Going Vegan

Going Vegan is something I have been really curious about doing.

I gave up eating meat, except for chicken and seafood, three and a half years ago. Now I am ready to take the next step; or perhaps a leap. I am ready to not eat meat, eggs, dairy, anymore! There are many many reasons that I am doing this. The three main reasons are: health, environment, and ethics.

I am not going to fill this blog post with all the countless benefits in each of those categories (there are many many online sources and books that you can read). I just wanted to share this change in my life. I think it will really change the way I feel and view the world around me in a positive way. Something about just the thought of starting this is exciting.

I hope to share good things about being vegan (food!!!) on this blog in the near future. ;)

Prairie Blazingstar

The first wildflower that I received after moving to Houston, TX was my Prairie Blazingstar - Liatris pycnostachya. I have had this plant since 2007 and even though I have dug it up every time I've moved and divide it at least every year it has grown very well. I originally just had one bulb but at the end of every year I can divide it into 3 plants. I have seen this wildflower growing in wet conditions in the wild but it is very drought tolerant and does very well in average garden conditions. If you live in its native range (central U.S. between the Rocky Mts and Appalachian Mts.) you should definitely have this wildflower in your garden.

The blooms of all Liatris species start opening at the top of the plant and move toward the bottom as it matures. Prairie Blazingstar blooms in late summer to fall and provides many insects nectar during this time including migrating Monarch Butterflies.

Prairie Blazingstar can reach up to 5 ft tall but mine usually get around 3 1/2 ft tall.

The Prairie Blazingstar has become one of my favorite wildflowers. Other Liatris species that can be found in Houston and the surrounding area are: L. elegans, L. bracteata, L. acidota, L.squarrosa, and L. aspera.

Lunch at House of Bowls

My favorite thing to eat for lunch is the T1 lunch special at House of Bowls in SW Houston Chinatown. It is Instant Noodle Chicken Steak with Scallion Sauce and a bowl of broth and a drink - I always get Hong Kong Style Cold Milk Tea. It is $5.95 before tax and it very fulfilling! The lunch special is everyday from 2:30pm-6pm and dine-in only.

Moss Acres Terrarium Kit

I have been collecting Faux Bois pottery for almost 3 years now and have a pretty good collection so far. Right now I have native shade plants of Texas growing in a few of them (hopefully all soon) and I wanted to complete the look and make them look more aged and natural by having moss grow in the pots as well. It is not very easy to find moss around Houston and I did not want to remove any of the little moss I could find from natural areas. After watching Martha and seeing the people from Moss Acres talk about moss I was very interesting in having my own.

Moss Acres sells different varieties and quantities of moss for various projects such as something small like a terrarium setup to an entire moss garden. They also sell a product called Moss Milkshake which comes in a milk jug and is used to grow new moss from the contents inside.

I decided to order the Terrarium kit which comes with three types of moss that are already alive and healthy.

Here is what I got in my package for the Terrarium Kit: 3 types of moss (Rock Cap, Sheet, and Cushion Moss), a brochure with lots of information about Moss Acres and moss, and then my invoice and more information on how to care for the moss.

After unpacking the moss I placed the dry moss in a galvanized tray with about a half inch of water so the moss could rehydrate. This is the picture of the moss right when i placed it in the tray with water.

And after about a half hour. The moss has absorbed the water and becomes much more green and lush.

Here is the Rock Cap moss - Dicranum, planted with my Southern Wood Fern - Dryopteris ludoviciana.

This is the Cushion Moss - Leucobryum, planted with a rhizome of a Sensitive Fern - Onoclea sensiblis.

And last but not least is the Sheet Moss - Hypnum. I have not planted this with anything yet but will definitely do so soon. It looks like a bunch of tiny ferns. I remember this moss from living in Virginia and it growing in many shady spots in the woods and gardens.

Lunch at E-Tao

Yesterday, Tink and I spent some time shopping at the Houston Galleria and we went to eat at E*Tao restaurant. It is located on the second floor near Nordstrom. It is nicely designed and feels open even though the space is actually pretty narrow. The kitchen is behind a glass wall so you can see them cook and see how clean it is. The menus is pretty large and has dishes from all over Asia. The dishes range from more Americanized-Chinese to more authentic. Many of the items don't take so long to cook so its a good place to go if you are on a lunch break and want to get away from the Food Court.

Crispy Eggplant - this was really good! It is a vegetarian dish and has lots of flavor. The eggplant was prepared well.

Dry Vancouver Calamari - also very good. The calamari was nice and soft and not too chewy. The dipping sauce was a good too - sweet and sour.

White Rice - shaped into a pyramid.

So over all it was very good. There are also lots of other things on the menu I'd like to try.

For more information on this restaurant and to see their menu you can visit their website.

etaoasian.com

Summer Seedlings

Planting seeds is a wonderful thing. You can fill a huge area with beautiful flowers from just a small packet. My front yard garden right now is mainly Black-eyed Susan - Rudbeckia hirta and the packet of seeds cost 2$ and I still have extra seeds. I am almost continuously planting seeds. Some of the seedlings are for areas in the garden that need replacement plants and some are to share with friends and family. I even planted some of my seedlings at work around the borders of the parking lot.

