Poppies Up Close

April 30, 2009.
The curvy and spiky stem and bud of a poppy; and a flower up close.

Great White Herons

April 28, 2009.
Two great white herons perching on trees by the catfish pond. Those big birds didn't mind me watching and taking their pictures .

Clematis on Trellis

This has been grown in our planter for about 3-4 years. Each year it produces more flowers. Maybe one day it will cover the trellis with its flowers. It bloomed 2 times last year, in spring and fall.

Poppies Blooming

The first two poppies are blooming among crimson clover. The last two are in the back yard. The seeds were sown in fall 2007 for naturalizing and they've been coming back ever since although not abundantly.

Rye Grass & Daisies

Daisy

April 28, 2009.
A patch of white daisies are blooming in the back yard. Here's a close up of the flower and a part of the patch.

Honeysuckle

April 28, 2009.
The wild honeysuckle is blooming and can be seen all around the area.

Chinaberry Tree Loaded

April 26, 2009.
Chinaberry tree is loaded with berries and flowers.

Sugar Snap Peas

April 26, 2009.
Sugar snap peas start gripping the string we put up the day before.

Vegetable

TOP: Rows of greens (mustard and collard). BOTTOM: Sugar snap peas.

Food for Plants

Multipurpose plants food for all done this morning, including vegetable garden.

Five Blooms and More Buds

April 23, 2009.

'English Buttercups'

I don't know what the real name is, but my mother in law describes it as a miniature of English buttercups. The flower itself is small, only have an inch. It loves low spot and wet feet I guess. The close up picture is in my previous post: Wild Flowers.

Hardy Hibiscus

Four out of six hardy hibiscus are back. They're between 4 in / 10 cm to 16 in / 40 cm tall now. Still awaiting the other two to sprout.

Purchased from Bruce Miller and a small nursery in Canton, Tx, along Hwy 19.

Strawberry Petunia

Another sweet surprise from my plant. Strawberry petunia unexpectedly blooms today among purple petunias. I started it from seed last year in a pot. When they finished, I put the pot in the greenhouse. This spring I bought new petunia plants from Walmart and planted them in the same pot. One strawberry petunia apparently survived and grows quietly among others.

Seedlings

Seedlings sown end March start sprouting.

Cosmos.


Sunflower.


Portulaca - This seedling comes back from last year. It's supposed to be an annual plant but somehow it survived the winter which was mild anyway. A lot of other annuals sprouting back unexpectedly.


Portulaca sprouting 2 days after sown!
Not knowing that it would come back, I bought one packet of portulaca seed and sow them. So we'll have extra this year which is fine since it gave so much pleasure last year.

Flapjacks

Kalanchoe thyrsiflora 'Flapjacks' has new growth underneath. Purchased this year at Home Depot, Terrell, TX.

Transplanting Succulents

April 22, 2009.

Hen and chicks, Echevaria Subalpina, gets too crowded in a pot. It was bought last year as a single rosette and as big as the one in second picture. In a year it has grown 4 times the size and multiplied, producing 14 chicks! It's time to transplant them and give each more room to grow.


One of the 14 chicks (about 2 in dia.) after separation from the hen and planted in the ground.


Another hen and chicks (name still being searched) that was purchased the same time as the above but overgrown by others in the pot. It has not been growing in size and producing any chicks. Hopefully by transplanting it into the ground it will do better.


The hen (8 in dia.) happy in the pot by itself. Expect it to grow even bigger this year.


Learned that Hen and Chicks (also called "houseleeks") can refer to several genera, i.e. Sempervivum, Echeveria, Jovibarba, which all looks similar with rosette kind of shape. The difference between those genera need to be searched further.

Note from my search (will keep adding the note when I find useful info):
1. Echeveria leaves are more succulent / fatter than Sempervivum.

Illustris

Elephant's Ears (Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum 'Illustris'), heavily shaded with velvety black that only the bright green midrib and main veins are visible, lit by sunlight from the back in the evening.

Purchased from Bruce Miller Nursery.

Kangaroo Paw

Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos) is native to southwest of Western Australia. I noted this plant in California and surprisingly found this in Grand Saline (TX) when a wholesale nursery opened for public during 3-days Highway 80 sale. I believe this is the dwarfed cultivar. We got the tall one, too, Anigozanthus flavidus "Tequila Sunrise", which should grow about 2m (7 feet) tall, but it's not flowering at the moment.

How it got its name

(from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_Paw) :
Kangaroo paw is a common name for a number of species in the family Haemodoraceae that are endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. These perennial plants are noted for their unique bird attracting flowers. The tubular flowers are coated with dense hairs and open at the apex with six claw-like structures: from this paw formation the common name "Kangaroo Paw" is derived.

More information from Australian government website:

(http://www.anbg.gov.au/anigozanthos/index.html)

The Little Greenhouse

The little green house in the morning sun.

Liquid Iron Shot

Fertilome Liquid Iron - done for citrus, foliage plants, basically all within the spray hose's reach.

MiracleGro Spike fertilizer for fruit trees and shrub - done.

Mock Orange 'Natchez"

April 20, 2009.
Spurred by a mock orange and its sweet white flowers in one of the houses along Azalea Trail in Tyler, TX, this spring, I thought I'd try that if I could find one in a nearby nursery. Bruce Miller happened to carry them, so here it is in our yard.

It's under Hydrangeaceae family, its latin name is Philadelphus, Natchez cultivar.

I can smell the sweet jasmine kind of fragrance 2 feet away from the shrub.

Eight Buds and Two Blooms

April 19, 2009.
On our evening walk to the pond today, we found out that our waterlily has been busy! We saw the two blooms the day before, but eight buds?? I didn't even remember seeing that many this morning when I checked it out! Maybe only four, definitely not eight. This is the surprise of the day. A good surprise.

Birds After Rain -2

The Finch family:

Goldfinch

Indigo Bunting

Redpoll