My Garden - Late Spring 2011

Today it is 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Houston, TX and the drought continues...

My garden is doing pretty good despite the intense heat and major lack of rain. I believe that it is doing so well because I planted wildflowers that are all historically found in this region of Texas. I have watered them minimally just so they will bloom but even if left them unwatered they would survive and some would still thrive like the Gaillardia. So here are some of the recent bloomers:

Spiderwort - Tradescantia ohiensis ...the flower blooms in the morning and closes up by the heat of mid-day. This one in the photo is nodding which is nice though they do face up and in all other directions. The plants I bought were small and I watered them weekly until they became established.

Sanguine Coneflower - Echinacea sanguinea , this is the first time I've grown this plant. It didn't get as tall as I thought it would be (only reached about a foot) but that might be because of the lack of water. It is pretty rare in cultivation and I only have one plant. Hopefully it will have lots of seed and I can propagate some more. It is a common wildflower in the piney woods of east Texas.

Turks Cap - Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii - This short shrub is growing in the shade of a Live Oak with Scarlet Sage - Salvia coccinea. It doesn't seem to need any care at all and blooms nicely during the intense heat.

Indian Blanket - Gaillardia pulchella , this has been the most rewarding flower that I have planted. It thrives no matter where I plant it. It doesn't require any additional water to bloom and grows quickly to blooming size (just a few months from seed). A must have for the Houston garden.

Black-eyed Susan - Rudbeckia hirta , this is another low maintenance plant. I planted my main front yard garden with these mixed with Beebalm - Monarda fistulosa (which is growing nicely but has yet to bloom) and Rudbeckia maxima in the background.

Giant Coneflower - Rudbeckia maxima , another of my favorite Texas wildflowers. Very easy to grow! These particular plants in the picture survived and thrived the entire summer last year with no additional watering or care. The plants are tall; these reached 5 1/2 feet this year with the drought conditions. They also have a nice silvery foliage which makes them attractive even when not in bloom.

Portuguese Man o' War

Hello! On Memorial Day some friends and I took a trip to Padre Island National Seashore to enjoy the day. It was a lot of fun as usual and the day was beautiful. The waves were pretty big this time and there was a lot of sargassum seaweed washed up on the shore along with a very interesting creature.

The Portuguese Man o' War - Physalia physalis! The Man o' War is like a jellyfish but differs in that instead of being a single organism it is a colony of organisms called zooids. During our trips to Padre Island in the summer we always see them and I saw about 10 washed up on the beach and one floating in the surf during the few hours we were there. They ranged in size from a golf ball to a grapefruit (but are irregular shaped as apposed to round). They are beautiful creatures and also very deadly. Like jellyfish they are capable of using stinging cells to capture prey, such as small fish, and for defense against predators. It is best to use caution around the Man o' War and to not touch them even when they are washed up (the stinging cells will still sting).

As you can see from the photo above there is a bit of seaweed and the surf was strong. But everyone was have a really fun time!

The beautiful Sargassum seaweed. It is home to many many different animals! We have found various species of shrimp, blue crabs, sargassum crabs, seahorses, pipefish, sargassum fish, sergeant majors, filefish, and a few other species of juvenile fish living in the seaweed itself. I love the golden color...

Portuguese Man o'War - Physalia physalis , one of the larger specimens we found washed up.

It is a beautiful and amazing creature. The colors remind me of a watercolor painting. I think it is becoming one of my favorite animals of the Texas beach (maybe until I get stung) :D

Budgerigar at my Bird Feeder

Last fall when I moved to the house Im living in I set up a few bird feeders. Well 8 feeders: 2 Hummingbird feeders, 1 Oriole feeder, 1 Tube, 1 Double-sided feeder, 1 platform feeder, and 2 thistle feeders. It took more than a month for any birds to come to the feeders but now its a very different story. I have seen at least 40 species of bird in my backyard (I'll post some pics on a future blog post), some use the feeders and others do not.

Today while I was watching all the baby House Finches, House Sparrows, and a Mockingbird family being fed by their parents, something very colorful came down. It was a Budgerigar!

