Look what I spotted

This afternoon, James was helping some friends in their yard so I took my garden shears outside and set to work. Isn't our Galeana red sage AWESOME?! I was cutting dead stems and admiring the blooms when I happened to see....

...can YOU see her?

Yes, a vigilant green lynx spider mama, guarding her egg sac. I just love finding surprises in the plants that thrive in our Wildscape. Especially those of the eight-legged kind. 

New-to-me native

I spotted these pretty, delicate seed heads and purple flowers on the city easement adjoining our property. My fellow Master Naturalist/plant expert Jerry S. didn't hesitate a second this morning when I e-mailed this "challenging" mystery plant to identify. 

"Pretty sure it's a four o'clock (Mirabilis linearis)," he wrote back. Dang, he nailed it!

Maximilian sunflowers

Our Maximilian sunflowers couldn't be happier!

Time to plant wildflower seeds

We're suppose to get rain in the next few days so I dug around and found some wildflower seed packets. I planted them here and there in bare spots across the Meadow. While I was out there, I spotted some bluebonnet seedlings. YAY! And then a few hours later, it showered! Keep it up! 

What's up, Argiope?

SURPRISE! I was about to reach for my plastic watering pitcher when I spotted this small garden spider. I'm pretty sure the species is either a juvenile Argiope aurantia or a male Argiope aurantia that's not yet molted for the last time. Odd place to hang out, eh? Whatever the sex, I'm surprised to find this one so late in the season. Female spiders have mostly laid their egg sacs and will likely be dying soon. Which means, it's a big late to be mating, too. Guess this spider knows what she/he is doing.

September 6, 2019 UPDATE -- Dumb me, this is a young banded argiope (Argiope trifasciata). 

How does nature know?

Yesterday, I was piddling around in the back yard, dead heading flowers and spreading seeds that I found. Imagine my surprise when I grasped the tall seedhead of our giant coneflower and startled an orbweaver spider. Heck, imagine HER surprise! She fell off and landed on the mulch below. But she had a silk safety line behind her so she could scramble back up to her perch. She blended in SO WELL that I hadn't't see her until she fell off. 

Today I returned to the scene of my crime and shot some photos of her. See how well she blends into her background?

"How does she KNOW how to do that?" I asked James later. "It's not like she can look in a mirror at herself. How does she know to find something colored like herself?" James nodded in agreement.

Nature is AMAZING!

New additions

 

From Blanco Gardens: Orange esperanza, two fall asters and a common senna (Senna corymbosa). 

Fall native plant sale at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Mexican buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa), Virginia creepers (two), blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestrinum), Berlandier's trumpets (Acleisanthes obtusa), woolly ironweed (Vernonia lindheimeri) and Engelmann's sage (Salvia engelmannii).

This yet unidentified caterpillar child came on a Virginia creeper. 

UPDATE-This is grapeleaf skeletonizer (Harrisina americana), which is "considered to be a pest of Virginia creeper" per Maury Heiman on Bugguide.net.