More new natives!

I can't wait! At the Llano Lawn and Garden Show this morning, we purchased six native plants from Barbara Wright and Kathy Comer. Barbara owns Wright's Nursery in Briggs. I'm going to wait until the danger of freezes pass before I plant them. But here's what I got: two purple passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), standing cypress (Ipomopsis rubra), winecup (Callirhoe involucrata), and two old man's beard (Clematis drummondii). 

BLUEBONNETS!

Last fall, we distributed hundreds and hundreds of bluebonnet seeds that we harvested from our neighbor's yard across the street (with her blessings, of course). We broadcast them across the Meadow and then waited. And waited. Nothing. Nada. Zip. No bluebonnet seedlings this spring! Darn it. 

Then last week or so, right by our driveway in the front yard, close to the house, I spotted it–A BLUEBONNET! I marked it well (top photo) and waited for James to get home. "Look!" I exclaimed. He didn't see it quite at first. Then he did. And then HE spotted a SECOND bluebonnet! Two plants! So we marked that one, too. My dream is to have the Meadow covered with bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes, verbena and other wildflowers. With a few purple martins thrown in, too.

Yeah, I'll just keep dreaming....

Bee box housekeeping

Finally, after much procrastination, I took down the bee box I made in 2009 and cleaned it up. Well, actually, all I did was pull out the plastic straws I'd inserted and cleaned out the tubes. I bought some paper straws, as recommended by a bee expert Michael Warriner. But they're much too small in diameter. Darn it. So I'm going to leave the tubes as they are...a la natural.

Anybody need a box of paper straws made of birch? Or maybe I can use them for something else....

Llano Lawn and Garden Show

Hey, what a beautiful day to get out and drive up to Llano! James got to go, too. I was among six speakers who gave 30-minute presentations during the Llano Lawn and Garden Show, hosted by the Llano Master Gardeners and held at the St. James Lutheran Church. Bill Luedecke, who's a fellow Master Naturalist with my Highland Lakes chapter, discussed getting gardens ready for spring planting. He's a Master Gardener, too. I talked about our Texas Wildscape. This morning was a first for me: I used my iPad and the KeyNote app to produce and give a program that's much like PowerPoint. It went GREAT! Thanks again to Commander Ben, for introducing me to this set-up.

Thank you, too, Julia Woodall for inviting me to the show. We had a great time. I even won a door prize! A gardening hat and two pairs of garden gloves (size Small–perfect fit). Now if we can just win a $25,000 kitchen remodeling sweepstakes that I entered yesterday.....

Bee box experiment

 I've read about and seen nest boxes for solitary bees on the Internet made from bamboo tubes. Since we have an ample supply of the invasive species in town, I decided to try making a couple. First, I stopped by the convenience store where they grow and asked permission to cut some. Go ahead, the guy said. Then I broke off an armful of dead bamboo and loaded the stuff into my car's trunk.

 At home, I cut the shoots below the node as directed.

That way, you make a tube with one close end...

...and the other open so the bees can nest inside. I wasn't very careful about choosing the sizes of tube opening. After all, this is an experiment. If I see that the bees like my two boxes, then I'll make more.

Now bundling the tubes together was a challenge. I wasn't finicky about the lengths either (some were much shorter than others). I finally decided to use rubber bands initially, then I secured them with string.

Since this is just an experiment, I decided to tie the two bundles to the cedar fence in the Meadow. Bee nest boxes should always face south or southeast to get the morning light. At least, that's what I read. So we'll see what happens next! 

Mandarin tree update

We had my Texas satsuma tree (Citrus unshiu 'Miho') in the garage all winter. In the past week or so, it put on loads of blossoms. So if I want fruit this fall, I decided I'd better get it outside for some sex.....I mean, pollination. Right away, the bees and other winged insects showed up. And oh man, if you could only INHALE the sweet aroma of those flowers! Wow-we-zowee!

Mournful thyris (Pseudothyris sepulchralis)

Gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus)

Bee

I Hate Malta

This devious Malta star-thistle (above and below) managed to sprout in CEMENT.

Yes, I hate Malta.

As in Malta star-thistle. Centaurea melitensis, to be precise. I hate it. I really do. "Wicked, it's wicked," I mumble to myself as I search for, yank and pull out the stuff. From a yard away now, I can spot a Malta seedling. I've become that much of an expert at identifying the various stages of growth.

I've also declared all-out war on the invasive species. It will NOT inhabit our Wildscape. It will not. It will not.

Toward that goal, I've employed the use of 9 percent vinegar to kill older plants. Monday afternoon, I used a coffee-grinder cleaning brush to "paint" vinegar on the foliage. Below are photos of what the victims looked like Tuesday.

Yesterday, I returned to the execution scene and POURED some vinegar on the dratted thistles (below)....I can't really say that the vinegar is killing them as fast as I'd like. So I guess I'll stick with good, old-fashioned hand removal.