“Extraction”

ESPatch Oct 26, 2013 4 comments

We have a lot of ripening Mexican limes in the Patch this year but very few satsumas.

Last year this little tree produced a bounty…

…this year we have 4!

Each one the size of an orange.

Lots of fall color right now, salvias, celosia and my

Gollum-Smeagol-smeagol-gollum-14076891-960-403

thryallisises are all going strong.

Mexican leucantha really pops against a dark backdrop,

Behind the bush sage is a rambling rose pass-along from Lori at http://gardenerofgoodandevil.wordpress.com

and in front, the exploding strands of basket grass, mist flower, rosemary and artemesia (or is it artimesia)? I can never seem to get this right.

Street-side sees a torrent of bamboo muhly.

I often see UPS delivery dudes swept away in this green water tsunami, especially when the wind is blowing.

I really must get to that horrendous flagstone someday.

Ornamental grasses are also on form at the moment,

Lindheimers muhly and

burgundy fountain grasses illuminate with a low setting sun.

A steady stream of monarch butterflies have been filing through the Patch this week on their migration to warmer climates, this duranta is a popular landing point for a nip of nectar.

Monarch butterflies are one of the few insects that can cross the Atlantic, these are usually butterflies that
have been blown off course, or caught in hurricanes while attempting to migrate from North America to Mexico.

This one will not be making the crossing.

Finally:

I was very happy when he finally pulled out his first loose tooth. It had been bothering everyone for some time now, rolling around the bottom of his jaw at inappropriate angles every time he would speak.

With a little iPad bribery and the prospect of obtaining some shrapnel (courtesy of the tooth fairy) he wasted no time on the extraction.

Halloween

Inspirational Image of the week:

Peter Root’s Ephemicropolis – A City of Staples

Root-Ephemicropolis-9

Root-Ephemicropolis-6

Root-Ephemicropolis-3

Stay Tuned for:

“An English Werewolf in Austin”

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Candy Apples”

ESPatch Mar 20, 2013 8 comments

Candy Apples, 2009 oil on canvas by Margaret Morrison.

Is there anything more Texan than the Rodeo?

The lassos were spinning,

as were some other people.

Some even braver souls had the nerve to be flung around and upside-down by this monster:

But I was not one of them. Oh no, in fact I got vertigo just observing this rotating monstrosity of a ride and judging from some rather unpleasant “unmentionables” deposited around a nearby seat that I was staggering toward, so had some of this rides earlier occupants.

Brrr, but enough of that.

That’s more like it.

I could use these.

I have not had a candy apple (or toffee apple if you are in the UK) for years and I thought it time that my kids try them…(not one of my better decisions).

“Don’t get the truck sticky…Don’t put that wrapper on the seat…DON’T GET THE TRUCK STic…“

“Aw come on!”

By the time we arrived home the seat belts were like fly-paper.

Back in the Patch:

After the rodeo, Gypsy Rose had apparently got a new head for heights…

“Get down from there and come smell the roses.”

This one was given to me by Loree over there at: http://dangergarden.blogspot.com/

I have no idea what variety it is…Loree? Anyone?

The petite Ipheion, ‘Rolf Fiedler’ is always a sure sign of spring.

Tristagma peregrinans

It may be short but it sure packs a cool aesthetic with its overlapping perianth segments…snort, adjusts taped-up glasses.

A great companion for early yellow Daffodils, it has been a dependable bulb in my garden for years now…I need more, lots more.

Remember the yeti paw?

Well surprisingly (and considering our recent 90 degree temperatures) it turned out not to be a yeti at all but

an emerging four-nerve daisy, imagine that.

The first poppies are blooming in my hell-strip.

Bamboo Muhly grasses catching some afternoon sun. The background opuntia tree is also ready for some paddle-pruning to further promote vertical growth. It always wants to grow sideways and not up, but I don’t let it.

These grasses were getting a little long in the tooth so I cut them back to the ground after taking this image.

This Pyracantha ranks up there with mist flowers as an insect attractant when in bloom.

These eight-spotted forester moths

Alypia octomaculata

are particularly fond of this plant. I counted six milling moths on it the other day.

Damianita have also been pulling in these colorful and aptly named Bordered Patch butterflies, sometimes called the Sunflower Patch.

Chlosyne lacinia

Stay Tuned for:

“The Small Patch of Land that Time Forgot”

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.