Plant rescues

Bernadette McFarling and Joan Marasek, who are Texas Master Gardeners, came over yesterday afternoon. For an hour, we dug up all kinds of volunteers, like American germander, woolly and western ironweeds, fragrant gaillardia, white avens, standing winecup, pearl milkweed vine, white mistflower, heartleaf skullcap, downy phlox and more. They're gonna pot everyone up and sell them at their chapter's April 17 plant sale here in Blanco. Happy trails, little green friends! 

Hermit thrush

I am NOT a bird photographer. But I was sure happy to be able to grab my digital Nikon camera and get these shots of a hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) for our species list. It's a new one for us. I saw some earlier this year but mistook them for juvenile robins because they "run" in a similar manner. Cool!

 

Mandarin tree blooming, too

What a welcome sight! My Texas satsuma mandarin tree (‘Miho’) is blooming this spring. It usually puts on fruit every other year, but it skipped last year for some reason. The last time we had mandarins was October 2018. This tree was given to me by my son for Mother’s Day in 2004. I’ve kept it alive all these years! It was in the garage all winter and survived last month’s frigid temps. A few days ago, James moved it back outside when I saw all the blooms. They need attention from our local bees and other pollinators. 

Peach tree blooming!

 

Farewell, sumac

So alas, we made the decision to bid our evergreen sumac (Rhus virens) good by. February's blizzards took a toll on it. Plus, it was getting TOO BIG too close to our house. Darn, I thought it was just gonna be a SHRUB. I'm wondering if it will try to come back from the roots. We'll see! We bought it at a native plant sale back in 2014. It had been growing so happily, and I really enjoyed it being a part of our Wildscape. In the future, I'd like to get another one because I see so many that grow in the wild right here in Blanco County. But we'll plant it somewhere else where it can GROW.

New aquatic friends

So the last few of my gambusias did die after all. I found one belly up a few days ago in the stock tank. In the beginning, we decided to go with gambusias because we thought they'd go undetected and survive longer. A while ago, I bought a dozen "minnows" from our local hardware store but realized they were too BIG (think fish bait!). Hey, I couldn't see them in their tub's murky water. Hello, refund! 

So I went with two goldfish instead for $1.99 each. We shall see if they survive and for how long. We do have green herons in the neighborhood. Just so you know, I will try VERY hard not to get too attached to these little guys. Uh, oh, they do sorta stand out in the water. Hmmmmmm....

BREAKING NEWS! I just spotted three gambusia! Oh, dear, I should have waited about goldfish. I don't think everyone is gonna get along....

Spring-ward bound

Cedar sage

This afternoon, I made a leisurely survey around some of the front yard. I wasn't up for the entire yard. Still, I'm curious, like a lot of folks, to see what survived the extremely low temps and loads of snow that we experienced last month. Only more time will tell the true survivor stories.

Red columbine

Gray santolina

Agarita (OF COURSE)

 

Yellow honeysuckle

Fragrant honeysuckle

Common yarrow

Redbud's gonna bloom!