Category: Problems

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02/10/2024 rain forecast tomorrow

That means plant moving time! (Because if it rains then I don’t have to water them.). This is one of two C. altissimum Thistles that have survived (a third seedling is up too we noticed). I’m not sure if the cold was too much in a pot, or it’s been too wet. All the undulatum seem to have died and a big chunk of texanum did too, because of those two holding too much water in pot trays. The texanum in the ground seem fine.
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01/16/2024 sneaky

The plant window is backlit brightly. You can see houseplants fully visible on the top shelf and the shapes of decorations and pots on the second shelf. On the bottom cat level, Shackleton’s face is in profile as he faces east to the morning sun.
I think Shackleton thinks he is hidden as usual in the plant window. He seemed very surprised when I growled his name sternly as he tried to climb to the forbidden next shelf!! I left a thermometer in there and on the cold nights it was in the 40s F. I guess the sun is very tempting and the fleece blanket keeps the metal floor from being cold and wet as frost melts from the glass.
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01/14/2024 not very efficient plant window

Single pane glass isn’t great in this extreme weather. Fortunately most of the plants are above the thin metal bottom. in past years this has damaged tomato seedlings when we did them in the window.
Frost is pretty though. Mom fixed the stained glass cardinal for me recently! Thanks Mom!
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12/16/2023 Maximilian sunflowers stalks in driveway

Sunflower stalks probably 6-8 feet tall tied up with a white cotton rope to keep them bundled up out of the driveway
In late fall rains, the maxes fell over. This has been pretty annoying when backing cars out of the garage or trying to put stuff in the bins. So I have preliminarily tied them up so the seedheads are still there for birds and the stalks are there for overwintering bees. But less aggravating to walk through. I might put a raffia ribbon on it or something if there are Complaints about it.
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Williams’ Pride Apples harvest year 2

Last summer we waited too long to harvest our first Williams’ pride apple. This year as soon as they started turning red, I went reading to figure out when they ripen. We have been looking to see the background color go from green to yellow, and several sites said the apple should easily fall off the tree with a tug. This has been working well! I think at first we were tugging too gently as one apple was still rotting on the tree but all the rest have been good since.

This is the only tree I bought from Raintree nursery but I would try them again if I have to replace any trees. It has had the most enthusiastic start of all our young fruit trees. You can see there are still multiple apples left ripening plus a few more in the house.
Good job, Professor Williams! They are sweet and tart and crispy!
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07/08/2023 too much for baby yucca

We planted two baby Arkansas yuccas a week or so ago in front of the house. The bigger one (see next picture) is doing fine. this little one, which I am pointing at, has been struggling hard and has about half a leaf remaining. At first I just watered it extra but now I have added a shade and moisture retention barrier on the west side consisting of a wall of sticks and leaves about 2 inches high.
I point at the bigger yucca seedling. It has three skinny blue-green leaves. A stray strawberry leaf is visible in the back.
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Weeds to pull or not

I have moved this content to a page as the sticky post was sort of annoying. Go to that page for future updates.

Things I keep thinking are human introduced but they’re actually native

This is Acalypha and native. It volunteers abundantly in the shade under our red oak.
Parietaria. Native. Also volunteers.

To be added: Purslane, Mollugo, bedstraws, peppergrass, yellow oxalis, Euphorbia maculata, Euphorbia dentata (wild poinsettia), Melothris pendula, Cynanchum laeve (milkvine), little barley

Plants that are human introduced but not a big problem in undisturbed areas

Armeria serpyllifolia, thyme-leaved sandwort. Human introduced but not aggressive invader. This one was an accidental import from TX.

An Introduced geranium vs a native geranium. I’ve only seen these two in our yard so far but there are several other species in Oklahoma.

Fatoua villosa, non native.
Maple that blows in from the neighbor’s yard. I am not sure of the species but there’s nothing locally native here in that genus (Acer).
This grass starts out very delicate and bright green in a clump. The roots are shallow and easy to pull. Abby told me what it was last year and i have tragically forgotten again but I remember it’s not native.

To be added: chickweeds, henbit, deadnettle, dandelions, shepherds purse, white clover, yellow clover, crepe myrtle, Sherardia arvensis

Human-introduced species that can disrupt the local ecosystem aggressively

Fish mint. Weird one! Leaves almost violet like before blooming and now I can see they are less round and have touches of red. Plus it smells strongly when crushed. After finding some possible epazote in the backyard, I wonder if a few owners back at this house were into growing a lot of culinary fun!
Invasive dayflower. I wrote up how to distinguish it from the native perennial in another post. I am not sure how invasive it is outside disturbed areas, but it does seem to crowd out and overgrown things like white avens in my yard, so we’ve been actively removing it.

To be added: privet, Bermudagrass, King Ranch bluestem (aka KR grass), salsify, some brome grasses, some Poa grasses, some Palsalpum grasses, crabgrass, autumn clematis, that one aggressive sedge

Native species but no thanks

Stickers/sandburs/goatheads are native but they hurt.. They like sand. if we had a bigger land I would leave them alone outside our paths and main dog area as I’m sure something needs them. I’m not keeping them in our small space.

Bigger
Smaller
Cottonwoods blow in from everywhere. Do not need dozens of baby trees.

To be added: trumpet vine (as with the trees, I don’t have enough room), baby walnut trees, baby oak trees, sticky seed pod legumes, bidens (sometimes) and white avens (sometimes), poison ivy