This week I have found many new and old visitors alike taking a flutter or a crawl down the winding decomposed granite pathways in the Patch, and I am not referring to the after-effects of ingesting Leah’s sangria, though I could be.

There are hunters and predators lurking everywhere, under and above leaves, in the sky and on the ground,

Hard to spot hunters hunting down the tastiest foliage, like this…

Texas Spotted Range Grasshopper,

Psoloessa texana

you have to look really hard to spot this grasshopper, even it’s eyeballs are camouflaged!  I only ever witness this beast if I happen to disturb one, then I have to follow the enormous jump and endure the subsequent heat and mosquito ravaged hunt in a general vicinity to find it again. They have remarkable colored “flashes” on their legs, that I have still yet to capture on camera. The wings look exactly like leaf skeletons.

“Croak…I love grasshoppers…burp!”

The Gulf Coast toads have been busy in my feeder stock-tank the last few weeks…

…laying strings and floating mountains of toad spawn.  I always keep a close eye on the amount of toad spawn in my above ground stock tank pond after my “Primordial Soup” escapade a couple of years back. I still harbor night terrors from that episode and the flatulent machine I rented that was supposed to help alleviate the situation:

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2008/08/primordial-soup/

And look…

A baby Jewels of Opar! (at least I think it is). Unfortunately it chose a really bad spot to germinate on one of my pathways, I will relocate it when it gets bigger. Considering how many seeds this plant sent out last year I have only seen three new plants so far and they are in wildly different areas of the Patch!

“All this talk of things eating things has made me hungry!”

(Watermelon courtesy of Pam at digging: http://www.penick.net/digging/). I think we can safely say this melon was a total hit with this “Harry” Pam! Needless to say a whole bunch of seeds came spluttering my way seconds after the shutter closed.

This one goes out to you…

“…your the Pam, your the Pam!” :-)

More tiny eggs are turning up on my Mexican lime tree that, incidentally is making a valiant growth effort after I had to take the wood-cutter’s axe to it after the winter freezes. The Giant Swallowtail butterflies swarm citrus trees, giving them their other common name: “Orange Dogs”. The larvae are bird dropping mimics, and retain this nasty presentation into maturity. Because of their camouflage, they can often be found feeding right out in the open on their host plants. I have a bunch of their larvae at various stages of excremental development…

Papilio cresphontes larva

Yes, not the most aesthetically pleasing of creatures I agree, but a very effective deterrent for any would-be predators, after all who would want to eat ….?

I bet Andrew would also love to get his chops into a few of these brightly colored caterpillars lined up on a skewer!  This is the strangely named Io moth caterpillar, I found it lurking in leaves under my ivy.

Automeris io

The feet are very animated.

The larvae start off orange and as they develop turn bright green. The caterpillars are covered in black-tipped spines that cause a lot of pain if touched. It is reported that the Naboo use these spines as poisoned blow-darts on occasion, but that is another story.  The spines have a poison that is released with the slightest touch. The green caterpillars have two lateral stripes, the upper one being red and the lower one white. When the caterpillars are ready, they spin a flimsy, cocoon made from a dark, coarse silk. Some larvae will crawl to the base of a tree and make their cocoons amongst leaf litter on the ground, while others will use living leaves to wrap their cocoons with. The leaves will turn brown and fall to the ground during autumn, taking the cocoons with them. Look at what they turn into!

Here are the adult moths female top, male below. (picture courtesy of Wikipedia).

Amazing looking nocturnal moths!

Equally amazing are the

Gulf Fritillary or Passion Butterflies that are now showing up in the Patch

Agraulis vanillae

It is orange with black markings on the tops of the wings. Underneath it has silvery white spots. This one being a lighter orange is a female.  I love the contrast topside to underside of these birds, they look like totally different butterflies. Plant a passionflower and watch them turn up!

Incredible coloration.

The Texas Spiny Lizard

Sceloporus olivaceus

is a common resident of most of Texas. It spends a great deal of time on fence posts and in trees like this one in my post oak, searching for food, but can be encountered on rocks or on the ground. This spiny lizard can grow to almost 1 foot in length!

Picture from Wikipedia: pretty fancy!

Colors and patterns typically serve to be adequate camouflage against the bark of trees in its chosen habitat.  Their scales have a distinctly spiny texture to them, and their long toes and sharp claws are suited to climbing.  I have seen more of these spiny lizards this year then I have ever seen before, not sure why?

