trees

“Brick Circles”

ESPatch Mar 3, 2013 10 comments

A fresh delivery of decomposed granite was greeted in the usual way in the Patch.

She ran out to watch the delivery,

eager to set up camp on the summit of the new mountain with her dog,

who had his now customary conniption faced with the paw-sinking pile.

Any opportunity to wield a large metallic implement.

Myself on the other hand, after having already moved two dump-trucks full of the stuff this past week,

I just glazed over, stared up at the peak, and pulled this sort of pained expression:

Still, this was a relatively small pile and we made haste to the delight of Lord Kumo who has a new-found fondness for getting chauffeured around in a wheelbarrow.

In fact it is so hard to keep him out of it it is annoying. I half expect him to gesture a royal paw as he trundles down the pathways in his one-wheeled vehicle. He already has on the white gloves after all.

The granite was being used to back-fill this brick circle I laid out a couple of weeks back.

Now to go around, level some of the bricks and wait for the granite to cure,

and the stock tank full of cattails to grow, which they will, very quickly.

Moving along:

The growth on this post oak leaf looks very H.R Geiger.

Who knows what lurks inside these aquatic looking vessels?

Of course this could be just a load of old galls?

Lots of early butterflies emerging this week, these two giant swallowtails floated around in synchronization before landing on this Buddha’s belly bamboo.

Even though it was a poor blooming year for this mountain laurel tree, my copper canyon daisies have looked like this all through the winter. I cannot remember them ever blooming so long and so consistently.

Daffodils are also out,

and, to the delight of the cardinals, I even have some bunches of ripe loquats.

My daughter thinks these emerging datura structures make ideal fairy houses,

if she plays around with this plant she may actually start to see fairies.

Oleander paratroopers disembarking their vessels.

One of them must have got blown off track…

punching a hole in the roof of my shed as he landed.

Finally:

“The Curse of the Japanese Yew”

“Why Yew little…”

I officially give up.

Eight plants, multiple locations and vendors, all start off looking well, some living well over a year…then the inevitable:

Aw come on!

I have seen Japanese Yews growing around Austin, but not for me for some reason. As much as I want them to work as a shade shrub this always happens. These particular two are in fertile soil with a soaker-hose, yes a soaker-hose, the only additional irrigation I have in the Patch apart from my “everything but the kitchen sink” collection “system”… (Oh yes I pulled out all the stops to make these plants work!).

Am I the only one that is hexed with this shrub?

“Mumble…mumble…yews…Japanese…mumble, (some hissing and unfortunate drooling)…Patch, (head flies back…wild laughter).

Brrr, on that cursed note I will leave you with this:

I bet that tiki torch adds a nice atmospheric touch at night.

Not that I am one to talk with my wind-chimes:

Stay Tuned for:

“Posh with a Capitol P!”

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“Wings”

ESPatch Feb 2, 2013 12 comments

No…

butterfly wings.

Some fine art courtesy of a dead Gulf Fritillary I uncovered.

I was happy to break up the monotony of the dreaded leaf pick up to take these pictures.

If it hadn’t disintegrated a few minutes later, I may have still been taking them, anything is better than the dreaded leaf pick up.

Still a few more to go, but the Patch is almost back to its respectable self. A few more sunken limestone boulders to replace the small rocks on the right and I will sleep soundly once again…

Although…

There are always a few unmentionables to be found lurking inside the Patch, like this pinecone cactus which appears to have had it’s extremities nipped by the cold, and nobody wants that.

…just one more.

Back to butterfly wings for a moment.

This is a Pipevine Swallowtail, freshly emerged.

Battus philanor

It has a pixelated,

Matrix coloration to it.

“You can see the swallowtail, you can feel the air from its beating wings, but it too is only part of the construct. Ask yourself, did the butterfly fly to you or did yo…”

Okay, we get it Morpheus.

“You only think that you get it ESP, but your brain is really a prison, a trap, a..”

OKAY Morpheus!

My daughter rescued it from our rain gauge and made a new friend, well until she almost stepped on it.

I took this picture of the larva a few years back.

The males, like this one, have blue iridescent upper surfaces on their hind wings.

This crimson passion vine that is steadily engulfing my front porch was probably a host to this caterpillar.

I have also noticed some other bugs sucking juices from the plant.

These Largus bugs are showing up in large numbers in the Patch this year but they generally cause little injury to plants upon which they feed.

One final insect straight out of a science fiction movie is this soapberry bug:

Jadera haematoloma

Also known for obvious reasons as the red-shouldered bug and also the goldenrain-tree bug, I found this one in a hollow of a struggling redbud tree though, like Largus bugs, it does not cause any significant damage to plants (and trees) even with its somewhat menacing eyes.

eyes red eyes selective coloring 1680x1050 wallpaper_www.wall321.com_31

On this rather melancholic note I will leave you to ponder the following when you next fill up your bird feeder:

Human Ash Bird Feeder by Nadine Jarvis:

While some designers aim to shock just for the sake of it, others are sensitively attempting to solve problems related to issues that were once considered taboo. “Death is taboo – in fact it is one of the last taboos in Western society,” says Nadine Jarvis, one of many designers exploring issues such as cremation and burial. “Death is something that everyone has to deal with, yet there aren’t many options for our treatment of the deceased, and certainly none are very challenging to our existing belief systems”

These bird feeders are made of bird food, beeswax and human ashes. As the birds peck away, the urn disintegrates, leaving behind a wooden perch inscribed with memorial details about the deceased. “The ash is mixed with the bird food, causing the bird to eat the person,” says Jarvis.

Designer: Nadine Jarvis