This week in the garden - #40

My week in the garden has been spent primarily on continuing clean up and repositioning after the recent tree removal and the pruning of the big trees in my yard. I've been picking up dead limbs and sticks and rearranging the outdoor furniture, as well as moving and utilizing some of the sawdust left over from stump grinding.

Another important "chore" has been observing the movement of sunlight across the yard and learning how it has changed. My garden had grown quite shady over the years as the trees grew and the removal of three big trees has definitely changed that in places. I need to rethink some of my plantings, and I will need to move some plants. My preferred time for uprooting and moving plants is winter, so that will have to wait a few more weeks. In the meantime, I'm thinking and planning.

I also did a bit of weeding in the vegetable garden this week. Several of the greens crops there will soon be ready for the table, as are the black-eyed peas now. And the largest of my butternut squashes is almost ready. I can hardly wait!

My plant of the week this week is Euphorbia tirucalli, known as pencil plant.

Actually, this plant has many, many common names. Among them are firestick plant or sticks on fire, Indian tree spurge, naked lady, pencil tree or pencil cactus (although it is not a cactus), and milk bush. That last name comes from the sticky sap that is produced when you cut a section.

For most of the year, this plant, which lives in a big pot with other succulents near my back porch, is bright green, but as the weather gets cooler, it starts developing this orange blush over many of its sections. Easy to see how it gets the name firestick plant or sticks on fire.

This is a hardy succulent. Mine stays outside all winter in my zone 9b garden. If it is going to get much below freezing, I try to give it some protection - not so easy any more since it has grown quite large. A couple of times it has died back almost to the ground in winter, but it has always come back and flourishes again in spring. Moreover, it is exceptionally easy to propagate. I find that if I just break off a section and stick it in the soil, it will generally root. It is a fascinating plant, one that I very much enjoy having in my garden.

'Tis the season and the amaryllises are blooming.

Happy gardening!

Copper Canyon daisy

Copper Canyon daisy (Tagetes lemmonii)

Autumn is Copper Canyon daisy time in my garden. This tough, drought-tolerant shrubby plant has been a part of my garden for several years and this year it has been particularly floriferous.

This perennial shrub can grow to about three to four feet tall and five to six feet wide. That pretty much describes mine in its present form. It has feathery foliage which gives the plant an airy, rather blowsy appearance. At the height of its bloom (mine is a bit past that point now) the inch-wide blooms can completely cover and obscure the leaves, making the plant look like a big mound of yellow. It is quite a striking sight. This native daisy will grow in full sun or partial shade. Mine is in partial shade.

The original plant was native in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northern Mexico, but it has been introduced and naturalized in many parts of Texas and it grows extremely well even here in humid Southeast Texas. Yes, this is one tough and versatile plant!

One of the most noticeable attributes of the plant is its scent. It has a very strong "marigold" scent which some people might find objectionable, but which I actually enjoy..The scent may be one of the things that makes this plant deer-resistant, a very important trait in many areas.

Other names for this plant include Mexican bush marigold, Mt. Lemmon marigold, and mountain marigold. The plant was collected by John Gill and Sara Lemmon in southeastern Arizona in the 1880s. The Lemmons developed the plant and introduced it to the nursery trade in California. The botanical name, Tagetes lemmonii, recognizes that contribution.

As our climate changes and we have to deal with extended droughts, area gardeners search for plants that can thrive in such conditions and Copper Canyon daisy can be added to that list. Once established, it does not require any extra water and no fertilizer. It is a lazy gardener's dream plant.

This is my belated contribution to Wildflower Wednesday, sponsored by Gail of Clay and Limestone. Visit her blog to see other entries.

Wordless Wednesday: The tree

The woolly bear prediction

Consider the humble woolly bear caterpillar. It is the larva of the Isabella moth, a rather nondescript moth which is common from northern Mexico right up to the southern half of Canada. Though the moth may go unnoticed, the caterpillars are pretty visible and they are one of the few caterpillars that most people can actually identify. Moreover, folklore imbues them with psychic abilities. They are said to be able to predict what kind of winter we will have. Will winter be mild or harsh? Look to the woolly bear, the believers say.

The typical woolly bear is black on both ends and has a strip of lighter brown in the middle. In fact, one of the common names of the caterpillar is "black-ended bear." The folk legend surrounding the caterpillar's meteorological prognostications says that the wider that lighter brown band is, the milder the winter the winter will be. A narrow band of brown predicts a harsh winter.

How then to interpret this visitor that I found on my front doorstep this morning?

No brown band at all!

Winter is coming, as all George R.R. Martin fans know. And if this little woolly bear is truly an omen of that winter, it may be a doozy!

This week in the garden - #39

It has been a much-abbreviated week in the garden, punctuated by our preparations for Thanksgiving. The family gathered at our house again this year. Fortunately, the guests brought the smoked turkey and pecan pies, as well as a pot of greens and a Philippine specialty that utilizes purple sweet potatoes and is a kind of pudding. We refer to it, perhaps not surprisingly, as "Purple Pudding."

With all that food being brought by others, there wasn't that much cooking for me to do. I made the family's traditional "Aunt Lurline's Cornbread Dressing" and a couple of other side dishes including a simple but (I thought) delicious cranberry relish that uses fresh cranberries, Clementines, and walnuts. In short, we had a feast! I hope you did, too.

Looking around the garden this morning, I went to check on my citrus trees. All of my citrus has suffered this year from citrus leaf curl which makes them look really ugly, but doesn't actually seem to affect their crops.

 The little kumquat tree has a number of these little fruits, all still perfectly green.

While I was checking the kumquats, I found a couple of surprises in the form of Giant Swallowtail caterpillars. This one was out in the open and easy to see.

A second one was well hidden among the leaves. You can see how their camouflage as bird droppings serves them really well.

The Satsumas that I've shown you several times recently are beginning to change color and will be ready soon.

It's amaryllis time. I bought this one at a local store a couple of weeks ago, but when I unpacked the kit, the stem had already grown in a twisted fashion. Not very decorative for my purposes so it got relegated to my outside table, where it seems perfectly happy, even if it is twisted.

I hope you have much to be thankful for in your garden this week and this year.  Happy gardening!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is hands-down my favorite holiday of the year. I always look forward to celebrating it and this year especially I have a lot to be thankful for.

I hope you have a lot to be thankful for, too, and that your holiday is an especially good one this year.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: November butterflies

American Painted Lady

Dorantes Skipper

Gulf Fritillary

Pipevine Swallowtail - dorsal view

Pipevine Swallowtail - ventral view

Clouded Sulphur

Tropical Checkered Skipper

Variegated Fritillary