This bird is commonly sold in any pet store that has birds. In Houston, and many other places, people have a very bad habit of letting their pets go or releasing them into the wild when they are tired of them. I also do know that many birds like this budgerigar, or budgie, are released for religious ceremonies and weddings. This can be harmful to the birds themselves as most will not survive, but also to other species by spreading diseases and out competing native species for food and nest areas.

Anyway, it is a very charming little bird. Hopefully it will come back and maybe it will attract some of the Monk Parakeets I always see flying by...

Spring Cleaning the Blog...

There are quite a few post on this blog that have lost there pictures due to the fact that I have changed email addresses. I have decided to just delete those post instead of trying to fix them (which could take hours and hours). Sorry if you cant find what you are looking for but if you email me I'll be glad to help you out with finding a deleted post. :)

Nepenthes copelandii

Its such an nice spring day today! I have been gardening for most of the day but I wanted to come in and get a drink and share this picture with you. Its my Nepenthes copelandii. I bought this plant from Sarracenia Northwest about 2 years ago and it is doing very nicely on my bathroom window. The pitchers are as long as the plant is tall, which I think really looks cool. Care wise I don't do anything to it but give it water (lately Figi water that I haven't finished drinking) but also distilled water. I love the color of the pitchers... really beautiful.

Versace S/S 2011 Ring

On my recent trip to NYC I stopped by the Versace boutique searching for 3 items, all from the S/S 2011 mens collection: rings, swim shorts, and sandals. Unfortunately they have not gotten any swimwear or sandals yet this season so I ended up only getting a ring. Its one of three they are showing on the website and was worn for the fashion show.

Here are the three rings from the men's Versace S/S 2011 collection. The two on the left are currently available for the US.

Here is my ring - showing the Medusa.

And a view from above to show more of the detail.

My Garden - Spring 2011

Hi Everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a long time... It has been such a busy year this year! Lots of weddings, trips, and work! Anyway, with all this excitement it is nice to take some time to relax in the garden. It has been a more challenging year because of the extreme drought but luckily all the flowers I planted are native and are able to cope with periods of drought. Here is what has bloomed so far this spring:

Bluebonnets - Lupinus texensis, these were the first flowers to bloom in the garden this spring. They grew nicer than previous years, more bushy and more flowers, and are now covered with lots of seed pods.

This is what the seed pod of the bluebonnets look like. It reminds me a lot of edimame (soybeans) which makes sense as they are both in the Fabacea family also known as legumes.

Downy Phlox - Phlox pilosa, this started blooming shortly after the bluebonnets and it is still blooming. I grew these plants from seed I got from Prairie Moon nursery.

Blanket Flower - Gaillardia pulchella, now that it is hot and sunny these plants have really put on a growth spur. The seeds I planted last winter are all now a big bush of these very pretty flowers. This is a really tough native that you can see growing along many roadsides in Houston, Galveston, and along the Gulf Coast.

Lanceleaf Coreopsis - Coreopsis lanceolata, this is another tough native. Its a little taller than Gaillardia and just as showy. Both plants have been covered with blooms the past month. They both make long lasting cut flower arrangements.

Obedient Plant - Physostegia intermedia & Southern Blueflag Iris - Iris virginica shrevei, these plants are growing in a big non-draining glazed pot which is my mini water garden.

Pickerelweed - Pontederia cordata, this plant is also planted in a glazed non-draining pot. I'll have to make a post about my water garden plants soon.

Blue Mistflower - Conoclinium coelestinum , another tough wildflower for the garden. Its spreads nicely. This wildflower can be seen commonly around Houston as well.

Scarlet Sage - Salvia coccinea, these are the latest wildflowers to bloom. They really like warm weather. This winter when we had below freezing temperatures they died back to the ground but re-sprouted this spring from their roots and seeds.

Other wildflowers that are growing in the garden and are about to bloom soon include:

Rudbeckia maxima

Rudbeckia hirta

Echinacea sanguinea

Monarda fistulosa

Tradescantia ohiensis

Helianthus annuus

Check back soon for more garden updates and hopefully more frequent updates. Im trying to find a way for me to blog while at work but without my Macbook... perhaps and iPad??? :)