Hardscaping

Agricultural Apocalypse

ESPatch Jun 25, 2021 1 comment

Still cleaning up from the perfect storm!!!

I left most of my plants well alone after the big freeze, and some are only now returning to life, with new growth tentatively pushing through now that the summer heat is on.

Oh, and the heat is on!

new growth on sago palm The cycads, who never do anything fast, started with new growth at the base (which I immediately cut back like I usually do) before they finally sprouted from the top. To think I almost pulled out the one on the right, as the base felt and looked rotten.

The needle palms in the background took no damage at all.

This agave was left with some really unusual markings from the freeze.

Re’mark’able.

Can you guess what this once was?

This is all that was left of my 20 year old barrel cactus after I had drained the carcass and retired its crumpled flesh to the compost bin. (I will spare you that particular Facebook video) – no I wont:

https://www.facebook.com/100001224482768/videos/4041816729202437/

All that remained was the central, stinky core.

“Aye, it is a’ways the core Espatch, a’ways the core, at least ye didnae have tae jettison yers inta space!”

“Shut-up Scotty.”

RIP old friends…we had some fun together:

https://www.eastsidepatch.com/2009/02/yo-ho-ho-and-a-barrow-of-cactus/

Some changes afoot in The Patch:

This area used to have a large, dying Afghan pine in it (now destined for future firewood), and a rather large clump of Buda’s Belly bamboo. It all had to go.

Digging up a mature Buda’s Belly it not something I would recommend…at all. In fact this may have been one of the toughest plants I have ever extracted to date. Giant Timber bamboo was easier to take out than this beast.

The roots were so strong, and so incredibly dense, that the only way to get this thing out of the ground was to tunnel all the way under it, and that is what I did…over the course of three days!

“I say, Espatch is making rather slim progress on that Bamboo root-ball Sergeant, are we still on schedule for the escape?”

The root ball was so heavy, even getting it to the street (for bulk pick-up) presented severe logistical, and physical problems.

I was convinced the city wouldn’t process it…but thankfully they did.

“And why do all of this removal”?

Well,

a) I was sick of looking at a browning and continually depressed Afghan Pine.

b) I was sick of constantly grooming the Buda’s Belly over the course of a year.

Afghan Pine and the Belly taken a few years ago when the pine still looked relatively healthy.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a stunning clumping bamboo, but it constitutes a lot of work on a regular basis to keep it looking on form.

Also this particular stretch of The Patch receives really good sunlight.

Perfect for some raised vegetable beds!

Wateringcan Leviosa!

A few warm solar lights make the beds pop at night.

These Rostrata punks also got their hair in the spotlight.

To go along with the raised beds, we constructed a platform deck, privacy fence, and strung three disco balls onto the pecan trees. Well you have to have those don’t you?

I have a lot of staining to do in my future. These two mister fans blast the deck and do a good job of cooling things down…if only the mosquitos would just back-off.

Five minutes out here right now and I look like Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

Focus!

I recently purchased this small, inexpensive clip-on macro lens attachment for my iPhone, just to mess around with it.

I am quite impressed with the results:

Dolichopodidae, Genus Condylostylus.

These tiny Long Legged flies make good subjects for a macro lens as they are not prone to spook easily. It still requires a very steady hand though, if you were shooting freehand on high zoom like I was here.

All of these images would have been much better with a tripod.

Fire ants busy at work.

Tiny grasshopper on canna.

I can’t even remember what this was! Perhaps a white poppy?

This Hackberry or Tawny Emperor (I cant tell) looked liked it was a natural part of the graphics on the front page of this novel.

Post Agricultural Apocalypse Summary:

frost damage on cactus tree I ended up losing all my barrel cactus, half of my opuntia tree, yes half, a Med. Fan Palm, two agave, and one Jerusalem sage to the ice storm.

All my citrus, pittosporums, loquats, cycads and bamboos are returning from the base / top.

The best surprise was this Bauhinia corymbosa vine.

I was convinced it was dead after been dormant for such an extended period of time. Then, only a couple of weeks ago, a tiny hint of green.

Overall it could have been a lot worse.

Now, lets see what will make it through August?

Finally:

I will leave you with a few visuals of a rather large design I am sporadically working on in South Austin.

It is a stunning property located on a natural creek and pool. The future house and studio will be a new build and aesthetically very modern, lots of industrial concrete, rivets, glass, and steel elements.

The owners wanted some high-level visualizations to help define some of the spaces, and identify structural elements that may be incorporated into the final scheme.

A cocktail deck and naturalistic firepit with large limestone boulder seating. There is no shortage of large boulders around here. Understory shade and deer resistant planting scheme with vantage points and seating.