Unlike anoles who appear to enjoy getting their faces into the camera, these spiny lizards are really easily spooked and extremely fast.  This one “galloped” away and up into my post oak before I could say…

“My beans are finally at the top of the poles, and flowering!”…Or…

“Lots of new growth on my purple hearts and fountain grass!”

The Patch is entering the dog days of summer once again,

my fingers are crossed for a more lenient one then last year.

For now the sun is setting in the Patch so I bid you a warm Walton’s goodnight.

“Night Jim Draco Bob, night Pam, night Jenny(s) (RR the kids loved doing the wooden puzzles), night Les, night Daphne, night Germi (it was great to meet you), night Linda, night Meredith, night Texas Deb, night Diana, night Laura, night Cheryl, night Katina, night Ellie…etc,etc.

Stay Tuned for:

“Shaken not Stirred”

All material © 2010 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late  (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Go England!

Check out the Patch write up at: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/greengarden/award_sanbernard.htm

Now these are some knotty dreads man, all matted and stuck together. The panicles on my Mexican feather grasses had created such a dense matting situation, that it was making their heads fall over.

They looked pretty bad all stuck together like island hair… mmm, what to do, what to do?  I picked my first test subject and just like…

I went to work, frantically snipping out all the seed heads with my prosthetic shearing fingers…

…unlike Edward’s reputable pruning results, mine were not so good, not so good at all (left), it just looked really unnatural. As I pondered what else I could do to remedy this situation, I grabbed one of the seed heads and pulled it, it easily came away from the plant….that was it!  I went to another grass, grabbed a small chunk and sure enough the seeds and a length of the panicle stalk came away from the plant. This technique ensured that the plant retained a more natural look while getting rid of the matted dreadlock situation… it worked a treat to lighten the entire grass (right).

Here they are back to their former glory once again.  I systematically went through all my grasses pulling their hair out.  I did get a little greedy on the amount that could be removed in a one extraction a couple of times, resulting in a small clump of the grass coming up out of the ground, oops!  No, there was a fine balance to be heeded in this hair-pulling activity.  By the time I was about halfway through my grasses I had the technique mastered, gathering the dreadlocks into clumps and working my way around the plant as though it were a scalp, I must have looked insane, especially when I started to lay out a cape (courtesy of my professional hair cutting wife) around each plant to catch any falling hair follicles, errr…I mean seeds!

I shoved these seeds into a large bucket as I went on, and on, and…

A couple of hours later, I had about four of these seed-bales filling up my trash can, there must have been millions of seeds.

Moving on…

Butterflies, moths, all manner of things a’ flutter were feasting this week on copious amounts of the sweet stuff.  This one it seems had the whole salty / sweet thing going on.  It stayed on my tee shirt for a few minutes (quite salty at this point).  I am guessing there was enough moisture on the garment from the feather grass thinning in our 101 degree (with the heat index) temperatures to extract something nourishing out of it?  Whatever it was getting from my garment, it was liking it.

More from the bench area…

Ever since I finished my bench the spaces to the left and right of it seemed somewhat lost, floating around in space.

“Roger that Houston, both sides of the bench, but can I say “gimbal lock” one last time?”

I decided to reflect the opposite bed to the bench and continue the same brickwork design to form a couple of small beds to finish these areas off, and to visually anchor the bench.

And the other side.

Must remember to move that first canna away from the dwarf Palmetto, it is getting a little crowded right there!  The brickwork really helps to make the bench a focal point and destination.

Are those more feather grasses?

“I have some rather disturbing news”…

The Cactus Man has apparently returned from the grave…he is re-animating!

“He is an opuntia ESP”?

I could not believe this when I saw it today.  It appears the deceased Cactus Man is attempting to re-create his face and re-animate himself on a new cactus paddle that has grown in exactly the same spot from the same plant where I originally him and his family.  Now what are the chances of that?

“About 4504 to the power of 10 ESP, now… can’t you see I am busy engaging the Borg?”

Data!

This was one tiny spider. I shot this blind with the camera.  I was amazed what shapes and translucent coloration the camera caught.

Sedum potosinum in decline, turning a rust color at the end of it’s bloom cycle.

Vines are on the move…

…pond-life is feeling good…

…and the pole-beans are on the rise.

Captains Log supplemental: Check out my new “ESP Design Services” at the top of my blog, and I hope you like the new sidebar.

ESP.

Stay Tuned for:

“Emergance”

All material © 2010 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late  (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Aw, I make a great ladybug, don’t you think ESP?”

