Passiflora lutea spreading!

Several years ago, I discovered yellow passionflower (Passiflora lutea), a native passionflower growing on our neighbor's side of the fence. I was thrilled! With her permission, I dug up a few and planted them on our side of the fence in June 2013. One made it and had been coming back in the spring ever since. For the past week or so, I'd been watching the site where it grew. Nothing. I was sad. Would I have to dig up another one? 

But WAIT! Yesterday, I spotted TWO new passionflower vines coming up a few feet away from the original vine! O happy day! That's why passionflowers do best, you know–spread underground and show up somewhere else. Sometimes they get to be a pain. However, I'm quite excited about my P. lutea spreading. In case you can't tell. 

Possumhaw in bloom

For the first time (that I know of), our possumhaw (Ilex dedidua) is blooming. Such tiny, delicate flowers! We planted this possumhaw in September 2015 in the back yard. I guess we'll find out later this year if we have a male or female. Only girl possumhaws produce red berries in the fall.

Crummy shot, but I didn't know I'd snagged the green sweat bee until I looked at the photos!

Fire pit cover

You may or may not remember the cool fire pit we had custom made for our Wildscape by Matt Rios (Matt's Custom Welding) in October 2014. Afterward, we ordered a canvas cover to protect the pit from the weather. But the weather (and, okay, okay, James, the resident cats, too, in particular one, who now deceased) eventually destroyed it. So Matt and his assistant Donald made us a VERY sturdy metal cover that can double as a tabletop. Nice, eh? Thanks, Matt!

Meet our madrone child!

Mike and Kerry Prochoroff

Last summer, I interviewed Mike Prochoroff of Dripping Springs for Landscapes magazine about the native Texas madrones (Arbutus xalapensis) that he raises. He calls his nursery The Madrone Way. I so enjoyed the time I spent with him and his wife, Kerry, at their remote ranch where an existing madrone colony provides the seeds that he meticulously germinates in his greenhouses. After our interview, Mike emailed me and said that he wanted to give me a madrone (germinated by Mike in 2013) for our Wildscape. Oh, my, what an honor!

Last Sunday morning, Mike and Kerry came by with the madrone child, which is about four years old. Mike looked at our yard and advised us on the best planting locations. Then he gave James detailed instructions on how to plant the tree. After they left, James got right to work.

Per Mike's directions, James first dug a hole that was 16 inches deep and 36-by-25-inches wide. Mike said the hole needed to be at least twice as deep and wide as the biodegradable fiber pot (8 inches high and 6-by-6 inches).

To check the site's drainage, James poured a gallon of water into the hole. Half an hour later, he checked to see if it'd drained. That's what you want–good drainage. Madrones hate wet feet.

Most of the water drained, but to be on the safe side, he worked up a sweat and busted up the limestone rock that was down under. Later, he went out to our land northwest of town to gather up a 5-gallon bucket of juniper (cedar) needles. In their native caliche soils, madrones often germinate and grow beneath junipers.

The next day, James prepared a base mix, which consisted of 3 gallons of caliche, a couple handfuls of juniper needles, and 2 gallons of compost. Then he poured the mix into the hole. The depth measured 4 inches.

Before setting the madrone in the hole, James slashed the sides of the pot with a box cutter.

Before the big moment, I gave my new friend a BIG hug...

Then into her new home she went! To allow for optimum drainage, we made sure the top of her pot was an inch above ground level.

James filled in around her with a mix that consisted of fresh soil (no clay), juniper needles, and several handfuls of caliche. All done! And all told, James must have spent more than five hours working on this very important project. Mike said our madrone will be a demonstration experiment to see how these biodegradable pots perform. In the meantime, we will give her a gallon of water once a week, unless it rains.

Welcome to our Texas Wildscape, little madrone!

Sphinx in slow mo

 White-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata)

 And SURPRISE! My young Texas spiny lizard friend!

Interesting moth

I'm a bit behind in posting these photos from March 6, but here they are finally. Meet what could be a half-wing moth! The Bugguide.net experts nailed the ID, not me. See what they think.

New additions

Texas prickly ash (Zanthoxylum hirsutum) from our native plant friends, Ron and Linda Chang.

This week, we FINALLY planted some gifts that we received at our anniversary garden party last April. I honestly don't know why we didn't get them in the ground last year, other than we just couldn't decide where we wanted them. Even yet, we still have one (guajillo) still in the pot because we're undecided. In the meantime, meet our new additions plus some flowering non-natives. 

Heartleaf hibiscus (Hibiscus martianus) and pipevine from friend Melody in San Antonio.

Anacacho orchid tree (Bauhinia lunarioides) from Master Naturalist friends Jerry and Linda.

One tomato plant ('Sweet Chelsea') and dianthus ('Dynasty Mix' and 'Amazon Neon Duo') purchased from the Arnosky Family Farms. The 'Amazon' variety lives a couple of years and blooms blooms blooms, no matter if it's hot or cold outside.