Amaranth

“Notre Dame it’s got Cold”

ESPatch Oct 7, 2012 4 comments

One final fling around the water park before the cooler temperatures descend over central Texas.

A water park that comes to life with an amazing light show as the sun goes down.

There are also lots of plants providing great fall color in the Patch,

they may be leggy (pruning negligence on my part) but these Mexican Leucantha still pack a snaking purple punch.

Salvia and the first celosia seed heads are starting to form,

these will be turning little fingers pink when I bribe my halflings with some extra allowance to harvest the seeds.

Thryalis is also putting on a fine performance at the back of my post oak,

head high, they are attracting shiny tiny hover flies / flower flies.

Allograpta obliqua

Flower Flies resemble wasps and bees. Despite their tribal markings, they are totally harmless and beneficial pollinators of flowers.

The larvae are also partial to aphids.

There are a lot of yellow flowers currently in bloom, it has been a bumper year for bitterweed all over Austin this year. Bitterweed is a yellow-flowered annual weed that thrives in poor soil and turban defying Hell-strip temperatures. Bitterweed poisoning is a major problem for sheep in the Southwest, it is a member of the sunflower family and is closely related to Colorado rubberweed both in appearance and in the rather nasty effects it can have on sheep if ingested.

Luckily for me, I do not have any sheep in my Hell strip, an occasional lost chicken perhaps, but no sheep. I like the free-form meadow aesthetic this cheerful plant creates and it works well set against a backdrop of bamboo muhly, another Hell-strip veteran.

“The bells, the bells…Esperanza.”

One more that is in the process of turning yellow:

Satsuma. The fruit this year are particularly large. I wonder if this little tree will beat the previous fruiting record of 97 set in 2009?

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2009/11/the-leaf-the-witch-and-the-waterfeature/

There may well be a blogging competition in here; guess (or be the closest) to the exact number of satsumas? And no, the winner will not inherit our house elf.

Other things observed this week:

Bluebonnets are on the rise,

and the mysterious “brains” have been spotted, floating once again in the pond.

“ackack-ackack“

Interestingly these have not yet “grown” the disturbing spinal column that I usually see dangling on the underside of them.

This just in…

Remember this?

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

Well at the persistent and repetitious “aww can we go to that new place, you know the one where the other one was, can we?” monthly monologue from my elder halfling, we finally broke down and took her to the newly reopened restaurant. I say this somewhat lightheartedly as I really had my own hidden agenda for going there, and it wasn’t the food.

I wanted to see for myself if new ownership had decided to tackle the now infamous, sarcophagus restaurant planter.

And to my amazement they had!

I got out of our vehicle, heart pounding, and rounded the familiar strip-mall corner (mild panic attack) only to come face to face with a healthy and centrally planted loquat…a loquat! Squeals ensued followed by a considerable amount of shushing and hand waving on my part in case the front of house was listening to us just inside the establishment doors.

A pleasant end to a rather long, drawn out story I thought to myself, then I remembered the The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and started craving shellfish.

Finally:

I will leave you with some before and after visualizations of the latest ESP design:

A silver and gold approach eats into the hell-strip, widening and softening the property entryway. Two ‘blue ice’ cypress sentries stand guard flanking the gate.

The small box store pond was not at all fitting with the scale of the grounds, it was also situated opposite the front door, a natural entry-place to the garden. I replaced this with a wide and inviting limestone edged pathway that draws the eye down into a seating area and up around the second tier planting beds.

Here is the left side of the same bed with a meandering pathway leading up to a second tier shade bed.

Here is something to sleep-on courtesy of my friend Bob over at: http://dracogardens.blogspot.com/

Sweet dreams.

Brrr…and a bit more Brrr!

Stay Tuned for:

“Fantastic Mr Phlox”

All material © 2012 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Oops! I did it again”

ESPatch Jun 20, 2012 5 comments

Feeling rather proud of adapting my wife’s new (rather retro) summer swim cap into a slim iced turban (no wrapping or skill required for this one) I thought I would take it out into to the garden for a Patch trial run / consumer testing in the field as it were. I was quite impressed functionally-how it held up to the death star, but alas, the overall aesthetic was, well embarrassing. I did have an impromptu conversation with my neighbor who must of decided not to bring up my new “adornment” (perhaps in fear of confronting the fact that I may have somewhat of a “disorder”) as apparently I do…I never seem to learn:

“Oops! I did it again”

were not the exact words that came out of my mouth as the back of my hand slammed against cactus #2 after once again pulling on this final stand of Bermuda grass that insists on tucking itself tight into the base of this large barrel cactus. I typically use a set of pliers performing this extracting activity, but on this occasion I was so irritated I just went for it…and subsequently took my punishment.

The cactus spike snapped off and lodged into a tendon above my knuckle where I could see it move north under the skin about and inch when I made a fist…brrr, and upon making a fist there was an uncustomary and rather disturbing “clicking” sound present, but enough of that.

One of these barrels is erupting some rather frosty bloom anomalies.

Talking of anomalies…

This rather ominous-looking sotol beanstalk has had a few developments of its own of late…

…it continues to climb to new heights,

and the top of the slender panicle is now turning a hue of crimson.

Aw come on Sid!

Great contrasting forms.

This shot almost granted me a

award as the front feet of my step ladder started sinking into the surrounding pea gravel.

American Indians roasted and ate these young flower stalks, they also used to roast the trunks before fermenting and distilling them to make alcohol. There is still an alcoholic beverage known as sotol made today in parts of Mexico. The beanstalks have also been put to use as corral, porch and house roofs within its range.

Big Bend sotol house : photo by John W. Schulze

Moving Along:

Summer has officially descended on Central Texas making dragonflies smile,

and the anoles agitated,

In fact, there has been a significant amount of agitation in the Patch, (excluding the back of my hand).

Agitation that I missed some holes when I duct-taped my redneck pool (I should have paid more attention to Kumo whose attention was focused on the leak).

Agitation that the mystery “brains” that I planted some time back had not grown, in fact they had just rotted.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2011/11/the-incredible-bulk/

And agitation that once again there were dark clouds, thunder and no rain.

On a more relaxing note,

if you happen to own a black car, make sure to plant a stand of celosia along your driveway for a very dramatic effect.

A rolling wave of shell ginger brightens up a shady spot, while

pride of Barbados and a single Bauhinia vine go to work in the sun.

Finally:

A recent excursion to a family members land near Blanco cooled some of us down with its aquamarine creek, and

interesting rock formations.

Oh and how could I forget the bobbing reception on the back of the barn door.

This next ridiculous video goes out to my friends over at the fantastic food blog: http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/

(Watch it all the way to the end Brett, I hope you have continued to practice :-)

Stay Tuned for:

“Stressing Out”

All material © 2012 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Everything is bigger in Texas you know.