Agaves

“Anchor’s Aweigh”

ESPatch Jan 16, 2011 14 comments

Prolonged rains this week in the Patch, and do we need them!

My “everything but the kitchen sink” rainwater collection “system” is fully replenished once again…

…and the stock tank sea has been boiling up a “Perfect Storm”.

[warning Billy over the radio] Billy? Get outta there! Come about! Let it- let it carry you out of there! What the hell are you doing? Billy! You’re steaming into a bomb! Turn around for Christ sake! Billy, can ya hear me? You’re headed right for the middle of the monster! Billy?…

RIP Billy.

Remember this? : http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2010/07/%E2%80%9Cgarden-coffins%E2%80%9D/

As you can see we went out to our halfling-friendly restaurant the other day and, well, I just had to take another shot of the sarcophagus planter, it is a tradition at this point after all. As I walked up the strip-mall pathway toward this morbid scene I thought to myself:

“what if I rounded the corner and was suddenly confronted by an inviting and lavish planting scheme (complete with jungle lighting and piped-in tree-frog croaks”)? Imagine what a great post and ending to this sad saga this wou…as my mind contemplated these odd thoughts my body rounded the now familiar corner…

…nope, there it still was, in all it’s “Bela Lugosi” glory, long dark shadows crept up the surrounding walls as I walked toward it. I couldn’t help but subtly lean over the concrete edge to see what I could see. I did notice that there had been some significant “shuffling” of plants since my last visitation, the shards of broken terracotta pots had actually been REMOVED! Eeek Eeek Eeek!

Once inside the front doors of the establishment all darkness and morbidity immediately lifted, the spell shattered. After the customary family seating kerfuffle there followed some obligatory dough capers which were coincidentally in-keeping with this posts watery theme. She was Squidward apparently, and he was a pirate, obviously. I ordered the crab cakes, naturally.

Moving drizzling on:

These wet Crepe Myrtle trunks look like they have been varnished,

as does the leaves on this loquat, that is starting to set fruit.

This patch of

Hedera colchica

‘My Heart’

or Persian ivy is threatening to consume one of my decomposed granite pathways, a good looking plant in the winter rains. I am not sure what is going on with that draping agave americana? Or is it a large crustacean?

Another great “all year rounder” is rosemary, this one blooms more than any other in the ESPatch, if only I had kept this ones name tag all those years ago!

This

Bauhinia corymbosa

or Phanera as it is commonly known, is one of my favorite evergreen vines. It has attractive and unusual foliage with small orchid-like flowers and unique 2 lobed leaves that give a clue to the plants placement within the pea family.

This plant is cold and drought resistant, though a good soak in the middle of summer does make it look more luxuriant. This visually fine textured vine makes a great trellis subject but looks even better when allowed to grow up, through, and on other coarser foliaged shrubs and trees. I allow this one to grow up a loquat on one side and a larger conifer on the other. Unlike other vines Phanera does not look ungainly even when it gets large. Another one of these will be going in the ground come spring.

Dwarf miscanthus also looks great at this time of year, it’s brown hair streaked with purple, and who can beat…

…the explosive qualities of a sotol to warm you up on a cold and wet winter day? I keep this one pruned up so that it is easier to maintain and to stop it draping over the adjacent plants. The aloes on the left have already flushed with frost damage.

All this water talk made me want to re-run the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” series once again, just in case anybody missed it the first time around…no?

Stay Tuned for:

“Walking On Thin Ice”

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

“I Caught a Live One!”

ESPatch Dec 22, 2010 4 comments

In 1977 NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft launched into space carrying phonographs called the Golden Records containing pictures and sounds meant to show extraterrestrials a glimpse of life on Earth and where we are located in space. Credit: NASA

“This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours”.

President Jimmy Carter

clack…click, click..etc.etc.

(“So that’s where they live! Buckle up lads, “beaks” at the ready, these humans are almost all liquid already so save your enzymes!”)

What are the chances?…Last week I found a dead wheel bug on the Patch steps, then, who did I see slowly (and I mean slowly) walking across a new pathway I was laying at a client’s house?

No wonder that “beak” is so painful if it spikes an unsuspecting hand, look at that thing, lethal…a fact I was very conscious of, as my camera hand almost touched this very “Alien” looking assassin bug.

“Game over, man, game over!…”

It was also using it’s beak to probe the ground as it walked. If you look really carefully you can see the 2nd set of eyes behind the main ones, oh yes, with a creature as bizarre as this, two eyes would just be way too normal? I was happy though, to finally get to see one of these insects in motion…slow motion.

“And that’s all I gotta to say about them wheel bugs Jenny”.

“That’s a good thing Forrest…we were all kinda tired of hearing about them assassins anyways.”

“Jeennny”!

Moving On:

Ornamental grasses have their brown and purple winter clothes on, even though we touched the mid-eighties this week in the Patch. (Sorry all my UK readers).

The brown and purple colors in this dwarf miscanthus contrast well with the silver of artemesia.

The seed heads form many different shapes,

and look great set against shady areas, in areas they can catch the sun…Texas snow.

With the warmer temperatures this week, my Madame Ganna Walska decided to throw out what has to be the final water lily of the year (I keep saying this, I know I do). The purple on the lily is much more pronounced at this time of year as it is on this…

…oh, I don’t need to tell you by now! I really should put these fallen celosia on the compost pile, but there are seeds in there, seeds I tell you…

“Hey, get off that swing seat…there is shelling to be done”!

We have all gathered so much celosia seed this year I now use the prospect of more shelling as a threat, that and the ever vigilant Santa, naturally! …“Clean up your toys NOW, or do you want to shell a tray’s worth”?

…Works every time.

This festive was a pass-along from Bob at Draco Gardens, it has grown into quite the snow drift. Behind it is…

…one of three basket grasses I have planted in the Patch, this is the oldest one. I like the way this plant looks flanked with prostate rosemary, the rosemary looks great in bloom set against this succulent, it’s pale blue flowers are almost the same color.

Nolina microcarpa

Nolinas are actually members of the Agave family and they are native to the Southwestern U.S.

They easy to grow, heat & drought tolerant, evergreen, deer proof, not fussy about soil & hardy down to 10 degrees F, what more can we ask for? It is amazing how underutilized these succulents are in our landscapes, they look excellent when planted in raised beds and allowed to “spill” over the edge like this one. Nolina microcarpa requires absolutely no Summer water once established. The leaves were used by Native Americans for weaving baskets & mats, hence the common name.

After last years prolonged freezes I was sure these unprotected barrel cacti would be for the compost pile, but I was wrong. They had a little discoloration on their marginal edges but other than that, they were surprisingly just fine, even the little ones. These leaves are going to be a joy to pick up.

Finally:

“Winter” in the Patch: