Recently in crafts and garden whimsies Category

Have you ever noticed that those birds and animals we'd prefer not to visit our feeders and yards are the ones that are also the most skittish? They act like thieves, and it's possible that this contributes to our perception of them, as well.

In my case, the thieves are whitewing doves, squirrels, and recent arrivals, some house sparrows. The moment anything moves even slightly around them, they startle and zip up into the trees. To some extent this also includes the blue jays -- they are more like bullies sometimes than thieves, but they too startle easily (I don't mind them, though). Deer, too -- they seek plants from people's yards but are usually quick to dart away at a potential threat (unless the population is so large that they become accustomed to humans, as is the case in many neighborhoods).

The other birds that frequent the feeder don't mind my presence. The cardinals, chickadees, titmice, finches -- they might chirp at me, but they'll keep eating while I'm near. They act like they belong there. Not at all thief-like.

Lately I've been having a problem with whitewing doves again -- the numbers had jumped to 20-30 at a time. Obviously they didn't all get on the feeders at once, but they'd line up and take turns, forcing another one to move off the feeder if it sat there pigging out too long. Sometimes they'd even attempt to sit on birds already on the feeder tray. The rest would hang out on the ground going for leftovers. The seed was being depleted at a crazy rate, and truth be told we can't afford for the gluttons to just sit there downing the whole feeder's worth of seed in one fell swoop (pun intended).

And so even though it seemed like I had just done this a few days ago, I had to go buy birdseed again today, all the while wondering whether it was going to have to be replenished again next week. But as I tell the kids all the time, "If you have a problem, find a solution." (I also tell them, "Don't just fuss or complain or skip a task or wait on Mom," but that doesn't pertain to the current topic, haha). Solve the problem.

So while I considered once again whether to buy a new feeder with a cage or a weight-sprung closure to keep the doves and squirrels out, I once again pushed the thought away because I really didn't want to spend a lot of money to replace a perfectly good feeder, and we couldn't afford it anyway. Have you seen how much those anti-dove cages cost?

And then the lightbulb came on -- why not use some leftover cattle panel to create our own cage around the birdfeeder? Surely cardinals and other birds would be able to get through, but the larger doves would be kept out. If the cage was wide enough, we'd be able to refill the feeder as normal, simply lifting it off the hook and guiding it out of the bottom of the cage. So my older son and I grabbed the cattle panel and some wire, and it only took a few minutes to create the cage.

Within moments, it was already working. The doves tried their hardest, but at best they could land on it only for a few seconds.

You could see them really trying to *solve*the*problem*. Their moms must have taught them well.

Only THIS mom thwarted them!

Enter the cardinal. Would he be able to get through the cattle panel?

Yep. No problem. In fact, he seemed to love that he was all alone in there.

The doves watched to see how the cardinal did it.

So the next test was the blue jays. I was concerned that they might not be able to get food, because they are fairly large birds. One jay watched the doves' failures for awhile before his own attempts. And sure enough, the cage presented a bit of a challenge at first. He managed to awkwardly snag a peanut and then fly off.

But two then easily got through the cage and happily ate their peanuts. Chickadees of course barely even noticed the cage and slipped right in.

Success!

So the doves acted like thieves, and the smaller songbirds got the prison cage. But so far it seems the songbirds like it a lot. They get to sit in there and do all the feasting for a change. The pictures won't be quite as pretty with the cage in the way, though. Perhaps it can come down from time to time.

And I'll keep sprinkling seed on the ground for the doves -- only this time I'll get to control how much they get. They're supposed to be ground feeders anyway. The sparrows haven't been much of a problem, and their chirps are kind of cute, but I'll keep an eye out for future feeder obsession. I don't mind the squirrels -- they can get to the other feeder and are sure to figure out a way to get into the cage of the revised one. And all of them can get seeds off the ground.

By the way, I was thrilled to see an female Goldfinch visiting the thistle feeder.

And here's a pretty House Finch, before the cage was added.

I'll miss the direct view of the birds. But to save the money for birdseed and reduce the dove numbers, the cage is worth it.

