Wild blue indigo

We planted this wild blue indigo (Baptisia australis) in April 2014. I had to take photos this year because this is the best it's ever looked. So lush and happy. Despite our blizzards and lack of rain right now, too. 

So far, no genistra broom moth caterpillars, which have devoured this indigo in past springs. But this spring is not over yet! I'll keep an eye out. As a general rule, I let caterpillars eat what they want in our gardens. But not when they totally decimate a plant. 

Except for (always an exception, right?) pipevine plants....I know pipevines come right back after hungry pipevine caterpillars eat a vine to nothing. 

The Extractigator

Our local birds and squirrels frequently plant hackberry and pecan trees where we do NOT want them in our gardens. Whenever I can, I pull them when they're seedlings and easy to yank. But a lot go unnoticed and keep growing. Then James has to dig them out with a shovel. Ugh! Last year, Jerry S., a fellow Master Naturalist, recommended this gadget. I finally got around to ordering one last month. Yesterday our new Extractigator Junior arrived from Canada. We put it right to work....

Our first hackberry....

Success!

 

Our biggest hackberry!

A magic trapdoor

Awhile ago, James came inside from weed eating the front yard. "Get your camera! I want to show you something really cool," he said. "I've never seen this before." Then he escorted me to the spot. Good eye! He came across the burrow of a trapdoor spider, most likely a Ummidia species, which I have met in the past in our yard. These large spiders are closely related to tarantulas. This burrow opening was about the size of a quarter. Such a cool find!

 

Barbados cherry

Our dwarf Barbados cherry, which we planted in 2013, didn't like our freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions in February. But I can see that it's coming back from the roots. So I did a hard trim back on it yesterday. It was getting messy anyway. I'm posting this for future reference.

Texas vs musk thistle rosettes

In February, I wrote a post about killing musk thistles at my mother's place near Boerne. At the time, I wondered how to tell the difference between a musk thistle and our native Texas thistle (Cirsium texanum). To help, I took some photos of Texas thistles that grow in our Meadow. At the bottom, I'll post a musk thistle photo.

 Below, musk thistle (Carduus nutans), an invasive.

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!