East-Side-Patch

The Patch has Moved!

2009-08-24T17:21:27Z

The East-Side-Patch Blog has moved!

It is official, the East-Side-Patch has moved on over to Word-Press!
Here is the link to the "New" Patch:

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/

Please update your feeds, and I very much hope you will all come and visit us in our new home.
From all of us here in the patch, farewell Live Journal.

"Head above Water"

2009-08-14T00:37:26Z

This photo was presumably taken in the 1940’s-1950’s
of a woman underwater in the Weeki Wachee Spring, FL.

I heard the old, old men say,
'Everything alters,
And one by one we drop away.'
They had hands like claws, and their knees
Were twisted like the old thorn-trees
By the waters.
I heard the old, old men say,
'All that's beautiful drifts away
Like the waters.'

The Old Men Admiring Themselves In The Water
by William Butler Yeats

We have witnessed a lot of beautiful things drifting away this year, but in Austin,
the waters are not so much drifting as they are evaporating away. Look at these
recent pictures of Lake Travis at the Lakeway City Park.

Photo's courtesy of:
Sam Chapman, www.austinrealestateguy.com.

It looks more like some Mayan ruins than the lake...shocking!
Click for a clearer look.

This rosemary just seems to get bigger,
the hotter and dryer the weather gets. The only
sign that it is also thirsty is a slight tinge of
yellow to the green, but it doesn't like to complain.

I wish I could say the same for this poor Primrose Jasmine,
Jasminum mesnyi
It is hanging onto life by it's leaf-tips. I must say though, it does have
an interesting aesthetic all of its own in this crispy state, like a firework
or a water-fountain in a water-purification plant?
What?

This Giant Timber bamboo culm is ripping "You mean like this?"
it's own shirt off in an attempt to cool down.

The odd twisting culms continue to writhe and twist upward from
the underworld, they are growing at a staggering rate
at the moment.

The intensity of the August "Day Star" has even been too much for
this aptly named Ghost Plant.
Graptopetalum paraguayense,

It looks like something has singed
the top of it with a
blow-torch...oh wait, it has.
One badly stressed out succulent!

Houston, we have touch down...

Stabilizer clamps engaged.

"Look into my eyes, into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes,
eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around the
eyes, look into my eyes...you're under".

The eyes of this Skimmer dragonfly mimick the
gords hanging under my "purple martin" nest box. I put
quotations around purple martin because it is invariably
full of irritating nesting sparrows...I have told the Nabooboo tribe
to hunt these birds with their blow darts, but even that has not
seemed to make a dent on their numbers. I also suspect that the
tribe have been pre-occupied of late, hunting down some escaped
Whip Scorpions, Thanks for that Bob at Draco Gardens.
Brrrr.

My blunder with the martins this year was that I opened the
doors to the inn as soon as I saw the first birds flying around
the neighborhood...

BIG mistake!

The overtly aggressive sparrows immediately
gate-crashed the nest-box, and held a massive party
in honor of my complete ignorance.

"why you little"

Next year I will wait until a scout actually
lands on the nest-box, and stays on it for
a while before I open the doors.
This is a male Flame Skimmer dragonfly,
situated on my Spruce Cone Cholla,
or aptly named Pine Cone Cactus...

...Tephrocactus articulatus.

Like a multi-eyed monster from mythical Greece, (it is actually
a native to western Argentina). It is one of the stranger looking cacti
that resides in the patch. It also, it seems, has an intrinsic design flaw,
it is easily broken. Segments of T. articulatus easily separate from the main cactus,
the good news is they readily root, mmm, perhaps it is not a design flaw afterall!
This plant requires no supplemental water, a definite plus right now.

You can see how the sections are extremely fragile due to
a rather obvious "off-setting". There are five species in the
genus Tephrocactus, sometimes classified under the
Opuntia genus. All varieties of this species are frost hardy...
I love this plant, just don't bump into it, if you want it to reach
any height.

Talking of bumps:

One of my goldfish is about to pop.
She is so pregnant and distended that even
her scales are sticking out!!!
It is rather disturbing looking.

Staying with the pond for a moment...

This puddle of death was to spell the end for these gulf-toad tadpoles,
a couple had already died in this quickly evaporating hot tub.

Also darting around on the lilies are lots of these:

Long Legged Fly
A great beneficial fly in the garden and a prolific insect predator.
These little flies are the Jason Bournes of the fly world.

"Oh, I see how it is ESP!"
"Just because I am not shiny and jewel-like, like he is, I am no
longer an ESP reference?".
Rest easy Seth, you will be published again before you have
chance to vomit.

Long-legged flies are members of the Order Diptera (true flies) and
the family Dolichopodidae, a very large and diverse group. In general,
flies in this family are very small, characterized by 2 long wings
and long slender legs. The bodies are beautifully colored with green,
blue, metallic gold or silver,
flying jewelry!

The best thing about these little jewels is that they love to devour
copious amounts of spider mites. Both larvae and adults are
predaceous on many other insects and small arthropods,
including mites, thrips, psocids, aphids, and other insects larvae.
These flies hardly ever stay still, flitting around on my lily pads,
looking for the next meal - at least this is my excuse
for my bad photography, and I am sticking with it.

Moving on...

Aloe variegata, also known as Tiger Aloe and
Partridge-breasted Aloe, is a species of aloe indigenous to South Africa.
Looking like a futuristic tower block, the plant's leaf margins, have a wide,
ornamental white line that looks like it has been painted on.
Spotting on leaves is often in horizontal bands in a 'tiger-stripe' pattern,
the white spots look like windows and go great set against the back-drop of
my texas holey rocks. This was one of the plants that I purchased from the
50% off sale at "The Great Outdoors" I managed to get four divisions from
this plant, straight out of the pot.

I am finally ready for yet another delivery of decomposed granite to finish
off this section of pathway. It is all leveled and devoid of life and weeds, the
sun has been good for frying anything that once lived in here. A few inches
of granite on top of this should hold most weed germination back pretty well.
At one time I was considering planting this area up with Tech Turf. Marketed
under the corporate name Turffalo, and perhaps I still may, later down the line.
The decomposed granite will, in the meantime benefit the soil and smother
any lurking weeds that may germinate when (and should it ever) rain again.

The latest craze in the patch...

...state-of-the-art transportation, scooted, (and pushed), at the highest possible velocity
around my circular succulent bed...It amazes me so much hilarity can be born from
such a basic endeavor. I am not undermining the activity though, oh no,
it means I can garden and weed in peace, AND they wear
themselves out!

"You just don't get it, old man!...You need to wake up and smell the lemon basil."

All the scooting and pushing came to an abrupt halt when my
youngest stopped dead in his tracks, he started pointing into
this nearby patch of grass...his excitement told me he was onto
something major. I always have my camera in my pocket and
went in closer to investigate the now twitching ornamental grass.
I was surprised to see a baby possum, and judging from it's
expression, (I have the same one), I think he must have just
woken up, a little too early it seems.

And finally:

100% pup-survival rate from my agave spike from last year... like this
is any surprise! They are finally starting to look like small versions
of their mother.

A couple more dragons to finish...

A pre-historic insect on a pre-historic horse-tail reed.
Very similar forms.

The sun is setting in the patch but
be sure to tune in for next weeks new Discovery show...

"Deadliest Patch"

All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Inspirational Images of the Week:

Soekershof, Botanical Gardens, S.Africa.

A true mermaids garden!

The East-Side-Patch Blog has moved!

It is official, the East-Side-Patch has moved on over to Word-Press!
Here is the link to the "New" Patch, please update your feeds.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/

Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop

2009-08-11T20:22:26Z

Time in a Garden

So this month at:
http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=7073
the workshop topic is the influence of time on our gardens.

I first started this blog almost a year and a half ago, it has taught me
and forced me, in a good way, to learn more details about the plants
and critters that inhabit my habitat, but first and foremost up-keeping
this journal has taught me about the time/space continuum.

"Spock, what IS he talking about".
"Unclear Captain".


It has documented once a week, (almost without fail),
the growth of my hobbits, and in parallel, the maturing
of my garden, and my knowledge of the beasts, and
characters that reside in it.
The creatures that call it their home...
and there are quite a few...

William Wallace, Compost Burper, Botox Lady, Nabooboo tribe, Cactus man, and finally the ESP witches, not to mention..

The Intergalactic singer, Bill and Ben the holey rock men and last (and now deceased), the Cactus Man, - a veritable east-side-cast of motley patch characters.

Unfortunately the sands
of time have not been kind
to the poor old "Cactus Man":


It was quite disturbing to track his demise through the lens of a camera,
I could feel his pain as he took on a rather horrific persona. I felt bad
knowing that I was was the one responsible for his premature aging.
His head finally buckled backward toward the Texas sun,
as he exhaled his final breath, and for no apparent reason,
he screamed in a squeaky cactus voice with a fake Scottish accent...

"Freedom."
(I think he must have speaking with William in his final days)!

Note to self...Next time I will not carve features all the way "through"
the cactus paddle!

Gardens take time, and are a lot of work.
The patch seemed insurmountable at
times, but to me, starting was the
hardest part. Then came the frustration
at how futile all the work seemed.
Then came the realization at how long
it was going to take. Then It became
a quest, then a passion, then ultimately
a complete obsession. Gardens
teach about time, because they take time.

Some of the following before and after shots
I have posted before, but they seemed quite
apt for this month's theme. They highlight how things
have changed over a three year period here,
in the ESP.


You can see the whole left side of the property was obliterated by the
tunnel of trumpet and wisteria vines (left). I thought the tunnel was
an interesting idea when I started it but when the vines matured,
they visually shrunk the garden by about a third from the view on my back deck.
It was also quite nasty to walk through, lots of webs and unmentionables just
waiting to fall down your neck, causing the obligatory physical conniption.
I decided to completely overhaul this whole area to widen the view,
it was beginning to feel claustrophobic, and visually cluttered.

Pulling a pathway around the right side of the small circular bed in the foreground
created a lot more "breathing space" and allowed a more natural angle to exit
the steps down off my back deck.
The left picture shows how it looked before my skinny island "middle" bed
gained any definition. Time has really brought some visual quietness into
the patch through the creation of definition and order.