“Oh yeah, looking real good now Lady Gaga!”

Ladybug!  Ladybug!

Fly away home.

Your house is on fire.

And your children all gone.

All except one,

And that’s little Ann,

For she crept under

The artemesia plant.

In Britain ladybugs are referred to as ‘ladybirds.’  It is believed that the word Ladybird was substituted for Ladybug in the American version of the nursery rhyme, due to the word association with Firebug meaning an arsonist or pyromaniac.  There has been some speculation that the rhyme originates from the time of the Great Fire of London in 1666.

photo by Steve VanGunda

Farmers of old knew the value of having the ladybirds around, reducing the amount of pests in their crops, it was traditional to cry out the rhyme before they burnt their fields following harvests.

I have a bumper infestation of ladybird larvae and ladybugs on my artemesia this year,

I had no idea this plant was such an attractant or host, another good reason to have a bunch of it…right Pam?

I caught up with another large ladybug looking creature that was actually a beetle, a Milkweed Leaf Beetle:

Labidomera cliviollis

It was clambering around rather clumsily in this feather grass, the grass not able to hold it’s weight.

While we are on the subject of insects:

This metal dragonfly from the creative iron-working hands of Bob over there at: http://dracogardens.blogspot.com/ was a real hit in the Patch this week, and no accidents so far Bob!

It gets a tweaking at every opportunity:

The scorpion hook has taken pride of place in our hallway, I hung it down low for the hobbits to hang their coats on, the pincers are great for holding their Tolkien rings.

Thank you!

The elder hobbit now keeps asking…“so who is Bob”?

Oh yes, someone giving her gifts?  She has to get to the bottom of it.

One last bug communication I overheard this week…

“Wait lads!  Let me make sure the coast is clear”…

(Dog Whistles back over shoulder) then moves a bunch of legs in a series of marine-like gestures…

Winged reproductive termites

“Go! Go! Go!

I first noticed these alates (winged) or primary reproductive termites when a mocking bird dove over my head, did some mid-air aerobatics to snag a couple as they emerged from the side of my house. I quickly honed in with my camera…first one, then a few, then they began streaming out of my house like bats coming out from under Congress bridge.  This exodus is referred to as a dispersal nuptial flight, it is commonly referred to as swarming.   If I wasn’t there taking pictures of the event I am sure the birds would have been in a full-on feeding frenzy.  When the alates receive the proper cues (warm temperatures, bright sunlight, low winds, for example) they will leave the colony and fly away to start their own.  Male and female termites shed their rainbow colored wings and will pair up when a suitable mate is found.  When termites swarm they are often misidentified as “flying ants”, due to their visual similarities.

“Enough of this insect nonsense ESP, move with haste towardeth the plant talk!”

Central Texas has had some sporadic light drizzles this past week, and a little rain…

…drizzles that left water jewels defying gravity on the grasses…

and a dusting of dew on my hearts…

“Yes, yes” (obligatory noises).

…moisture that made the ragworts perspire.

Along with the moisture naturally came the now traditional, ESP snail hunt…

…and quite the bounty there was to had for nimble picking fingers, by the time they had finished, this bucket was three quarters full. 

When the sun made it out again, later in the day, I was emphatically summoned to the back of the garden for some sushi…the goldfish! Oh no the goldfish!…Could they? Would they?

“Allez cuisine!”

Thankfully this was the vegetarian feast that was awaiting me at the end of the garden, complete with post-oak chopsticks.  I thought the bamboo husks were a nice Michelin-star touch from my elder hobbit.  While I was devouring my garden sushi, (holding my head back and dropping it to the ground),  I noticed that my oldest clump of giant timber bamboo had developed fresh growth at it’s base…

…the funny thing was, the foliage was variegated?  Very odd, but I am not complaining.

The sun also dried out the barbed seeds that have now formed on my feather grasses, not sure if I should go around and strip these seeds now before they have a chance to blow around and germinate, what would you do?  I must have…

“Hmmm”…

“A million seedlings?”

My loquats are in loquat heaven with the recent moisture, combined with a rather wet winter.

My stone crop waterfall is also starting to bloom with tiny white pendants that hang over the slabs.  This great little plant seems to grow where there is no soil.  I think it is now rooting on the debris that my Post Oak is emitting.

My Gaura lindheimeri parasols have also opened up this week.

Blue Lousisiana Iris are also popping into their tropical prime.

This one was hiding an unmentionable…

No, not him!

an unmentionable that was making one of my two Alice in Wonderland strawberries blush.

