Fragrant Mist Flower

“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.

“Jack and the Sotolstalk”

ESPatch May 22, 2012 7 comments

You would not want to loose your footing and slip off this particular beanstalk.

It is also very high, (as beanstalks have a tendency to be after all).

The line down into the adjacent Buddha’s belly bamboo I assume is Naboo in origin. I theorize that the spike is currently being adopted as a high look out / communications tower with neighboring tribes across the street.

“Ach, thats mere like it ESP…Like ah’ teld ye last week…twice the length of a mun, nuthin’ mere nuthin’ less, a spear has tae be twice the leng…“

Haud yer Whisht William!

To climb up this beanstalk takes not only nerves of steel (and a hankering for insects) but also toes that have specially adapted adhesive pads, or…

‘lamellae’

…snort.

Ghecko Foot: Photo by Matt Reinbold

This “super grip” on anoles and geckos is created in the form of an attraction between the molecules of the lamellae and the climbing surface. (Pushes glasses excitedly up on nose bridge)

Stealing the golden egg and circumnavigating down the sotol stalk still proved to be a bit of a struggle for this anole though..

…don’t swallow it, DON’T SWA…

Moving sketchily along…

I said, MOVING ALONG!

Meet my new/old work steed (it has a rather menacing growl)…which will marry nicely with the wayward look of a poorly tied iced-turban along with a parched expression at a stop-light come the summer.

My steed’s menacing growl is apparently much better than its gum-lined bite, especially when trying to gain traction in mud. This is what happened to me on a recent country rock procurement trip.

Note to self: Even a 4-wheel drive is no match for a bog.

Oh don’t you even start!

I ended up getting pulled out of here with a tractor!

The same trip would have been a complete disaster if this chap, lurking under one of the limestone boulders had been a little more awake. This was one very plump ‘striped bark’ scorpion, and that looked like one serious stinger.

Centruroides vittatus

This is the most commonly seen scorpion and the only one found throughout the entire state of Texas.

Scorpions are arachnids but are a little special in that they are viviparous – they give birth to live young (usually about 30 or so) instead of laying eggs. This one groggily disappeared down this crack, I am sure I will come across it again, but it is the rattlers that I am really looking and listening out for.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention,

my new/old steed came with some rather classy aftermarket accessories.

If you catch my drift, ahem.

I pruned those two mist flowers (to the right of the stock tank) only a few weeks ago, they are already waist-high again. Feather grasses are almost ready for their bi-annual hair teasing, time to get out the cape once again: http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2010/05/knotty-dreads/

Hoja Santa is also on the rise, as are:

multiple stands of celosia, (there is no sticker, there is no sticker, there is n…aaargh!)

and verbena, which is currently popping up everywhere in my decomposed granite pathways…

…it is one of Lord Kumos favorite colored mattresses after he has had a few cocktails on the feather grasses.

This ‘always thirsty’ hydrangea, (yes I said hydrangea), is doing very well after the rains,

very interesting foliage and bloom structure.

I have mixed feelings about Duranta ‘shappire showers’, the blooms, yes…

but the aggressive foliage requires constant, (vitex equivalent) pruning to keep it in check.I am considering stopping pruning this one just to see how huge it will get.

Like the classic salmon fly that bears the same name and coloration,

Dusty Miller provides a great contrast of silver and gold when it is blooming.

Another more prolific bloomer is

Nierembergia hippomanica violacea

or if that proves hard to remember, cupflower (named for the cupped form of the blooms.)

It blooms like this sporadically through the summer and prolifically after a drop of the wet stuff.

Finally:

Burgundy canna lily, gopher plant and whales tongue agave.

Stay Tuned for:

“Between a Rock and a Hardscape”

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

Green Thumbs Up for Kids:

“In a world full of mesmerizing indoor toys like computers and video game consoles, it’s easy to lose sight of the bright sun and blue sky found in our own backyard… especially if you’re a kid! Inspired by this idea, these child-safe gardening tools were designed to help promote an active lifestyle, health-conscious attitude, and overall respect for nature. The parrot pruner, watermelon watering attachment, and snail shovel”: