Dividing a Yucca

On Facebook Robin of Getting Grounded asked for everyone’s favorite shade perennials. Pam of Digging suggested Pale Leaf Yucca. After looking at her plants and my plants I’m not sure what exactly I have. I got it from my parent-in-law’s land and planted it years ago. But in any case I got motivated to go out and thin that yucca out.

I ended up with four plants where I previously had one.

And seven rather substantial ones to give away. Clearly it needed thinning.

I ended up also cleaning out my lower garden. I think it looks fairly nice at this time of year.

As does the main part of the front yard. I really value having so much structure and color at this time of year, and there’s so much wildlife using the shrubs for cover and picking off seeds.

Bloom Day – January 2018

So here we are on a very bizarre Bloom Day. First off – the blooms!

We had a couple Bluebonnets.

And I found a lone verbena.

But the fear of tomorrows high in the 20s couldn’t keep us inside on this lovely day in the high 60s. So off to the Ladybird Wildflower Center we went.

We improperly operate exercise machines.

Found a sculpture that in other seasons is hidden in tall grass, much like the birds it portrays .

Built a shelter of dubious quality.

And sat on a bench trying to decide where in our yard could accommodate this lovely tree (or three).

The school hasn’t called yet, but it’s looking like we’ll be stuck inside for at least a day this week. But it was nice to get out while we can.

 

Christmas at Big Bend

We had a fantastic opportunity drop into our lap. A friend had 3 days reserved at the Chisos Mountain Lodge. So off to Big Bend we went for Christmas. I, of course, drove my family a bit batty taking pictures of plants. It was an amazing trip and I was shocked by the amount of variety. The Pine Woods and Guadalupe River were so different from the more expected desert areas.

I’ve labeled most of what I can. If you know a plant or I’ve mislabeled please leave me a comment!

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Build a Plant Bench

This year I actually remembered to bring in my plants. It’s a Christmas miracle!

Etta and I worked together and built this bench. Our friendly elf liked it so much she had to join in on the fun.

Here are the instructions if you’d like to build one of your own.

I already had:

  • a hand saw
  • a drill
  • a large-ish drill bit
  • a star drive bit for the lag screws

So at Lowes I purchased:

  • 1 6x6x8′ pressure treated beam
  • 4 of these bolts
  • 4 of these washers
  • 1 package of these legs

Once you get it home figure out how long you actually want the beam. Probably not eight feet. We went with about 65 inches. Mark where you want to cut it and then cut with a hand saw. Tedious, but it works.

Mark where you want the legs to sit and mark the holes with a sharpie. These legs are made to attach to a skateboard, but really two bolts on each side is all you need. I did them diagonally, two bolts on each side. Drill pilot holes with a fairly large drill bit, then screw in the bolts with the washer on the outside of the leg.

That’s it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a yearly Friendsgiving feast. It’s a potluck full of fancy food. Tonight promises the children engaged in an epic Nerf gun battle, plenty of a food, and a nice fire to cap off the evening. It’s hard to believe all the blooms. I went out today and noticed my Mealy BlueWhite Sage blooming. It’s a fantastic temperature and our plans to convert the outside into an extension of our living space is really coming along.

^ Mealy Sage and a lovely agave that was transplanted from the front yard.

^ Outdoor seating looking up at the fire pit.

^ The fire pit looking back at the house.

^ The back of the house including new supports for lights. The plan is to have those supports also support a canvas roof and mosquito netting to make it truly an outside room. The ugly brown box attached to the wall is our outdoor TV. It needs a coat of paint, but we have plans to repaint the house as it is, so it’ll probably happen as part of that project.

And finally please excuse the egg crate hanging in our bedroom window. That was some temporary sound proofing that has become a bit permanent.

One of our projects for this weekend is getting all our succulents re-potted and inside for the winter. 

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and get to some of your outdoor projects in this lovely weather! 

Not enough people plant this

While Texas will never rival the North East in fall, there is fall color here. A love of planting dark green Japanese plants and native evergreens has left the area bereft of these signs of fall. Here’s the lovely Flameleaf Sumac that brightens up a cloudy day with it’s mix of fiery colors. These are great as border plants (they grow quickly and spread freely) and you could easily use them as a lush back border that shows off dramatically in as much of the rest of your yard begins hibernating.

Book Recomendation

I just finished “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate” by Debra Bogart and cannot recommend it highly enough. It’s the story of a girl in 1899 in Lockhart, TX discovering a passion for science while chafing under society’s expectations for her life. It was one of those books that I didn’t want to finish because I enjoyed it so much.

Gardening takes a creativity, stubbornness and an interest in experimentation. It requires one to fight against a society that insist every family have the same carpet of grass, 2 trees, and 3 bushes.

I have met many amazing women through garden blogging who have taught me through their passions for plants, insects, and science in general. I heard reflections of so many of those conversations in this book.

Now I’ve gotta go read the sequel. My kids are at the age where they have trouble with the concept of spoilers.

September is Lovely

Oh this temperature! I got the family to help me weed and pickup boxwood trimmings today. Which left me time to trim said boxwoods. And pull a few more Hackberry trees out with my pullerbear. Now I’m sitting outside with the dogs playing and enjoying the view and the fireflies.

Summertime Garden

I tend to get warm and discouraged in the summer because weeks of hundred plus weather is rough. But then I remembered I have a summer garden. So I went out to get some pictures. We’ve had a decent amount of rain this summer. I’ve only watered twice. But these plants also love the sun. Because we did the front yard remodel a lot of this doesn’t look like I’d like, but I’m trying to be better about seeing the trees and not obsessing about the forest.

Greg’s mist-flower is visited by butterflies constantly.

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Sotol backed by weeping love grass and purple three awn. There’s a wasps nest in there I need to clean out. The mail person is getting grumpy. Also there are still bluebonnets in there.

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Lost a native agave, but the gopher plant and daisies are more than making up for it. 

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The lower garden has been filling in nicely with more grasses and mistflower. A Mexican Buckeye will eventually lord over the proceedings. 

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White lantana bordered by the ever popular pride of barbados. 

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And this front bed always looks effortless (even when it is 25% weeds).

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