Cactus

“Posh with a Capitol P!”

ESPatch Mar 14, 2013 6 comments

My latest front and back garden design and install, this one is in East Austin.

The claustrophobic boxwoods, confined circular beds around the pecan trees and the metal edging were first on my list for the dumpster. This property was made more complicated due to the grade differences. Everything was mounded, the driveway was low, grass areas high and I really wanted to open up the existing linear (and sunken) walkway to the street.

Then it was the turf’s time to go dumpster-diving.

This existing cactus bed had some nice specimen plants and a large sago palm and opuntia that stabbed me repeatedly throughout the course of the installation process.

This metal fence also served no purpose as the wooded fence behind it created enough security and enclosure, this was also removed to further open up the space to create a better flow through the property.

The back garden had an over-sized hot tub (that was removed) and a lot bricks that had buckled as the ground shifted.

It is a documented fact that the removal of bricks defies all conventional laws of physics. There are always 35x more bricks excavated than were originally in the ground.

Large amounts of decomposed granite was delivered,

in this case three dump trucks full, this was #1…and that is a lot of granite.

lots of boulders and flagstone.

Here are some before and after images:

Enlarged cactus and succulent bed, side metal fence removal and new meandering pathways.

Flattening of the grade to create a less segmented appearance, organic flagstone pathway replaces linear concrete walkway to street.

Hot tub removal, back patio and a stock tank planted up with cattails (naturally).

Planting bed definition,

introduction of a small water feature. The home owner already had this little fountain, it worked out perfectly in terms of scale and volume. I have been sensitive to the audible volume of things in the landscape ever since my wind-chime kerfuffle some years back:

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2008/05/wind-chimes-and-my-post-oak-a-darwin-award-nominee/

360 unification.

The future home of…well something?

Back in the Patch:

Remember when I finished this brickwork,

and the traveling folk moved in?

If you recall I gave them an ultimatum to tidy their camp up or leave,

imagine my surprise when I took a walk up the garden, turned a corner and…

found that my traveling folk had turned all posh with a capital P!

We needed a new tent and it was spring break after all.

They have practically been living in here since I pitched it.

Even our house-elf has taken to the new temporary structure.

Of course it is hard to avoid technology in the tent when you are still in WiFi distance from the house.

Moving along:

My ponds are awaiting the drop of the catkins from this overhead post oak, my net is at the ready.

Salvia has wasted no time with our recent warm temperatures.

1920’s high fashion holly fern unfurling.

Here is a great combination, if you have the space:

Sabal major with an understory of Texas red bud – my “borrowed view”.

Finally:

Yetis may or may not exist in the Siberian mountains but I do know they exist in the Patch.

Stay Tuned for:

“Candy Apples”

An everything but the kitchen sink time travel machine!

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

“Wings”

ESPatch Feb 2, 2013 12 comments

No…

butterfly wings.

Some fine art courtesy of a dead Gulf Fritillary I uncovered.

I was happy to break up the monotony of the dreaded leaf pick up to take these pictures.

If it hadn’t disintegrated a few minutes later, I may have still been taking them, anything is better than the dreaded leaf pick up.

Still a few more to go, but the Patch is almost back to its respectable self. A few more sunken limestone boulders to replace the small rocks on the right and I will sleep soundly once again…

Although…

There are always a few unmentionables to be found lurking inside the Patch, like this pinecone cactus which appears to have had it’s extremities nipped by the cold, and nobody wants that.

…just one more.

Back to butterfly wings for a moment.

This is a Pipevine Swallowtail, freshly emerged.

Battus philanor

It has a pixelated,

Matrix coloration to it.

“You can see the swallowtail, you can feel the air from its beating wings, but it too is only part of the construct. Ask yourself, did the butterfly fly to you or did yo…”

Okay, we get it Morpheus.

“You only think that you get it ESP, but your brain is really a prison, a trap, a..”

OKAY Morpheus!

My daughter rescued it from our rain gauge and made a new friend, well until she almost stepped on it.

I took this picture of the larva a few years back.

The males, like this one, have blue iridescent upper surfaces on their hind wings.

This crimson passion vine that is steadily engulfing my front porch was probably a host to this caterpillar.

I have also noticed some other bugs sucking juices from the plant.

These Largus bugs are showing up in large numbers in the Patch this year but they generally cause little injury to plants upon which they feed.

One final insect straight out of a science fiction movie is this soapberry bug:

Jadera haematoloma

Also known for obvious reasons as the red-shouldered bug and also the goldenrain-tree bug, I found this one in a hollow of a struggling redbud tree though, like Largus bugs, it does not cause any significant damage to plants (and trees) even with its somewhat menacing eyes.

eyes red eyes selective coloring 1680x1050 wallpaper_www.wall321.com_31

On this rather melancholic note I will leave you to ponder the following when you next fill up your bird feeder:

Human Ash Bird Feeder by Nadine Jarvis:

While some designers aim to shock just for the sake of it, others are sensitively attempting to solve problems related to issues that were once considered taboo. “Death is taboo – in fact it is one of the last taboos in Western society,” says Nadine Jarvis, one of many designers exploring issues such as cremation and burial. “Death is something that everyone has to deal with, yet there aren’t many options for our treatment of the deceased, and certainly none are very challenging to our existing belief systems”

These bird feeders are made of bird food, beeswax and human ashes. As the birds peck away, the urn disintegrates, leaving behind a wooden perch inscribed with memorial details about the deceased. “The ash is mixed with the bird food, causing the bird to eat the person,” says Jarvis.

Designer: Nadine Jarvis