Here is the island middle bed when I first started in September last year:

Quite the construction site, the soil in here was terrible,
compacted and full of trash. Here it is today. This bed
has endured the central Texas drought with very little
additional water.

Okay, the small Mediterranean
fan palm on the right required a
little bit of the wet stuff
to get it started.

And here is a before and after of my circular bed.

Other East-Side Occurrences this week...

Cnidoscolus texanus
I was ripping up some weeds around one of my pampas grasses
with some gloves on, when I grabbed a swath of this monster. Even
with covered hands these spines went into the top of one of my
fingers, it felt like I had just had some Novocaine injected into my knuckles!
With other common names like Bull Nettle, Tread-softly, and
Finger Rot, you can tell that this is a plant that demands respect.
If any part of the stem is broken, a milky sap appears,
and some people are allergic to this as well
as the "sting” of the hairs.

Zoom in to maximum magnification on this picture to see just how lethal this plant is!

Most parts of this vicious plant are covered with hispid or bristly hairs.
But these are not normal hairs, oh no, not normal at all
- and they really hurt.

Here is how this plant's effective defense mechanism works:
If the foliage or stems are touched, the glass-like hairs break off in
the skin and act like hypodermic needles. The “needles” release
a toxin (and I can vouch for this) which causes an intense burning
sensation. This effect is a type of allergic response known as contact
urticaria, the reaction can last for several days.
I could not clench a fist due to the sensation of
"pressure" in-between my fingers for 24 hours.

Moving On...

A rare shower in Austin was almost enough to almost fill my
red-neck tank / everything but the kitchen sink, rain water
collection "system." This paper wasp wasted no time in
quenching his thirst.

With the uncustomary moisture, this Mexican Petunia
Ruellia brittoniana responded the next day
with a flurry of blooms. I have this one embedded in a slow draining,
sunken rubber container to contain it and also because it does like some moisture.
Mexican Petunia audibly "pops" when the seed pods
receive a little water, sending seeds jumping all
around the adjacent area. Watch out, they
germinate readily.
It blooms on and off all summer.

Here is the tub in the foreground when this bed was      Spot the buried petunia tub?
being created, some years back.
We still had a lot of bermuda grass
back then, as you can see.

Same area matured - image taken toward the end of last year.

I now have TWO curving culms on my Giant Timber Bamboo!
Look at the powder on the new growth, it is apparently good
for the skin? I have no idea what is causing this crazy bamboo
snaking habit,
but I like it!

Did you know that bamboo
was actually the first plant to
re-green after the atomic
blast in Hiroshima in 1945?

And finally...

Amaranth pushing up among the feather grass, getting
prepared for it's spectacular fall bloom. I always allow
select plants to mature from seed, so long as they are
located in the right position, like these that line the
edge of my pathway.

Stay Tuned For:
"Head above Water"

All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Inspirational Image of the Week:

Pierre Haulot and William Boullier have produced
an innovative watch concept where time is viewed
as a 'progress bar'.

The East-Side-Patch Blog has moved!

It is official, the East-Side-Patch has moved on over to Word-Press!
Here is the link to the "New" Patch, please update your feeds.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/

"The Cat's Cradle"

2009-08-08T19:24:54Z

Cradled under the safety of my variegated ginger, this cat is
extremely nervous of me and everything that moves in the ESP,
and for good reason. It does not belong to anyone but gets
food from everyone judging from the size of it.
I regularly see it at night, hunting in the Patch,
augmenting his diet.

My now deceased cat was extremely territorial until she got
too old to really care, this cat was her living nemesis.

She once jumped from under this Douglas Fir
onto the back of this cat and "rode" it all
the way down the right side of my
property fence-line. It was one of the funniest
animated things.

What made it even funnier was the way my cat
was having to move "in the saddle", all jerky,
and un-natural, her head being thrown
around with every panicked stride
from her newly acquired furry "Steed".
She hung-on like a feline rodeo rider
for a good five seconds.

Beauty and the Beast:

Bougainvillea Glabra is sometimes referred to
as "paper flower" because the bracts are thin and papery. I love the rice-paper
quality of these bracts, they look so fragile, yet they last for ages, on and off the plant.
Bougainvillea is such a cheerful plant, it always reminds me of good times in Mexico,
where it grows in all colors, and is everywhere!

I used to have one of these growing over my front porch,
that is until I scraped my knuckle bone with one of it's hooked
thorns pruning it. It was painful for months. The thorns are
tipped with a black, waxy substance that I don't think helped...
oh no, never again, it had to go, but it wasn't going without a fight.
Bougainvillea is one tough character to extract.

I am lucky in that my neighbor has a fine specimen
climbing up the front of his house, we see it everyday
through our kitchen window, it blooms continuously.
I love seeing it, I just don't want to deal with it.

My pampas grasses are starting to have that waterfall cascading look to them.
This seems to happen just before the blooms start to shoot up. I get lacerated
on a daily basis trying to turn on and off that faucet (visible in the right picture).
I have developed a sort of hunched over, backside out, shuffling technique to
limit the leg and arm thrashing this plant administers.

A small member of the Nabooboo tribe,
hiding in the grasses, recently shot a
dart in my arse thinking I was
performing an act of tribal aggression
with my rather unorthodox
"maneuvers" in and around this pampas.

Talking of unorthodox behavior, this massive giant timber culm is the
first one I have ever had that apparently struggles with the simple
concept of growing upward. The shrimp plant it is emerging from is
also doing well under the shade of a couple of large pecan trees and
a drip feed from a buried soaker hose.

The culm lurking underneath my mortared brick edging continues to
push north.. "Mind the gap" It has already loosened two bricks,
we will see if it has the strength to "break on through
to the other side".

"That was just bad man".

The Hoja Santa in the same bed is also bucking the Texas drought
pretty well. The foxtail ferns performing in the amphitheater
Asparagus densiflorus
are only just hanging in there, somewhat yellowed.

The Mexican bush sage,
yucca and bulbine never even break a sweat.

This trailing lantana needs but an occasional beverage,
this little bed gets a daily roasting.

Anything that was not drought tolerant has long since shriveled and vanished,
I have even lost a dwarf miscanthus this year, outrageous!
Apart from staring out of windows, watering and pulling the occasional
weeds (it is almost too hot for them also). I have tried to spend as little time as
possible outdoors, but today, everyone in the Patch began to show
distinct "cabin fever" symptoms. It was time to brave the elements,
and go OUTSIDE!

Cabin fever hits the patch!

We ventured to "The Great Outdoors" for a smoothie and a snoop
around the plants. I was not even considering purchasing anything,
but then one of the assistants had to say the four words I did not
want to hear..."Everything fifty percent off".
AAArrrggghhhhh!
I trudged straight back to the entrance to pick up a cart.

Armed with our drinks we headed straight
over to the agaves via a short
stop at the bamboo section where I picked
up a weeping bamboo for $40...it does not
get any better than that!

Back in the Patch, and now thoroughly resigned to
spending quite a few hours in the blazing heat. I loaded up
a massive drinking vessel of iced water,
put an iced turban on my head and ventured timidly
out into the rays of the day-star to empty my compost bin.
The new plants will need all the help they can get after all!
This anole was having a field-day munching on all the
bugs and roaches, he was shortly joined by two of
his friends. I decided to leave them alone to gorge
themselves in the fresh compost for a while. . .
I had a cauldron to get going.

I emptied my compost bin juice catcher to obtain a few pints of the good stuff.
I then added some sea-weed emulsion to this and diluted the "real ale" with
some water...a lethal growing brew.
One of the ESP witches looked on inquisitively at a distance.

I figured if any plants can make it, these can.
They all got a seriously good start with the compost and
stinky tonic water...more on these new additions later.

Other observations this week...

I know I promised not to post any more images of these,
but I lied.

This Sedum nussbaumerianum
continues to grow, albeit extremely slowly.
I really like this succulent and it's unusual mustard coloring,
great illuminated with a setting sun.

As are these purple fountain grasses
Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'

Just one more!

And finally...

Crusty cone-flowers and burgundy cannas.

Stay Tuned For:
"The Ace of Spades"

All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.

Inspirational Image of the Week:

TM Garden Design

The East-Side-Patch Blog has moved!

It is official, the East-Side-Patch has moved on over to Word-Press!
Here is the link to the "New" Patch, please update your feeds.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/

east_side_patch @ 2009-08-07T18:41:00

2009-08-07T23:35:45Z

Here is my entry for
August’s "Down on your Knees"
Picture This Photo Contest at
http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=7067

Cattail Sparklers.Typha latifolia
These fluffy, white seeds were once used for stuffing blankets,
pillows and toys. Native Americans would put them inside
moccasins and around cradles, for additional warmth,
but don't talk to me about additional warmth
right now!

The East-Side-Patch Blog has moved!

It is official, the East-Side-Patch has moved on over to Word-Press!
Here is the link to the "New" Patch, please update your feeds.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/

"The Wind that Shakes the Barley"

2009-08-01T00:13:21Z

Okay perhaps the wind is not so much shaking the barley as it is shaking these
inland sea oats, (I have no barley after all). These swaying sea oats really give the
sense that fall is only just around the corner, even though I know we
traditionally have our hottest month to still endure. I can but imagine.
Still, watching these seeds dance in the wind makes me feel
that there is light at the end of a particularly parched Texas summer tunnel.

Even this This 'skimmer' Dragon, Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia),
(only the second I have ever seen in my garden), seems to be adorning a fine fall suit, with brass buttons.
I caught this one sunning itself in my mexican bush sage.

I took these with the flash on, which really seems to bring out the iridescence on the wings,
although the true wing coloration is lost. (Without flash, right image).

"Honey, I've shrunk the Agave americana variegata"!

Today I decided to do some thinning. The above image was a mighty
fine example of a containered Agave americana variegata.
Over the years this plant has shrunk, partly due to neglect
and more certainly to self suffocation.
Too many pups, not enough container!
Like a good parent this plant has sacrificed itself for the development
and well-being of it's offspring. The plant was in decline.

Here it is before I thinned it out, and here it is in a much calmer
state afterward, ready to climb once again, to new,
uncluttered agave heights.

The best thing about an agave container thinning?

Is the pups...any long term readers will know I have a hard time not planting all of them.
Oh, and I will make room for these, come Hell or high water,
the latter of which is as unlikely... as a really unlikely thing
here in central Texas.
Have you seen the current conditions of the Pedernales river, err I mean trickle?
This is one of the only plants that I would even consider planting at this brutal tme of year.

