Waiting for the big costume change...

Over the past few weeks, there have been plenty of swallowtail caterpillars on our parsley at the elementary school garden. You can see at least 6 in this photo I took this morning. So a few days ago, the 2 year olds picked a few and brought them inside to live inside their butterfly house and watch them change into butterflies.



The kids have been picking them fresh parsley every day and have put two sticks inside for when they are ready to turn into a chrysalis.



And yesterday was the big day. The first caterpillar spun its cocoon...and the kids went wild. Alex was so excited about it, she could barely tell me what happened.


Here is a picture of the chrysalis hanging off of the stick. You can see the silk string which anchors it to the stick.

The kids have been taking close looks all day and today the smaller two year olds in the next class down went and got their caterpillars.

I am so glad to see them all so connected to the garden. The older kids (5 yo) always have because they go out to water and pick vegetables. But it is wonderful to see that even the littlest ones get excited by going out there, and can remember everything their teacher tells them about how caterpillars turn into butterflies.

You're never too young to garden!

Mature Garden Humor

Elementary school garden on the rise

The elementary school garden is just starting and it is definitely a whole new ballgame from the preschool garden. The preschoolers are able to help in small ways and it is a wonderful sensory experience for them. But the elementry school garden will be the kid's doing the work. With the help of a local garden club, we planted two demonstration beds that shows the wonderful plants that can withstand deer as well as handle part shade.

This is an exciting project for me, but also a little scary since you just set the class levels free to do whatever they want. And lets face it...I'm a bit of a control freak. (silence) I know, you would have never thought that, right? (silence)

But the demo beds look great and we have given the teachers lots of ideas for themes for their class beds and plant lists that are deer resistant and shade-tolerant. So keep your fingers crossed. At least the rain is making the maintenance easy.

A garden tour not to be missed!

FYI to all gardeners or those who need to be inspired to whip yours into shape. This weekend is the Inside Austin Gardens tour presented by the Travis County Master Gardeners, a wonderful tour showcasing 6 Austin gardens.

The theme this year is sustainable gardening for urban wildlife. All the gardens are National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitats attracting animals, hummingbirds and butterflies for the whole neighborhood to see and enjoy. The spaces are designed using native plants and sustainable gardening practices. There are 6 gardens on the tour, all maintained by the homeowners themselves. The event includes garden tours and educational seminars at each location, including: Gardening to Attract Birds; Plant Magnets for Butterflies and Hummingbirds; and Adapted & Native Plants in Your Landscape.

Tickets are $10 for all 6 gardens (or $5 per garden if you visit just 1) and can be purchased at any home on the tour. You can visit this website to view the brochure and see a map of where the gardens are located.

October Bloom Day

My apologies to folks who saw my post before I had any text...or maybe it was more pleasant just perusing the pictures and not having to read my garden drivel. Anywho, I'm here now and ready to write!

Apparently all of the rain dancers, rants, raves and prayers of us Central Texans in the drought have been heard because we have been having some absolutely fantastic rains down here. Whatever type you may want. Torrential. Slow and steady. Misty. They have all visited us at some time or another in the past few weeks. And so the gardens have come back to life. Hot and cold temps (this week we have everything from the 60s to the 90s). But the plants love it. My morning glory and clematis on the trellises have returned and are showing off their variety of purple colors. Pink zinnias have been popping back up all over and moxing with the orange bulbine. The abutilon, with its delicate chinese-lantern type flowers is just starting to give some blooms, the first since I planted it. I am hoping for many more from this beautiful addition.


The native garden has really been filling in and some of the plants are even encroaching on the walkway. All the plants here are deer-resistant, an extremely important trait in my heighborhood. if you don't have a fence around parts of your garden. Here you see the white allium going to seed in the front, with artemesia, bamboo muhley and salvias in the back.

Oh, my bat-faced cuphea. How I love you. Just had to take a shot of all the little bats staring out at me from the garden today. Aren't they amazing? There must be 200 blooms on the plant right now.

An ornamental Pennisetum grass called "Fireworks" sets off the esperanza. I will be curious to see if the grass survives the winter as purple fountain grasses are questionable in their hardiness here.

Gulf muhley and Mexican bush sage set off the silver ponyfoot around my pig corral (with my little Buddha keeping his back turned to the pigs).

Gulf muhley, just gorgeous with moisture drops hanging off of it.
And finally, a parting shot of my little buddha, casting his blessing over the garden.

The okra that ate New York

This is what happens when you don't go to the garden for 3 days and you are growing okra. I had to compost about half of these because they were too big and woody to eat. But the other ones will be tasty, rubbed with oil and salt and grilled whole!

And then I bought him an aluminium bucket...

May I digress from the garden for a post...?

Friday is our 10th wedding anniversary. I could go on and on about how much has happened in 10 years and how things have changed but stayed the same and love grows and kids kick your ass, but lets get on to the important stuff. Like what are we getting each other for our anniversary. It's a biggie, after all.

Well, the powers that be, lame as they are, decided that the 10th anniversary gift should be tin. Tin, really? I mean, what am I supposed to get him? A can of soup? OK, moving on. The modern tradition for 10 years is aluminum...wait...C'MON!!!! I mean, who are these idiots? Tin and aluminum? Who were they- Alcoa stockholders?

Well, screw that. John and I are declaring a new tradition for 10 year anniversaries. Behold, the iPhone anniversary. That's right, we bought each other iPhones. And we will celebrate our anniversary by sitting close and staring adoringly into our iPhones while we download all the greatest applications. And send cutesy text messages to each other. Because THAT my friends is love.

Today's the big day...

I agreed to help out with the new garden they are building at my son's elementary. And then I agreed to create an information packet that will be handed out to the teacher's helping them to understand why the PTA built the garden, what they can do with it, and give them some direction on gardening so the plants don't all die or get eaten by the deer.

So I have been working for a week on the packet and I'm really excited to present it today to the committee. It contains:

• Introduction to the garden
• FAQ on the garden (the what, why, where and how)
• Info on our gardening buddies (parents) program
• Garden planning sheet for the teachers to help them create a garden plan
• Ideas for garden themes with suggested plants
• Gardening tips and maintenance
• Ideas to integrate garden into curriculum areas
• Suggested plant list

Of course, I'm trying to lower my expectations from thinking they will say "My god, you are a gardening genius. " because you know that never happens when you present something. There always has to be some thumbprints applied to your creation. So I would settle for "Nice job. What about...." That's all I need...just some sort of tiny recognition that I have worked hard on this and checked and verified information 100 different ways to make sure it is right.

Finally, I just have to say thanks for all of the great info I have gotten from Austin Garden Bloggers and Travis County Master Gardeners that I have called on. What a great support system! You guys rock.