Growing Up

I love the rain. Everything just looks so green afterwards.

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 But even without the heavy rainfall this week, which I was so grateful for (by the way Austinites — you can thank me for the rain on Wednesday because it was my watering day and I got up and watered– Murphy’s Law was in full effect, because the rain showed up that evening… now if you got hail, too, that’s not my fault…), this year we are enjoying massive growth of pretty much everything in the garden. I suppose that sounds reasonable, as in the plant world we are in Year 2, at least for some of our plants — the rest are still young. Following the saying “Sleep, Creep, then Leap” — it is clear that our plants are enjoying a growth spurt!

gardena06-04-10.jpgI am envisioning a garden of giants before long — the thought crossed my mind that I might have to trim some of these back at some point. Whoa, that’s too much for this girl to think about right now.

But take a look at this Rock Rose, one that I don’t even remember planting in that spot. It’s massive. Right now I’m just letting it do its thing, but I’m sure that other gardeners are wisely shaking their head, saying that I’m going to be dealing with lots of little Pavonia babies everywhere and soon. (Here’s where I’ll tell you that one of my other Pavonias already made lots of babies, as I discovered a couple of days ago. And it was a much smaller plant!)

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 On the plus side, I hope that the natural shade that the larger plants in the butterfly garden will provide this summer will help the smaller ones get through the heat and sun. Downside is that right now everything appears to be the same height. Somewhere in the middle of all that is a Texas Kidneywood, as well as a Barbados Cherry, which at some point should provide the height variation the garden needs. They need to be in their Leap Year, too! 

All around the garden, I’ve got new plants I’m excitedly watching. Exotic Love Vine, an annual vine from Mexico and Central/South America, still hasn’t produced any flowers, but I find myself admiring its beautiful leaves everyday. I guess the love effect is already, well, in effect, even without the amazing blooms it hopefully will produce. Maybe they bloom in fall.

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exoticlovevineb06-04-10.jpgNow check out this great stem — hoho, Great Stem.

cinnsunflowerstem06-04-10.jpgNow at 4-foot tall, this Cinnamon Sunflower is already bigger than some of my trees. Still no evidence of blooms. The leaves themselves are the biggest leaves of any plant I have on the entire property. For comparison, I placed a Pomegranate leaf on one of the Sunflower leaves — I still don’t think it does it justice.

cinnsunflowerleaf06-04-10.jpgFor the record, the Cinnamon Sunflower’s growth is putting the Giant Sunflower’s growth to shame. I haven’t taken pictures of the Giant yet, so it better do some catching up!

The Passionflower is blooming like mad. I’m still waiting for the Fritillaries to show up.

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But here’s a little Phaon Crescent come to visit.

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The Purple Coneflowers are doing some strange things this year, but at least they are officially blooming. Some big, some small, some tall, some flat, some wide, some droopy…

purpleconeflower06-04-10.jpgThis odd Coneflower has a striped appearance.

purpleconeflowerb06-04-10.jpgSpeaking of Great Stems (giggle), here’s another one. Check out the thorns on this wee tree, a Toothache Tree, or Prickly Ash. The thorns are currently longer than the stem is wide!

toothachetree06-04-10.jpgWe’re fortunate to have two species growing — Zanthoxylum hirsutum (shown) and Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (very much still a sapling). If you haven’t heard of these trees, they’re fun. Chew on a leaf and your mouth goes numb for a few minutes. Back in the old days, they served to help with toothaches, hence the name. Bonus — a larval host for the Giant Swallowtail butterfly! I look forward to our trees getting bigger.

Venturing back to the butterfly garden, I paused to admire a strawberry-like annual, the Gomphrena, that I spur of the moment planted a couple of weeks ago. It’s a dwarf compared to the older perennials, but I appreciate the red color that was needed in the garden.

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And ugh, a decision to make. This rogue not-native Lantana has popped up in the yard near the pond. Now I have to decide whether to pull it. This is why I stick to the native Lantana urticoides/horrida (Texas Lantana–has orange/yellow/red blooms) — I don’t want to contribute to the easily-spread other kind. I know where it came from, too — my neighbor had one. Had. I notice she pulled it out this year.

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Over in the veggie garden, I discovered an abundance of peppers! Garden Salsa peppers, and they are inspiring the Mexican meal we will have tonight. I didn’t even see them start out as babies, and here they are.

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Meanwhile, their leaves are getting munched by these little culprits — tiny (but pretty) grasshoppers. The admiration stops there. They are munching on my peppers, my tomatoes, and my Exotic Love Vine. Stop it, grasshoppers!

grasshopper06-04-10.jpgThe tomatoes are certainly growing up. They’ve outgrown their cages, keep trying to topple over, and so bushy I’m feeling a little concerned. Next time, I’m going for the big collapsible and way over-priced Texas cages.

tomatoes06-04-10.jpgThe runner beans have grown up past the trellis. I’m hoping we’ll actually get some beans before the heat of the summer really hits us. I feel we’re pushing the season a bit.

beans06-04-10.jpgAnd the perennial Bell Pepper is producing fruit again. I look at this plant in wonder — it survived last year’s terribly hot summer, made it through fall and winter without any attention from me, and here it is, still growing. I didn’t know they could do that. Talk about pushing seasons!

bellpepper06-04-10.jpgPlants aren’t the only things growing up around here. I’m about to have a teenager in the house (egads). And at 12, he’s already 6-feet tall. We’re going to do a final “kid” measure tomorrow, the day before he turns 13.

And these fledgling cardinals showed up this morning. Three of them. I love how their feathers are in transition. Mama and papa should be proud! You can tell my blood sugar was dropping at the time — the camera was shaking! I’d eaten breakfast, but only just. Not enough time to hit the bloodstream, I guess.

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cardinalfledglingc06-04-10.jpgI’m pleased that birds are finally starting to pay attention to the thistle feeder. I abandoned the thistle socks awhile back due to the damage the eager birds were doing — I kept having to replace the feeders. But wow, they did love those socks. It’s not off the project list — I just needed a regular feeder to keep around constantly.

thistlefeeder06-04-10.jpgYeah, I see you squirrel. I know what you’re up to. Yeah, I know you see me, too. And yes, I saw you on the birdfeeder this morning. I noticed the young squirrel nearby, too, watching you do it. Naughty squirrel.

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So the organic garden is growing up. The birds are growing up. The squirrels are growing up. My kids are growing up. And I guess the evidence is there that this gardener is growing up, too. If I haven’t already done it, I guess I have to do away with my newbie status officially, my crutch when I don’t know what in the world is going on in my garden. But the greenery around means I must have done something right, newbie or not. If in doubt, add compost — that’s my motto! I’m loving it and ready for more.

For a look back at the garden beginnings through its first year, visit this page.

How the Finch Stole My Heart

The birds have been putting on a colorful show, as well as a musical one lately. There is constant activity at the feeder, and the songs warm my heart from dawn to dusk.

Even the blue jay is learning to share a bit, sort of. It was hysterical watching him circle step by step with another small bird around and around the feeder tray. The little bird was playing hide and seek, always stepping just out of sight around the feeder tube, and managing to eat all the while. The blue jay seemed torn between wanting to act on bullying instinct and wanting to eat. I was mesmerized by the scene and forgot to take a picture of the pair of them, unfortunately. But here’s one of the blue jay.

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I don’t think I ever knew how bright blue the ring around the eye of a white-winged dove can be.

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The cardinals are almost always willing to share. They like to chirp at me while I’m nearby, but they don’t seem too worried and just keep eating in between chirps. Here’s a picture with a companion — from a distance I thought she was a house finch, but close-up I don’t think so. Any bird watchers able to ID her?

 
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Today while taking pictures I saw a mockingbird giving chase to a cardinal. There must be a nest nearby. Again, the photographer was too mesmerized to get an action shot.

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And the chickadees are all about the warning chirp, be it at me, other birds, cats, dogs, or the squirrels.

 
chickadee06-01-10.jpgThis afternoon we also enjoyed watching a young squirrel dangling by one foot off the dome of the tube feeder, stretching as far as possible to steal a bit of food from the opening. I tried to snap a picture, but he was young and more easily startled than the older squirrels around. The older ones know how to just sit on the tray and munch.

 
But the House Finches are the ones who have been winning my heart lately. They are here in quite a flock, and I hope to capture a picture with several on the feeder at once. Something keeps startling them while I’m off getting my camera.

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But their songs are beautiful, and one even sang just a few feet above me today — a pretty song, not a warning chirp the way the chickadees and cardinals and titmice will sometimes do.

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And like the cardinals, I typically see the male and females hanging out together.

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Would you like to hear their song? Click their page at All About Birds and scroll down to “Typical Voice” and push play.

As for the bird seed I use, I mix my own seeds, rather than buy pre-mixed kinds that often have seeds I don’t want to provide, like millet. Plus it saves on cost. Here’s my little recipe:

Black Oil Sunflower Seeds

Safflower Seeds

Cracked Corn

Peanuts

Nyjer Thistle Seed

Dried cranberries, raisins, and other fruits (sometimes)

During the winter I put out suet, but the rest of the year I just have the seed feeders, including a thistle feeder, and, of course, the hummingbird feeders. And I’ll drop tomato hornworms and grubs in the feeder when I find them. So far they always disappear fast. Happy birdies!