"El Niño" "El Niño" "El Niño" "El Niño" "El Niño"

But until the water gods return...
The chores for Miss Ingalls will continue!

This Jurassic anole was intensely eyeing the sprinkler hose and it's watery emissions.

The rogue culm is now officially out of control.
It dosn't seem to know which way to go!
After an alarming diversion to the right,
it is now straightening up and heading
skyward once again.

I cracked open a mountain laurel seed pod today,
and found the seeds had turned red...it was time.

"Let the poisonous necklace
stringing commence".

After an excursion to to a local bead store for some hardware,
then onto home depot to buy an extremely small drill-bit,
the ESP was ready to do some amateur stringing,
with a strong emphasis on amateur.

My tools were not the fine tuned implements of a jewelry maker,
oh no, not by any means. They resembled exactly what I already
had strewn about my garden shed...a large drill and a vice. The
tiny drill-bit only just fitted into the damaged jaws of my old drill,
but, by chance, I had lucked out.
The size of the drill was exactly the diameter of the leather band
I had bought to string the beads on...It would seem, from the outside,
that I knew what I was doing.

I stamped on the first seed-pod, extracted the beans and placed
one into the small vice. The drill screamed into action and the first
hole was in place. This whole process was so exciting for my little
helper who had initiated the whole activity.
"Are the beans ready yet?" (Repeat 26 times, without a breath).
Beading is something she loves to do and she is very adept at it
after countless jewelry projects over at her Grandma's house.
I drilled, and with nimble fingers she strung and picked the seed-pods.

Things were taking shape. Small iridescent beads were used as spacers in-between the seeds...

and the ESP witches looked on intently.

Mountain Laurel Bean Necklaces, also known as Burn Beans
and Mescal Beans, come from the tree
Sophora secundiflora.
Early botanists who named it were honoring the Sophia,
Gnostic goddess of truth and wisdom. Supposedly the very
toxic seeds were brewed into a hallucinogenic, vision seeking
concoction by the Apaches, but nobody really knows what the
recipe was, how lethal it may have been, or if this is why
botanists named the plant for Sophia.
Native Americans strung these beans into necklaces.

One thing is for sure, these little red m&m's are extremely dangerous,
even one can be fatal if ingested.

I kept a very close eye on my
youngest hobbit during this process,
and made sure every "bean" ahem,
was accounted for.

And the finished product...

Her suggestion was to tie it in the middle!

Moving forth...

Can you guess where this forest of spines is from?
The ridged unicorn spines look like amber.

Barrel cactus are heavily armed, in some species, one or more central spines are curved like a fishhook, accounting for the common name Fishhook Barrel Cactus. Small yellow flowers appear around the crown of this plant only after many years...I can't wait.
Native Americans used to boil the young flowers in water to eat like cabbage. They also used the cactus as a cooking pot by cutting off the top, rather like a pumpkin. The pulp was scooped out then hot stones and food placed in the center, quite effective, and a lot cheaper than a Williams Sonoma pan!

Many people mistakenly believe that the common
sight of a tipped over barrel cactus is due to the
cactus falling over from water weight. Actually,
barrel cacti fall over because they grow towards
the sun, just like any other plant. Unlike other plants,
however, the barrel cactus usually grows towards
the south (to prevent sunburn), hence the
name "compass cactus."

The spines on the plant were also
used in native indian tattooing techniques.

Finally a couple of insects...

Leaf-footed Bugs are so named for the expanded, flag-like process on the third pair of legs. Leaf-footed bugs habitually stink if attacked or disturbed. This one was photographed at arms length on my Spruce Cone Cholla, or aptly named Pine Cone Cactus,
Tephrocactus articulatus.
Thank you for this addition Helen and David...I love it, and it has grown
at least a couple of inches since you have left!
(My fingers are crossed that it will make it through the winter).

Night-time butterfly on a horsetail reed.

Stay Tuned For:
"Orga and Mecca"

All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.

Inspirational Image of the Week:

I had to post this after my "all things topiary" rant.
Keep pruning guys, only another twenty-five eggs to go!
I am such a topiary cynic.

The East-Side-Patch Blog has moved!

It is official, the East-Side-Patch has moved on over to Word-Press!
Here is the link to the "New" Patch, please update your feeds.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/

"Staring through Windows"

2009-07-26T00:42:59Z

"M m must have water"!

The frosting on this window, at least viewed through
squinted eyes with a healthy imagination, offers the
fragile illusion that if you ventured outside, you would
a) survive and
b) be met with an icy blast of inclement weather.

Not to me though, I know exactly what life is like "OUT THERE"
and I refuse to go there anymore. The heat is only barely
tolerable inside the long-leaf pine log cabin,
that we call our house, and that is with the AC cranking
at full velocity!

Windows are for watching, little areas of transparency to
look through and let your mind wander, a place to day-dream
of frosty mornings, and not think about our umpteenth day
of hundred degree heat.

The vultures are circling around the ESP.

I often push an eye (if the glass isn't too hot) against this little magnifying glass.
It is like peering through a badly prescribed monocle.
I cannot really see what is going on in the garden through this spy-glass
but it does look like you are witnessing the world
through the mechanical eye of a Darlek!

That alone keeps me coming back for another peek.
(I have given up ever seeing rain through it after all).

My garden may look sort of green through the looking glass,
but a closer inspection, and a life threatening venture
outside reveals...

the stark condition of my side bed.
This strip of land had a foot of mulch on it at the
start of the year to regulate the soil temperature.
Sure!

For squawking out loud, even the Grackles are gasping out for air.
This dark lord always lies in waiting for me to fill up the birdbaths
that evaporate in approximately 6.5 minutes, the birds have to be fast.
The squirrels are so desperate right now that they
practically jump on my back,
canteens at the ready.

"Hey cut it out ESP...not funny"

I will try to make this the last time I will moan
about the heat, at least for this year.
I am beginning to bore my feather spitting self!
I am off to cool off in my redneck pool!

Well perhaps one more little moan...
I had my fist pool leak / duct-tape incident this last week.
Well, It just wouldn't be summer unless I was having a
heat related, near-death experience hunting for a tiny tear
in the plastic fabric of a rather large and
cumbersome object. I always seem to be
involved in these types of futile activities every
year during the hottest part of a Texas afternoon!

Remember this relaxing activity I performed about this time last year?
I was almost devoured alive, even before the heat-stroke got me.

http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/11450.html

De ja vous.

Looking out of the back window.
The large post oak really helps to regulate the temperatures for at least half
of my property, and it does help to slow evaporation in my pond down.

These cast iron plants, or Iron Plant, Barroom Plant,
Aspidistra elatior
do not look like they have such a tough demeanor
at the moment, post oak or no post oak shade protection.

These plants have a bit of a reputation around town:

But right now they are looking considerably more...

I have seen patches of this hard-case dropping all
around my neighborhood, completely erased to a
grilled heap of crispy bacon on the ground.

Aspidistra is Greek, meaning "small round shield",
(The name actually describes the stigma of the plant).

Looking out of the front window.
All these drought show-offs (a lot of rosemary) have
fared really well, with the minimum of water
through these troubled times.

Naturally it is still too cold for my opuntia!
I continue to keep hacking away at the base of this monster, to
get more of a vertical "tree-like" growth habit.
I still have a long way to go before I get to the
size and form of the specimen Germi found:
http://thegerminatrix.com/?p=306

This succulent is faring the temperatures so well,

it is even developing pups...
Bryophyllum daigremontianum.
(Mother of Thousands) "Alligator"
I thought it worthy of a few more shots, just for it's valor, in the face of hardship.

"Aye that it does, was it's valor
against the English by any chance?"
Don't start William.

Little lines of small molars are painfully waiting to fall out of it's gum-line,
ready to grow their own roots.

This plant originates from southwestern Madagascar, and it is prolific!
The mother of thousands is considered viviparous. This means it
grows plantlets along the leaf's edges. When each plantlet can survive
on its own, it then falls off the main leaf to grow.

Look at how much "Bill and Ben, the holey rock
men" have grown!
It looks like they may have adopted some new children of their own.

This canna lily is still looking as hot as the weather in my front bed.

It has got huge this year due to the trickle water-feed I have
been administering to a bog cyprus I transplanted earlier
in the year. It looked like the cyprus was going to survive
its upheaval, then I made the fatal mistake of moving the
"dripping" to the stock tank that contains my golden bamboo.
Within two days the poor thing looked like this, once again!

The light brown areas are where the new growth used to be.
I have the drip feed back on it...but I am not holding my breath.

Moving On...

The highly toxic seeds in these mountain laurel seed pods
are almost ready to be cracked open and strung into fine,
albeit deadly, necklaces and bracelets.
I have it on the highest authority that the ESP witches have
condoned this activity, and want to offer "suggestions" as to
the specific individuals that should receive one for Christmas.
I am a little concerned.

What crazy gnarled hands and fingers these seed pods have.

I never cease to be amazed at the speed of growth from the culms on this Giant Timber
Bamboo. The monster culm, right, has for some reason developed an urge to head right...
who is going to argue!
On its current trajectory, it is expected to miss my neighbors roof by about three feet.
I cannot believe that it is already approaching six feet in height.

A couple more culms from the same clump, these are aiming
toward my house!

The relatively new succulent and cactus "middle bed" continues to thrive,
it is filling in quite nicely with only a few major casualties. Here it is in the
dappled shade of the post oak, late afternoon.

And ooohh for the cooling power of green!

An indoor grasshopper disrupted a couple nights of TV and had
us all ducking for cover on our lazy-boys. It was so fast you could
not see it.
I was just happy that it was a grasshopper!

Baby anoles are all over the place right now. This one was tiny.

Finally...
I recently found a whole buch of these:

Okay I exaggerate, but they do look like impact craters nonetheless,
and there were lots of them.
As I got in close with my phone to take the picture,
I thought about that really bad movie "Tremors."

There was movement when I approached, in the very bottom
of one of the craters.
Brrrr (left knee twitch).
What is going on here?
Is this the work of some type of crater ant?
Spiders perhaps?
Anyone?

And I know it is not the Clangers!

