My yellow garden gal

 My yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) in the back yard isn't quite full grown yet. Isn't she beautiful?

Cool volunteers

Look what I spotted blooming near our Texas madrone child! A clammyweed! Perhaps Polanisia dodecandra? I have no clue where it came from, unless it was a stowaway on the madrone.

And then I found a wild poinsettia (Euphorbia cyanthophora) sharing space with my corkstem passionflower vine. I didn't have the heart to pull it. In our Wildscape, I see a lot of Mexican fireplant (Euphorbia heterophylla), which lacks the red marks. 

UPDATE: Reply from Mike Prochoroff, The Madrone Way, "Yes, it's a cleome, and the seeds probably popped over to my potting soil area. They should be putting out 2- to 3-inch pods now or the next few weeks after that rain. Then the pods dry and twist in a few days, after which the tiny seeds can be quickly collected. I've collected some and will probably grow a dozen next year. They are beautiful and seem to take the heat."

Stock tank update

Yesterday evening and this morning, I shot some photos of our little stock tank pond. The gambusia (minnows) are reproducing prolifically. I have fun leaning down and peering into the lemon bacopa (green leaves to the right) and searching for tiny babies. And our Rio Grande leopard frog (I call her "Froggie") is quite happy, too. She like to sit on "her" rock in the morning.

Can you see Froggie sunning?

August miracle

Need I say more?

Autumn meadowhawk

My iNaturalist colleagues identified this as an autumn meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum). She makes at least three dragonfly species that have been documented in our Wildscape!

Summer blooms

Simpson's rosinweed

Plateau goldeneye

Texas star hibiscus

Texas greeneyes

Coralbean

Turk's cap 'Pam's Pink'

Dug-up transplants update

I'm so thrilled! My four dug-up neighborhood treasures are doing well! This afternoon, I planted my prairie acacia velvet bundleflower (above). It had grown a lot so I figured it was time.

 Sensitive briar

 Scarlet pea

Texas snoutbean