Paula took Briar out on Wednesday night and she found a possum. The possum says “nobody home! Ignore my tight grip on the bird bath!!” it worked though. Briar wandered off. After Briar wandered off to drink water and Paula got this lovely picture of the goofy young creature. They were gone by the time we humans checked again for the young friend. A great bit of possum theatre with Briar none the wiser!
The garlic, picked on the solstice (accidentally). Almost every one was very large. I have been growing these for years from the same cloves and they were never this big. The biggest and smallest creatures in the house for scale. Shackleton thought the garlic smelled of Outside and Dust and was very intrigued. Tuqu was interested as well but not as comically. This is probably the most accurate size comparison photo. Tuqu is small. Garlic is large. On the 22nd Paula moved the garlic to a mostly shaded area in the backyard where it can dry for a while warm before we bring it in the house. She did a good job!
I moved several pots of flowering plants to where they can drop seeds and also keep the dog from trampling the Baptisia australis in her borkenings at the neighbor dogs. I also moved pavers to try a new human path. I planted the silverleaf nightshade and fern acacia too. This let me rearrange the pots here in a more tidy and compact arrangement.
Paula’s Escobaria vivipara cactus continues to bloom beautifully in the daytime. It was cloudy. I’m not sure if that matters for it to bloom. A very frilly summer iris begins… I think this one is from Judy?The standing cypress is really going now with multiple plants in full bloom!The Chef made a delicious pizza with fresh basil and oregano from the yard. I believe this is a safflower that sprouted from the bird seed. I believe these are our two different sunflowers species. The one on the left has narrower and wavy edged leaves; we think/hope it’s Helianthus petiolaris (both Mom and another friend have given us seeds). The one on the right has big broad leaves and I think is an offspring of the Helianthus annuus that volunteered last year. Ironweed is starting to bud. Greeneyes is about to bloom!The blackberries are starting to ripen! These are wild volunteers dug from Mom and Dad’s house. Last but definitely not least, on Tuesday morning I woke up and emerged to find Gram happily snuggling the Doggie. Briar seemed to understand she could not move as is the cat rule. She was not unhappy though. Eventually he got up to look out the newly opened window so she was released so she could scratch an itch haha.
Paula felt the baby Coryphantha sulcata cacti were not getting good drainage in their sprouting trays. So, she repotted them into slightly bigger pots that all have drain holes!Gram helped by laying in the plant window, taking over Shackleton’s spot temporarily.
On the left is this year’s soil to bring the level up. To the right is last year’s winecups!A baby two leaf senna in one of the caliche planters!The guard flamingo is keeping a careful eye on Briar. Gotta keep her from squishing the Oklahoma penstemon. Every night Gram wants to go past Briar in the hall. Every night she waits for her chance to slobber him. This only happens at night. It is now a ritual. She smiles. As soon as he attempts it and she slobbers him, then they saunter into the room together. Photos by Paula.
Briar enjoys laying in the prairie among the primroses and englemann daisies. Some of the grass in the new prairie (we’re calling it Leon’s prairie since it’s by Leon’s blackberry bushes) has turned out to be the native wild rye we seeded! Yay!Yellow Coreopsis looking bright with the tiny purple Verbena halei and the starry pink widow’s cross sedum!Shackleton had some thoughts. Briar says “walkies please??” (We did go walkies.)The showy evening primroses are looking lovely with their pale pink between the purple winecups in the back and the magenta Salvia greggii in the front. We didn’t even plant them on purpose, they were just in the soil Paula brought from the backyard berm. Coreopsis provides a nice yellow contrast at the end of the Salvia greggii row. More seedling winecups are coming up in the newer soil where we put seeds. Gram says it’s hard to use a dichotomous key for plant identification when the only numbers you know are “hello?” And “Doggie”. Shackleton somehow turned the pages and now says “I leave the identification as a trivial exercise for the reader.”We planted one Winecup in a tall skinny planter. It has bloomed now.