“Reflections and Double Agents”

ESPatch Jan 28, 2011 10 comments

Clear warm winter days have this rosemary blooming once again, and it is covered in honey bees, naturally. It is almost the only thing blooming in the patch, apart from the occasional ice plant that I still cannot decide if I even like!

How sweet must the nectar taste to these bees in the depths of winter (shhh, it is 72 degrees right now) and imagine the flavor of the honey?

Our warm spell is about to end, (I think he senses it), hence the unusual timing and length of this post.

Up is down and down is up:

I confused myself with the next few shots…

The weather was perfect, not a breath of wind stirred the water’s surface in my stock tank, it was as reflective as a mirror.

Each time I see the Upside-Down Man
Standing in the water,
I look at him and start to laugh,
Although I shouldn’t oughtter.
For maybe in another world
Another time
Another town,
Maybe HE is right side up
And I am upside down.

Reflection
BY
Shel Silverstein

Looking down into the water sea oats.

All the above shots were almost perfectly reflected in the water in my stock tank, even the post oak was reflecting sharply in the middle of the pond.

The neighbors China berry also put on a great display in the water.

Back on dry land…

The unseasonably warm weather prompted me to move a lavender container up against the side of my house today which is where it apparently should have been all along.

I was also compelled to plant some smiling purple hyacinth beans, (Thanks Marion) knowing that rain is about to descend once again on central Texas.

Anyone remember “The Black and White Minstrel Show”? I quote:

History of the Minstrel Shows 1843-1900

Before the Civil War minstrel shows gained world-wide popularity, with the American companies performing in Europe and Japan. All levels of society attended: Thackeray and Gladstone were two British fans of the minstrel shows, which also toured Australia. Visitors to the US left accounts of the performances. Joseph Gungl, a German traveler, saw early slapstick as the minstrels of one troupe began to “fight” on-stage. As immigrants worried the people who shared the American consensus, blackface Irishmen and even Chinese began to appear; these must have appeared a little strange. Door prizes and familiar songs were staples; the jokes changed from town to town, commenting on local issues.

I always found the Minstrels disturbing and very odd even as a young child, but they do look like hyacinth beans.

My youngest was a “secret agent” the other day, along with his agent sister. His Bond escapades took him deep under my Cypress ‘blue ice’ where he proceeded to get “sapped”, don’t ask me how.

Oh yes, his hair now has chunks of sticky sap that is elevating his hairstyle (more then usual) in a rather haphazard way (more then usual), he keeps reaching for it and asks: “What IS dat”?

I answer: “Shhh Bond, it is secret agent gel”.

Now, where did I leave my pruners?

Stay Tuned (once again) for:

“Bedding Down”

All material © 2011 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Walking on Thin Ice”

ESPatch Jan 25, 2011 15 comments

Sitting on her wizened cedar stump (thanks Bob) the local “Patch” seer predicted a hard freeze this week in her crystal ball…

…as night fell she swirled around her fire, occasionally devouring a marshmallow, and a few

blackened shrimps? (Okay that was really bad).

Naturally she was right about the freezes.

A lone canna leaf, frozen to the spot. The temperatures swing wildly at this time of year in Central Texas, freezing nights contrasting with clear warmer days.

This canna doesn’t seem to know what to do.

Pinecone cactus have decided there is safety in numbers and huddle up close in the cold, check out the face on the winking Mayan-looking character lurking behind the ice plant on the right.

Tephrocactus articulatus

The rather fearful, grimacing expressions on these cacti indicate exactly how they feel about the cold. The extremities on the “cones” have caved inward in response to the cold night temperatures, though it will totally recover come the spring, with some heat and a few Botox injections here and there.

“Ya ya! Give it to er now ESP, make sure ze has enough left for me esp? ESP? EESSSPPPP?!”

A few plants respond to the cold a little more elegantly, like this very regal Queen Elizabeth Stonecrop,

Sedum spurium ‘Queen Elizabeth’

This little plant just keeps getting better and better, the colder and colder it gets.

It’s leaves now resemble miniature roses.

This royal succulent can live up to ten years!

“I am not impressed”.

This dwarf miscanthus also looks better as the temperatures dip, its once green leaves now a pin-striped white and purple maroon. I cut these ornamental grasses back to a few inches from the ground in the spring as soon as I see new green growth re-emerging. I see these all around town cut back prematurely, completely missing this purple phase.

Moving on…

The Patch has been hard at work on a residential installation in south Austin, removing a bit of this,

and a lot of that. I detest unnecessary steel edging almost as much as the Bermuda grass that it invariably attempts to contain, and it is the first thing I usually remove on an install. It really is horrible stuff, overused and invariably badly implemented as a sort of short garden “hurdle” to trip up any unsuspecting person walking in the vicinity. Should you have to remove it? Expect some, or all of the following:

You can count on being finger-nipped or worse, impaled on one of “Vlad, the Impaler’s” metal spikes, (Vlad reportedly invented steel landscape edging back in the 13th century). I will not mention the language that you will adopt as you work your way down a wobbling unruly line of removed edging, trying desperately to pry and wiggle one rusted or earth-clogged section from another in the most contorted positions imaginable (feet have to be used). It is harder work then shoveling! Oh and if the end of a metal spike has hit a stone or tree root as it was driven into the ground? Forget about it and just resort to bending the two sections together (I have found three sections start to get heavy), though be warned, in a final ditch attempt, this demonic barrier will try to spring up to slap the side of your head with the back of it’s aggressive metal hand. Give me bricks or boulders any day for a less annoying (physically and visually) and infinitely more flexible and naturalistic edging solution.

Under copious amounts of mulch, I found these ghostly roots tightly interwoven to the underside of the weed suppressant material that we were removing, desperately searching and scouring for a way out from under the smothering black blanket. These roots had traveled staggering distances.

Amazing…Bermuda grass IS the Borg.

“YOUR GARDEN WILL BE ASSIMILATED…RESISTANCE IS FUTILE”.

“Oh, but I know your weaknesses Bermuda Queen”.

Oh come on, it is Bermuda grass! Do not talk to me about vinegar and this and that!

Finally:

Cast Iron plant is once again living up to it’s name.

Soft leaf yucca catching some winter rays.

Ghost plants look their best this time of year.

One of my favorite clean up jobs!

I love picking up leaves at the best of times as you know, but when they are embedded into the heart of a sago palm?

Well, enough said!

Stay Tuned for:

“Reflections and Double Agents”

All material © 2011 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.