“My Agave is Knocking on Deaths Door”

ESPatch May 30, 2008 0 comments

Here is the poor wizened chap – the 20ft flower stalk is still upright but has finished blooming (you can see the debris from the flowers building up). The Agave is dying from the leaf tips inward. I am going to follow and post pictures of the gradual decay of this plant.

Here is the bean stalk – all the flowers have died now. A detail of the trunk reveals hundreds of baby plants.

. . . .and now for some running Bamboo in Stock Tanks :

Here is my latest stock tank addition (4ftx2ft), this one contains a black bamboo (Phyllostachy Nigra) – the black culms against the neighboring fuchsia Oleander will provide good color contrast. The broad-leaf loquat will act as a backdrop for the fine leaves of the bamboo to complete the trio. All these plants are young, I will revisit next year to see if the scene develops like I hope it will. I am also planning to plant in front of the tank to soften its base, perhaps Cast Iron plant?

This plant has been in numerous containers over the last few years, all too small, and as such the plant has struggled. Even though the bamboo is 4 years old it is quite stunted and the culms are very small. I am hoping that this “pot” will be large enough to finally give it a kick-start. I have had success with this container planting method with a Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) in the front of my house so I thought I would repeat it.

Here is a Golden Bamboo 3 weeks after transplanting and lots of new culms.

As a side note, although this container is on the large side (especially in the cooler states) I believe it’s size to be the “sweet-spot” for a Texas bamboo container if you have the space. Small containers in Texas are as much use as the toilet they installed on the international space station.

Other extroverts in the garden right now:

Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth or pig-weed running amok in my front yard – will put on a
good show in the fall. The word comes from the Greek amarantos “one that does not wither,” or the never-fading (flower).

The national flower of Barbados is the Pride of Barbados
(Dwarf Poinciana or Flower Fence). Great tropical leaves!

Sticking on the Barbados theme – Barbados cherry is native to the Lesser Antilles from St. Croix to Trinidad, also Curacao and Margarita and neighboring northern South America as far south as Brazil. Mine is one of the smaller varieties and it is packed with cherries right now. When it was flowering it was hard to even walk past this plant for the large numbers of bees that would swarm. I think my neighbors must have thought it strange that I repeatedly had a flailing spasm exactly in the same place down my pathway, every-time I would walk past it.

Stay Tuned for:

“The Bermuda Triangle”

All material © 2009 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“My Shed Moved”!

ESPatch May 3, 2008 0 comments

So now comfortable with my new water feature design, I planted heavily all around it to soften the edges of the tank. I introduced aquatic plants and placed chunks of colored glass around the new “dry creek bed” for some elevated color. My back garden faces due West, so early evenings with a low setting sun produces a good light show- the glass chunks really glow. My garden has a large number of ornamental grasses to take full advantage of this.

I buried the Cyprio UV filter in the ground and fed the water pipes through some painted PVC pipes to give it a finished look, and to hide the ugly pipes.

It was time to move on to the rest of the yard.

The pond is flanked by two Arizona ‘blue ice’ cypress trees that were about two foot tall about the time I was swinging my sledge hammer.

So it was time to move the shed and for some reason I was dreading it. In my mind I had built it up to the equivalent of moving a house – it was going to take ages, be expensive and logistically how is it done anyway? We found a company in the Yellow Pages, they arrived, jacked up the shed, rolled it on PVC pipes to the back of the garden, and turned it around – they were done in 40 minutes, amazing!

This is where the shed was:

It basically blocked the view to a large section of the garden, it was a solid shed
though (albeit it beige) – it even had electricity – but it had to be relocated. As a
side note the entire back yard has been designed around the view from my
back deck, moving the shed was an easy decision. Painting it was even easier.

Here it is moved and painted.

Interesting things in my garden right now . . .

Perhaps someone can help me identify this – I think it is Frog something?

Amaranth plants are about five to New growth trumpet of a Canna Lily
seven feet tall when mature, and
are dicots (broad leaf) plants with
thick, tough stems similar to
sunflower. I have loads coming up
everywhere – one of my favorites!
great foliage – great seed-heads!

Guara / whirling butterflies, named
for the way the blooms move in the
wind.

H.R.Geiger would be proud Indian Blanket Flower

Taro Bloom Butterfly Iris This anole needs a new tailor

Stay Tuned for:

“Never Sleep in a Cactus Bed!”

All material © 2009 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Celosia

“My Agave is Knocking on Deaths Door”

“The Bermuda Triangle”

“My Shed Moved”!

“Never Sleep in a Cactus Bed!”

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