What's happenin'

Yay, I'm nearly done pruning in all the gardens. This afternoon, I was in the front yard, pruning and pulling, when I happened to glance down...oh, time to go fetch my camera! Can you find what I spotted in the photo above? (Answer at the bottom on this post.)

Our poor woolly butterfly bush still hangs on (sorry for the bad photo). We planted it in May 2009. I went ahead and pruned it some just to see what happens.

I'm always happy to see one of my favorite Blanco County species return for spring––snapdragon vine.

My antelope horns are coming back up!

 So is my zizotes milkweed!

I've gotten a patch of narrowleaf blue-eyed grass started in the back yard. Such pretty little flowers.

And then there's the management problem that comes with gardens, native or not. I love chile pequin, but soon you have young'uns sprouting up everywhere. So I've been yanking those along with white mistflowers and pearl milkweeds. 

Look who's still living our our back porch screened door! My thread-legged bug friend! I check on him/her every night. 

 Found this pretty moth (ID to come) the other day.  

Back to management problems. Like when you don't have enough of a host plant to feed hungry mouths. Right now, pipevine swallowtail moms are out in full force, laying eggs (above) on our non-native pipevines! It won't be long before they eat up (see the tiny larvae below?) what's there. 

 The Mexican buckeye flowers are lovely, too.

What I spotted: a white-lined sphinx moth!

First hummer!

I thought I heard a hummingbird this afternoon. So I made a small batch of sugar water. Half an hour after I hung two feeders, a male black-chinned showed up! Welcome back! 

Thank you for shooting the video, James! I do apologize for my abrupt exclamation at the end......I didn't realize he was filming.

What's up in our Wildscape

Peach tree

So I finally went outside with my big camera and got some shots of what's blooming right now. And it's a lot...

Tenpetal anemone

Yellow honeysuckle

Pink mint

Golden groundsel (can you find the snowberry clearwing moth?)

Skipper

Rosemary

Crossvine

Spiderwort

Coral honeysuckle

Oxalis

Texas nightshade

Salvias!

AND IF YOU SPOT ONE OF THESE (BELOW), PULL IT! KILL IT! FORBID IT IN YOUR GARDENS! 

THIS IS MALTA STAR- THISTLE, A DASTARDLY INVASIVE!

Springing into spring

Look! The golden groundsel is blooming! So pretty! We've had a couple of good rains this month so hopefully it's going to be a beautiful spring.

 Our daffodils took a beating from last night's rains.

Since the weather turned pretty this afternoon and I felt better (James and I for the past week had variations of the flu that's going around), I tackled more pruning jobs in the yard. James mowed my debris piles. I figure I'll prune as I can when the weather's nice, and I'm able. And oh, James took down the wooden arbor that had been covered with passionflower vines and stood over the concrete bench (above). The wood was rotting. Bummer.

Purple martin chapter done

Heavy sigh. It's true. My years of trying to attract purple martins and start a colony have officially ended. We bought the three-story house in 2009 to celebrate my big 50th birthday. Finally, a pair built a nest in May 2013 and laid FOUR EGGS! I was so excited. Right before they should have hatched, the eggs vanished, likely the victims of a rat snake (yes, we had a predator guard up). I was devastated. In 2014 and 2015, we added gourds to the house, hoping that would attract new martins. Nada. Last year, I didn't bother to put up the house. Between fighting sparrows and not seeing much martin interest, I gave up. My heart wasn't in it any more.

Today, James and I met the new owner of my purple martin house (yes, I sold everything). Michelle, who's had martins before and owns Red Sun Landscape Design, said she'd keep me updated and send photos when she gets martins. That'd be so wonderful to see the house full and busy with happy purple martins! I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for you, Michelle! Good luck!

Welcome, spring?

Gulf fritillary on last of quince blooms

Hi! Remember me? It's been a while since I've blogged. Typically, I go into hiding when the temps drop and the sun disappears. But lately, we've had a few nice days, and I've ventured outside to begin my pruning tasks. This afternoon, it's 84 degrees out there! Welcome to spring in Texas! It could be blustery and cold one day, and the exact opposite in 24 hours. 

