Angel's trumpets

For all the subtle coloration on the buds yesterday, these datura blooms are white. They opened up last night as soon as it was dark and had a lovely plumeria-like fragrance (floral but clean & not too sweet); very fleeting though.

Buds and bugs

So, I bought 3 angel's trumpet plants (4"pots) a few years ago at the Ladybird Center plants sale...and did nothing with them, except move them to slightly larger plastic pots every year. Only one made it through this last winter, and FINALLY it looks like I'll get blooms from it. I had no idea the buds were so tall (they grow inches in a day, and are almost 10 inches at the moment). Also, I assumed they'd be white, but these seem yellow with a dusty mauve. Very exciting!


On the less glamorous side, 4 queen butterflies stripped the milkweed I planted in July and are furiously searching for more milkweed-y goodness. Sorry guys! I'll have to plant some more this fall. I'm hoping they got enough to get to cocoon stage.

And these horrible cactus bugs showed up on my prickly pear not too long ago. I guess they're pretty common, but I can't say I'm a fan. (The up-close shot was pretty fearsome, so I settled for a bit further back)

Hot color in the garden

Yep, it's summer...hot, hot summer. And the flowers in the back right now are, appropriately, blooming in flame colors. Mexican sunflowers (top) have the most gorgeous, velvety petals, and this is the first one to bloom. Below that: Turk's cap, firespike (started blooming this week), and golden cosmos.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: August 2010

So, summer's in full swing, and even the prolific bloomers, like flame acanthus are not very photogenic right now. It's just too hot (up around a hundred everyday) to look pretty. But the obedient plant on the north side of the house (just a couple of hours of morning sun) started blooming this week and is a refreshing spot of color.




Close-up of obedient plant; golden cosmos with tiny pink butterfly; the chives in the front just sent up buds this week; and this caterpillar on the milkweed is new...maybe a Queen caterpillar of the monarch family.

Also blooming right now: turk's cap, chaste tree, russian sage, flame acanthus, indigo spires sage, mexican petunia, standing cypress, firebush, and thryallis. And to see what's blooming around the world today, visit May Dreams.

Seedpods and squirrel nest

Picked up the top seed pod rosette on this morning's walk (something like sensitive plant); wish it would keep, but the seeds are already popping out. The second is horsemint gone to seed. And below is one of two nests built by squirrels about a week and a half ago in my hackberry tree. I noticed small branches all over the lawn, and when I looked up, there was the squirrel pruning, catching (sometimes), and carrying up the branches to the work-in-progress.

Strange, colorful harvest

The suyo long cucumber is being fairly productive right now (the flavor's really great for salads). The regular cucumber is a little bitter-skinned. Most of my backyard "harvests" are so small that I just wash and eat straight off the plants. This purple beauty pepper is sort of backwards in that it starts out dark purple, goes green, then red when it's sweeter (here it's a bit of all three). I've been hand-pollinating the cukes with an old paintbrush, but I'm hoping the addition of cosmos and a few other blooms in the back bring more pollinators.

Landscaping project update

So, all the hardscape was finished on Tuesday (Tim of San Isidro Designs put in the flagstone and last of the granite mulch), and this is the first day that the grass has been mowed and no cars have been parked in front of the house...good day for garden photos. I'm really excited about the look and the future planting; but right now I'm happy to let everything settle in till fall while I dream and scheme.


I think it'd be nice to ease the transition between limestone block and path...I'm keeping an eye out for some found object or stone.


These square beds (4'X4') are for veggies. Right now I've just got clear plastic in there, hopefully solarizing away the bermuda grass and weeds. In the fall, I want to plant some Mexican feather grass in the granite area, and maybe some cactus next to the Pride of Barbados. Summer heat actually makes me not jump into a bunch of plant choices I might reconsider later.




All that landscaping inspired me to weed and plant this bed along the front of the house, which gets dappled sun throughout the day and some afternoon sun. The purple trailing lantana (left side) has always been there, and I added the butterfly weed, blackie sweet potato, gregg's mistflower, and vitex trifolia last week.

There's something so satisfying about the wildness of the planted areas and the calmness of the hardscape. To give you an idea, here's a before (maybe 4 years ago, with the metal edge hidden in lawn) and after, with my dog Lloyd demonstrating how much better it is now.


All the areas now covered in decomposed granite used to be a mish-mash of bermuda grass, st. augustine, wildflowers, horseherb, you name it; basically, that's the area of lawn not under the tree that receives full sun from lunch time till evening.