March ends with more happy plants
Texas Mulberry Tree
Texas Mulberry tree. I missed the flowers this year, but it looks like it is going to be a good year. It is covered with immature fruit!
Guess who is starting a new garden bed? We are!
Just getting started. Must start with a good foundation. Before and After. Now for the fun part, plants!
Blooms
Oh the smell of Mountain Laurels…I wonder if the long hard freezes made them bloom especially well this year.
Japanese Maple hiding from the Texas Sun/Heat under a giant Juniper tree
Spring
I think our winter was so long that I started to get depressed. Just kidding. But I sure am glad to see the sun and flowers! The Lady Banks Roses are blooming like crazy. We have since built a cage for the white one to grow on. We will see how that goes. I know these are supposed to get very big, but the white one looked a little flat so we will see if it likes the cage. The yellow one in the back is starting to climb the cedar tree. You can see the yellow rose in the upper right corner. I look forward to one day seeing it bloom at the top of the cedars from our back deck.
March started out with some new little eggs. S made this birdhouse and we have it hanging by our front door. Some little wrens found it and built a nest in the top cavity. It is going to be a lot of fun watching their progress.
We always let at least one broccoli plant flower. The bees really love these flowers and it gives them something to eat in early spring. Must resist urge to plant spring veggies until later this month. It’s so hard to do.
Bloomin’ fruit trees
Fanicks Pear Tree
La Feliciana Peach Tree
February – Time to get excited about spring
Cilantro is still doing great. It is a shame that lettuce and cilantro are winter crops, and tomatoes and jalapenos are summer crops. It is amazing what we are able to accomplish with our global economy: salsa! Also, transplanted asparagus to this new bed. Looks like some of them made it through the winter. Looking forward to asparagus for days in the future. I’ll let most of the asparagus flower this year and start eating it next year.
We bought a Methley Plum tree this year. It is supposed to be well adapted to our area. It flowered!
Update: No fruit this year though.
Taking a break
After the snow, when the sun came out, it was time to uncover the plants and fold up all of the tarps and old blankets. Our basset decided this would be a good time to lay down. So, I took a break too. Sometimes, God tells you to slow down and enjoy your hound dog.
Protect them from temps in the teens
I have the best husband. He braved the cold to cover our frost tender plants. I helped, but am not very tall. lol.
fig, barbados cherry, bay leaf tree, sago palm, meyer lemon and pineapple guava
Snow – It never snows here
Snow. So beautiful. I will be happy to never have to drive in it again though. Once I got home, we enjoyed watching the snow fall and accumulate. I guess we will see if it is a plant killing snow in the fullness of time.
Loquat, an underappreciated fruit
I remember the loquat tree from when I was a kid. The sweet/sour memory of loquat makes my mouth water as I type this. Here is a picture of one of our Loquats flowering and beginning to fruit in December. Fruit will be about 2 1/2 inches long when mature. Looks like a good yield this year if the weather cooperates.
What’s happening in December?
We have fluctuating weather here in Texas. Highs in the 80’s some days and lows in the 20’s some days…Here are some blooms and berries.
Butterfly vine:
Evergreen Sumac Berries:
This plant is a native. It is evergreen and will be a dense shrub in full sun, growing up to 12 feet high. It attracts bees, butterflies and birds. It flowers in the summer and then produces these fuzzy, edible berries for the birds. Oh yeah, and it likes rocky soil! Plus ten points for that!
Passionflower vine – scary looking bug
This scary looking black spiny caterpillar (or is it a worm) will eat all of the leaves off of your passionflower vine. But have no fear, the plant can handle it. The caterpillar will turn into the gulf fritillary butterfly. It does not bother the plant until it has finished flowering for the year. It also will not harm the passion fruit. So I say let the bug have the leaves. The passion vine is pretty invasive and you will have less leaves to clean up in the winter. All creatures great and small.
Bad sign and then devastation…
So, I was walking toward the vegetable garden and saw a green worm in a zinnia flower. Kind of cute, huh? When I finally reached the broccoli and cauliflower plant, I saw more worms (or are they caterpillars). They devastated the two plants in one of the raised beds. Thank God, I still have four left. You know, it is hard to garden organically. I could spray a cloud of poison and be back in business tomorrow. Instead, I’m breaking out the hand vacuum now. lol.
Chili Pequin and Barbados Cherry
I’ve heard it said that one Barbados Cherry has all of the vitamin c you need in a day…They have a similar look, but you do not want to get these confused. Chili Pequin is hoooooot.
Fruit in November?!?!?
It’s been a several weeks since we had any substantial rain, so I decided to give our plants some water…mostly the ones we planted this year. To my surprise, we had Pineapple Guavas laying on the ground underneath our tree. We have had this tree for several years, like six and this is the first year we have gotten flowers and fruit. I posted about the flowers earlier in the year. We are so happy! Oh and I included a picture of a Meyer Lemon. We planted this tree this year and it has already produced a fruit! Yay!
Pineapple guavas
Meyer lemon
November is for planting trees
We planted a few natives and some not so native trees this month: Mexican Redbud, Arroyo Sweetwood, Goldenball Leadtree, Mexican Buckeye and Mutabulis Rose
I think I only took a picture of the Redbud…It is tiny. $4 plant. =)
Propagation success
I have a Mexican Sage that is really pretty and was spreading. This spring I tried to dig out a piece of the plant with roots and potted it up. I planted it in the fall and was not sure if it was going to make it because of the hot spells we had. I think it is going to make it!
Fall Veggie Garden
Fall garden in the new raised beds. Thank you to our neighbors who gave us their old water tanks.
Carrots – Nantes; Broccoli – Green Magic and Pacman; Romain lettuce and bush beans
This is a bush or a vine that looks like a fall aster
We were at a local garden center and found this little plant that looks like a fall aster. It turned into a large shrub. We have had it planted about two years and it is about 5 feet tall. I’m not sure if it is a vine or a shrub. Time will tell.