Stay Tuned For:
"The Wind That Shakes the Barley"

All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.

Inspirational Image of the Week:

Rooftop Design: Christopher Bradley Hole.

"Harry Potting Mix".

2009-07-19T02:57:46Z

"Muad' Dib"!

Sorry, I meant "Mud Dauber"!
(Trypoxylon politum)
"dirt dauber," "dirt dobber," "dirt diver", or "mud wasp" .

The organ-pipe mud dauber, as the name implies,
builds nests in the shape of a cylindrical tube
resembling an organ pipe or pan flute.
This nest I captured was orientated horizontally, but most
pipes are arranged vertically and look just like organ pipes.

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia).
Organ pipe mud daubers are an exceedingly
docile species of wasp, and quite colorful too.

They also play amazing peruvian music
on their pan flutes.

What amazing mud architects and builders these
Frank Lloyd Wasps (ahem) are. I caught a couple
more "show homes" hiding under the
eaves of this house. More on this house later.

Check out this muddy palace,
a damsel would most definitely be in distress locked up in here.

Can you see the "Thestral" looking down on
you in ESP's previous mud dauber nest image Harry?

Mud Daubers have a much darker side to their existence...
as a special risk to aircraft operations. They are prone to nest in the
small openings and tubes that compose critical aircraft systems.
(Yes, one more thing to worry about, careering along in a metal tube at
forty thousand feet).
I Quote: "Their presence in these systems can disable or impair
the function of the airspeed indicator, the altimeter, and/or the
vertical speed indicator "... Well nobody tells you that at check-in!
(I thought I would wait until you landed Tom!)

It is thought that mud dauber wasps were ultimately responsible
for the crash of Birgenair Flight 301,
which sadly killed 189 passengers and crew.

One disadvantage to making nests is that most
of the nest-maker’s offspring are concentrated
in one place, making them highly vulnerable to predation.
Once a predator finds a nest, it can plunder it cell by cell.
A variety of parasitic wasps, ranging from extremely tiny
chalcidoid wasps to larger, bright green chrysidid wasps
attack mud-dauber nests.

They pirate provisions and offspring as
food for their own offspring.

Adults of both sexes frequently drink flower nectar,
but they stock their nests with spiders, yes spiders, which serve
as food for the mud-daubers’ offspring.
Like Culinary connoisseurs, they prefer particular kinds of spiders,
and particular sizes of spiders for their larders. Brrrr.
Instead of stocking a nest cell with one or two large spiders,
mud-daubers cram as many as two dozen small
spiders into a nest cell.
What creative little creatures.

Talking of wasps, (and bees)
drinking nectar...

they have recently been going crazy over the blooms on this coral vine...
Antigonon leptopus.
Watch out for this vine though, it is quite the sprawler, it is now considered a
Category II invasive species by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. This one has been
popping up on my neighbors fence-line for years. I usually allow a few vines to creep over my
evergreen wisteria (Milletia reticulata). I have a love/hate relationship with this plant, but
when one blooms like this one, I always think I should allow more to "invade".

You can see the actual flowers are tiny but the sepals
are larger and provide the brilliant colors that range
from white to rose-pink to deep coral flowered varieties.

Another "colorful" collision took place about three feet above my head.
A loud "thwack" followed by some extremely poor navigation and
uncustomary bad flying skills, had me ducking for cover in my Inland Sea Oats.

It must be really hard to fly with eight wings, all pushing in
multiple directions. It is a wonder how they manage to
maneuver to solid ground at all.

Do they decide who he is going to take the lead?
These two love-birds finally crash-landed on top of this canna lily,

"Snort"!

Want to see some really amazing dragonfly photography! ...
http://www.birdcrossstitch.com/dragonflies/
Be sure to click on the first image...a stunning emergence sequence.

I thought at this point I would share some local neighborhood horror with you...

The next scene comes with a warning from the
"Don't ever do things like this" brigade.

A tragic sequence of events led to this sad scene around the corner from my house.
This is a strip of land that borders a parking lot and the sidewalk,
and this is what regretfully happened:
First of all the soil was turned over, then some poor plants were planted.
The dormant bermuda seeds lurking in the soil were quickly
activated and naturally assimilated the newly turned soil...they felt good... and grew.
A work crew was then brought in to "rip" out the now emerging bermuda, but as we know...
..

"Shhhh, you will learn to embrace Bermuda Grass, Locutus of Borg".
Resistance is futile.
An "optimistic" layer of mulch was placed on top of
the "topically" removed bermuda. Naturally it looked good for about a week.
A couple of weeks later the Borg seeds had emerged and grown above the
mulch, once again engulfing the planting scheme.
A complete disaster.

The only thing to be done here is to rip it all out and start from scratch.
Mulch WILL not stop bermuda grass...EVER!

There is nothing worse than a bed gone awry. Concrete with a couple of
large "Whole Foods" planters would have been a better solution here,
and a lot less expensive.

Hell strips are always an issue though. Even if they are done right with weed
barrier and the ever popular decomposed granite xeriscaping. By the third
year seeds will have blown in, and weeds will have germinated. What to do?
What to do?

Other things baking in
the ESP this past week...

The Inland Sea oats have quickly gone into their Autumn coloration,
or are they just pan seared?

But does this vine care?

Due to our extremely mild winter last year, this red passion flower
vine did not die back to the ground as it usually does. It now
threatens to engulf my entire front porch, it is going totally berserk!
This is how it looks after multiple prunings starting in the early
spring, and I have not watered it once,
hence the middle section declining.

On the subject of watering...here is our resident hobbit walking
out into the "Shire" after arriving home from pre-school.

I wonder what has caught his attention?
I can tell you this, it is not the gazing ball ...
Completely transfixed...
"m..m..must get to the water stream".

This foxtail fern Asparagus densiflorus
has started to bloom this week. There seems to be a lot of on-line
confusion about the name of this plant, as the foxtail fern is very
similar to Asparagus Fern only its growth habit is very dense,
and it creates "green tails".

Foxtail fern is actually not a fern at all, it does not have spores
like a fern but actual seeds. It is a member of the Asparagus
genus, as in the vegetable.

These small white flowers will be followed by bright red berries.

And here is my Asparagus Fern or Emerald Fern or Emerald Feather (top)
sprawling over an old cedar carcass. (Also not a true fern).
Asparagus setaceus / Asparagus plumosus
I used to have this plant climbing up two large bamboo poles drilled,
with wooden dowels pushed into the holes to support the fern as it climbed.
Here they are, some years ago, before I ripped them down:

Wow have things changed somewhat since this picture was taken.

An extremely prolific succulent!
Almost every plantlet from this bryophyllum plant,
no matter the soil conditions, germinates.

Potato Vine...really interesting brown leaf margin - looks like a defining pencil line.

I finally got round to measuring the mammoth giant timber culm ...
four inches diameter for anyone remotely interested.

This area seems to be naturally turning into a rounded shrub area - interesting,
because I have an aesthetic problem with almost anything topiary.
I cannot even tolerate commercially pruned boxwoods!
The only rationale I can think of as to how this scene has come to be,
is that the cherry barbados (left) needs to be pruned tight to stop it
interfering with the pathway. The Texas sage shrub (in front of the canna lily)
simply looks bad if left to its own devices - all gangly and such, and the copper
canyon daisy (right) will sprawl out naturally for its fall "show-off" period...
or I am just in topiary denial?
Notice I did not mention the rosemary shrubs.

Stay Tuned For:
"Staring through Windows"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.

Inspirational Images of the Week:

Designed by Lizzie Taylor and Dawn Isaac RHS Silver Gilt medal winners at Chelsea 2005
from England, this HG Wells looking garden
would be perfect
for...

east_side_patch @ 2009-07-13T12:17:00

2009-07-13T17:18:11Z

n268cimeqp

>a href=http://technorati.com/blogs/http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/ rel="tag directory"http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/<

"Wormsign"

2009-07-12T01:16:50Z

The Spice Must Flow!

Remember a couple of posts back when I
was wishing I had earthworms the size
of those found on Arrakis, for aeration purposes?
Well as it turns out our planet Earth also has some fairly
good sized squirmy specimens.
The giant Palouse earthworm
Driloleirus americanus,

meaning lily-like worm (when handled it gives off a scent similar to
that of the lily flower). This worm was in the news this week.
Researchers are now scouring the Palouse region (NW US)
with their "thumpers" in hopes of finding more of these giant earthworms.

"I could eat this many"
Andrew, these are an endangered species for crying out loud!

Giant Palouse worms were considered extinct
until a Idaho graduate student Yaniria Sanchez-de
Leon in 2005 stuck a shovel into the ground to collect
a soil sample and found the worm. Little is known
about the giant Palouse earthworm, in fact this
worm has been found only four times
in the past 110 years.

The worm is believed to grow up to 1 m (3 ft) in length.
The worm is albino in appearance and it's native habitat
consists of the bunch grass prairies of the
Palouse region. The fertile soil consists of
deposits of volcanic ash and rich layers of
organic matter, thought to sustain the worm
during dry seasons. While I was researching this worm,
I found an even bigger earth worm that lives down under, well naturally:

The giant Gippsland earthworm,
Megascolides australis
This slimy friend can get to a length of 2-3 meters (up to 10 feet) and is about 2 centimetres (around 3/4 inch) thick...a monster.
Enough worm talk.

What has been happening in the convection oven I call the ESP this week?

Well I did find a cave of sorts by my pond. I am not sure who, or what made this shelter, but it was made well. It even has its very own pathway leading into it. I have to assume it is the Nananaboo's up to their shenanigans again, perhaps it is a hunting lodge, perhaps a cooling cave to escape the midday sun?
I did peer into it with a flashlight just to see if there was the remains of food, or perhaps a small moose head adorning one of the walls. Talking of holes in the ground...

an armadillo perhaps? I did hear this week the heat is driving them into the city.

"It is the eyes that blind a man Grasshopper".

Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?

"I am getting really tired of the bloggisphere adopting these irritating "Kung Fu"
metaphors, I am not even a grasshopper!"

Yes it looks like a grasshopper, it acts like a grasshopper, it sounds like a pasta, but in fact it is a great green bush-cricket Tettigonia viridi...

