“Rikki Ikky Ivy”

ESPatch May 27, 2011 16 comments

Temperatures and blooms heat up this week in central Texas, this pride of Barbados responded by wearing its flamboyant carnival outfit,

dancing on furnace fueled breezes to a heavy Naboo jungle beat.

The summer temperatures this week have also brought out some magical fluttering creatures,

like this freshly emerged blue dasher dragonfly (ahem) :

Pachydiplax longipennis

(and I honestly did not position the sun in this particular frame location for added humorous effect.)

“Aw Behave!”

Such nimble feet.

Much larger dragonflies once existed on earth.

_{Wikipedia Image � 2007 BBC}

The largest found fossil is an extinct Protodonata named Meganeura monyi from the Permian period, with a wingspan (and I repeat wingspan) of 70-75 cm (27.5-29.5 in).

Imagine the sound they would have made as they flew…

Large Dragonfly

What?…It is totally open for speculation.

Some other creatures that have been busy laying hundreds of eggs on the roof of my back porch are the lacewings.

I have groups of these delicate eggs all over the place, I guess they like the fact that it is sheltered.

Here is an adult common green lacewing on my bathroom mirror.

Chrysoperla carnea

Adults have tympanal organs that enable them to hear extremely well, so well in fact, some display evasive behavior when they hear a bat’s ultrasound calls. Upon hearing the bat’s transmission, the insect will close its wings (lowering its area detection signature) and immediately drop to the ground…an effective defense mechanism.

I believe the following image is the larvae pushing around its cart full of trash down one of my computer cables. I can definitely see some of our living room rug woven into the structure and is that part of a gummy bear?…Very bizarre.

Moving along:

Oh yes, just one more evergreen wisteria bloom (I promise)… in homage to this week’s Rapture madness!

This particular bloom was like a church thurible, the flowers hanging low on an unusually long stalk, waving and wafting out a Gothic nightclub aroma on the breeze.

Okay, perhaps a Gothic nightclub with a little hint of:

lurking in the subtle undertones of the aroma (like a fine wine, it is complex).

Happenings this week in the ESPatch:

There were some eerie yellow lighting conditions this week as some well-needed storms and rain passed through central Texas.

The rare moisture pushed this bauhinia into bloom,

Bauhinia purpurea

and what a bloom it is. I let this vine and the pride of Barbados battle it out for the limelight next to each other. Here is a picture of the two-lobed foliage last year:

The vine was slow to come back after the winter, I thought I had lost it, but not only did it return, it returned with vigor.

“Aye, a see a strength in this bauhinia”.

This next plant is a bit of a mystery to me as I have no idea purchasing it or planting it, could someone have given me this at one of our monthly get-togethers? Anyway this fiery plant just popped up with an amazing display this year and the hummingbirds are all over it, which is great because hummers have always been scarce in the Patch (at least the flying variety).

Dicliptera suberecta

(Perennial Hummingbird plant)

The plant has felty grey leaves and comes from Uruguay, it thrives in heat and humidity – perfect for Austin.

Finally:

Rikki Ikki Ivy:

War has finally been waged down my back fence line against this potent cocktail of frog and weed vines that have been developing and self-seeding for, oh I would say at least twenty or thirty years. Oh yes, these are not going away without a fight, or overnight. It could conceivably take a couple of years to finally eradicate it all. My neighbor has been hitting these hard from the alley and I keep swabbing them with copious amounts of super concentrated Round Up from my side. It looks like a war-zone.

Like I tell clients, it tends to look worse before it looks better.

Inspirational Image of the week:

flowering photo: Forest & Kim Starr

Agave attenuata: Agavaceae

These arching snake heads are commonly referred to as lion’s tail, foxtail and elephant trunks – for obvious curved-bloom-stalking-reasons, a trait quite unusual among agaves. Originally from the plateau of central Mexico, it may take up to 10 years to bloom, but unlike other family members this plant does not die after flowering…finally!

Stay Tuned for:

“Bark at the Moon-flower”

All material © 2011 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“My Tomatoes are Manically Depressed”

ESPatch May 14, 2008 0 comments

I am convinced that I have the most depressed and unhealthy tomatoes in Austin, Texas right now , look at them, I can’t!

Potted and surrounded by straw to moderate container temperatures, I had high hopes this year! . . Whoops!

I hear them groaning as I inch past them on my way down the garden to feed my fish, and then they splutter and cough on my way back. I do not like to look at them, but their grotesque form somehow beckons me to sneak a sideways peek – arrgh – they should be in a side-show at the state fair….or, if they had tiny legs, climbing up the bell tower of Notredame. In all fairness it is me who “created” these edible monstrosities. I now feel obliged to occasionally apply topical seaweed for medicinal purposes, to try to ease their insufferable pain.

It doesn’t seem to be helping.

What I really want to do is rip them from their pots and throw their own mealy fruit back at them, whilst laughing insanely – but that would be cruel. No, they will be out there moaning and sniffing until the very last fruit ripens and is picked by tiny hands, then it will be straight into the trash with them all.

I will try again next year, I always do.

This is how healthy they looked when they were growing only a few weeks earlier:

Everything was just fine for a while – good fruit set – healthy foliage, this was going to be my year.

I think the combination of early blight, poor selection, aliens and erratic moisture conditions formed the basis for this years hideous display. Next year I plan to spread the risk and purchase a whole variety of different cultivators to see which ones do best . . . suggestions welcome!

Growing well right now:

Palm Grass [Curculigo capitulata]

This Palm Grass is 3 to 4ft tall, leaves are six inches wide with parallel groves running the entire length of the leaf. The leaves of this grass are often used in flower arrangements. I cut off most of the seed heads when they form late Summer as this plant has an amazing propensity to self seed if this practice is not instigated.

Fantastic tropical form, mine get to 6ft in diameter by the end of the summer.

I would plant more if I had the space, this one is 3yrs old.

Swallowtail caterpillars on a line of fennel I always plant just for their own personal, annual banquet.

Swallowtail caterpillars eat plants in the Umbellifer family. This includes parsley, dill, fennel, even carrots (the green tops). Swallowtails have a ‘scent horn’ that sticks out of their head when disturbed, something I have always wanted myself after a good night out. The chrysalis will be either green or brown, depending on the conditions where it pupates. Big fat caterpillars, straight out of a story book, can you have too many?

Stay Tuned for:

“My Compost Pile Burped At Me”

All material © 2008 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.