More working outside this week. Still
pulling up hay grass seed stalks from amongst the bluebonnets in
front. I swear I break off one and it sends up three more. I gave the
azaleas their second fertilizing, one more next month and then they
get a new layer of mulch. Spread fertilizer among some of the flower
beds, put a layer of mulch around the white butterfly ginger. I try
not to use too much mulch as bumble bees nest in the ground and mulch
prevents them from digging in and bumble bees are now on the
endangered list but the white ginger suffers from our hot summers so
much and the azaleas and roses benefit from it. I do leave plenty of
open ground but even so I haven't seen any bumble bees so far this
year though the honey bees did show up. They're pretty busy amongst
the poppies and larkspur and the declining bluebonnets. Staked up the
big clump of miniature gladiolas which the rain and wind flattened
along with the poppies. Tuesday I connected the long day lily bed
with the round one I put in a few years ago, something I intended
from the start. The ground was perfect for digging after the inch of
rain we got last Sunday, not too wet, not too dry.
It was also our
hottest day so far this year and it was a race to get the grass and
weeds dug up before either I suffered heat exhaustion or the ground
dried up before I finished. I put a layer of mulch over the newly
exposed ground temporarily.
I should have worked a bag of compost
in first but there was the heat exhaustion thing going on. I
have other small chores on the agenda for today and tomorrow or as
long as this weather or I last.
I've not seen this kind of frog before, sort of a cross between a green frog and a tree frog and it's little, maybe an inch, and yesterday I saw another one unless it's the same one. Hard to get a good picture as it was camera shy.
A fairly large dead limb fell out of the water oak and had this pretty little fungus growing on it, again, a kind I have not seen before.
Future pecan crop, weather permitting.
The buddha contemplates a tail.
The first daylily of the year. Seems a bit early but others are sending up scapes.
The leaves on the chinese fringe flower are the same color as the skirt on the house.
The miniature gladiolas are starting to bloom.
So, so, SO pretty.
ReplyDeleteI am not doing well with the little heat we've had so far. I admire you for working in it as much as you are.
That frog does look strange indeed. What in the world?
My Goddess! I love your garden.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to talk my husband into turning the side yard into a wildflower garden. Just till the whole thing up and throw wild flower seeds and put a solar powered water fountain in the middle of all. The birds and the bees will be very grateful for it all.
I like the new flower bed connection. All looks well at your house!
ReplyDeleteLovely pics, I left buddha two home ago and just recently thought about it.
ReplyDeletePretty pretty! I love that fungus - it could be a fascinator or a really fancy corsage. Pretty!
ReplyDeleteLove the flower bed. It looks like you flipped a garden hose to define the edge.
ReplyDeletewhat a great idea for the future. but no, I eyeballed it til I had a pleasing curve that would be easy to mow against.
DeleteYour garden is a corner of paradise.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe you're suffering from heat exhaustion while I still break a skim of ice off the water buckets. What a glorious, beautiful garden! I could almost feel the sun. I know it's hard work, but it is so lovely.
ReplyDeleteit was just that one day but a harbinger of things to come which is why I'm spending so much time out in the yard while I can. it's cooled off by about 15 degrees now.
DeleteGorgeous as always, Ellen. I love your wildlife. Does the little frog croak at all? Or is it a chirp?
ReplyDeleteWe just moved the lemons and the plumeria back indoors because there's a frost warning. They must be dizzy by now with all the back and forth.
if it's the one near the back door that I hear often, yes, it trills and loudly. about a week or so ago a woodpecker was beating his ratatat to attract a mate and the from would trill back at it.
Deletefemale. to attract a female.
DeleteAround here, it's the anoles that suddenly are everywhere, although I am hearing something being a little chirpy at night. That fungus really is attractive; I've never seen anything like it. I suspect you might have been out in the yard a bit today, too. It was so cold here, with the east wind off the bay, that I actually put on long pants, socks, and a jacket at work. Eventually they all came off, but not until about 2 p.m. or so. Apparently tomorrow will bring more rain. I hope it's just rain and not storms.
ReplyDeleteYour garden lifts my spirits. I won't see day lilies on my porch until June, but my flowering quince is blooming, along with two red and gold tulips. The little frog looks like the tree frogs from my childhood on the San Francisco peninsula. When I wake up and go out on my porch in the spring, I can hear tree frogs and bull frogs, but I rarely ever see them. I had never heard of a Chinese Fringe tree before. This is the second time hearing of one. My sister who lives in Gulfport, Mississippi, has a white one planted in memory of one of her Bernese Mountain Dogs. She emailed me a photo just recently.
ReplyDeleteThe way you use and conserve your physical energy is inspiring.
I'd love to see that fungus in glass!
ReplyDelete