East Side Patch

Agricultural Apocalypse

ESPatch Jun 25, 2021 1 comment

Still cleaning up from the perfect storm!!!

I left most of my plants well alone after the big freeze, and some are only now returning to life, with new growth tentatively pushing through now that the summer heat is on.

Oh, and the heat is on!

new growth on sago palm The cycads, who never do anything fast, started with new growth at the base (which I immediately cut back like I usually do) before they finally sprouted from the top. To think I almost pulled out the one on the right, as the base felt and looked rotten.

The needle palms in the background took no damage at all.

This agave was left with some really unusual markings from the freeze.

Re’mark’able.

Can you guess what this once was?

This is all that was left of my 20 year old barrel cactus after I had drained the carcass and retired its crumpled flesh to the compost bin. (I will spare you that particular Facebook video) – no I wont:

https://www.facebook.com/100001224482768/videos/4041816729202437/

All that remained was the central, stinky core.

“Aye, it is a’ways the core Espatch, a’ways the core, at least ye didnae have tae jettison yers inta space!”

“Shut-up Scotty.”

RIP old friends…we had some fun together:

https://www.eastsidepatch.com/2009/02/yo-ho-ho-and-a-barrow-of-cactus/

Some changes afoot in The Patch:

This area used to have a large, dying Afghan pine in it (now destined for future firewood), and a rather large clump of Buda’s Belly bamboo. It all had to go.

Digging up a mature Buda’s Belly it not something I would recommend…at all. In fact this may have been one of the toughest plants I have ever extracted to date. Giant Timber bamboo was easier to take out than this beast.

The roots were so strong, and so incredibly dense, that the only way to get this thing out of the ground was to tunnel all the way under it, and that is what I did…over the course of three days!

“I say, Espatch is making rather slim progress on that Bamboo root-ball Sergeant, are we still on schedule for the escape?”

The root ball was so heavy, even getting it to the street (for bulk pick-up) presented severe logistical, and physical problems.

I was convinced the city wouldn’t process it…but thankfully they did.

“And why do all of this removal”?

Well,

a) I was sick of looking at a browning and continually depressed Afghan Pine.

b) I was sick of constantly grooming the Buda’s Belly over the course of a year.

Afghan Pine and the Belly taken a few years ago when the pine still looked relatively healthy.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a stunning clumping bamboo, but it constitutes a lot of work on a regular basis to keep it looking on form.

Also this particular stretch of The Patch receives really good sunlight.

Perfect for some raised vegetable beds!

Wateringcan Leviosa!

A few warm solar lights make the beds pop at night.

These Rostrata punks also got their hair in the spotlight.

To go along with the raised beds, we constructed a platform deck, privacy fence, and strung three disco balls onto the pecan trees. Well you have to have those don’t you?

I have a lot of staining to do in my future. These two mister fans blast the deck and do a good job of cooling things down…if only the mosquitos would just back-off.

Five minutes out here right now and I look like Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

Focus!

I recently purchased this small, inexpensive clip-on macro lens attachment for my iPhone, just to mess around with it.

I am quite impressed with the results:

Dolichopodidae, Genus Condylostylus.

These tiny Long Legged flies make good subjects for a macro lens as they are not prone to spook easily. It still requires a very steady hand though, if you were shooting freehand on high zoom like I was here.

All of these images would have been much better with a tripod.

Fire ants busy at work.

Tiny grasshopper on canna.

I can’t even remember what this was! Perhaps a white poppy?

This Hackberry or Tawny Emperor (I cant tell) looked liked it was a natural part of the graphics on the front page of this novel.

Post Agricultural Apocalypse Summary:

frost damage on cactus tree I ended up losing all my barrel cactus, half of my opuntia tree, yes half, a Med. Fan Palm, two agave, and one Jerusalem sage to the ice storm.

All my citrus, pittosporums, loquats, cycads and bamboos are returning from the base / top.

The best surprise was this Bauhinia corymbosa vine.

I was convinced it was dead after been dormant for such an extended period of time. Then, only a couple of weeks ago, a tiny hint of green.

