Rosemary

“I Caught a Live One!”

ESPatch Dec 22, 2010 4 comments

In 1977 NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft launched into space carrying phonographs called the Golden Records containing pictures and sounds meant to show extraterrestrials a glimpse of life on Earth and where we are located in space. Credit: NASA

“This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours”.

President Jimmy Carter

clack…click, click..etc.etc.

(“So that’s where they live! Buckle up lads, “beaks” at the ready, these humans are almost all liquid already so save your enzymes!”)

What are the chances?…Last week I found a dead wheel bug on the Patch steps, then, who did I see slowly (and I mean slowly) walking across a new pathway I was laying at a client’s house?

No wonder that “beak” is so painful if it spikes an unsuspecting hand, look at that thing, lethal…a fact I was very conscious of, as my camera hand almost touched this very “Alien” looking assassin bug.

“Game over, man, game over!…”

It was also using it’s beak to probe the ground as it walked. If you look really carefully you can see the 2nd set of eyes behind the main ones, oh yes, with a creature as bizarre as this, two eyes would just be way too normal? I was happy though, to finally get to see one of these insects in motion…slow motion.

“And that’s all I gotta to say about them wheel bugs Jenny”.

“That’s a good thing Forrest…we were all kinda tired of hearing about them assassins anyways.”

“Jeennny”!

Moving On:

Ornamental grasses have their brown and purple winter clothes on, even though we touched the mid-eighties this week in the Patch. (Sorry all my UK readers).

The brown and purple colors in this dwarf miscanthus contrast well with the silver of artemesia.

The seed heads form many different shapes,

and look great set against shady areas, in areas they can catch the sun…Texas snow.

With the warmer temperatures this week, my Madame Ganna Walska decided to throw out what has to be the final water lily of the year (I keep saying this, I know I do). The purple on the lily is much more pronounced at this time of year as it is on this…

…oh, I don’t need to tell you by now! I really should put these fallen celosia on the compost pile, but there are seeds in there, seeds I tell you…

“Hey, get off that swing seat…there is shelling to be done”!

We have all gathered so much celosia seed this year I now use the prospect of more shelling as a threat, that and the ever vigilant Santa, naturally! …“Clean up your toys NOW, or do you want to shell a tray’s worth”?

…Works every time.

This festive was a pass-along from Bob at Draco Gardens, it has grown into quite the snow drift. Behind it is…

…one of three basket grasses I have planted in the Patch, this is the oldest one. I like the way this plant looks flanked with prostate rosemary, the rosemary looks great in bloom set against this succulent, it’s pale blue flowers are almost the same color.

Nolina microcarpa

Nolinas are actually members of the Agave family and they are native to the Southwestern U.S.

They easy to grow, heat & drought tolerant, evergreen, deer proof, not fussy about soil & hardy down to 10 degrees F, what more can we ask for? It is amazing how underutilized these succulents are in our landscapes, they look excellent when planted in raised beds and allowed to “spill” over the edge like this one. Nolina microcarpa requires absolutely no Summer water once established. The leaves were used by Native Americans for weaving baskets & mats, hence the common name.

After last years prolonged freezes I was sure these unprotected barrel cacti would be for the compost pile, but I was wrong. They had a little discoloration on their marginal edges but other than that, they were surprisingly just fine, even the little ones. These leaves are going to be a joy to pick up.

Finally:

“Winter” in the Patch:

Stay Tuned for:

“Ho Ho Ho-ja Santa!”

All material © 2010 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.

“On The Chain Gang”

ESPatch Aug 1, 2010 12 comments

My Pride of Barbados have put on a terrific show this year, getting, along with my amaranth, the tallest I have ever seen them.

Here are a couple of them (and I do not mean the hobbits) that start off in the shade, then, fight their way up and up until they find the full sunlight…a good incentive for them to stretch their legs it seems.

That blue tee shirt was actually my tee shirt when I was his age, they don’t make them like that anymore, 100% polyester and a potent concoction of petrochemicals…still, I have to admit that it has held up well enough to now become an heirloom!

