lilies

“Mad Birds and Englishmen”

ESPatch Feb 25, 2011 6 comments

And the curtains open once again on another mad cold / warm weather-week in the patch, but spring is most certainly in the air, I can smell it.

Mysterious plants are once again on the rise,

narcissus are blooming,

and when the sun is shining the anoles are out and lounging in large numbers, warming their cold winter bones.

“Ahh, so much better”.

I found this one in an orange water bucket, hence the rather “warm” background,

and another catching some rays deep in the center of this large sotol, a perilous place.

I even had a rogue water lily bloom this week, a sure sign we must be on the gradual warm-up. I will be moaning about tying an iced turban in no time at all.

Something these sago palms are, by the looks of them, desperately looking forward to (the heat, not the turban tying). As you can see the king (top) and the Prince (lower) are in a regal crises, their robes threadbare, their crowns non-existent.

Moving on…

I moved a large container this week that appeared to be somewhat of a sanctuary for a bunch of these…

living and hunting under it, decollate snails,

Rumina decollata

(Linnaeus 1758). When these elongated snails are about 10 mm long, they strangely lose the top 3 whirls of their shells! They are also quite fond of snail cannibalism (not the same species). Nothing makes this snail’s stomach rumble more, than the mouth-watering thought of a young and succulent common garden snail for Sunday dinner…for this reason decollate snails are most welcome gastronomes in the Patch.

According to the experts, Decollate snails may nibble young plants, but they prefer a heartier, more substantial meal if given the choice, and the younger the snail the better. They even devour the eggs of regular garden snails like ikura.

Sometimes referred to as destroyer snails, these snails can eat a brown snail from the inside-out (brrr)…a true and veracious predator.

“I am beginning to (insert Lector noises right about here) like these decollates“.

The only states that allow purchase and release of these snails are Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California (selected counties only), around $230 for around a 1000!

Disturbing image courtesy of associatesinsectary.com

A regiment of rumina decollata getting down to culinary business, bibs already on, escargot forks at the ready! I am just glad I am not that brown garden snail.

On an even more disturbing note, I believe a curse has been placed on the residents of the ESPatch.

“I knew it would happen…didn’t I tell you”?

At about the 4:15 everyday this is is when the curse seems to kick in,

all of our feet grow to ridiculous proportions (to apparently aid stability) then it is off to work, breaking through lumber, bricks and concrete to the accompanying sounds of “Heh, huh, huh” “snort” and “squawk”! What manner of curse is this?

“It does look like a particularly nasty one Sir”?

“Agreed”.

We all soon start to regress, turning on each other and eventually snatching, grabbing and clawing at any iPhone in reach, “m…m…my turn…HEY IT’S MY T”…etc, etc, etc.

Need I say more?

The curse lifts apparently only with the onset of dinner and dead iPhone batteries.

Finally…

Oxalis is looking very saturated right now.

The latest addition to the Patch : Coastal Rosemary,

Westringia fruticosa

‘Wynyabbie Gem’, an Australian native. Terrific fine rosemary-like foliage with small clusters of attractive mauve-pink flowers that appear throughout the year. In stark contrast to regular rosemary this shrub has absolutely no fragrance whatsoever. It is a fast growing upright and dense growing shrub that can reach an astonishing 6-8 feet tall by 6 feet wide…now that is my kind of rosemary!

This one is destined for future expansion in my hell-strip.

Before:

And after:

Backbone in, mine slightly out!

Garden Design. South Austin…

Done!

Stay Tuned for:

“Up Front”

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“A Day at the Races”

ESPatch Feb 6, 2011 4 comments

(lets out a barely audible snort)

Remember these tiny light bulb bugs devouring this paper wasp’s wing that I posted about some time ago?

Well I came across some more of these shy insects at the base of my cut back Mexican fire bush of all places and courtesy of http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2011/02/08/heteropteran-nymphs-resemble-red-light-bulbs/

who successfully identified them, I can now safely say they are:

Heteropteran Nymphs

(full-on snort) Largus species or Bordered Plant Bug.

Many phyophagous Heteropterans or “True Bugs” apparently scavenge dead insects in their immature stages. I struggled to get a good shot of them as you can see…very shy creatures!

Here is what the adult versions of them look like:

These bugs are the only ones I regularly see in my garden at this time of year, they are everywhere!

Moving on…

This week the ice melted and some intermittent warmer weather returned.

My fish remained very still in the deep dark icy waters of my stock tank, seemingly skeptical of the temporary warm reprieve.

Its warm, its freezing, its warm, its freezing…the three consecutive days of freezing temperatures this past week has taken it’s toll in the ESPatch :

Casualties have collapsed everywhere…aloes, agaves, (particularly agave americana), and star gazer lilies, all look decidedly ill , some plants have even ruptured!

“Ach ESP Ye had tae say it, didn’t ye”?

Err, sorry William?

Yes I said ruptured.

This wounded agave was apparently trying to heal itself with the most amazing amber sap.

MEDIC!

The same agave (different leaf) had buckled so far over a split had developed in it’s flesh,

leaving it bleeding and bubbling from an open wound.

CLEAR!

I swabbed, sprinkled on sulfa powder and swabbed some more but could not stop the bubbles.

In the end I had to give up, leaving the dying agave bleeding in the leaves that I should have picked up already, ruthless I know.

The prize for the most remarkable sight from the frost though, has to go once again to…

my Mexican lime tree.

The frost bitten foliage of this tree now shimmers like dragon scales.

A mammoth leaf drop is pending, a pity, as I rather like the way it currently looks.

Finally:

The fireworks exploding on this China berry,

and the massing plastic crowd, signified that today was

an impromptu race day.

“They’re under starter’s orders…

…and they are off”…watch out for that notch in the plank, I mean hole in the road!

Co-pilots plotted their course,

the cars sped past some sad foxtail ferns and screamed around a massive celosia trunk.

The winner of the race was reportedly a local gal…

who celebrated her victory in her favorite Austin Tex-Mex restaurant with a lemonade and a cheese quesadilla.