...and it is a master of camouflage.
Tettigoniids may be distinguished from grasshoppers by the length of their antenna, which may exceed their own body length, while grasshoppers' antennae are always relatively short and thickened. This one always had one of its antenna pointing at me at all times, in a creepy, roachy kind of way. (Slight tremble felt in left knee quickly followed by a parching of the mouth?).

Here is the same cricket on one of my burgundy cannas. Look at the length of the limbs!

The Culms are on the rise:

Oh, and how fast they rise! I am just happy this is a clumper as
my entire yard would be engulfed in bamboo in no time. This is
the first year that my giant timber bamboo has produced culms
with this diameter.

Pretty twisted image I know, I thought the baby would give a
sense of scale, instead it just made the scene look rather eerie,
in a "chucky" sort of way.

He still hasn't got over his infatuation with this newly watered, drippy container.
Even though this thyme is practically fried, I still like to water it just to watch his reaction.
Wow, I really need to weed under here!

This soft leaf Yucca, Yucca recurvifolia
is laughing in the face of the continuing Central Texas heat wave...

as are my Saw Palmettos Serenoa repens
I have had mine about three years, (they take forever to grow).
Saw palmetto is a fan palm, eventually they will get up to 3-6 feet but that seems like
it will take an eternity if the current speed of growth is anything to go by (but the best
things come to those that wait). Palmettos are hearty plants, and extremely long lived
(I know I should not have said this because of the blogging killing curse). There are
some palms in the Florida area that possibly 500-700 years old.

"You feeling a bit apathetic today Charlie?
You should give this try this".
A tonic to the Mayans.

Saw palmetto is used in several forms of traditional medicine.
The palm contains monolaurin, a lipid found in only mothers'
milk and saw palmetto.

The petiole on the palm is armed with fine, sharp teeth or spines,
hence the "saw" in its common name.

Campsis radicans Flava Trumpet Vine
is blooming right now. The common name for this plant is cow-itch vine and refers to the plant's ability to produce a skin irritant. Watch were you plant this one, it needs a lot of space. I have mine in partial shade, in an area where it can spread to its trumpets delight. It would bloom more aggressively in full sun. Humming birds love it.

Other strange observations this week...

A Spider?

I was doing a spot of weeding in my cactus bed when my attention fell on this.
I immediately panicked and arched backward to get away from it. I felt totally humbled,
when on closer observation, it turned out to be an old pomegranate flower that had
fallen off the tree and caught a hold of this Agave needle.

I looked around, as I habitually do, to see if anyone had witnessed my fit,
(like there would be someone else lurking in my garden,
waiting for this type of thing to happen)?

A Ghost?

I found this new patch of ghost plant haunting the dark, deep down at the
base of this pride of barbados. It is always exciting when something just appears.

And a story book Largus bug nymph

Finally, a few images from a visit to the Mueller development.

He was straight on this slide, though I think he may have personally
underestimated the ultimate velocity, - he flew down this structure.

Click on the second image, he is
completely out of control.

I caught this Band-winged Dragonlet
Erythrodiplax umbrata
in some marginal plants on one of the many ponds at the complex.
The marginal plantings are really impressive, lots of variety.
Here is one plant that caught my eye:

Pickerel rush blue Pontederia cordata

And lots of very, very, tame fish.

Stay Tuned For:
"Harry Potting Mix"

All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.

Inspirational Images of the Week:

Given that most urban cores are already densely built,
this designer proposes an auxiliary series of gardening
structures to be attached to existing structures in downtown areas.

The East-Side-Patch Blog has moved!

It is official, the East-Side-Patch has moved on over to Word-Press!
Here is the link to the "New" Patch, please update your feeds.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/

east_side_patch @ 2009-07-11T13:17:00

2009-07-11T18:54:09Z

http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/

Here is my entry picture for This Photo Contest for July:
This months theme...
"Flowering Trees"
loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)

Fuzzy Bee in a fuzzy Loquat tree.

"Here Today, Gone Tomorrow"

2009-07-04T19:35:30Z

My Hibiscus x 'Moy Grande' Rose Mallow has just started to bloom this week.
"Muy Grande" is Spanish for "very big'.
It is a hardy hibiscus cultivar with perhaps the largest flowers ever developed.

It was bred by Dr. Ying Doon Moy (Ahh the name is a play on words, now I get it)
at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, and sports enormous 12" diameter
rose-pink blooms.
The delicate petals on the flower resemble crepe paper and in the middle of the
flower, a prominent pistil and stamen add to the flowers animated Dr Seuss quality.

This hardy perennial offers up some gregarious color throughout the summer. Hybridized from hibiscus species native to America (Hibiscus grandflorus x Hibiscus moscheutos 'Southern Belle'), Moy Grande is a true show-off. Perennial hibiscus flowers removed from the stem can be used as table decorations. They need not be placed in water to prevent wilting. Each flower lasts a full day before withering (if cut in the morning). This is the ONLY flower of this size in the world which will not wilt when displayed out of water for such a long period of time.

What always amazes me is how unassuming the
buds are on this plant, it goes straight from this...

how can such a large flower fit in here?

To this...

It then explodes into this,
completely defying the laws of physics:

And then dies, pretty much all in one day.

And lasting a little longer: Beauty and the (shortly to be composted) Beast.

While I was looking at this decaying lily bloom,  I noticed that one of these lily pads was curled up at the side...

I flipped the pad over to reveal an amazing arial map
and patchwork of roads.

"The lily-leaf map reveals
more than your race
can possibly imagine".

Look at this tiny, tiny gulf toad. This shot was on full macro, he was a tadpole ten minutes ago!
And how is this for camouflage.
Staying on the subject of frogs, I have a sad tale, one that involves my red-neck paddling pool!

ALERT: Gross Alert!
ALERT: Gross Alert!

Are you ready?

My youngest was standing over by the pool going
"ewwwy, ewwwy,"
(repeat sixty four times, gradually ascending in volume).

I finally broke down to see what all the fuss was about
and leaned over the pool. I knew immediately something was
very wrong with this anemic tree frog! I grabbed my fish net
and hoisted him up onto a rock. I tried CPR on it with a
couple of tiny sticks (didn't really know what I was doing)
but like the cactus man, I lost him.

"ESP,? CPR,? Really, what were you thinking"?
Poor thing.
He must have fallen out of the post oak and drowned.

We had lunch, went back outside and the "ewwwing" and
pointing started up once more, this time with more vigor.

I knew I should have buried that frog! Brrrrrrrrr!

On a more majestic note:

                                                                          Swan photograph by Jess Lee

Like bobbing swan heads the blooms on this Bog Lily or swamp lily -
Crinum americanum
are very tropical looking, and very fragrant.


It is common along stream-banks and in marshes all along the
Coastal South, from South Carolina to Texas. It blooms
periodically throughout the year, but mainly in the spring
and fall. Great native plant, great blooms and outside of
water lilies, my favorite marginal in my pond.

The blooms even look good when they
are past their prime.
Has anyone got this plant planted in the ground?

Inland Sea Oats are just starting to change into their fall butterscotch outfits,
my favorite stage.

A dainty sulphur perched on some artemisia sporting a similar fall color palette. Can you tell I am ready for the summer to be over? My last post about how dry and hot it is right now worked, we did get some rain, not enough, but any sky liquid is good right now. I took these pictures the morning after the rain, it really helped to perk things up in the patch, at least for a short time.

The Hoja Santa and Fatsia japonica immediately bounced back into action.

Even the loquats look almost tree-like again, rather than drooping sad handkerchiefs.

And the monster culm continues to grow and grow.
There is even another one butted right up against it!

I thought I would finish with the crazy markings of this

Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae
Going crazy on a variety of flowers in the patch. The humming birds
are also getting extremely aggressive over this fire cracker plant,
Russellia equisetiformis.
I had a stand-off with one today, it was about two feet away and flying stationary
at eye level looking at me!
I tried but failed to get the shot.

Stay Tuned For:
"Wormsign"

All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late 14th century Earth techniques.

Inspirational Images of the Week:

Andy Sturgeon Garden Design
I wonder if those are adjustable blinds across the sides and roof?
What a great use of space and form in a small area.

"The Shining"

2009-06-25T01:20:20Z

n268cimeqp

Texas is Hot, Hot, Hot...and not a hint of precipitation in sight, perspiration though is a plenty.

It is like trying to garden on Arrakis, only the worms are just a tad
smaller here in the ESP unfortunately...ahh, imagine the soil aeration!

The very bricks themselves are starting to crack under the intense heat,
or could that be from yet another giant timber culm pushing
upward toward the "day star"?
The emerging culm pictured above is the largest I have ever grown,
a real monster (diameter dimensions on a later nerdy post), and that
is a soaker hose providing the moisture, naturally.
I plan to tie something on this culm before it hoists itself 25 feet
above my house, the question is what to sail out there?
The ESP coat of arms perhaps?
(Which incidentally creatively incorporates the face of the Botox Lady,
abstractly, into it's design).

Some boxer shorts perhaps?

Maybe I should just tie some sneakers to it, just to have
people drive by and wonder how someone managed to
throw them so high, so accurately.
OK, I think the heat may finally be getting to me,
and what record-breaking heat we are enduring here in Central
Texas at the moment, and it is only the end of, oh dear, June!

(Insert insane screaming here)

There have already been some heat-strokes...

Blow-Torched Delosperma
'sesotho pink'
or 'Trailing Ice Plant', hanging on to an inch of it's life.
This plant was the picture of health, until the temperatures
entered and have consistently sustained triple digits.
I hate to think how people with all their Saint Augustine expanses
are faring. Texas has a habit of naturally sorting out what
survives in a garden pretty rapidly, wielding a swift and deadly
blade of fire or ice, (depending on the season).
This year is already particularly harsh, compounded by the
continuing drought from last year, and the year before that.
It is not remotely pleasant to stand outside to water right now, even if
adorning a wet turban to curb the heat.
(def: "wet turban" here): http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/8678.html

I am now watering my natives, succulents, ornamental
grasses and cactus / agave plantings,
just to keep them alive, crazy heat!

Master Gardener Yoda:
“Death is a natural part of life.
Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force.
Mourn them do not. Miss them do not.
Attachment leads to jealously.
The shadow of greed, that is.”

Try telling that to the "Cactus Man"!

This is the happy face I was going for.
Picture courtesy NOAA.

