Tag: yucca

Posted on

07/08/2023 too much for baby yucca

We planted two baby Arkansas yuccas a week or so ago in front of the house. The bigger one (see next picture) is doing fine. this little one, which I am pointing at, has been struggling hard and has about half a leaf remaining. At first I just watered it extra but now I have added a shade and moisture retention barrier on the west side consisting of a wall of sticks and leaves about 2 inches high.
I point at the bigger yucca seedling. It has three skinny blue-green leaves. A stray strawberry leaf is visible in the back.
Posted on

05/15/2023 a third yucca in green bed!

I found a third Arkansas yucca in the green bed of the rainbow garden! I’m so excited that the stratification followed by lots of rain has worked. Or at least putting them out has worked. I don’t seem to have a lot of control over the rain??

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

05/04/2023 big long soaking rain

We got 2.75” in less than 24 hours!
Missouri Fluttermill primrose baby survived pouring rain even under the rain barrel!
Left seedling is Winecup and upper right seedling is Astragalus crassicarpus!
Two possible yuccas in the green section.
Not a milkweed
Not a milkweed?
Maybe a milkweed
Known milkweed (probably viridiflora)
The skinny adult leaves of known milkweed. New book The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants by Diboll and Cox mentions many milkweeds first adult leaves are skinny even if the eventual adult leaves are broad. Either that or I got the species wrong.
One of two Blackfoot daisy survived earwigs and is now growing flower buds and a few new leaves!
Perennial coreopsis begins!
Briar was pretty miffed it rained HARD most of the day. So before our walk she curled up in disgust right on my big Liatris mucronata from home. Thanks.

The Mexican Sage from Judy is up!
A sedge?
Partridge pea
Oldplainsman
Mystery
Caliche planter babies
The tomatoes have gotten a bit sunburnt from past rain with sunlight after, so this time I flicked water off and put them in a less intensely sunny spot. Trying to get them hardened off for planting.
Like Briar, Shacks was disappointed by rain and not being out. Paula brought him some favorite juicy grass and he loved it.
Posted on

04/07/2023 first pass at Bird Haven Trail

Briar judges Mom.
The only Escobaria we’ve seen so far!
This rock has really neat concentric layered circles!
Briar practices standing on new surfaces. She’s getting better about benches.
A lovely Echinocereus! Grama grass in the background, and a nice pile of small sandstones nearby. The fence in the background is the edge of the state park.
Another fine Echinocereus with grama grass. Cholla cactus and juniper in the background.
This rock has a sharply defined layer.
A soil crust lichen on sand!
Maybe some sort of Liatris plant stalk?
Big sandstone jutting up in the trail.
Yucca, lichen on sandstone, and sideoats grama grass.
Closeup of pointy yucca tips.
Waiting for botany time Mom. Briar was concerned.
A prairie lizard!!! Same genus as the spiny lizard at home.
Clove currant thinking about blooming.
Trail marker at top of hill. Nice sandstone layers here.
Mom caught up with us. Briar was happy.
Now that all humans in one place, Briar can rest in the bench shade.
Posted on

04/06/2023 Black Mesa Nature Preserve afternoon walk

Briar posed for us as we began our slow walk up the trail.
Here we go! Briar was on her leash and thought we were slow. Especially when I kept stopping to take photos of grama grass.
Mom also does botany photography along the trail!
I’ll look up this grasshopper when we get home.
I like how this photo has a cholla in front of a juniper with grama grass framing it. These were among the dominant plants along the trail.
Framed by the cholla cacti and distant junipers is a stretch of green tinted soil exposed by erosion! you can also see some of the abundant yuccas.
This young yucca by the trail already has a few strings peeling off the leaves.
One of the volcanic rocks that gives Black Mesa its name was down at our level. The trail climbs the Mesa for a round trip of 8.2 miles, but between botany and my arthritis we did a round trip of 1.6 miles in 1 hr and 50 min.
This dried leaf was very firm and had lovely reticulated veins.
Close up of cholla cactus branches and spines, with Black Mesa in the background.
Briar is the picture of patience once again. The packed earth trail is really broad and smooth!
Posted on

04/03/2023 extended field trip

The painted brown entrance sign at Boiling Springs State Park.
Briar thinks camping might be okay.
A lovely prairie near the Spring Hill trail.
Some beautiful grama grass curled empty seedheads with a background of little bluestem.
Yuccas under a soapberry tree.
Posted on

03/29/2023 baby yucca????

Paula and I were out planting some seeds and she noticed this baby spike in a tray of yucca seeds that have been out all winter!!
The Baptisia sp seeds before we planted them. I nicked each seed surface then soaked in room temperature water overnight. We put some on either side of the patio plus some in a pot for more controlled monitoring as that seems to help with germination sometimes.
Paula also noticed the persimmon seed at the seedling base. I appear to have planted several.
Posted on

05/13/2022 garden checkup

Sweet basil seedlings.
Butterfly milkweed is up in the backyard too but hasn’t flowered yet (same as front yard).
Yellow flax still blooming! It’s annual, so I hope the seeds like it enough here.
Whitlow-wort gone to seed. Another native annual from TX home.
False gaura that I planted from potted last night is doing well.
Texas verbena has bloomed! It’s a perennial.
The rattlebox had adorable seed pods as promised.
The Rocky mountain bee plant from the botany club plant sale is blooming! There were ants at the blooms.
The Phacelia is really fun.
The prairie bluet is flowering a bit. I’m worried since it’s early that this means it’s not happy. However, it’s a perennial, so hopefully it will do its thing now and be less worried next year.
The twice-moved yucca is making new little leaves!
This yucca is in the shade which I figure is probably okay at this age.  Many plants seem to like to have nurse plants.
The baby winecups are starting to get true leaves.
Second year for this mystery plant with no blooms.
It does have a square stem. Abby suggested Monarda, which I did seed here at one point, so fingers crossed!!
Slippery silk beans and several other varieties are up!!
The two leaf senna didn’t have a lot of roots when I planted it from a pot last night. So, I put two containers of water so it would gradually keep it damp for now so it can get established. It’s my only sprout from the seed and I love this plant! It’s a host for Cloudless Sulphur butterflies.