Turn-around driveway concept.

Entryway and expanded driveway.

Stay Tuned For:

“Martins and Monsters”

All material © 2021 for East Side Patch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

A Spider in Wolf’s Clothing

ESPatch Sep 17, 2020 2 comments

Or is it a wolf in spiders clothing…or a sheep?

My arachnophobic daughter spotted this Wolf Spider roaming around the dark misty-moors at the very back of the Patch.

I told her not to stray too far from the decomposed granite path when the moon was full!

Wolf Spiders

It is called a Wolf Spider because they hunt and run down their prey in preference to constructing a web and passively waiting…hence the long legs. They also have three rows of eyes – the top row of two are medium sized, the middle row consists of two large eyes, and below are a row of four smaller ones (not visible in this picture – he kept turning around). These provide the spider with exceptionally good eyesight for spotting and catching its prey.

More about the wolf spider and some other monsters here: https://www.eastsidepatch.com/2011/11/little-monsters/

Apparently at night, armed with a flashlight and good eyesight, you can witness hundreds of these reflective wolves’ eyes scouring a backyard for suitable prey.

I suggested we should go out and witness this spectacle to my daughter who just looked back at me…

over a very large pile of stamps.

A pound of them to be precise, and that equates to a lot of Queen heads! (also known as definitives)

As Covid has been keeping us largely housebound for the best part of this year, our ‘very basic’ knowledge of Philately has increased dramatically, as have our compulsive ordering of stamps from eBay sellers.

Let me tell you, a pound of stamps keeps you busy for a very long time.

I even roped my sister into sending over my childhood stamp collection from Scotland.

Thanks so much sis!

The virus has officially sent us off the nerd deep end. We now have so many stamps our collection had to be upgraded into one of the largest binders ever constructed, a marvel of modern engineering.

Talking of engineering this channel has captivated me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w7gzIQAHf0

It is a struggle to heave ‘The Book’ (as we now collectively call it) from the side table, up onto our large dining room table. It lets out an audible groan whenever it has to support it.

Naturally I gravitate toward the bug stamps:

These textured Yugoslavian stamps are literally miniature works of art:

This next stamp, featuring a ‘Kora’, was very interesting to me. Years ago, I had dragged one of these cumbersome instruments on a plane back from The Gambia.

When played well, it sounds like a harp.

Moving along…

I recently ran a few yards of granite where my future deck is going to be constructed.

The cats are always there to flop around on it, proceeding to use it as the worlds largest litter box!

Like she cares.

The deck will be on the right,

right below his escape window?

Hmm.

I planted a bunch of fennel early this year (regular & bronze), and they have put on a great show. Hosting everything from swallowtail caterpillars, wasps, flies, aphids, and loads of ladybug larvae. You name it, it was on them. I would have had a crawl on them myself, if the stalks could have held my weight.

You cannot beat this plant for entertainment value, it even finished with a fine firework display.

I am planting twice as many next year.

“In nomine patris, et filii, et spiritus agave sancti”

Century plants really do make a big, old, crusty, stinky messes when they finally do push up the daisies, but wow do they go out in style!

A massive beanstalk (up to 25ft) packed with seeds – a final push, one last hurrah.

An agave reproduces once right before it dies. This process of reproducing once , flowering, setting seeds , and then dying is called: Monocarpy.

This beanstalk looks like it was pushed over onto the curb for safety reasons. In the wild it would’ve come crashing down, dispersing seeds around the area, to then produce more agave plants.

New East Side Patch color:

New East Side Patch Porch (Thanks Juju)!!!

All that is left to do are the pickets around the porch, the oversized flagstone to the steps, and the sidewalk. Oklahoma flag to match the browns perhaps?

The soccer ball fits into the color scheme!

I will leave you with this rather odd face in a cloud I caught the other night,

and a design I generated for a new-build in Tarrytown. The client wanted a classical modern aesthetic, very clean.

The front entryway and illuminated steel planters offer some enclosure from the street. House color changed to off-white, I added crushed limestone pathways, and privacy side planting.

Front floating deck platform / steel planters. New gates added on both sides.

Cut limestone lueders and boulders / dark mulched beds reflect contemporary architecture. New driveway, small courtyard.

Clean lines, sweet olive for fragrance. Turf in the sun, beds in the shade.

(Cabana not finished at this point) – Extended outside deck on Cabana, softening muhly and seating between the willows.

Stay Tuned For:

“Oleander Bloom”

“Aw come on”!

All material © 2020 for East Side Patch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.