The Cactus Man is not the picture of health he once was.
His demise came from the ill-conceived scalpel antics of
his torturer and general executioner...ME.
I had a premonition the other night that something really
bad was happening to him. I got up, put on my iced turban
to brave the 88 degree heat! (it was around midnight).
I swung through the timber bamboo as the ground
was too hot to walk on, and came to the clearing where
the cactus man had laid down his now decaying roots (ahem).
It is also where I fear he will shortly
pop his spiny little clogs.

It was a harrowing experience.


What have I done?


Doctors notes:
"The subject resembles more of a ghoulish shrunken head at this point,
rather than a prickly pear cactus. The top of his cranium is now pitching
violently backward in obvious distress, putting more tension in and around his
mouth area, apparently this is creating the curling up of his left lip".

I have a Billy Idol impersonating, decaying cactus head, with Spock's voice!

While I was rummaging around in here:

I found this:

Brrrrrrr, (nervous glances to the floor, left and right, knee twitch, jaw lock...you know the drill).
It looks like a real insect.

But. oh no!
It seems even the dragonfly larvae are depositing their own ecto-skeletons in
an attempt to escape the brutal Texas heat. I can sympathize with them.
So what did we do to cool us all down in the patch this week?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ssssssssssssssssssssssss.
Yes, you guessed it, another red-neck pool, only this one requires
no blowing up, a definite plus after last years near-death experience.
Same link again! http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/8678.html
This one has no duct-tape on it...yet, but the decomposed gravel
always wins eventually!
(Note the attempt at stopping this with a patch
of blanket), we do things right in the patch you know.

Doing okay:

Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine  Ipomoea batatas 'Blackie'
shrugs off the high temperatures as long as it receives a bucket of the wet
stuff every few days. One of my most dependable container combinations.
The Chartreuse patch in the middle is Ipomoea batatas ' Margarita'


Wrought Iron work from a vine caught my eye.

Doing not so okay:

Loquats are now looking like I feel. And how do I feel?

My wife took this picture of me as I took a brief cat-nap this afternoon.
The brief excursion outside to check on my satsuma tree proved
a little more dehydrating than I initially anticipated.

Here is the tree in question, it is turning yellow!
I think this may be due to overhead watering burning the leaves?
But any suggestions would be most welcome.
I would hate to lose all this fruit to stress.

Even the flies are moving slower than usually it seems.

A fine specimen.

Crimson Minimalism:
Considering how depressing things are in the wilting garden right now,
I thought I would finish with a quick and basic scheme I developed a couple
of months back for an Austin downtown commercial property.

.

Before                                                  After
The main challenge here was to create a more natural passageway
(from both sides) of the property up to the front door.
There is a parking lot to the left of the property so foot traffic was cutting
diagonally across the grass. The proposal breaks up the linear lines
with large sweeping pathways which converge to naturally create two side beds,
and a front island bed. Extremely low cost, with a focus on hardscape,
drought tolerance and minimal future maintenance. The original scheme incorporated
a bottle tree with crimson bottles in place of the central Agave.

Pssst!
And if you want a killer haircut and/or color, call Leah at Crimson
(512) 632 9627

Stay Tuned For:
"The Shining"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late 14th century Earth techniques.

Inspirational Images of the Week:

More madness from Diarmuid Gavin.

"Smiling Dragons"

2009-06-16T01:25:25Z

mwgvnr9zuq

Lots of dragons were zipping around
the ESP this week.

Predating the dinosaur and Jeff Goldblum, this fascinating
insect of the order Odonata (meaning "toothed")
has long been the subject of myths and legends,
around the globe. The dragonfly's syringe-like
appearance has earned it a variety of
bizarre names in global folklore
including "Devil's Darner,"
"Water Witch" and "Snake Doctor."

In European and early-American myths, The dragonfly
was given the name of “Devil’s Darning Needle” because
of a particularly horrific superstition involving the dragonfly
sewing the mouths shut of sleeping children.

                                                                  "mmm,ddammmned dddrrraggonm m m m-flies"!
Children were told that if they misbehaved,
a dragonfly would sew shut their eyes,
ears and mouth as they slept, (must remember
this for a future idle threat inside the patch).
I surmise this is where the word 'darner' as in
"Green Darner" originated?

This 'skimmer' Dragon is a Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia).
This one is a female, the males have a very different wing pattern.
This is the first Whitetail I have ever seen in my garden, and it did
not stay long. I only managed to get these two shots in, then she was gone.
Please click on, then click again, and then zoom in once more on these dragons
for a really detailed look at their structure, it is worth it!

Excuse the offensive finger!
Another myth warned that dragonflies were in cahoots with
snakes and were able to wake them from the dead or warn
them of impending danger.


In the Appalachians it was considered
bad luck to kill a dragonfly. They were
thought to be the protectors of snakes
and if you killed one, its snake would
come after you.

"Delta four-winger you have been cleared for take-off".

These two blue dasher dragons looked like they were
waiting for clearance to take off on this agave leaf.
Look at this one's cartoon eyes!

And finally in Swedish folklore
It was believed that dragonflies
were used by the Devil to "weigh
people's souls", and that if a
dragonfly swarmed around
someone's head weighing his
or her soul, that person could
expect great injury.

I am watching all gardeners,
especially those with
water features.

Blue Dasher  (Pachydiplax longipennis)
Amazing body coloration.

"Yeah, baby yeah"!

And here is where the dragons love to perch in the ESP, on the tips of these cattails, (or bulrushes
if you are in the UK). Nesting birds have been demolishing these flower spikes over the
last few months, as you can see, some of them have been totally stripped.

On a culinary note:



In Bali, people call                           "Sky Prawns?"
dragonflies ‘sky prawns,’
they are traditionally fried with
coconut oil and vegetables and spices.
Dragonflies, grilled, apparently
have a carbonized crispy quality
to them with a subtle, fatty flavor.
Now before you go ewwwww...
Most of us readily consume
shrimp and lobster (which, like
insects, are arthropods.)

How to catch them?
One effective capturing method
in this region utilizes sap from
the jackfruit tree...

The Jackfruit tree Artocarpus heterophyllus
(The largest tree borne fruit in the world).

The sticky, latex plant juice from this tree is applied
to the end of a slender stick. This stick is tied to
a longer, sturdier stick which is then lowered to
a resting dragonfly, with a quick tap, the dragon
is stuck to the tree sap. The device is called a
onang, and the hunting was done by children.

The catching of dragonflies for consumption
purposes is a very rare practice now in the region
due to the decreasing number of rice fields and
the scarcity of jackfruit trees in urban areas.

"And thats all I have to say about
dragonflies".

Moving On...

Mexican feather grass continues to burn and dance it's way into
the scorched winds of summer. Any time now the seed heads
will start sticking to each other for that really ugly "matted" look.
Then it will time for haircuts all round.

Another feather I have to post one last picture of!

Fragile coral vine blooms, Antigonon leptopus.

This plant always disturbs me as I like the way it looks but it always insists on creeping
up to high branches where it eventually dies, turns brown, and becomes an eyesore.
I only allow select patches to survive in the patch, and I never permit it to climb too high!

Also soaring up high was this damaged Swallowtail, catching
some of the thermals above my satsuma tree.

The swallowtails are busy laying their eggs on the citrus trees
in my middle bed right now. I started planting this cacti and
succulent bed earlier this year. I mostly used divisions from
plants I already had, and a few more from my in-laws containers.
I already had the Texas holey rocks, the large barrel cacti, and
the old cedar carcasses, I just needed to pull it all together.

Middle bed: Jan10, 2009


Middle bed today, it is amazing what only six months can do, and the barrels are still healthy!
(fingers are crossed).

Some other patch-filled events this week...

This pair was really healthy for a while....................and then...medic!

Large culms are popping up everywhere
on the giants. My oldest giant timber bamboo
that did not produce a single culm last year, is
making up for it this year - eight at the last count!


"Oo, oo, you cannot be serious with this connection ESP".
One very strange looking unidentified moth!

Anybody? Almost bat-like!

And the latest craze in the patch...'Balloon Jousting'.

"On-Guard little brother!"                          " I will prevail, no matter the personal sacrifice".

"Am I not Maximus the merciful big sis?"
And finally...

"Here's Johnny!"
More horror from "cactus man" next time.

Stay Tuned For:
"The Shining"
All material © 2 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Inspirational Image of the Week:

Garden Art by Bruno Torf.

"Botanical Quack"

2009-06-10T00:14:26Z

"Neo, we have a problem.
The sentinels have been deployed
over at the ESP".
"Trinity, those are old passion vine flowers."
"Still, the oracle told me this would happen Neo"


My front porch is full of these sentinels that have shriveled
and dropped off my red passion vine.


From riches to rags.

The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long.
And you have burned so very very brightly.
Blade Runner.

This zinnia simply just burned,

it fried to a crisp in one day!

On a lighter note...

Who said this is a drought loving plant. This one has had a lot of water over the course of the last few weeks as I have tried to breathe life into my adjacent cyprus tree (which was dead and now is alive) with a constant drip feed of water from my leaking hosepipe. (I must say the best product I have had for quite some time) ... It leaks at just the right rate!

I have never had a blackfoot
daisy look as healthy,
it is spilling halfway across the sidewalk.

Somebody who is not looking quite as chipper is...
MEDIC!!!

"No! Whatever you do, do not stick that th e..r...Arooooo"!

"Angels and ministers of grace,
defend us...is his face is collapsing?"

Oh no, what have I done!
What started initially as a slight grimace has tragically turned into ...
.

(minus the teeth)  - I have created my very own frankenstein.

Medical. Diary Entry....June12, 2009:
Subject: "Cactus man"
DOB: May10, 2005
Prognosis: Premature Aging, facial warts,
and a general softening of the cranium.

Picture of patient 487633-A

Physician's Private Notes:
"I fear I may have been a little too "aggressive"
with my initial surgical procedure. The subject
appears to have a softening of the upper dermis.
Sparse cell clusters correspond to irregularly
aggregated and sparse cells, usually irregular
in morphology and refractivity confined within
a darker well-demarcated area, or, my cactus's
skull appears to be rotting"! Ahhhhhhhh!

Additional:
The patient continues to drift in and out of
cacti consciousness.
If he continues to scare members of my family, with his
disturbing facial expressions I fear more drastic measures
may have to be undertaken, earlier than I originally anticipated.