Our schoolyard habitat is designed with native Texas plants chosen for their wildlife value and drought-hardiness, plus a few herbs thrown in for sensory value. It's really meant to be an educational garden for the kids and a demonstration garden for the community, so labeling the plants well is critical for everyone to get the most out of it.

But money doesn't grow on trees (not even on a money tree, darn it). I opted to create labels on the computer and laminate them, then attach them to metal markers with a hot-glue gun.

Each plant is identified with common name and scientific name. The labels have a variety of symbols on them. The Texas symbol, of course, is meant to show people which plants are native to our fine state. For the few non-natives, the plants are identified with an herb symbol or a sun for "drought-hardy."

 But additional symbols on each label identify the wildlife value of the plant, whether it be a hummingbird favorite, a pollinator attractor, a caterpillar larval host plant, or a seed- or berry-producing plant for the birds. Some plants qualify for more than one wildlife symbol.

Which of our plants had the highest wildlife value?

Coral honeysuckle wins -- not only is it a hummingbird and butterfly/bee plant with its red tubular flowers, but it's a larval host to the Spring Azure butterfly and the Snowberry Clearwing moth, and it provides berries that birds enjoy.

I figure that in general visiting adults will get the most out of the native TX symbols and the plant IDs, but both kids and adults will look at the wildlife symbols. And that's when they'll really start to connect those plants to what they offer our birds and insects.

How long will they last? No idea. But so far I've created about 70 labels -- a pretty cost-effective way to produce such large quantities.

Now ask me if I label any of my plants at home. Ha. I'm lucky if I don't manage to lose the markers that come in the pot when I buy a new plant! I can't tell you how many plants I haven't planted because I can't ID them anymore. 

  As I headed out to the driveway this dark early morning, I saw a dark flying shape land on the side of a tree nearby. I could tell by its outline that this was no dove or songbird, and after a few moments it flew off in the direction of one of our screech owl houses. Oh, I could scarcely stop myself from running after it! Alas, I had to go.

But I called my husband from the road, and he took a peek in the backyard. Sure enough, there was an owl watching him from the owlhouse near the front fence.

This afternoon I got home and rushed to grab the camera. But alas, I couldn't find the owl in the owlhouse. That was because it had apparently selected our other owlhouse as its main choice of resting/nesting spot! I can't believe we already have a resident in one of our owlhouses. We just put them up three weeks ago! And I'm excited that both houses have been found and tested out by one or more owls. ***Edit: See next post for updated occupancy info.

I wonder whether the house has appealed quickly because it a) is cedar, b) was skillfully made my husband and the owl has very sophisticated tastes  :), c) had ideal dimensions (according to the Audubon site), d) happened to be put up just at the right time, or e) is paired with another owlhouse a few yards away. Somewhere I read that two houses are more likely to be attractive to owls, because males and females use separate cavities. At the very least, two houses doubled our chances!

I also wonder whether the owl my husband saw this morning is the same owl I took pictures of this afternoon. If so, it seems to like having two houses to choose from and use at will. ***Edit: See next post.

I rather prefer it in this location, in the back of our yard. It keeps it farther back from our birdfeeder. However, the titmouses and chickadees who nest in the back woods probably do not care to have the owl back there either.

In fact, while I was out there, a titmouse bravely landed on a branch right by the owlhouse and proceeded to squawk and threaten and otherwise fuss about the presence of said owl. It clearly was trying to do its best to warn that owl that it was not welcome in its social group or home at any time. Can you see it in the lower right corner of the picture below?

I look forward to monitoring owl activity over the next several weeks or months. Whooo's happy? We are!

Inspired by this day of love, it was a perfect time to complete a long desired project -- bee boxes to provide nesting places for our native Texas solitary bees.

We drilled several holes into an Ashe Juniper log obtained from a friend, and since we had an extra, we decided to replace the decaying hackberry branch holding up the habitat sign with yet another bee box.

We ended up making a third bee box, this time from pine and bamboo, the latter of which we cut down from the yard of our neighbor across the street. She was quite willing to share, as she loathes the bamboo that is encroaching into her lawn from the house next to her.