Can anybody Identify this plant?  It is about three feet tall.

And to finish…a 180 view from my new bench.

Stay Tuned for:

“Men in Black-foot daisies”

All material © 2010 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and

punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)

14th century planet Earth techniques.

Poppies are popping at the front of the patch.

Some are so dense I have had to thin them out to allow light to reach my Gaura lindheimeri (whirling butterfly) plants, that were in danger of being engulfed by the waxy red explosion.

Ripping at the seams!

“The poppies are really putting on a good show this year, look Ben.”

“Don’t you think I can see them with these eyes of mine Penelope?”

Everything is mounding up pretty well in the ESPatch this spring…the burgundy cannas are on the move and the Mexican feather grass is already in its prime, they are already full of seed pinnacles…

“Forests decay, harvests perish, flowers vanish, But grass is immortal.” – John J. Ingalls

…they looked spectacular the other day with the wind ripping through them,

and then the setting sun igniting them.

The spring stragglers are my Barbados cherry that is slowly greening up (center left) and my Mexican lime tree that so far only has two small green sprigs on it’s lower trunk.

My artemisia is also filling in quite nicely, that is the greener variegated variety (front right) that I am keeping a close eye on…it has spread significantly since I first planted it, but for now I will let it run wild up the slope.

“We’ll build dwarf palmetto spears, twice the length of a Naboo man…Hold, Hold, Here they come lads, Hold, HOLD, Here come the snails, HOLD.”

“Don’t be ridiculous William”.

I do not think I have ever seen so many snails in the ESP!

The inland sea oats have risen at an alarming rate…

…I have been spreading my sea oats all around the patch for a number of years now.

Is he serious Barb…Nicky…Margene?

While we are on the topic…

When I opened my compost bin today I was emphatically greeted by a cloud of these, they were tiny, in fact when I first leaned in to take a look I thought it was only one insect.  I was shocked to find these “push-me-pull-you” escapades going on with almost all of them…soldier flies gone wild!

Hermetia illucens Linnaeus

Black soldier fly

Moving on…

Why the faces?

Well, I was weeding with my youngest hobbit, who has a hard time discerning what is a plant and what is a weed, when I glanced over and saw this little morsel of fun…

Oh yes, I had to do it, I don’t know why, I never seem to learn, a word of advice…do not prod the unknown!  From a distance it looked like it had a “shell” of sorts on the outside, but oh-no how wrong I was.  My finger sunk into the martian spore like it was a marshmallow…shocked I retracted my finger (which now had a glob of the martian-mallow stuck to the end of it)…and yes, you all know what was to happen next.

“No don’t do it, don’t even think about it!”

Ahh, but I was about to, and I did, and I immediately regretted it, yes, as if my last post was a prequel to my current predicament, I made a really bad choice and smelled my own finger. Oh like you wouldn’t!  Oh you wouldn’t?

From my kneeling position my body went into an irreversible backward arc.

I narrowly avoided taking my hobbit along with me in the recoil.

My over the top reaction naturally captured his full attention, he loved it.  I ewwed, he ewwed, the adjacent Botox lady ewwed,

Photo from: “The Pygmies Plight”, Smithsonian.

And a Naboo member prodded the spore with a rather small stick.

He thought the stinky martian-mallow was the best and hunkered down over it for a front row seat waiting to see what would happen next.  And apparently he wasn’t disappointed.

He let out a fit of squeals and giggles as I “smeared” the spore like rotten margarine with a piece of pine-bark.

The smell?…well look at this thing, I will spare you a detailed graphic description.

Something a little more refreshing to cleanse the pallet…

Santolina chamaecyparissus

A small flowering plant native to the Mediterranean area (flowers are yellow and daisy like), santolina and artemesia are two silver plants that hold up well in our Texas summers, though in my experience santolina is just a little more fickle. I still have to have it dotted around. Unlike artemesia it grows very slowly, at least it does in the Patch. How does it grow for you?

Ivy thicket, pruned up agave and an attractive hose!  I am trying to establish three more ivy beds like this under the deep shade of my large Post Oak tree, it will take a few more years.

This Threadleaf ragwort or (and I hope I have this right)…

Senecio flaccidus

is a native of the southwestern great plains of North America, and a member of the daisy family.  I have three of these and they all look like this right now, a great sprawling plant when planted up against boulders.  It has a faint copper canyon daisy aroma.

Stay Tuned for:

“Lady-bug-Gaga”

All material © 2010 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by  late  (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.