08/13/2022 harsh sun

Paula noticed some of the baby Coryphantha sulcata were possibly getting sunscald, because they were turning a bit brown on the tips. She has cleverly shaded them with thin coffee filters that let some light in. They seem to be happier now. Presumably this better imitates where a baby cactus might grow up in the wild.

Window weirdo

Shackleton pants in the plant window. It’s 103 F outside. I’m going to put a thermometer in there with him. He has an entire air conditioned house and he chooses here. Update: it’s only 90F in the window, not as bad as I thought. However, the sun has also moved far enough west that it may be shadier. Anyways, still a goofy decision for a fluffy polar explorer.

07/10/2022 eeeee!!

Five Coryphantha sulcata from Montana!!!
Eleven in this tray.
You can see the roots!!
Another one with roots.
“What are you doing to my favorite window perch?”
Five in the last tray.
A few here were somehow upside down. We’ll see if they make it!
One upside down in a pot with plastic wrap. I think the food containers with clear lids are the way to go. Seven days from planting to sprouting. About 50 seeds, 23 up so far.

06/26/2022 sleepy yard day

Partridge pea blooming.
A big skipper caught my attention this morning.
I think it may be a Confused Cloudywing or an Outis Skipper. The pale ish area below the antennal club is why I think maybe Outis Skipper, but I also get the impression that one is rarer, so I wonder if I’m missing something obvious that makes it a cloudywing. Both have been recorded in Cleveland county, Oklahoma though.
Saw a two spotted bumblebee on mealy blue sage again!
The juniperleaf cuttings have started to perk up and poke at the plastic wrap, so I am unsealing them a bit to see if they can handle less humidity yet.
Silly sleep

06/20/2022 juniper leaf

We had a single juniperleaf plant growing in a driveway crack. I didn’t want to try to move it since we only have one and I’d never seen it before. Recently, I saw it had two babies farther down the crack. I very carefully pulled up one, coated its taproot in rooting hormone, trimmed off the long branches so it has less to support on the damaged root, and put rooting hormone on the little branches too. I put it in succulent potting mix and stretched cling wrap tightly over the pot to keep it humid while it tries to root. Fingers crossed!!
Tuqu visiting says “whatever”.
Bonus shot of rainbow garden. You can barely see the coreopsis has started blooming again.

06/21/2022

Gram guards the rooting juniperleaf.
There’s a new pollinator garden on campus!!
Very pleased at least one of the partridge pea seeds I sprinkled last year made it up.
Paper wasps made a nest on the debris of the invasive clematis.
A small lynx spider eats a fly
Just noticed that the long true bugs have little flat pom poms on their antennae.
A second individual. I think you have to see them from the right angle to get a good view of the antennae spots.
Dog
A helpful cat saw this wasp (maybe a spider wasp?) In the aloe and knocked the pot over.
I took it outside and shooed the friend off. No dinner in the house for it. Only cat.
I spotted a plume moth hiding on rain barrel stand.
Potatoes in straw bale getting big. Hope roots are too.