Moving on...

Variegated shell ginger Alpinia zerumbet 'variegata'
I recently wandered past this patch of shell ginger like I have
done thousands of times, when these blooms caught my eye. My gingers
have never bloomed before! My camera was out of my pocket faster than
Billy the Kid drawing his gun.

"Faster, huh? ESP."                    Anyone old enough to remember this one?

The flowers are white, tipped in pink,
and borne in long pendant arches.
This ginger is "supposed" to flower all
summer after the second year.
Mine are three years old.


The individual flowers are reminiscent of small seashells, which
accounts for the common name "shell ginger"...Now I get it! Duh!
They really do. I also think they look like lychees,
what do you think?

"Mmmmmm..................Lychees"!

I would never have anticipated such a tropical, exotic bloom.
To think I just bought these plants for their foliage...

Prince Sago or Emperor Sago    Cycas taitungensis
(I hope I have this ID right!) I know it is not a Cycas revoluta (King Sago),
It also has a much more open crown...very feather like.

Cycads, Cycadaceae
are descendants of a very ancient group of
early seed-bearing plants that appeared
on the earth millions of years ago. Cycads
were at their prime during the Jurassic period
where they coexisted with dinosaurs and Jeff
Goldblum, they covered vast areas of the
earth's surface...imagine that!
Really bad for picnics at the time.

It looked like Jurassic Park here at patch the other night, a very tornadic
weather front hit us hard and brought with it some redneck tub
and bucket fillin', well needed, water! (And some good lightning).
Temperatures are up to nearly a hundred again today.
I caught a few little creatures drying off from the drenching...

Move a little to the right please, could you do that for me?
A very "lacy" hopper.

Reakirt's Blue Hemiargus isola

A small butterfly with a big heart. (winces)

Some more events this week...

Hoja Santa has had a rapid growth spurt after the recent rain.

Conifer thingymajiggies?

A shasta daisy springing to life.

Cactus bed resembling an underwater scene

K2 Stone crop, in decline.

Canna, cone flower, rosemary and sage.

Stay Tuned For:
"Smiling Dragons"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Inspirational Image of the Week:

Metal business card!
It is only a matter of time until they
contain a host of digital data.

"Tricksy Hobbitses"

2009-06-07T00:23:35Z

With the temperatures beginning to soar this week,
Central Texas has started to once again
feel like the red planet. This recent heat has
had a really strange effect on the "Cactus Man"...

"My eyes, my eyes, what is happening to me?"
He seems to be developing a rather alarmed "expression" of sorts.
The sun has caused a contraction of the "skin" during the healing
process (post cacti operata), this was especially apparent around the
delicate eye tissues around the cacti paddle.
It appears my cactus pad is unfortunately aging prematurely!


"Damn it Jim, I am a doctor, not a botanist.
I will proceed to sick-bay just as soon as my hair has stabilized".

I knew I should have sprayed him with sun-screen
after his "delicate" surgery (drill-bit, not key-hole).
Still, I am really happy he is developing his own facial features...
It gives him his very own unique "cactus character".
I hate to say this, but the "Botox Lady" had a sly grin on her
face at the "cactus man's" accelerated aging process, I think
she felt somehow threatened by the introduction of this once
handsome chap into the patch.

The rising heat was also causing this Little Glassywing Skipper Butterfly - Pompeius verna to drink rather heavily from one of my cone flowers.

Buuuuuurp!!!
Skippers are named for their rapid, erratic flight, they differ from the
true butterflies in their proportionately larger bodies, smaller wings,
and hooked antennae (like a crochet hook),
Butterflies have club-like tips to their antennae.

Skippers also have generally stockier bodies, with stronger wing
muscles, they are one of the hardest butterfly species to identify;
their markings being frustratingly similar.
I hope I have my identification correct.

On a more refreshing note, these recently watered and fallen california poppy
petals caught my heat stricken attention this week...Ahhh...ssssss!
This year I planted a bunch of these poppies in, and around, my mass planting
of Artemisia 'Powis Castle'. The combination of the silver, the whites, and amber
of the poppies works very well.

Silver and orange, can you beat this color combination?

The intense sun has been great for ripening the limes on my mexican lime tree.
This tree is really producing well right now. Every morning there is fruit strewn
on the ground. Today the "Patch Pickers" harvested these! The flavor of these
limes is amazing, small limes - big flavor. This is the first year this citrus has
produced any fruit of any significance, the same goes for my satsuma tree, and
my tomato plants.

"My precious(es)"             So far so good on the tomato front!

Remember last years culinary tomato fiasco?
http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/3753.html

Inland Sea Oats, Chasmanthium latfolium
A great plant for spring color, foliage and animation. The plant is a valuable wildlife
resource, providing both food and cover.  This grass grows great under trees and in
shade. I have mine planted under my towering post oak where it has spread into a
large swath. I have found it easy to control like amaranth, yes amaranth! I let both of
these get to about four to six inches and if I don't like their position, I yank them out,
simple. I have not found this plant to be invasive in my plantings. Great spring,
great fall color...one of the staple plantings in the patch.


The seed heads really do glow when back-lit from the sun.
This scene just gets better as we enter fall when the
seed heads turn rustic brown, and do
what they do best... bob in the breeze.

And what is this?

A mangrove swamp?

Surely not!


The roots of an Ent perhaps?

Or more likely the roots on my clumping Giant Timber Bamboo.

"And mighty fine "Roots"
they are ESP", ahem.

No wonder bamboo is so strong. I once (and I repeat once) tried to
divide a mature clump of giant timber bamboo. I demolished two
shovels and one pick axe...enough said, I was done.

Giant Timber Bamboo   Bambusa oldhamii, the culms
look like they are painted...albeit very badly.

I finally did manage to get a few culms separated from the mass,
and interestingly the transplant grew faster and healthier then any
others I have purchased since.

One division was enough for me though, I probably could have
purchased two bamboo plants for the cost of replacing all of my tools,
plus the cost of advil etc...never again!

Beach Vitex, Vitex rotundifolia.
I know this plant has become a real problem in a few coastal southern states,
taking over sand dunes and threatening native species, but mine is growing
slower than a really slow growing thing. It has started to bloom recently though.
I really like the foliage on this little plant.
After learning of the invasive nature of this plant on the dunes of southern Carolina,
I made sure I filled up the immediate planting area with sand...it seems to have
worked a treat!

The cat tails are in their prime right now, a towering containerized
structural plant in my main pond, it returns from the ground reliably
every year, no-matter how root-bound it becomes.

And finally...

Burning Cannas catching the last hot rays of the sun.

Stay Tuned For:
"Botanical Quack"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Inspirational Image of the Week:

"Premonition" .

"Creatures of the Deep"

2009-05-30T19:31:47Z

Today, while I was once again thinning out my
water lilies, (it is a weekly chore at this time of year),
this rolled up from my pond's murky depths to
greet me.

Whhooaa!
My first thought went to the Nananaboobo tribe...had they performed some horrible
lobotomy ritual under the glow of a tiki-light near my pond? I knew they were capable of it.
It was about the right-sized brain after-all, perhaps they had captured a tribal advisory?
My mind wandered.


"Brains, more brains".
These water-lily tubers are just plain bizarre, very B-movie!
I should dry one of them out and put it under a tiny glass dome.

Chain Propagation from a Tuber:
Plant one of these brains in a 3 or 4 inch pot, with some soil-and-fertilizer mixture.
Pop it back into the pond with the rim just below the surface of the water. The tuber will
send up a shoot, and the shoot will quickly become a small, floating plant. At the point
where it rises from the soil in the pot, a spreading root system will have begun to develop.

To obtain your plant, push your fingers into the soil below the root system and pinch in two
the shoot which still connects the brain and new plant. The separated plant can then be potted.
In due time the pinched-off shoot will develop a new plant, and it can be pinched off, too,
as soon as it becomes big enough to pot.

My last lily shot....I promise!
With this treatment, an active tuber can produce
three, four, or even more plants right around this
time of the year! You could have your own
water lily nursery in no time!
I just wish I had more water to plant more brains!

Mountain Laurel seed-pods.
One member of my "tribe" is getting very excited about these Mescal Bean seed-pods. They are now as big as they are going to get and as soon as they dry up and rattle, it will be out with the dremel drill and a necklace will be strung (and then quickly wrapped up and given away as a present).

Why quickly?
Well, the Mescal Bean seeds, if swallowed, cause cytisine poisoning, very unpleasant, includes nausea and seizures. Kids are naturally drawn to these seeds due to the bright red, jelly-bean look, but as little as one seed can be fatal. I pick all of mine and discard them before they get too crusty, open up, and start dropping their toxic M&M's onto the ground.

This herb has been used therapeutically since ancient Roman and Greek times, the Greek physician Claudius Galenus first recorded its use.
Equisetum
While I was taking this shot, I could hear deep in this horsetail forest the distant sound
of drums and the faint smell of meat cooking on an open fire...or perhaps it was stobili?

Stobili are highly
appreciated as a
spring delicacy
in Japan where
they are called tsukushi.

Here is the horsetail stobili             tsukushi...sprinkle on rice and enjoy!
(photo courtesy of wikipedia).

Another creature of the deep...

comes from this succulent, Haworthia coarctata
The texture on the leaves looks and feels just like a starfish, it really does!
Even the form is similar.

NO, NO, WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T TOUCH THA..........!

Talking of mines, this whimsical
design caught my attention. About
time someone tackled the ubiquitous,
yet inane bath-plug.

This peacock also caught my attention recently at the Austin Zoo:

At the luxurious banquets of European kings and queens of the Renaissance,
there was an epicurean delight consisting of stuffed roast birds one inside the
other ...think "Hudson's on the Bend" on steroids.
The outermost shell invariably was the glorious peacock.

When I was a kid, our neighbors "up the hill" (well it was Scotland) used to
keep and rear a whole assortment of fancy birds, it was almost a zoo, both
inside the house and out. As a child my stomach would sink with the news
that we were to have dinner next door. I used to dread the steep winding
walk up the hill, as about half way up, without fail, their dogs (including a
massive, and I mean massive, St Bernard, and numerous black labs,
and a few others) would barrel down on us, using the slope and their
inherent slobber to their advantage. I felt like prey.

