Peppers

“A Patch-Work Orange”

ESPatch Oct 30, 2009 14 comments

Ghost House

I DWELL in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago,
And left no trace but the cellar walls,
And a cellar in which the daylight falls,
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.

O’er ruined fences the grape-vines shield
The woods come back to the mowing field;
The orchard tree has grown one copse
Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;
The footpath down to the well is healed.

Image taken from jipol’s Flickr photostream under the creative commons attribution-non-commercial-no derivative 2.0 licence

I dwell with a strangely aching heart
In that vanished abode there far apart
On that disused and forgotten road
That has no dust-bath now for the toad.
Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;

The whippoorwill is coming to shout
And hush and cluck and flutter about:
I hear him begin far enough away
Full many a time to say his say
Before he arrives to say it out.

It is under the small, dim, summer star.
I know not who these mute folk are
Who share the unlit place with me–
Those stones out under the low-limbed tree
Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar.

They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,
Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,–
With none among them that ever sings,
And yet, in view of how many things, As sweet companions as might be had.

poem by: Robert Frost

Whatever happens… Don’t fall asleep!

From Robert Frost to Robert Englund. This potato vine caught my attention when Freddie’s hand suddenly appeared behind it.

Eeek

Eeek!

I must have nodded-off picking up old blackened pecan nuts, it is an irritating habit of mine!

Halloween is upon us once more, and the ESP witches are in full-cry, swooping and circling around my post oak, cackling their ferocious words into the night. I observed them huddled around the grave of the Cactus Man, and they were mumbling something. I crept in closer to hear what they were saying. Hiding behind my Mexican lime tree, I heard them whisper the blood-curdling words “ressurectum Opuntium”, this got my undivided attention. After the witches had done their obligatory cackles and finger waggling they flew off into the night. I ran to the Cactus Man’s tombstone and with my flashlight, shined light on his grave. I peered in closely and reached in to straighten his tombstone, (it was the least I could do)…then, like a rather predictable horror movie, I noticed a slight indiscernible movement, a subtle movement of top-soil. I peered in closer… To my horror, a small wizened paddle started to inch it’s way through the granite soil, a paddle followed by…

…The rest of his emaciated body.

Eeek

Eeek!

What manner of curse could do this? The Cactus Man had been exhumed from his spiky grave, unfortunately he still had his old, disturbing grimace, he had returned from the dead! He was a zombie cactus.

I (like in all bad movies) predictably dropped my flashlight in panic, ran into my house and bolted shut all the doors and windows, then I remembered the hole in the house that the Chevy Tahoe had created…

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2009/09/dude-wheres-my-car/

Was this hole big enough for a zombie cactus paddle to squeeze itself through?

I was convinced the Cactus Man had come back up from his granity-grave to reap his revenge on me with his OWN set of cactus knives, tiny files, and a general array of small gardening implements of torture.

The next morning I returned to the grave and found the Cactus Man and one of his cousins that was also a victim of my general genocide. It seems the curse was only a temporary resurrection, lucky for me. This was an innocent cacti family that died as a result of my mad experimental horticultural “carvings”. Something I will never attempt again.

Robert Ripley’s Believe it or Not

While all this drama played out, the nearby Botox lady was freaking out…screaming out for me to “Get ze shrunken coconut heads avay” from her, in her loud Austrian accent, trust me, you do not want to be in the local vicinity of her lips when she shouts like this. (Say it don’t spray it!)
I re-dug the grave and laid them to rest again, side-by-side, and gently positioned their intrinsic root structures under each of their cacti-chins, like fake beards.. I think they would have wanted it that way.

RIP old friend…ridiculous.

Moving forward…

While I was clambering around on top of one of my artemisia hills I made the fatal mistake of getting just a little too close to one of my large Pampas grasses. The grass reached out with a ghostly strand and (unbeknownst to me) encircled part of my arm. As I pulled my arm out of the artemisia the grass latched on. The result…

A rather poor, under exposed photograph of my arm laceration, or had I just fallen asleep again?

Whatever happens… Don’t fall asleep!

What Halloween post would be complete without the gargoyled face of a bat-faced cuphea, which as if on cue is blooming right now. Is he sticking his tongue out?

My Mexican bush sage is certainly pulling in the crowds at the moment…

along with motion…

and color.

While my fragrant mist flowers are looking hauntingly Gothic, attracting equally Gothic black and white bees.

Click on the Image to get to see this bee up-close.

There are about 242 species of Megachile bees or leaf cutting bees in North America. They belong to a larger group that includes also other leaf cutting as well as mason bees; these are all very good pollinators with very interesting habits.

These fuzzy bees are solitary creatures, meaning that each mother takes care of her own brood- a few form small colonies, but they are not truly social, they merely share the entrance to their nests. They nest in a variety of cavities in rotten wood or hollow stems. There are even some that nest underground.

Most bees carry pollen in baskets on their legs. However, Megachile is different; the underside of the female’s abdomen is particularly furry and is used for this purpose. They are so animated with their “Bugs Life” antenna, and mono-chromatic coloration. This is the first one I have ever caught in the patch. I hope I see more.

I have three mist flower plants, planted side by side and when they break into bloom, like they have this week, the insects go completely bananas…lots of moths, flies, hoverflies, bees and a whole bunch of these…

Ailanthus Webworm Moth

Atteva punctella

These buggy UT fans were all over this plant. The caterpillar of this chap eats the leaves of the dreaded Tree of Heaven (interestingly named) Ailanthus altissima, or Chinese sumac.

These moths keep their wings rolled up tightly against their bodies, unlike other moths with wings outspread. Its native habitat is South and Central America where they build communal webs in native trees.

One final visitor that I was really happy to see, arrived in large numbers to dine on these “fragrant” mist flowers…

brown “American Snout” butterflies,

Libytheana carinent

“The Clangers” … I grew up on this stuff!

And quite the fine snout it has indeed. These brown nosers have been migrating across Texas in biblical proportions recently attracting media attention.

Apparently the breeding conditions have been perfect for them this year. Snout butterflies have prominent elongated mouth-parts (labial palpi) which give the appearance of the petiole (stem) of a dead leaf. They like to hang up-side-down under leaves to further enhance the illusion.

I am happy a few of them made it into the Patch.

A few more observations this week…

Ice-plant, pine-cone cactus and a ripening satsuma. The Barbados cherry on the left is also forming a ton of berries at the moment.

As is this:

The aptly named “Jewels of Opar“… a chemistry model in the sky.

It is truly living up to it’s name. Great fall color.

I was not the only one to think so. Before I had a chance to run down (in cinematic slow-motion) the patch’s pathways shouting …”Noooooo”, a bunch of these attractive tiny berries had been cut down by a set of plastic secateurs.

The same secateurs that have caused numerous “No! They’re Mine” arguments and multiple finger-nipping escapades, that I have now come to hate the mere sight of their plastic, bright yellow presence… I have to learn more tolerance!

And finally…

Guess what has accumulated in here after all our recent rains? This papyrus is under the illusion that it really is growing on the banks of the Nile.

Light a pepper candle for the dead.

Happy Halloween from the ESP.

“See you later tonight in your garden dreams, I will show you how I do MY pruning”.

Eeek

Eeek!

Whatever happens… Don’t fall asleep!

This should help…

Brrrrrrr!

Stay Tuned for:

“CUT!”

All material © 2009 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Purple Rain”

ESPatch Oct 14, 2009 24 comments

“Oh come on ESP…a REAL grasshopper”?

“That’s right ‘Hopper’, and I can pull that CAD face too, look! Oh, and if you bully those ants one more time”?

I caught the real thing lurking in the subterranean environment deep inside one of my large agaves. Is he squinting his beady eye at me?

This character jumped onto one of my decomposed granite walkways, this shot highlights his camouflage capabilities:

A master of disguise! I tried and tried to get the red flashing on his legs, his most distinguished feature, but to no avail.

These blue fingers allow no escape, can you guess who they belong to?

“Stay away from the fingers, don’t go into the fingers”.

Interesting how the color gradates through the lily…there, I told you.

Madame Ganna Walska, Nymphaea x, tropical water lily. I thought I would post these pictures as the plant is about to go dormant, it’s growth has slowed considerably, it’s flowers getting smaller. It is a matter of time now before the plant starts to shrink back into my ponds murky depths for the winter. It has served the patch well, albeit if a tad aggressively since the spring.

Staying on a similar color scheme…

Fall Aster is living up to it’s name and dominating the areas I have it planted with its cheerful blooms.

I like the Artemisia and fall aster combination, silver and pale purples always work well for the “Patch Palette”.

Here are the “Powis Castle” hills in the distance, I need a couple more asters dispersed in the artemisia to really make this scene work. See the little green succulent to the lower right?

This plant has now earned my full respect, breezing through our drought with no additional water, The patch has a couple of these vibrant plants, I want more. This is…

Limón talinum

…and it houses thousands of garden jewels that resemble a chemistry model. The plant is native to the West Indies and Central America and has common names of Fameflower and Jewels-of-Opar. Knowing that a plant has a common name synonymous with a mythical ancient city full of riches should offer a clue that someone thought very highly of this plant at some point in time. This plant made it through last winters mild conditions, I have my fingers crossed for this year.

If you are a fan of Tarzan, then there is a distinct possibility that you have heard the Jewels-of-Opar name before. Edgar Rice Burroughs mentioned the forgotten city of Opar in 1913 in his second Tarzan book, The Return of Tarzan, and then in 1916, he wrote Tarzan and the Jewels-of-Opar.