Overall it could have been a lot worse.

Now, lets see what will make it through August?

Finally:

I will leave you with a few visuals of a rather large design I am sporadically working on in South Austin.

It is a stunning property located on a natural creek and pool. The future house and studio will be a new build and aesthetically very modern, lots of industrial concrete, rivets, glass, and steel elements.

The owners wanted some high-level visualizations to help define some of the spaces, and identify structural elements that may be incorporated into the final scheme.

A cocktail deck and naturalistic firepit with large limestone boulder seating. There is no shortage of large boulders around here. Understory shade and deer resistant planting scheme with vantage points and seating.

Turn-around driveway concept.

Entryway and expanded driveway.

Stay Tuned For:

“Martins and Monsters”

All material © 2021 for East Side Patch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Austin Powers?

ESPatch Mar 1, 2021 4 comments

This Sabal Palm took a bit of a beating when the city came through our street to clear foliage away from the overhead wires.

This was the first time the city have done this since we moved to East Austin over 20 years ago. It was either a stupid hair-cut, or they were going to cut down the whole thing!

I assume the now decapitated palm will push out new center growth when it breaks dormancy, we will see.

Further down the street, this pittosporum was sliced in half by the same crew to reveal this elegant pole.

I won’t bother posting what all the crepe myrtles ended up looking like…you already know.

After the brutal pruning came the brutal Freeze.

Monday, 15th Feb, 1am – the power goes out in the Patch.

Little did we know we were going to remain without power for the next four freezing days and nights!

Our old uninsulated 1890’s house was built and positioned for maximum airflow, to keep it cool in the summer. It’s cold inside our house when temperatures dip below freezing, even with the heater on!

“Arrr and let me tellest ye Winslow, when the wind came down from the north that eve, and the following eves, rattling the shutters, the cold creeping into ye bones, all was dark, all was lost in the Patch.”

“Boredom Makes Men To Villains.”

“Spock…our life support systems are down, our technology rendered useless, we have got to get out of here…got to get…somewhere warmer…”

Going to bed had become a life and death affair.

She looks like she is smiling, in fact, that was the expression she wore as her face froze the first night of the outage, her birthday.

You could see your breath inside the house.

This old Coleman Lantern and a hot water bottle from my youth provided some light and warmth. It uplifted our spirits a couple of hours each night. Well that, and a very nice Scotch I had forgotten about in my old hipflask.

Unlike many, thankfully we did not lose water or gas to our stove. Unfortunately, our oven had an electric ignition, so that was rendered useless.

Having a bath was also not a viable option.

It snowed.

It iced.

It snowed some more.

It is ironic we couldn’t really enjoy it, because we were just too cold.

Though we did venture out everyday for a walk.

During the day it was warmer outside, than inside the house.

Snowboarding the Eastside!

We spent many hours in the car, a major source of heat and device charging. I grew up in many cold environments and old houses in Scotland, but for the record, this was the coldest and darkest escapade of my life.

It all became too much for my Desert Willow…the first casualty of many I fear.

Arizona Cypress ‘blue ice’ living up to its name.

Hours past into days, days passed into weeks…etc., etc.

“How long have we been in this house?

Five weeks?

Two days?

Help me recollect.”

By the end of the 4 days things were pretty grim hygienically, morally and food wise.

Then pop! On came the lights, and a few days after that…the thaw.

Who says we don’t have fall color in Central Texas…we do now!

I also have a lot of oozing and fizzing going on courtesy of my fleshy plants.

The Sago Palms new coloration looks amazing, even more tropical looking then when it’s green! The background variegated pittosporum has already began to defoliate as a lot of plants will do in the weeks ahead. Just what I need, more leaves to clean up.

We wont know the full damage of course until the Spring, but I can safely say things have looked a lot ‘better’ in the Patch.

“Would you like some blackened citrus or rosemary to go with your catfish sir?”

The barrels and tongues baring the scars of the icy ordeal.

As for me,

I will summarize that frigid week and my general demeanor at the end of it in one image: