Cutting flowers before the deluge. I should do this more often.

cut wildflowers in vase

cut wildflowers in vase

It’s not true we don’t have fall color in Texas. We just don’t plant enough of it focusing a little too much on our oaks. This is the lovely flame leaf sumac in greens, and reds, and oranges.

flame leaf sumac leaves

Wow. What a change! I had 3 trees removed. The before and after from the front of the house is above. While it feels really shocking right now, I’m pretty sure that lovely Live Oak is going to fill in nicely, and I have so much new room for planting. 

That’s the last of the invasive trees. Now I need to get rid of the Nandina…

before, ligustrum threatening to eat our house

after, light and airy, you can see our fence

after side yard with ligustrum sump

after backyard by bedroom with no ligsutrum

This is the year of amazingly tall sunflowers and crepe myrtles.

sunflower and crepe myrtle blooms

crepe myrtle over grass

crepe myrtle with the sky in the background

My sotol that I transplanted in my last update still appears to be alive! And I’ve had no complaints about getting poked attempting to enter the house. We’ll see how it does this summer.

a flower

a trash can in front of a basketball hoop

cone flower, gomphrena, and a daisy

There were complaints from people being attacked by our toothless sotol as they attempted to enter our house. Today, since the ground was super wet, I decided to attempt to move it.

before: front porch with giant prickly pear and sotol

after: front porch with giant prickly pear and sotol

I went to Body Pump at the Y last night, and then moved this plant, and can say th at my upper body is now officially on fire.

But it’s moved. Top is After, Bottom is Before. I think you’ll see in the next wide-angle that it’s the right location.

And if it dies (which it probably will because I was none too nice with its roots), I know exactly where to plant the replacement.

May 2015 Bloomday - First time my Cenizo has ever bloomed. I guess it needs a LOT of rain.

cenizo

Bet we’re missing some roses too…

outline of a deer at night

![plants with their tops chomped off]](images/tumblr_no9idbbqMA1r4uneuo2_1280.jpg)

I don’t understand why mesquite doesn’t get more love. It’s a lovely dappled xeric shade tree. All the litter on the ground is from live oaks.

dappled shade under a mesquite tree