand watering I have time or patience for.

And then we had rain. And everything seemed to come alive again. And some newbies popped up that I had forgotten that I had planted.So thank you rain. And thank you flowers, for being so darn tough and waiting things out.

Red Spider Lily. This one is a passalong from my dad, who got it as a passalong from my aunt, who got it as a passalong from someone in South Louisiana.

These are also called Hurricane Lilies or Surprise Lilies because they pop up after the first good rain in late summer/fall during hurricane season. Bare stems emerge with a triploid bloom. Those bloom for a bout a week. In winter, foliage will emerge without blooms.

I love the reds and yellows. And I have just been missing them this summer with all of the drought we have had. I don't blame them. Who wants to bloom in such a furnace?

Esperenza (Tecoma Stans), or Yellow Bells finally blooms for me. These can grow up to 8' tall and are supposed to bloom spring through fall. But this is the first show I have had. But it's also the first year I have had it, so it may be just getting established. Very heat tolerant. I have not seen one day of wilting this summer.



Texas Star Hibiscus. Moved from a pot to the ground this year and much happier. Gorgeous huge blooms about 3-4" across. Heat tolerant.

Nice to see the hibiscus blooming. It has quite a few buds on it, but I always seem to miss the new blooms, and I caught this one on a great day.






My white garlic. I call it that but I'm not sure what specific type of allium it is. But it is gorgeous in blooms, spreads quickly, never has any diseases or pests, not surprising given it's fragrance, and never wilts.

Now, if only we could get some more rain. But nothing showing in the forecast for this week.

Bring it on!

A slow rain has been steadily falling all morning. No drenching downpour but just drizzles, and then maybe a bit heavier for a while. The beds are soaking up every luscious drop that they can lap up. Because they have been dry, dry, dry. All last week- over 100 every day.

Then the weekend came and we had overcast weather. "Mommy, it's not sunny outside." my four year old would say. Like he didn't know what it was but it sure wasn't the blazing sun he has seen every other day. We had to talk about cloudy.

Then Sunday it started raining. Another discussion with my four year old. We walked out in the rain. "Ahhhhhh, I am getting drops on me. They are hitting me on my back!" he screamed. I told him it was OK and to just let the drops hit his skin. Feel the rain, I encouraged him. "Mommy, they're getting on me!" Obviously, this was not going to be the dancing-in-the-rain scenario that I had envisioned.

But today, everyone is back in school or at work and I did a nice yoga practice to open up my body and mind and came home to the gentle sounds of rain hitting my roof. I love that sound.

And I hope I hear a lot more of it.

The Sad Lament of a Late Summer Veggie Patch

I know, I know, all us Texans complain about the drought and 100+ temps and then show gorgeous pictures of our gardens. How bad off can we really be? Well, I'm here to tell you it's all about the magic of macro photography in the cool of the morning. It's easy to get a picture of one gorgeous bloom...and not show the plants in states of distress all around it.

So let's get real. What does my vegetable garden REALLY look like right now. Well, check out my squash above. That is how they look every afternoon in the 100+ temps we have been enduring for weeks. This is one of the hottest summers on record in Texas (in sharp contrast to the coolest summer on record last year). The heat and drought, coupled with maturing plants on the downturn have really driven vegetables to distress right now. Bugs have moved in and made the most of the weakened plants.

Take, for instance, my cucumbers. Spider mites have completely engulfed them and they have been getting a steady treatment of Neem Oil to try and alleviate the problem.

But they have really taken a beating. The soyu variety is still producing, perhaps helped by being trellised off the ground. But you can see the bugs all over them.

The pickling variety I planted on the ground is decimated. Leaves are curled up and toasty. Flowers are there but I have yet to see one cuke from this variety.






















And the squash. You saw my one remaining yellow squash plant up top. After the Great Squash Vine Borer Massacre, many of the plants had to be pulled. Those remaining may wish they had been pulled earlier. The hot afternoon sun drives them to wilt. I have been shade-clothing some of the plants to give them a bit of a break, careful to let the bees have access for pollination.
And you can see I am still getting a supply of patty pan squash. One every week or so.

But with the constant damage of the borer, even with proactive measures taken, I have developed a steady practice of mounding dirt over the stalk every few weeks to help the plant develop new roots and not depend on the section of stem that has been, or will inevitably be eaten by the borer.




You can see in this picture the old stalk, with considerable boring activity and then the newest part of the plant with the dirt mounded up at it's base.
And tomatoes? Ugh, don't even talk to me about tomatoes. I think I maybe got 2 tomatoes total off of 5 tomato plants. I cut them back by half a few weeks ago to try and revive them for the upcoming fall season. May or may not work. Flowers on plants mean nothing right now as most plants won't set fruit. So I'll just let them be and hope they stay healthy until cooler night allow them to do their thing.

Ahhh, such is the lament of the late summer vegetable garden.

Feels like rain? Ta-da!!

My "Barometer Bush" aka Texas Sage, let me know that Hurricane Edouard would be bringing us rain last night by bursting into bloom yesterday morning. With plants like these, who needs the weatherman?

Attack of the Agapanthus

I had never really understood why my mother-in-law, when she moved down to Austin, was so dead set on growing agapanthus everywhere. She loves them. I like them too but I always found them difficult to grow and no so showy. Plus, the deer eat them, so that limits where I can use them. So why so crazy about them?

Then I went to Santa Barbara this weekend...and they are EV-ERY-WHERE!!!!!!!
Good lord, entire beds filled with agapanthus. Both white and blue. All blooming like crazy. And my mother in law grew up in S. CA. So now I know the source of her obsession.