Posted on September 4, 2022September 4, 202209/04/2022 supplemental seedling report and creatures This might be a baby greenthread? It’s in the right place. And is very thread-like. The wild poinsettias were buzzing with lids today! This is some kind of potter wasp. I saw at least two or three. There was also a sweat bee. Three-observer squirrel moment.
Posted on August 24, 2022August 24, 202208/24/2022 giant squash time and other things I thought I saw something in a firewood piece. It was a mason wasp! The Chef made a delicious dinner. BLT with farm share tomatoes and Paula’s sourdough bread. The okra and peppers side was breaded and pan fried, with both farm share and garden okra, topped with cholula hot sauce. These corrientes cowpea leaves seemed maybe diseased because they were covered in light yellow speckles, so I removed them. Some sort of fungus maybe on the basil? It is the round dark spot I’m pointing to with my snippers. I have been removing them. If anyone knows otherwise, I’d let a leaf miner live. Trimmed all the basil this evening for the Chef to do a pesto batch. This corrientes cowpea stem is flat like a ribbon. Side view of flat stem of cowpea. A mystery. Last but definitely not least, the giant green-striped cushaw squash. I’m not sure if Briar was concerned or unimpressed. We got out the bathroom scale for this magnificent beast. The squash weighed 14.5 lbs. Last year’s big squash was barely 7 lbs.
Posted on August 19, 2022August 19, 202208/19/2022 I tried cantaloupe in my oatmeal this morning, hoping it would be magical like peaches, but I think they’re best eaten cold and alone. The melon, not the person doing the eating. Gram is too tall to stretch under this chair. He came out from under the chair to stretch, then went back under the chair to continue observing his Doggie. Two new blooms on the two leaf senna!! I think one of the juniperleaf cuttings had some nearly ripe seeds on it and they sprouted!!! I kept them in standing water in the shade for the first few days as a cutting, then moved them to a dry spot but still in the shade, where they are now. Still watering every day. This is additionally interesting because the seeds I collected from the original juniperleaf in the winter have not sprouted anywhere I put them. I was reading today in Nokes’ germination book that sometimes fresher seeds don’t have such an impermeable seed coat. A few little grasses in the backyard where I sprinkled the native grass mix from Plants of the Southwest! The mix was blue grama and buffalograss.
Posted on August 17, 2022August 17, 202208/16/2022 developments of interest Tuesday started off sleepy before work. On my way out I saw the two leaf senna blooming for the first time! I’m so happy it’s doing ok. There is a second plant too but it has no buds yet. The Chef and Briar picked me up from work. When we came back, we discovered Gram waiting. He was waiting for his Doggie. “Hello Big Sister!”. Once she came back in the house all was well again. Fajita salad by Paula and The Chef. I am informed there were garden onions and at least one garden tomato involved. The first cushaw squash just keeps growing. We think it is almost ready as the rind is getting pretty hard now. The purple beauty peppers are inexplicably red. I wonder if it’s too hot for the purple color. The mystery pumpkin vine made a second bit of Halloween. It’s the slightly more yellow one above. The vine itself seemed to be dying of squash vine borers so we went ahead and removed it.
Posted on August 14, 2022August 14, 202208/14/2022 Ruby Grant park morning Our first Salvia azurea of the season blooming! The first of many Helianthus annuus this morning. A lone Maximilian sunflower starting to bloom. The rest don’t even have buds. Snow on the mountain was magnificent today! We went on a new part of the trail today and encountered some highly concerning Art. “It has a lot of eyes Mom” The little mosaic seats are also suspect. “Why do you humans keep doing things to me” “Ok I guess it’s ok” We also came to terms with the big Art. Possibly Amorpha, false-indigo. Soapberry! Thanks Abby for the identification. Another H. Annuus. A beautiful Grindelia bud. More sunflower (H annuus) A differential grasshopper snacking on the sunflower. We found a magnificent patch of silver leaf nightshade! We had Briar pose among the silver leaf nightshades. Possibly a Physalis? Maybe non-blooming camphorweed? Possibly Asclepias verticillata (thanks Mom!) An aster starting to bloom! Unknown flower that hasn’t bloomed yet. Possibly Cardiospermum, balloon vine? From reading, it seems to be native but disliked for clogging farm equipment. The balloon vine flower. Ruby Grant park considerately has a dog level water fountain at the parking lot!
Posted on August 13, 2022August 14, 202208/13/2022 walking around A mystery yellow composite flower along the sidewalk. Update: Mom and Abby have identified as camphorweed, probably Heterotheca subaxillaris. Camphorweeds are native. Leaves and stem of the yellow flowered plant. This picture is from yesterday (08/12/2022) but there are lots of Grindelia getting ready to bloom near the railroad tracks. A few had opened up by today. I was also pleased to find 2-3 Scarlet Pea plants along the sidewalk near the Grindelia yesterday. They were still blooming today. Downstream from the OU duck pond there is a somewhat hidden bridge and there was a native hibiscus blooming near it. A few tiny annual coreopsis were in the field near the creek. Before it got mowed this spring there were a lot more and taller. It was too hot. We gave Briar and ourselves some ice cubes upon returning. She has taken to resting her chin on her ice cubes after getting a drink from her water bowl.
Posted on August 4, 2022August 4, 202208/04/2022 Fall obedient plant is thinking about blooming! I think over the winter I’ll move it to closer to the bird bath to get more water. One of the two leaf sennas has buds!! The fluttermill primrose in the rock garden just keeps blooming!! This “live forever” from Judy is budding. I thought this was a plant hopper. It’s insect poop. Technically this is called frass. 😏 This fuzzy plant came with some wild onions I got at Mom and Dad’s. I am hoping it might be snow on the prairie! Paula said the mysterious pumpkin was ready. While we were outside, we checked out the cushaw squash. Already longer than Paula’s arm to the elbow!! Shackleton was neutral about the pumpkin. Tuqu was interested in the pumpkin and smelled it carefully. Shackleton was repelled by the fragrant Madhu ras cantaloupe. Tuqu tried to touch it. Today’s two harvests plus the watermelon from the farm share.
Posted on August 3, 2022August 3, 202208/02/2022 fall and winter greens starting now Seeds, but you can’t see them. Basil you can see. New root extending from plant window.
Posted on August 3, 2022August 3, 202208/03/2022 unexpected The greeneyes is starting to bloom in the backyard prairie! This grew from seeds that I put out a year, maybe two years, ago. Hmm… What is this brown lumpy thing on the butterfly milkweed? An exciting, dare I say unexpected, find by Paula… The Unexpected Cycnia moth caterpillar! I spotted this second Unexpected Cycnia caterpillar on a different plant a few inches away. Apparently they only eat milkweeds, so we are very pleased to find one in the orange butterfly milkweed section of the rainbow garden. It’s also our 150th yard species on inaturalist! A dead cicada. No fun buzzes but Briar hoped. Watermelon in the farm share this week. Yum!!
Posted on July 31, 2022July 31, 202207/30/2022 pretty! Good thing I’ve planted the borer resistant cushaw squash! It is a native moth and it sure is pretty. A Madhu ras cantaloupe melon slipped its vine so we figured it was ready. The only red yucca that’s sprouted from Judy’s seeds is doing good in its new spot. It has a third leaf now. Briar found Shackleton. He was not as happy as she was about this. The dog corner of the prairie