Tag: leaves

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10/29/2023 first freeze forecast tonight

Piles of vegetable greenery on a concrete front poor with a black double door in the background
So, in spite of rain all day and temperatures in the 30s F, I went out and cut all the plants. That’s the giant pile of cut basil on an overflowing Rubbermaid tub and assorted cut off pepper plants nearby. The rest of the day was getting basil leaves off the stems.
An inch thick basil stem cut off, with my hand nearby for scale.
The basil stems were so big I had to use the loppers to cut them at the base.
A blue-gray rubber made plastic tub almost full of bright green basil leaves
3608 grams of basil leaves. This is 7.95 pounds. Yes, we did tare the tub weight. Yes, it is a lot of basil. No, I don’t even know what’s going to happen.
Close up view of a red and blue striped leaf hopper. Its legs and tip of snoot grade to yellow. It has tiny hair like antennae.
Leafhopper
A small true bug nymph on my fingers. It’s small enough that you don’t see around my whole finger. The brown colors are speckled
True bug nymph
A brownish jumping spider with iridescent green pedipalps peeks out from its web, which holds a bright green basil leaf folded over as shelter.
Jumping spider
Close up of the face of a praying mantis. It is watching me.
Praying mantis
We had several little friends come in on the basil. All were released back into the shelter of adjacent plants outside.
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09/06/2023 garden after half inch rain!

Three partially opened bright yellow flowers with spiky green foliage and sepals stand in front of tall sprays of delicate white and pink gaura flowers. The gaura and the tall stalks of sunflower with arched green leaves peek above the edge of the roof, visible from this low angle. A sweetgum tree is blurry behind the house with a pale blue sky above.
Last night we had a lovely series of small thunderstorms and got a half an inch of rain in the gauge. This morning I think the flowers looked a little cleaner!! These are Grindelia ciliata in front of gaura and Maximilian sunflowers.
A partially opened yellow camphorweed flower is framed by the spheres of more green buds, including one big blurry one in the foreground. The background is dappled green and pale blue-gray sky.
The smaller yellow flowers are Heterotheca subaxillaris, which I recently learned has the common name of camphorweed. I keep forgetting to smell it.
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06/29/2023 damn bermudagrass

I was pulling some bermudagrass that is still in the buffalograss. Briar sat and helped. Behind her is the orange and red section of the rainbow garden. The new orange Agastache is in full bloom by the dwarf peach tree. The tall stalks are what’s still blooming of the standing cypress. In front of those stalks are the Will Rogers zinnias. After a few generations some other colors are sneaking in- especially that bright yellow one! It’s pretty though. Over by the house in the background you can see our Maximilian Sunflowers in front of the trash and recycling bins sure have gotten tall.
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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.
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05/29/2023 blooming!

A plantain flowering in the tiered cactus planter. This one was in the soil from Jeanne’s spike-moss.
The Hedeoma is blooming in the planter too!
Paula noticed this sneaky Prairie Coneflower blooming!
Some sunflowers near Leon’s blackberries have wavy edged leaves. We are hoping they might be Helianthus petiolaris.