Telling a story on myself

Before last Thursday's Texas Master Naturalist tour, I  invited biologist Robert Edmonson to stop by our gardens. Robert has been with the Texas A&M Forest Service for more than 30 years and offices in Johnson City. I had some tree questions for him, like were our Blanco crabapple and possumhaw trees dead? (Yes, likely so.) 

 

While we were strolling the paths in our back yard, he stopped by a small tree and touched the leaves.

 

"This a Carolina buckthorn," he said.

 

I glanced down, then politely protested. After all, my SIGN said Mexican silktassel.

 

"Look at the leaves," Robert pointed out. "They're alternate. Silktassels are opposite. This is a buckthorn."

 

At that precise moment, a light bulb exploded in my head. 

 

"OH, I think I know what the problem is," I said. Then I led him across the yard and stopped in front of our Carolina buckthorn. 

 

Which, in that moment, magically transformed into a Mexican silktassel.

 

Robert laughed, then told a similar story on himself. But we'll keep that one between ourselves.  

P.S. James and I bought the two species at the same time in Boerne in 2019. That's how I got them mixed up. I'm so glad Robert caught my mistake!

 

Mexican silktassel

Carolina buckthorn

 

Training class and the mayor

Last Thursday, the 2024 Texas Master Naturalist training class with our Highland Lakes chapter had lunch in our native plants garden. Then everyone had a look around. I always enjoy hosting them in our yard. That morning, I gave my "Spiders of Central Texas" to them. That's fun, too!

Later in the afternoon, Blanco mayor Mike Arnold – at our invitation – visited and toured our Wildscape. For a long time, I've been wanting "City Hall" to see what we've been doing here for the past many years. Thank you for coming, Mike!

Still fighting cretanweed

And I thought Malta-star thistle and hedge parsleys were bad! I also abhor cretanweed (Hedypnois credica), an invasive species. Yesterday evening, I pulled as much as I could from our street easement. As you can see, if unrestrained, this species forms dense colonies. I first observed it in 2015 and have been keeping it at bay as best I can.

 

Little senna friend planted

 So both of my Lindheimer's sennas have been planted, side by side.

New birthday friends

I am remiss in posting, but here are plants that we bought for my March 29th birthday from Friendly Natives in Fredericksburg. Two 'Mirage Rose Bicolor' salvias, one 'Anne Marie' lantana, three 'Blue Hill' salvias and two rues.

This salvia has a lovely bloom!

 

Hold still, little ant

I was just sitting at our dining room table, innocently sorting puzzle pieces into plastic bowls, when I spotted an ant on one bowl. Hmm, looked like a new ant species to me. I hadn't seen such long antennae and a long stinger on an ant before. Cool! I whipped out my phone and started TRYING to get photos. But the little guy wouldn't hold still. However, with James' help and my macro lens, I finally got some and videos, too.

Turns out that my little friend is NOT an ant! It's some species of ichneumonid wasp (that's often wingless) in the genus Gelis. And that's an ovipositor (tubular structure used for laying eggs), not a stinger. Amazing!

 

A patch-nosed

Yesterday James alerted me, which sent me running for my camera (phone). "I've got a snake for you," he exclaimed.

Wow, a Texas patch-nosed snake (Salvadora grahamiae lineata) was coiled behind our metal plant stand on the front porch. As you can tell, he/she didn't like us much, but I had to get photos and a video, too. The first patch-nosed we met was back in August 2008 in the same location. The second one was in November 2019. They're feisty but harmless.