Category: Supervisors

Posted on

06/13/2023 around the yard

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.
Posted on

06/10/2023 baby cactus repotting

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.
Posted on

05/25/2023 Thursday shenanigans and winecup looking

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.

Posted on

05/26/2023 Friday assortment

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.
Posted on

05/16/2023 promising candidates

This seedling is not something I recognize so I’m hoping it could be Bluehearts from Mom. I left other volunteer plants in as that species is hemiparasitic and does better with a host.
Possibly a silverleaf nightshade seedling!
Another possible silverleaf! Looks a lot like its congeneric cousin tomatoes’ babies.
Another baby Arkansas yucca!!! This one is in a bigger pot so hopefully we can keep it watered enough.
Two fern acacia seedlings from last fall came up!!
The winecups are really taking off!! Super pleased.
This adorable sweat bee is the first visitor I’ve seen so far to our Penstemon grandiflorus.
New mystery in the prairie!
Briar being innocent
Guard flamingo
One of our two plastic flamingos has been retired due to its new hobby of breeding mosquitoes. The remaining one has been reassigned to guard two Oklahoma penstemon that the dog keeps laying on.
Posted on

05/14/2023 more rain!

We got even more good steady rain this morning and there’s a bit of standing water in what we are calling Leon’s prairie to distinguish it from the original prairie block. Leon is the late great gray tuxedo cat who now has been reincarnated as an aggressively thorny blackberry plant which is adjacent to this meadow.
Posted on

05/13/2023 what’s happening at Saxon Park

Maybe a Pediomelium sp blooming? There’s a lot right now! Very cute! Edit: Abby has kindly identified this as Psoralidium tenuiflorum.
Sensitive briars have adorable puffy pink flowers!
Baptisia australis blooming- few weeks ago it was all B. bracteata and this weekend we only saw the blue!
Only a quarter mile in and Briar demanded to lay on the wet earth in the shade.
A rough leaf dogwood starting to bloom.
Three views of a very pale showy evening primrose!
Ooh a dark center in a sun drop primrose—maybe that other less common species??
Nope it’s a flower beetle nestled deeply in the lemon yellow primrose flower!
The trail sides are covered with rabbits tobacco!
Another requested rest break by Briar dog.
Up the hill, Gaillardia suavis and Echinacea angustifolia (I assume) are blooming, starting to bloom, and finishing at various places!
We met a three-toed box turtle going on the path too. Briar has not met many turtles.
We saw a three toed box turtle! It was very intriguing but concerning to briar. She was cautious but also wagged.
Three views of the only wild Solomon’s seal patch I have seen. We saw them at this site last year.
Groundplum milkvetch (Astragalus crassicarpus) is has gone to seed. Some look a bit squished from the trail being mowed.

Posted on

05/13/2023 backyard checkup

Briar grazes in the prairie. Around her you can see the bloom of a prairie parsley and many showy evening primroses.
After her grazing, Briar laid down, right on top of one of the Oklahoma penstemon rosettes I’m pretty sure.
Posted on

05/05/2023 Lexington WMA quick visit

Oxalis violacea
Carrot leaf Lomatium now done
Hot dog already
Baptisia bracteata
Briar on a hill
Prairie parsley blooming
Salvia azurea leaves
Echinacea leaves
Mystery leaves
Oxalis violacea lives in sunnier spots than I expected!
Arnoglossum species buds
Arnoglossum farther along
I think butterfly milkweed
Calylophus primrose
Penstemon cobea buds
Briar enjoyed a big mud puddle then ran right towards us dripping wet.