2010 started eerily in the Patch…

I walked outside this morning only to find this other-worldly mist sweeping in, and it was dense.  The other thing odd about this morning was that it was very quite, unusually quite in fact.  I clambered further into my timer bamboo for a better look at this strange phenomena.

I peered through the giant timber culms and heard a muffled sound, I squinted into the dense fog then recoiled as I witnessed my neighbor being attacked by something over the garden fence, something hideous…something that came from…from….inside

The Mist!

Eeek, Eeek, Eeek!

Okay, so the mist actually turned out to be nothing more than steam emanating from the washing machine duct, and my neighbor?  Well that was the last I saw of him.

The Giant timber near the house has climbed to a significant height, you can really see it this time of year when the surrounding pecans have died back.  Have I told you how I can’t wait to get rid of these trees, and that stubborn sticker on the stock tank?

This Timber Bamboo is already prematurely celebrating it’s win over the Pecans by proudly displaying this victory belt around the mid-drift of it’s culm.

Another bamboo patch…

My Buddha’s Belly Bamboo.

Bambusa tuldoides ‘Ventricosa’

Apparently this bamboo only develops the sought after Buddha bellies if it is root bound in a container, well not this one.  I do not know what sort of neglect and torture I have inflicted on this plant underground but I have about 64.2% belly culms, (adjusts nerdy glasses) the rest straight.  Not bad considering it is planted in the ground.  This bamboo has grown a lot in the last year, although all the new culms this year have been frost-nipped and are doubled over.  I think this is due to the fact that this bamboo is still an infant, albeit a twenty foot one, (something that makes me shudder with a slight twinge of a neck crick).

Guess what we did this week?

The ground was once again covered in a blanket of seed snow.

Yes, cattail wands were once more frantically casting their seedy spells all over the Patch, streaming tiny seeds up into the thermals…

…and a few others in less welcome places.

“What were the clouds like when you were young”?

The seeds provided all manner of play, when the spells had all been cast, then the shoveling and “cauldron” concoctions were started. I took advantage of the distraction to wander freely around the garden to see what else was happening. The relative peace!

Sedum reflexum

Sedum reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’ (thanks Pam), this little succulent is spreading very nicely in my cacti & succulent bed.

I tuck this plant in wherever I can, usually it ends up between my moss boulders where I invariably trample on it as I am contorting myself into some ridiculous shape to reach “that” dandelion all the way back there, (well that is where they always are, all the way back in there)!

Dandelions I have found, also love to co-exist right up against the spiny fat belly of a barrel cactus or any other flesh ripping plant for protection, like this sotol, “gently does it…easy…just a little more…almost there”…then Snap, you are left only holding only the top of the weed.  Aarggh! The recoil motion invariably causes the the back of the “pulling hand” to adhere to an adjacent barrel cactus followed by ten minutes of highly colorful language, twenty-seven if I am alone.  I have come to the conclusion, dandelions are smart.

Now where was I?  Yes sedum…trampling, anyway this little plant always seems to bounce right back no matter the abuse, a great plant for filling in those small “detail” cavities in the garden.

Moving On…

The life-force continues to coarse through the ivy veins, despite the freezes we are enduring.

Seed-pods on my Thryallis, does this plant ever stop doing something?

Great winter color on the ornamental grasses.

And yes my Artemisia is officially out of control, almost time for the chop.

Question: is there a correct time to cut back this plant?  I usually just wait until it is so leggy I cannot stand it anymore.

Even in the depths of winter this lantana is still throwing out spring-like blooms, it’s leaves turning from green to a frost bitten deep maroon now.

Finally…

Here are some winter games in the Patch recorded on my new “Flip”.

The music I created in GarageBand, it features sampled snippets of my oldest hobbit when she was little, finding her very first bug in the garden, and it wasn’t the featured ladybug that caused my youngest’s conniption in the video.

“Ewww”!

Inspirational image of the week:

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, just as this 3D effect rug called John Deere tractor. Designed by Permafrost, manufactured in Sweden and wool from New Zealand.  The inspiration behind this rug came from a common image of rural America, the John Deere tractor.

Stay Tuned for:

“Carnival”

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