Opar is located deep in the jungles of Africa . Portrayed as a lost colony of Atlantis in which incredible riches have been stockpiled down through the ages, the city’s population exhibits sexual dimorphism caused by a combination of excessive inbreeding, cross-breeding with apes, and selective culling of offspring. Consequently, female Oparians are physically perfect, while male Oparians are beast-like brutes.

“MMUUSSTT GET MOORREE OF THIS PLAAANNNTT”

The ruler and high priestess of the city is Queen La, who on her first encounter with Tarzan falls in love with him, and subsequently carries a tikki-torch for him. Tarzan, already committed to Jane, naturally, spurns her advances with the most likely phrase “Me Tarzan, you not Jane”, thus endangering his own life, as the religion of Opar condones human sacrifice…poor Tarzan.

More purples…

Another purple taking center stage at the moment is the Mexican Bush Sage. The plant has taken a bit of a beating with all the Texas rains we have been having and it is flopping here and there, with a bit of dryer weather it should perk up, I hope.

This plant is full of life right now in the patch, bees, sphinx moths (too elusive to capture as yet) hover flies, anoles – you name it, it is on it. I have a fair amount of this plant, I love it’s naturalistic, free-for-all aesthetic, and who can resist the fuzz?

Here is some more Bush Sage planted in my front garden.

Another purple just now coming into the limelight, and one of my all-time favorites is Amaranth. This plant exists all over the patch and like the Mexican Bush Sage, it is a creature and insect magnet, and it will remain so for quite some time. Insects swarm this plant. I gather the seeds and distribute every year then allow the plants in the more “appropriate positions” to reach maturity.

There were three Gray Hairstreaks hanging around on the freshly emerged purple seed-heads.

Strymon melinus

as well as a multitude of other insects.

This line of amaranth lining one of the patch’s central paths, sprung up to great heights while we were on our trip to Scotland, it amazes me just how fast this plant grows with a little bit of moisture. This must have grown about three feet in less than the same weeks.

Rosemary in bloom This prostrate rosemary also has it’s fair share of the insect population, the bees are going wild over the blooms. It looks like it is covered in snow right now, it has so many blooms. Behind it is my small satsuma tree completely full with fruit.
This next shot or two I need your help with…I believe we have some new “little people”, smaller than the Naboos, much, much smaller, living in the Patch.

At first I thought these little Pixie Hollow baskets full of metallic rounded pebbles must have something to do with some tribal Naboo ritual or offering to the Gods, but the tribal member in charge of tribal relations, communicated via a series of elaborate mouth clicks that these had nothing to do with their tribe. Although this simple communication between us was brief, it took the best part of an afternoon. I was now even more confused.

Where had they come from? What will these seeds grow into?

I have checked all the adjacent plants but none of them develop seeds like this. Does anyone have any ideas what these are? (Apart from the obvious fact these baskets were manufactured by fairies in Pixie Hollow that is). Can you tell I have watched “A Bugs Life” and “Tinkerbell” 14.25 times (each)?

Here is a wider view of the area, there are loads of these rustic baskets.

I must say with the damp soil conditions, it has been perfect conditions for a pride of pixie’s to move in.

These were particularly colorful toadstools.

Moving on…

The emerging interlocking blood-stained jaws of this agave always demand respect.

Is that spinach?

All my purple heart is now blooming after the rains, and this tiny, super-shiny

Syrphid Hoverfly

wasted no time at all getting stuck into the egg-yolk goodness.

Here is another trying to stare the camera lens out, The wings on these little flies are spectacular in their iridescence. They look like cartoon flies.

“Bzzzzz…Utter nonsense ESP”.

Golden thryrallis

has been blooming steadily throughout the summer with only the minimal amount of supplemental water. A great deep shade plant for a splash of golden color. I have two of these planted under my large Post Oak.

And finally…

Greg’s blue mistflower,

Eupatorium greggii

which is about to pop, butterflies love this plant.

And behind the mistflower, looking like an old-fashioned Victorian Christmas tree, the most enormous ornamental pepper I have ever grown. This is one plant, and it is going to look great when all the individual peppers turn their many colors.

Fish petting area in the patch. My youngest cups the goldfish in his hands, I fear for them knowing that a toddler “squeeze” may be on the horizon for one poor fish, even though I keep drumming it into him to be gentle. He spends hours gazing and throwing things in this pond, you can see toy tractors, pans, cars etc, it looks like a wrecking yard on a clear-water day. The rock on the right has turned into his “pond perch,” he straddles it like Tom Sawyer while he whiles away many an hour in the Patch, tickling and naming the individual fish in his own two-year-old vernacular.

Stay Tuned for:

“Panic in the Patch”

All material © 2009 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.