Posted on September 9, 2021September 9, 2021Experiment Abby kindly gave me her extra prickly pear cactus pads (Opuntia humifusa) which I shall attempt to grow. This succulent from Judy in my rock garden has a surprise pink flower!
Posted on September 6, 2021September 7, 2021Holiday Sunday An outdoor dinner. Garden basil and oregano. Moved the chives and garlic chives that Judy gave me last year. Maybe they’ll like this spot better. Uzbek golden, little, and New Kuroda carrots. Gram helps me get seeds out. Fall seeds planted of cabbage, mizuna, greens, and cauliflower. Tomatoes and peppers for overwintering. And a few pots of Roman chamomile for the front yard ground cover. This is where I shall attempt peppers and tomatoes over the winter. This goldenrod was already here and is doing very nicely. A giant 1″+ horsefly on a backyard window sill. Never going outside again. I lied. Outside again. Chiltepin peppers. Frostweed doing alright after it died back earlier in summer. A little spider got this Eastern Tailed-Blue on the englemann daisy. Texas mallow blooming! The non native clematis. I’ll clean it out over the winter. Okra flower A bumblebee on the okra!
Posted on August 26, 2021August 26, 2021Weekend things Texas mallow might bloom soon? Goldenrod from Abby thinking about blooming too. A pupa! I bet the Black Swallowtail. Side view. Tepary beans begin! New crystals from Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge! Closeup of two fancy selenite crystals.
Posted on August 14, 2021August 14, 2021A day off for errands Bisbee cowpeas flowering more I liked the contrast on this one. “Stubby” variety of okra. An okra flower with a little sweat bee flying by! This is the first okra flower I’ve seen in person here since they seem to keep banker’s hours. A little green-striped cushaw squash! Leaf of the squash is looking a bit rough. Found another Madhu Ras melon! This one is bigger. Salvia greggii “Diane” purple cultivar has bloomed! Now only waiting on the orange part of rainbow garden to bloom. Whoa. I did not realize this cushaw squash was here! A male Sachem on a Peruvian ground cherry. There is a flower in the background so I hope it’ll start producing soon. Two immature fruits on Amish Paste tomato. I think this is one of my stratification butterfly milkweed that I planted directly! Very excited! A doodlebug (also known as an ant lion) trap waiting for some little critter to walk by! I feel very good about the predators in the garden right now, keeping plant-eaters in check, as I also saw a little brown snake slither away. We had a Dekay’s Brown Snake last year so it was probably that. May it be fat and happy on earwigs! One of the rosemary bushes is blooming!
Posted on August 11, 2021August 11, 2021Signs of life Okra one Okra two A baby Madhu Ras melon! Excited for cantaloupe season. A skipper, to be identified. Three skippers on ironweed! The right two are female (middle) and male (right most) Sachems. Frogfruit is really taking off! There were at least two skippers like this so it might be a different individual than the first picture. Good helper.
Posted on August 8, 2021August 8, 2021Silver-spotted skipper The ironweed (seeds from home, thanks Mom!) has attracted a Silver-spotted Skipper.
Posted on August 4, 2021August 4, 2021Potatoes and a butterfly Emptied two potato growing bags and found four potatoes (fine, but not worth picturing) and a toad. Sorry for disturbing you, Toad. I stopped moving bags since it was afternoon and hot on Saturday. I will do more later in an evening for Toad movement safety. This black widow spider was more productive than my potatoes with six round egg sacs generated vs my four potatoes. I put this bag back. A butterfly on butterfly milkweed. (Pearl Crescent).
Posted on July 30, 2021July 30, 2021Evening rounds Back in the AC shelling purple hulled pink-eyed cowpea. The not quite dry ones maybe look a little pink on eyes?? They do have magnificently purple hulls. These two cowpea pods are still working on getting that consistent purple. I think this is the “fluttermill” seed pod beginning to develop on the Missouri fluttermill primrose. Lacinato kale is getting a bit overshadowed by the Fordham giant Swiss chard. We’ll have to have a salad to help it out. One marigold! Unfortunately it’s orange in the yellow section?? I thought the mix looked mostly yellow so hopefully at a distance we can pretend it’s golden. 🤣 Big banana spider on the north side of tomatoes. A slightly smaller one on the south side. Last night when I mowed the yard, I put the grass trimmings on the rainbow beds as a mulch. Hopefully that keeps the plants happier. You can see Judy’s yellow iris looking lovely in front.
Posted on July 22, 2021July 22, 2021Corn on the cob, third time’s the charm? Yesterday morning I picked half a dozen sweet corns and Wes buttered them up and roasted them in foil. The front one we threw out because of too few kernels from incomplete pollination. Steak and corn. While taking the husks out to the compost pile, I was relieved to see that my mysteriously dying frostweed is resprouting at the base. Steak, a roll, a baked potato, and corn. Very classic. Everything buttered up extra. It was pretty good but nothing to write home about. First year I picked way too late (hard and rubbery), last year didn’t pollinate, so I’m counting this as a win. After dinner, the Chef found this fine friend on the porch. The stealthy bagworm (a moth caterpillar). So invisible in its natural habitat of Rubbermaid tub lid! Here it was walking so you can see its head.
Posted on July 18, 2021July 18, 2021Assorted non-bee news (mostly) Roundup is starting to take effect on Bermuda grass. I can’t plant the buffalograss until I get that nasty invader out. A different bumblebee (or maybe robber fly mimic?? It flew different I thought) came to get water while I watered rainbow garden beds. Saturday morning dog. She is four years old as of Friday! Ironweed buds! Looking forward to the purple! Briar helping me garden on her birthday. Buffalograss corner of prairie is a good laying spot! I trimmed all the dying dill and cilantro out of the herb bed so I could see what’s going on with parsley, sage, and oregano better.