Speaking of spring, it's begun for sure..... 

Tenpetal anemone

First daffodil!

Maximilian sunflower stems need my attention

Rusty blackhaw viburnum leafing out!

American robin

Fragrant mistflower needy, too.

I've tackled most of the inland sea oats.

Mexican hats ready to get growing!

Farewell, Lovely Assistant

Gabe 2003-2017

We have three cats. Wait. We used to have three cats. Yesterday we had to let Gabe go. And my heart breaks as I type this.

I rarely, if ever, post photos of our cats on this blog. That's because the Texas Wildscapes program frowns on domestic cats in a Wildscape. Which I have always completely understood and accepted. We're not indoor-cat people so they live outside and in our garage. Thus, I sorta kept Gabe, Abe, and Mandy a secret.

But today, I must share. Because, I realize, that by sharing I can pay tribute to a creature that I loved. And perhaps the sharing will help ease the hurt. 

Because all I really want to do at the moment is cry for my loss.

Gabe and Abe, 2003

My daughter and I adopted Gabe and his brother Abe as kittens in 2003 (they started out as Abby and Gabby 'til a rear-end view straightened THAT out several months later). They were born across the street and replaced a sweet calico named Macie who came into our lives in 2002. But someone shot her with a pellet gun, which left her paralyzed. So we had to let her go. In the meantime, Macie had taken a feral gray kitten under her wing. I named her Mandy (Lindsey wanted to call her Bundy...I'm sorry, Lindsey). Owl eyed and fluffy, Mandy wouldn't let us touch her for years. She'd sleep with Macie in her cardboard box in the garage. For only a short time, she was an only cat. Because then Gabe and Abe came along.

For all these years since, we had three cats. 

Gabe, Abe and Mandy

Until yesterday. Unbeknownst to me, Gabe had been losing weight for probably the past month. It was hard to tell because of all his fur! But Lindsey caught it as soon as she petted and held him last week. "Mom, you gotta take him to the vet!" she exclaimed. "I can feel his backbone!" And so she and I drove him over to the vet clinic. He'd lost nearly half his body weight! Surprisingly, his blood work came back clear. We were stumped. Maybe he'd just decided not to eat his dry food any more? So I decided we'd fed him wet food and turkey meat and plump him back up. 

For nearly a week, we tried. But every other day, he'd throw everything back up. While we were gone overnight on an magazine assignment, Gabe stayed in the hospital. Fighter that he is, he ate. But sooner or later, it'd come back up.

And so, yesterday after we returned home, James and I made the sad decision. 

We had to let Gabe go.

All that said, what I'd really like you to know about Gabe is that he was my Lovely Assistant in our gardens. Wherever I'd go, there he'd be, right by my side. Sometimes he'd just show up out of nowhere. "How did you know I was out here?" I'd ask him when I was out in the Meadow or in a corner of the yard. And, oh, how he loved for me to pick him up in my arms and carry him around the yard! After awhile, he'd get too heavy, and I'd have to set him back down.

The funny thing is, I'd get SO FRUSTRATED because he often wouldn't get out of my way when I was trying to take a photograph or prune a plant. He lay down right in the way! 

"Gabe, MOVE!" I'd say with exasperation. Because I couldn't work, I'd pick him up and plop him out of reach. But he'd come right back. He was stubborn that way. "MOVE, Gabe!" I'd tell him. "Yes, I know I'm going to miss you someday when you're gone, but right now, I need you to MOVE!" 

Yes, I said those very words. I know I did.

And I do. I miss him. 

He was right there just two weeks ago when I pruned the Mexican bush sage in the front yard and the sawtooth daisy stems in the back. He must have been feeling bad then, but still, he had to be my Lovely Assistant. How can I go back out in the yard now without him?

But I will. Soon. There's a lot of work to be done out there. For now, I grieve. Soon I'll heal. That's the cycle of life's seasons. 

Thank you for listening.

Gabe and his brother were also our "yard art."

James, Lindsey and me with Gabe

Abe and Gabe