Martha's Entertaining

** Update! The book will now be released on Oct. 25, 2011!!!*

I just pre-ordered this book on Amazon.com! The cover looks great and I cant wait until November 1st when it is released! :D

432 pages

Published by Clarkson Potter

November 1, 2011

Pacifica Patio Set

Today I received my new patio set!! It is the Pacifica patio set by Martha Stewart Living bought from HomeDepot.com

Pacifica Collection 4-Piece Chat Set

The Pacifica collection is made with steel for strength and durability, and features spun poly fabric and a Frosted Gold frame finish. This 4 piece chat set includes 2 chat chairs, 1 loveseat, and 1 glass top coffee table. The set also includes fashioned mildew and fade-resistant cushions.

Text above from homedepot.com

Love Seat

One of the two cushions

One of the two chat chairs ...very comfortable!

The coffee table with tinted glass

...and each piece has a nice label.

Im really happy because this is the final piece needed to complete my small backyard renovation project. I intend to spend lots of time relaxing and enjoying the garden as much as possible...

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.