But won't it make such a nice resting spot and nesting spot for little bees in need?

Homemade gifts just make the heart swell with love, and happy memories of making or receiving them abound, not to mention how economically wise they can be. This year, the family and I decided to make environmentally friendly gifts for Christmas, and not only were the gifts made from the heart, the satisfaction of staying green AND discovering that the four of us could work as a team equaled a total win-win.

The kids decided that for grandparents they wanted to make seed mosaic art, and it was truly a family affair. The boys made the drawings and did a bunch of the gluing, with Mom giving guidance and filling in where necessary. Dad made the frames with old branches from our yard.

This fish is a rainbow trout, fly fishing being my dad's favorite outdoor pasttime.

And, of course, hummingbirds seemed the perfect choice for other art subjects, because all our kids' grandparents love hummingbirds!

We used all sorts of beans and seeds, including kidney beans, pinto beans, black-eyed peas, white beans, pumpkin seeds, safflower seeds, millet, flax seed, black beans, lentils, and green split peas. These we glued onto a thick piece of off-white paper with good old-fashioned white glue, following a lightly pencilled outline of our drawing. Next we glued the paper onto a slightly larger wood board, and to that we attached the frame pieces my husband had carefully cut. To ensure the frame dried how we wanted it, we carefully clamped the pieces in place after the glue was applied. And prior to all the gluing, we nailed a small picture hanger on to the back of the board.

Ah yes, we added in a little popcorn for color variation.

For other family and friends, we tried our hand at making seed ornaments, as often in the past we've enjoyed giving purchased seed gifts for others, to hang out for the birdies.

We used a recipe that I found online -- it used unflavored gelatin as the ingredient to stick together the black oil sunflower seeds, safflowers, peanuts, corn, cranberries, raisins, thistle, flax, and other bird-happy foods, hopefully holding the intended shape. The best cookie cutter I had for the project was a large star, and we used it to shape most of the ornaments. We also used some round plastic storage containers for larger seed wheels -- these were much easier to shape, but much worse for drying time! Twine through the ornaments served as the hangers.

I want to say that the birdseed ornaments were a success, and in some ways they were. Once dry, the ornaments held their shape fairly well, but the key was definitely to let them dry fully, flipping when necessary. Overall I didn't allow enough dry time, thanks to the recipes I looked at being vague. They weren't just vague in dry time, they also were vague in the gelatin/seed ratio and recipe. Any of the ornaments that didn't get to air-dry well quickly turned to moldy ick, so I couldn't give more than a few out. SO... I'll need to work on this to perfect it. The idea was good! Once I improve on the project, I'll post details of the new and better recipe.

We attempted one other earth-friendly project for kids' gifts, but they were far more time-consuming than we expected. So this secret project will be on hold for next year!

I'd love to hear what you made for gifts this year, or what you've done in the past. We're already looking forward to our next projects! 

For some time, we'd been wanting a little fountain in one of our front entryway beds, a sort of zen moment of trickling water as one approaches our front door. But getting a classic planter-style container with reservoir would have cost us more than $500, and it wasn't really my style anyway. So I wanted to see how cheaply we could make a disappearing fountain using as many materials from home as we could. We could have probably made it for $21, but we decided to be "practical" and buy a couple of other items. It actually cost us less than $40 -- I rounded up for the sake of the title. I'm not counting the cost of the electrical outlet, as we were going to be putting one out there anyway, not just for a fountain, and we already had a bunch of those parts anyway.

Money spent: We bought a large tub normally used for mixing cement ($11), as well as a small 130 gph pump (about $21). We also ran out of window screen, so I bought some more aluminum screen material ($7), but the rest will be used for plant containers, so I'm not really sure whether to add the cost in -- regardless, that's still less than $40. We seriously considered not using the basin and using other items we had at home, but in the end, we decided this might be best. 

Materials gathered: An old grill from our neighbor's uncle's junk he was having hauled off, leftover block-style rocks from our other neighbor that we had used to circle a tree in the backyard, a concrete block, and little colorful rocks we found in the backyard.

At this point, I have to give out kudos to my 12-year-old son. This was more or less his pet project, and while I gave some guidance in regard to the plan (he had some rather far-fetched ideas and I had to bring him back to Earth a bit), he did the bulk of the work.

The first step was to dig out the plants from the area and give them new homes in the front yard (that really did a lot to make our front yard better, too). And then the hole for the basin was dug. The basin we chose turned out to be ideal for the job -- the rock under the soil would have prevented the use of a deeper reservoir. (Please ignore the plastic edging in these photos -- it came with the house, and at some point it will go away, because I can't stand it.)

The concrete block is there to support the weight of the rocks on top of the grill, and we stuck some rocks underneath to let water flow. The ones we settled on are in the leveling picture below.

Dad helped with the leveling (and he also got to play electrician to put in the outdoor outlet).

We wrapped the window screen around the grill and cut a little hole for the pump tube.

Then we poured in some water collected from the recent rains (the change in rocks in the images had to do with some adjustments we made regarding the pump placement).

And the rest was just building the rock feature and collecting the little rocks for the base. Simple as that! Here's a picture of the rock work in progress...

I love that it's a little rock statue, and while I envisioned something like it, it came out even better than I imagined. Now I just need to choose some plants to go around it! I'll probably end up spending more on those than I did on the fountain itself...

Thank you to my son for all his hard work and dedication to getting the job done, and thank you to my husband for the electrical work that I'm sure he'll get finished soon (hint, hint).

Now, I should point out that disappearing fountains are technically a no-no during our city's Stage 2 water restrictions. We'll turn it back off when water is an issue again, but right now we have so much rainwater gathered that we actually have to find a place to put it all -- the grounds are saturated and the bins are overflowing. This fountain is only going to be filled with rainwater from the roof or gray water, NOT hose water. And I think it looks wonderful whether water is flowing or not, so when it has to be turned off, it's still going to make me happy. The water just gives that nice trickling sound, and I'm hoping we'll see some wildlife visit on occasion, too.

It took longer than I had planned (doesn't everything), but the bird bath is finished! Well, it's got another day to cure before I put water in, so maybe it's not technically finished, but close enough for pictures! Here's the After Bird Bath.

I apologize for the darkness of the photos -- there's a thunderstorm brewing out there. I'm crossing my fingers for rain, even though the bird bath hasn't finished curing. I might go out and put a temporary cover on it just in case.

Here's the Before Bird Bath. We got this for free from someone on Craigslist. It had cracks in the top, was ugly, and was barely functional.

During a recent rainy week, my exterior painting got put back on hold, so I decided it was a good time to make the bird bath prettier. And because life likes to play its little jokes, the top part broke into three pieces when we moved it indoors, adding another day's delay in getting started on the main project.

I searched for a non-toxic adhesive that was strong enough for concrete and found JB Weld Cold Weld Compound. I spoke to a person at the company to make sure it was the best choice for repairing a birdbath, and she was confident that it was safe enough for my feathered friends and strong enough to hold the heavy concrete together. So I glued the pieces back together, and I'm pretty certain that if the bird bath breaks again, it won't be in those glued cracks, but elsewhere in the concrete.

For the pieces, I spent several days scouring the local Goodwill outlet for colorful plates I could break. What I learned while breaking them was that some plates are just too thick and porous to be useful, so in the future I will be more selective in my choices. I originally was going for color, but then later I started going for a certain thickness. Ideally all the pieces would be similar thickness, but I had to work with what was available.

I used a hammer to break the dishes in an old towel (with safety goggles on). The towel keeps the pieces contained. I kept tile cutters on hand in case I need them to trim a piece. But mostly I used the hammer.

Then came time to adhere the pieces to the bird bath. I did my best to research what materials to use, but there's a lot of conflicting information out there. Ultimately I decided to use thinset to adhere the mosaic pieces to the concrete. I chose Versabond because it was readily available and says that it's appropriate for outdoor use, but some people said they don't like it. So time will tell. Wear a dust mask when mixing this product, due to the cement dust. Follow the bag instructions -- the goop will be thick like peanut butter.

Depending on the area, I used a putty knife, a plastic knife, or my gloved fingers to spread on the thinset, then placed the mosaic pieces at random, working in small sections at a time. Other times I backbuttered the pieces (spread thinset directly on the back of the mosaic piece) so they would stick better. The downside to using thinset is that it sometimes would be thick between the pieces (where the grout also needed to be), but I tried to pay attention and make sure that the thinset wasn't too high up.

This process took a couple of days. It's a lot of work making something look random! Also, I ran out of thinset toward the end and had to buy more. Should have bought the big 25-lb bag.

I don't have pictures of the grouting process, because I didn't want the camera near the mess, and I was mostly alone when I worked on this project. But I chose a sanded grout, though again I did my research. I ruled out using more of the thinset as grout.

When mixing the grout (again, with mask), the texture of the goop is different -- it will be less thick and wet than the thinset was, and it will be more gritty. Follow the instructions on the container, then smear it into the crevices between the pieces. After the recommended number of minutes, take a damp sponge and begin to clean up the pieces -- the grout will become smoother between the pieces. I had to do this several times as I went along, and then, grumble, I ran out of grout (right toward the end again) and had to rush to the store to get more. Should have bought two boxes from the get-go. The grout is a messy process, but it's very rewarding when you see the finished look.

To seal or not to seal? I searched and searched for information, but the gist of it is that grout sealers are almost all toxic and will break down over time when in water. Since this is for a bird bath, bird health is my main concern, so at the moment I have not sealed the bird bath. I found only one sealant that is considered semi non-toxic, but the woman I spoke to at the company said that it will break down in water over time. A woman at a grout company said she didn't think I should seal it at all. I'm going to read more, but I'm erring on the side of caution for my birds.

The After Bird Bath is outside near a yaupon and a window. The birds can enjoy a safe spot for splashing, and I can enjoy watching the birds. And now I get to choose plants to grow at the base! Nothing too big, so cats won't hide nearby.

While I was working on the bird bath inside the house, my cat kept wanting to lay in the top and dream of catching birds, as if I built this for her. Wrong, Tooga!

Here's a general list of materials I used:

Concrete bird bath

(JB Weld for repair if needed)

Versabond

Bucket and tool for mixing

Putty knife and/or other knife for spreading

Sanded grout (when pieces are more than 1/4 in. apart)

Hammer

Old towel

Dishes to break, or tile pieces

Tile cutters if necessary

Water for mixing and cleaning up

Sponge (not too big)

Rags or cheesecloth for buffing

Safety goggles

Dust mask

Rubber gloves

Paper towels for handy clean-up

It was a long project, but we love the results. Hopefully the birds will, too!

When the fall migration of hummingbirds begins, many people all over North America feel sad that their little friends will be absent from their gardens for a few months. But down south, the mass migration results in opposite, delighted feelings for the dedicated residents of Rockport and Fulton, Texas. To them, fall migration along the Central Flyway means that the little buzzing flyers will make one more major pitstop in the tiny coastal towns to rest and refuel before beginning their 500-mile flight nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico toward their winter habitats.

(A word about these photographs -- try to find all the hummingbirds in each photo. Some of them are sneaky! Look for the vibrant throat colors to distinguish the males from the females.)

The town of Rockport is so enamoured with their feathered visitors that many years ago they began an annual event, the Rockport Hummer/Bird Festival, held each September unless a hurricane shows up and causes a cancellation (like Ike in 2008). This year was our first time attending the festival, and it was quite a relaxing, pleasant day (with an exception, noted farther down in this post). The event included many speakers and vendors, but the highlights were the hummingbirds themselves, and many kind Rockport residents opened their yards to festival visitors for hummingbird viewing. This year there were 25-homes on a self-guided tour, and for a fee, visitors could take a guided bus tour to many other private homes and grasslands areas.

A birdwatching festival is quite interesting and different from the perspective of one who's been to all sorts of festivals, from family-filled celebrations of peaches to flowers, to Renaissance times, to chaotic state fairs. For one thing, it's very quiet, as it should be if one hopes to observe the little birds without scaring them away. And another is that birdwatchers, while all ages, boast a higher percentage of an older crowd. My boys were two of the four children I saw at the festival, though to be honest we were there only on the last day of the event.

Rockport isn't just about hummingbirds -- hundreds of species of birds are year-round residents or migratory passers-through, and birdwatchers excitedly converge with binoculars in hand to enjoy the sheer numbers and to hopefully catch a glimpse of a rare species. At any given home on the hummingbird tours, there might be as many as 100 or more hummingbirds zooming about the feeders.

To help attract the birds, the town encourages residents to plant bushes and vines that are hummingbird favorites. There are a lot of Esperanza, for example. And there are other native plants, such as sunflowers and this pokeweed, that are enjoyed by other birds. If you look closely, you can see a remaining berry or two -- the plants have been well-stripped by visiting birdies.

Along the self-guided tour, I felt drawn to those homes with wildscapes -- native, flowering plants and small or large ponds helped draw in the wildlife. Of course, they had many a hummingbird feeder as well. At one home, my son counted 19 feeders, just in the backyard.

  But there were a variety of landscapes on the tour, and there was even a school garden, planted and maintained by students and teachers. 

Experienced birders would sometimes call out when they spotted a particular species or another type of bird, such as an oriole. And we saw a beautiful Great Blue Heron, a Great Egret, and a large duck family, among other birds, scouring residential ponds for food.

At the festival, we enjoyed learning about the art of feeding hummingbirds from expert Sheri Williamson, author of an excellent field guide called Hummingbirds of North America. Sheri also went with a few of us to select homes on the tour, and it was wonderful to have a hummingbird expert on site to describe features and behavior of the hummingbirds and to answer any questions, of which it's just possible that I might have had one or two... or three.

It was thoroughly entertaining watching the antics of the territorial hummingbirds. Their behavior is different at migration time -- because the birds need to build up their energy stores, there is more willingness for many, but not all, of the birds to share a feeder from time to time. Despite the many feeders about a yard, the hummingbirds might swarm a particular feeder, as if they think that because others are that feeder, it must be good food. But territoriality is hard to resist sometimes, especially for the males. The vibrant color of the throats of the male birds was impressive, though Sheri said that these feathers are post-mating season, and thus less vibrant than at other times. Pretty cool. 

Sometimes the camera captured behavior my eye didn't notice at the time. In the photo below, you can see two males squabbling, while another bird moves in to get some nectar.

The majority of the hummingbirds that pass through Rockport are ruby-throated hummingbirds, but several species have been sighted, and in all more than 500 species of birds have been documented.

There was another creature that threatened to bring downfall to the festival this year, the heat-seeking, blood-sucking, mass-attacking mosquito. It was unbelievable the numbers of mosquitoes everywhere, and they swarmed every person by the hundreds. The mosquitoes were so bad at the very first house we stopped at that, that our hummingbird viewing would have come to an end before it started if we hadn't decided to just go ahead and use some loaned icky chemical spray that I would never touch at home. But we were having to do a ridiculous and constant "Mosquito-Slapping Dance" until we finally used the spray, and if a green person is going to that extreme, you know it's bad.

After using the spray, we could actually focus on the hummingbirds, until we went tried to get back in the car. This act required particularly quick moves and skill to minimize the number of mosquitoes that joined us in the vehicle -- they hovered around the nice warm car until we showed up and opened the door, thinking we wanted them to join us inside. At one house at least fifty mosquitoes flew into the car, and we couldn't get them out until we were on the highway and could roll the windows down enough to send them out, if we didn't manage to smush them first. Note to self -- avoid coast just after the first fall rain, haha.

I have a much more disgusting picture of a mosquito, but I decided it wasn't nice to share it on a garden blog, so I think I'll gross out family members on the family blog instead.

Rockport itself is an interesting coastal village. Near the water, the strong ocean winds have shaped the oak trees into quite the odd shapes. You can tell that salt and drought have taken their toll on the health of those trees.

  Outside of Moon Dog, where we had lunch, a lone pelican rested peacefully. It was quite the contrast to the zooming hummingbirds at the inland homes. 

Back at the festival mall, we enjoyed visiting the vendor booths, but my grand plans to buy a couple of hummingbird feeders fell through -- after looking around, I decided to stick with my favorite brand, HummZingers, but they didn't have any there. I did get Sheri Williamson's field guide, though. There were many jewelry, art, and other vendors, but we were looking for something that just "spoke to us," as my husband put it. So we bought a buzzard, because that's what one really goes to a hummingbird festival for, right? But even my husband wanted this buzzard -- its head bobbles a bit in the wind.

We'll stick it somewhere particularly ominous for visitors passing by. 

Due to some exciting goings on, my next few posts will be bird-related, so I thought I best put out a veggie garden update. But first I want to share some thrilling butterfly news -- the Monarchs, Queens, Swallowtails, and Gulf Fritillaries, among others, have finally returned to the garden! You can believe I'll be out there with my camera. I did manage to capture a picture of my first Gray Hairstreak butterfly. I was happy to see her on the Blackfoot Daisies -- those flowers are often ignored by the bigger butterflies, who go straight for the Lantana or Mistflower. I read that Gray Hairstreak caterpillars will eat bean plants. Oh well, guess I'll share.

But back to the "farm."

The cantaloupe experiment has finally come to an end, and it's report time. It's kind of sad, really. My beautiful cantaloupe plants finally succumbed to the aphids, which had become so abundant (despite the ladybugs) that their sticky "honeydew" residue, combined with the rains from last week, had led to a nasty sooty mold problem.

After several days of wondering whether to let my cantaloupes keep trying to ripen, I decided to go ahead and pull the plug. My big one just kept growing but never sweetening, and the shapes of the other two medium-ones led me to believe that I was, in fact, growing a hybrid. I suspected as much, but I decided to enjoy the process anyway.

  The big cantaloupe, cut open, actually did look like a cantaloupe. I opted not to take a bite, but I did lick a piece. Yuck... as I suspected. Though I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, I do consider the experiment a success. Growing the cantaloupes got me excited about my first veggie garden, led to my first raised beds with trellises, and really helped me get a headstart on the veggie learning curve. I did learn a lot, and I got hooked on growing edibles. Plus, one can't beat the excitement of finding out that your plant is actually growing fruit (even if it's weird hybrid fruit). I don't consider the cantaloupes my first official harvest, mind you. They were an experiment, especially after I found out that seeds from store-bought cantaloupes should not be used, no matter how much fun it might be.

So I began the process of cutting up the fruit for the compost bin. By the way, ever wonder what the inside of a young cantaloupe looks like? Pretty cool.

Removing the icky plants from the trellis was NO fun. During the process I realized why many garden bloggers opt only to show their beautiful harvests instead of what might be a failure -- it's depressing. I was out there quite grateful that my camera was nowhere near the sooty mold, and while I felt partially obligated to show the whole miserable trellis, I just wanted to get that cantaloupe and all the thousands of aphids into the trash and as far away from my sugar pumpkin plants ASAP. I didn't even want the plants to go into the compost, they were so gross.

A closer inspection of the sugar pumpkin plants showed that the aphids are starting to move over, and I plan to attack them better. I was happy to find several ladybug nymphs -- hurray for my aphid-fighting allies!

But all is well, and I'm looking forward. The sugar pumpkins are the biggest things I've ever seen. They are growing up and over and out from the raised garden bed.

I FINALLY had a blooming female bud on a sugar pumpkin, and hopefully I helped it pollinate in time. Cross your fingers! There will be more, and I must be on the lookout. There were two blooming females on the jack-o-lantern pumpkins, but I doubt they'll be big enough for carving by Halloween. At least they opened, and I did the pumpkin porn thing to help things along -- I didn't have time to watch to see whether the bees were doing their job!

The jack-o-lantern pumpkins have begun their spread into the perennial garden, so I have to monitor them. One is even taking advantage of the dead Mexican redbud. It's nice to see green on the redbud again, poor thing.  ;)    It's scheduled for fall replacement.

The corn is growing, though I've found a couple of worms hiding out in the leaf niches. I'm trying to watch for more, but they seem to sneak in when the gardener's not looking. I've also got young beans, zucchini, and snap peas growing, as well as tiny kohlrabi, carrots, lettuce and spinach seedlings.