There it is, in the early 70’s, on holiday in a caravan park in Wales, UK.

That hat is a winner big sis, do you still wear it around town? …You should :-)

“Look aunt sally, she be wearin’ my Welsh vacation ‘oliday hat”

“Strangely, I thinks I knows that Caravan Park ESP”.

As you can see my sister had a matching tee shirt with her name emblazoned on it, it was apparently the craze back then for families to occasionally dress in the same outfits. (Or perhaps we just couldn’t remember who we were?)

If memory serves me correct…I believe we also had matching ponchos at one point, yes I said ponchos, but I flat-out refuse to post that picture.

This is the amaranth that is apparently on some form of steroids in my hell-strip. I have never seen amaranth this size at this time of year, even the seedpods are at a late September length.

The fungi have also been reveling in our (so far) moist-for-Texas summer:

I said fungi!…

This moist storybook scene sprouted up in my papyrus stock tank.

I have a couple of these moon-flowers growing up some large bamboo poles at the entrance to the back garden, they have loved the late afternoon rains and frequent soakings, one has even reached the top of the pole. I grew these from seed planted out early May, they have and continue to put up a great night time show as a backdrop…

to my datura.

This is the twisted ice-cream cone of the moon-flower, just before blooming.

Moving on…

I feel like I have been “On the Chain Gang” this past week, initially digging my way through the earth to prep three fall planting beds, then this familiar sight rounded the corner…it could only mean a couple of things…

Pain and sweat!

A full truck load consisting of 12 yards of my “favorite” substrate, decomposed granite, and another truck loaded with boulders, beach pebbles, and mulch turned up on the previously posted design scheme I am currently in the process of implementing.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2010/07/12555/

I thought the rounded blue-white rocks would work well strewn around the base of this young Spanish oak tree. I love these Mexican beach pebbles, in fact I like them so much I have ordered another 1/4 ton! They also totally change character when wet, going to a much darker shiny dark gray/blue state. I need these in the Patch!

I strangely felt some granite already stuck in my teeth before I even started to hack at the granite mound’s snow-capped peak that at this point looked insurmountable. I made a makeshift base camp on a lower shelf and started to mentally prepare myself.

The wheel guard on my wheelbarrow immediately fell off and it’s tire once again deflated in its now customary defiant manner. (It always does this when a delivery from Custom Stone pulls onto a work site.)

I need a new wheelbarrow, though with the amount of sweat, blood and toil I have gone through with my “old unfaithful” I could never get rid of it…oh no, it will end up having holes drilled into it and perhaps planted? Or maybe I will mount it on hooks and attach it to an elaborate pulley system where I can hoist it up high on my living room wall… like a moose head?

“Naturally I prefer the hook idea ESP”

The digging began and continued and continued and con…, with frequent resting points in “base camp” to cool off with a traditional iced turban or ten. More on this excavation next week, if my arms and hands are still capable of typing.

Here are a few creatures that were spotted in the Patch this week (sadly, no more Naboo sightings): http://www.eastsidepatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ESP-garden-2-copy.jpg

A dragonfly and an anole not talking to each other. I wonder what they argued about?

I tried the newer sinking dunks today (left) to kill a few thousand of these wigglers…

A day or two later I noticed a greasy, oily film had appeared on top of the water. I think I will revert back to the doughnut brand. I also like that you can see these floating dunks disintegrate over time, they sort of let you know when another application is required.

I bet you already know that the oldest known mosquito with an anatomy similar to our modern species was found in 79 million year old Canadian amber, 79 million!

While I was inspecting all my rosemary plants, I noticed this jumbo jet of a moth, hanging down on one of my prostrate…prostate…oh whatever…rosemary sprigs.

This is the stout body of the Nessus Sphinx Moth.

Amphion floridensis

These are a class of day-flying moths sometimes known as Hummingbird moths because of their flight characteristics. The median band may be very pale or almost absent, or it can be wide and even double banded. The rustic brown coloration and wing shape of this bird is superb.

Moi Grande Hibiscus and phlox still putting out blooms!