This summer I planted a few different species of wildflowers that I recently collected or decided I need more of. It really is not the best time to plant seeds because of the extreme heat and dryness but some have done pretty well. I find it best to start seeds in small pots with a seed starting soil and outside in the shade. It makes it easier to control the conditions which your seedlings need such as the amount of water it gets.

Sanguine Coneflower - Echinacea sanguinea , this one is the furthest along. It is growing pretty well. Some of the other seedlings did die though. Im afraid it could have been the +100*F temperatures...

Whorled Milkweed - Asclepias verticillata , this is my first time growing these plants. The seed is from Prairie Moon Nursery. A lot of the seeds have germinated. They are very skinny looking. :P

Butterfly Milkweed - Asclepias tuberosa , same conditions as the Whorled Milkweed above. I cant wait for these to get big and plant them in the front yard. They're growing fast!

Azure Sage - Salvia azurea , I had very good germination rates with this plant last Spring. They don't seem to like the heat. I will probably have to wait for cooler temperature for them to start germinating.

Rose-Mallow - Hibiscus sp. , I collected the seeds of this Hibiscus in a ditch last time I was in the Beaumont, TX area. The seeds germinated quickly and are growing fast. This will be a nice addition to wetter parts of the garden.

New garden blooms and buys

Hello! Today I wanted to share with you some of my newly acquired and newly blooming wildflowers from this week.

All of the wildflowers from my last My Garden post are still blooming nicely and now are joined by:

Salvia azurea - Azure Sage , I just planted the seeds this spring and they are coming on really nice, all with flower spikes. The foliage is really pretty too because the leaves are perfectly lined up in very neat rows. A mainly fall blooming native wildflower that has nice cool blue flowers to contrast the heat.

Monarda fistulosa - Beebalm , has still not bloomed. I planted the seeds last winter. They seem to be growing nicely but Im a little worried they'll never bloom. If that is the case I am going to collect some seed from the local Monarda citriodora populations that are in every vacant lot around here in SW Houston and bloom like crazy in the Spring.

Liatris pycnostachya - Prairie Blazingstar (no picture) is very close to blooming!! The spikes are getting tall and are loaded with flower buds.

Here are some of my newly acquired wildflowers:

Penstemon tenuis - Gulf Coast Penstemon, I just bought this plant from Joshua's Native Plants Nursery. It is very healthy and has tons of ripening seed -heads and even a few blooms left. I was looking for this plant for a long time!

Cooperia drummondii - Evening Rain-lily, a relative of the Amaryllis, this plant I bought from Buchanans Native Plant Nursery. It looks like a very thin grass right now but it will have really pretty blooms once it finally rains! I see these all the time roadside around Houston.

Chasmanthium latifolium - River Oats, planted in the shade of a large old Crepe Myrtle. They are a native grass that looks similar to Bamboo. They produce very cute gracefully drooping oats. I bought all four from Buchanan's Native Plant Nursery.

Here is another pic of the River Oats. It is a great plant for a shady area. It is low maintenance and provides food and refuge for birds, butterflies, and other native wildlife.

Summer heat and drought

Everyone is talking about it - the weather!!! It has been too hot to be outside and take pictures and I have been in a summer dormancy so I just wanted to share my thoughts on the extreme weather.

The weather is extremely hot and dry this year. I have wrote about it in many of my blog post lately due to the affects on my garden and the natural landscape. It is a record holding year with record high heat and record low rainfall. Wildlife is suffering, crops are drying up, abundance of wildfires, heat advisories everyday, parts of space shuttles have been found in lakes that are drying up, and even a grave yard was exposed. People around Houston, TX are changing there schedules to avoid the heat by doing things early in the morning or later in the evening.

I myself, who is not a morning person, has had to get up early to water my plants and do any gardening before the sun starts to scorch. My friends and I have not done any outdoor hikes lately nor gone to the beach and we always have water or an iced coffee in hand. Its been a good time to focus on indoor house maintenance, cleaning, and planning the garden for fall plantings. (I just ordered some summer dormant Delphinium plants, Camassia bulbs, and more seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery last night).

Here is a screenshot of my weather bug widget at 8:10pm tonight. It is still hot, although it was reading 106*F earlier.

The heat really makes me ready for fall and the cooler weather. Tink and I can resume our weekly hikes and also look forward to the Holidays!! I've already gotten a catalog in the mail for Halloween decorations, which at first I thought was crazy, but then I saw some must have Halloween items (like this set of Chemistry Drinkware by Martha Stewart <3).

Anyway, I hope that all of you are having a safe, happy, and cool summer and wherever you live is having normal weather conditions! Check back soon because I have a lot of gardening post coming up such as: new seedlings I've planted, newly acquired native wildflowers, and my collection of faux bois pottery. Thanks for reading! ;)