This morning I found some strawberry plants at Natural Gardener. These are "Seascape" strawberries, and when more varieties arrive, I'll try to get some for comparison. I'm eager for strawberry success!

And another exciting find at Natural Gardener -- I finally got a gargoyle. They arrived this morning, and the staff seemed as excited as I was. Apparently they don't usually have gargoyles. He's a little guy, but his protective watch over our garden is sure to drive away all pests. Right?

Maybe he can tell me what to do about this Green June Beetle. I found it on one of my pumpkin plants. I see beetle grubs in the soil all the time. I believe they qualify as a minor pest, but I'm not sure. The beetle is pretty, as far as beetles go. Underneath is a pretty, shiny coppery surface. It's still alive, but in a jar, until I decide whether it should stay or go. I don't care about damage to turf, as I have none worth saving, but I don't want damage to other plants and fruit.

The extended rains last week did Central Texas much good. While we are still in a major drought, the rains brought much needed relief to the scorched earth and cooler temperatures for wonderfully pleasant days.

And the plants responded right away -- greenness abounds, and among the green are the most vibrant blooms of all colors. I think fall just might be my new favorite season. I forgot how beautiful it is. Although technically, I guess it's still summer! Here are just a few of what's blooming in my yard today, for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Amazingly, of my three surviving Endurance Sunflowers, I still have three, and all are blooming. Although I've loved sunflowers all my life, this is my first time growing them, and I finally understand why bees love them so. Even my young sunflowers are really putting out the pollen, and they are only going to grow bigger and bigger. I'm thrilled! My sunflowers have a few specks of dirt on them -- because they are still babies and low to the ground, they got splashed during the rain.

I'm finally starting to see color combinations in the yard again. In the main butterfly garden, the Gregg's Mistflower is starting to bloom once more, with Blackfoot Daisy and Zexmenia nearby. The butterflies are already fluttering about again. I missed them when all my plants gave up their blooms in the heat.

The Pigeonberry plants are blooming like crazy. They berry, too, but the birds pick them off so fast.

  Here, I found a berry.

Speaking of berrying plants -- I was woken up in the middle of the night with one of the dogs trying to break through the window screen to get to something outside. While I hope it wasn't a prowler, I did get up to discover my American Beautyberry plants were missing berry clusters. I went outside to see if I could see anything -- seriously hoping at that point that it wasn't a prowler! No creature found. Bolted. Who wouldn't when that massive husky is trying to lunge for them though a mere window screen? Thank goodness it held tight.

This Red Yucca's is technically on my neighbor's property, but it's right where our yards meet, and I think I'm the only one who pays attention to it. But oh I could photograph those blooms all day. Love, love, love. Someday mine will bloom!  

The Salvias are blooming like mad. They are such an interesting flowering perennial -- it can be challenging to photograph them, as they tend to look straggly even when they really aren't, but they look wonderful backdropped by other blooming yellows, blues, or even just trees.

Though most of my Turk's Caps are the traditional red, I do have a pink bloomer in the front. It's quite special. Makes me feel like a little girl, loving that pink.

I have a new plant in the yard -- actually all over the yard, as I placed them in many spots. It's the native Texas Poinsettia, also known as Wild Poinsettia, or Fire on the Mountain (Euphorbia cyathophora). These were given to several class members of the Habitat Steward Training I'm in -- we got to pull them directly from the gorgeous wildlife garden of Cathy Nordstrom. Thank you, Cathy! The reddish-orange you see is part of the leaves, just like the red of the Christmas pointsettias. I think it's amazing. It's a spreader, so at some point I'll probably be giving some away. It's so easy to pull and replant, too. I planted them all over because I have so much land to fill.

And I have a surprise bloomer -- blooms on my newest Key Lime tree? Of course, they are all at the level where the husky lifts his leg. I don't even want to think about why the tree is blooming only there. Nor do I want to think about what I'll do if limes actually show up and get peed on.

Speaking of the husky... Camouflage FAIL, Loki.