This used to turn into a twice daily nightmare
when my neighbors would go away on vacation leaving
our family in charge of looking after all their birds,
and animals.

They had a large flock of guinea foul that as
a teenager I loathed...they would,
without fail, every morning...(way too early),
wander down the hill and as a flock stand right
outside of my bedroom window to start their
incessant screaming and chattering. They also had
the most aggressive bird I have witnessed to date...

the dreaded brown eared pheasants,
they really were pure evil, we all
hated entering that cage.

I relay this story as one day, just before my neighbors returned
from vacation, we went out for the day. On our return we pulled
into the driveway to witness a mass of eyed feathers scattered
all around our golden labrador's kennel...we feared the worst.
The dog had grabbed the peacock by it's tail feathers,
and I mean all of it's feathers. Luckily for us the bird lived,
albeit minus it's tail. Not being superstitious, we had peacock
feather arrangements all around our house for the next
thirty years.

It is believed the peacock feather has an evil eye at the end.
Argus, of Greek legend, says a hundred eyed monster was
turned into a peacock with all its eyes in it's tail. In the West it
is generally believed feathers brought indoors for
decoration are unlucky.

Another flamboyant feather-er in the patch this week belongs to my...

Pride of barbados. I got a few e-mails asking what the blooms
looked like after my last post, so here it is.
(Absolutely the last POB pic of the year too!)

I have been cutting the new paddles off this cactus for quite a few years now, to force the base node to swell. I must say this takes ages! The subtle undulations of form in these paddles create a tiny art installation.

A very animated scene.
So why try to swell a single paddle you ask?
Well to cut some tribal faces into them, naturally...

"My God Man,
you're serious!"

After I had located and sterilized my surgical scalpel,
I put on my scrubs and made the first shaky incision...

The first eye teared into existence, then the second, and finally
the mouth, at this point I think the cactus had an allergic reaction
to the general anesthetic. There was a lot of "ewwwing" going on
at this point...totally ridiculous!
I found a large drill-bit actually worked best for carving the eyes,
(must remember this for future cacti facial constructions).
I am going to wait a while to see how the "wounds" heal before .
I resume my "procedures."

A Hahahahahahahaha!

I wonder if you could graft one of those
tiny water lily "brains" to the top of one
of these carved enlarged paddles?
Perhaps the lily roots would get enough
moisture from inside the cactus to survive?
Now THAT would be twisted!...
A cactus with a crazy face carved into it,
with a tiny brain "living" on the outside of it,
adorning water lily blooms as a decorative
element for it's bald, green scalp...

I have to try it, no rest for the wicked!
Now, where did I leave that scalpel?

Other things going down on the East-Side this week...

Fresh new growth on a Sago Palm.
The bi-coloration at this time of year looks really tropical.

The smell from this wisteria makes me hum old Bauhaus tunes,
and rake out my trusty old black Goth cape.

Even a lone anole, lodging in the underbelly of a canna lily,
came out to see what was the source of the aroma.

"Mmmust get over there"!
This decaying sunflower must also have an alluring aroma, at least for this nasty chap.
It was really funny watching this bug as it leaned and contemplated the jump,
accompanied by his little friend "ant", who was egging him on.

Remember the bog cyprus that I cursed
a few postings back?...

Well I looked in on it closely today, I couldn't believe my eyes,
fresh new growth had started to push out all of the brown!
I think my ten days of continuous IV "drip" treatment is working.
This poor little tree has been through fall and another spring
already and it is only June! I bet it can't wait for the winter to
finally have a long, well-earned dormancy!

June is the time for these though. These sun-golds are producing reliably right now.
Onto another orange...

I have never noticed that on landing the two smaller front feety thingies,
retract sharply and tuck up around the neck. This dragon finally got
comfortable with me standing next to it's favorite resting
spot on this canna lily.
Check out his goatee!

This This is a male Neon Skimmer.
(Libellula croceipennis)
The females are a light brown color.
I also caught a shot of one of their baby dragons,
this one really was tiny!

Note the two distinct stripes on it's abdomen...What is this, anyone?
click to enlarge

Don't be silly ESP, a dragon it may perhaps be,
but this one only has two wings!

And finally, there is a new photographer taking over the ESP blog,
as you can see in the gazing ball...

I am retiring from active service.

Stay Tuned For:
"Tricksy Hobbits"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Inspirational image of the week:

Designer: Diarmuid Gavin..a balloon sellers dream garden!

"Silver"

2009-05-21T21:42:44Z

Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in silver feathered sleep
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream

Walter de la Mare

Silvers feature prominently in my planting scheme, I think in part,
it is due to the fact that I actually miss frost, I really do!
When I was a scout in Scotland, we used to play completely
insane games like "Fire Running" and "Flaming Onions" under
full winter moons and frosty, crystal-clear skies.
These games would never be allowed in this day and age,
for all manner of child liability issues, one of them being,
burning to death!

The grounds of the estate where we played
were immense ...

Arizona Cypress 'Blue Ice'
...long, moon-cast shadows would stretch
across the expansive lawn areas
as if it were late afternoon, and It would be
eerily quiet.
At least, until the games would begin.

It was also bitterly cold...

until the running started, causing the blood to coarse faster through the veins.

Mass Artemisia and California Poppy planting.                                              Silver Sedum

The scout master (the "Beast", an ex-army major) used to run around like a teenager
re-administering "lives" (bandages tied tightly around the bicep) to scouts that
would get their bandages ripped off in some Doc-Martin swinging skirmish...
he did this adorning a kilt!
Now THAT would have been cold!

"Ach! ESP, All ye need is a kilt, see,
ye can just throw a wee part of it over
yer shoulder, like this, if yer cauld.
If that doesnae work, ye can...."
Aargh...shut your pie-hole William.

Frosty Santolina.

Although Texas is a long way from Scotland
and just a tad warmer. These frosty plants at least
TRY to trick the brain into thinking it is frosty,
when it is in fact 90 degrees in the moonlight.
I will take every illusion I can get!

Staying on this warmer note...

"Is he making fun of us?"

My cone-heads seem to be as fashionably late in developing as usual,
still, who's complaining,

when you get flowers within flowers.

These warm embers seem to develop as fast as little nimble fingers can pick them.

Barbados Cherry  Malpighia punicifolia, still going strong.

And some final sizzle from a dwarf papyrus sparkler,
catching the final rays of the...

Moving on to my "International plant of mystery"...

I picked up this small plant immediately I saw the words
"mystery plant" written on the side of the container,
at the Natural Gardener.

At that point in time it looked like a small pride of barbados,
with very similar foliage. I planted it up against the back of our
house where it has continued to grow. The first couple of years
it pretty much died back to the base, so I just treated it like I did
my pride of barbados -and whacked it back to the ground. Then
as it got bigger it started to make it through the winter, and it
continued to get larger. The multi-limbed shrub has small thorns
on its branches and blooms like a pride of barbados (at least
most years).

Speaking of which...

I really like the pre-blooming display the pride of barbados gives, very chemistry model-esque.

Nope, you don't want to be barefoot in my back garden!
These barrel cacti seem to be handling their transplant into the ground well
although I probably just cursed them...

Don't even think about it Helena!     ...like I cursed this poor transplanted bog cyprus
some posts back. I have been drip feeding this tree for about a week now to
try to turn it's demise around. In a sick way I do like the way it looks against the
burnt orange of the canna lily.
It is like having fall in the spring!

The canna thinks it has died
and gone to heaven with all the
new water it is vicariously receiving.
There are still a handful of green
leaves on the cypress, you can see
them if you look really closely.
There is still a glimmer of hope.

The ice plant (front left) has gone ballistic to the point that I am now having to keep it in check.

And the most recent addition to the ESP (courtesy of my moving neighbors)...

is this Spruce Cone Cholla, or aptly named Pine Cone Cactus
Tephrocactus articulatus.
This one was picked up in Arizona, though they originate from Argentina.
Apparently it is difficult to get this cacti to flowering size, as the stem
segments break off with very little effort. You can see how thin the
segments get. An interesting little plant and just what the middle bed
needed in terms of scale and form.

On a recent expedition through my bamboo grove, I happened to
once again bump into another member of the shy and rarely
encountered "Nabooboo" tribe. This female warrior was adorning
her traditional "Naboo" face mask indicating that she was on a peaceful
hunting and gathering mission. When she turned to leave I did notice
that she was carrying a woven reed basket that was full of what
looked like small unripe satsumas?

I carried on walking on the trail and shortly happened on the tree that the warrior must have picked from.

What is the right policy here?

"To thin or not to thin...that is the question".

Other observations in the Patch this week...

The inner glow of Madame Ganna Walska

always brightens up a pond.                  You should check out her life story!

An emerging Brown-Eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta.

New succulent blooms...

new cacti blooms.


And a gnarly old "trunk" (ahem) of an Elephant Ear.

First shady blooms on my Thryallis,
Golden Thryallis
Galphimia gracilis

First sunny blooms on a wisteria.

Some greens and purples.
And Finally...

There is nothing better after returning
from a hot bamboo grove expedition than
putting your feet up, turning on the misters
and getting blasted.
(I mean from the misters)

Of course some people's
work is never done...

Sun sets on the patch..

Stay Tuned For:
"Creatures of the Deep"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Inspirational image of the week.

"Amber"

2009-05-16T02:58:53Z

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life
Snow Patrol..."Chasing Cars"

I caught this amber Canna indica "Pretoria"
bursting into life with one of it's short lived blooms.
A very tropical looking plant.

Another amber looking substance has me a little puzzled.
Why was it here? How did it get there? What was its purpose?

Let me back up a little...

I was recently aimlessly wandering around outside my cactus bed
(as I do) looking here, grimacing at weeds over there, when I happened to
notice this "blemish" on one of my agaves.

"Blemishes on the ESP agaves?
Bring on the tigers, I cannot
tolerate this".

I had to take a closer look. Now, this was not as easy as it seems,
considering that the entire adjacent area was peppered with
spikes, thorns, sharp tentacles and a general lack of respect
for un-bleeding limbs. It is a cactus bed after all.
But I had to get in yet closer...

This amber "sap" looked sticky and wet. I clambered further in to
touching distance (which equates to a yoga-esk, physically
contorted pose) and did the only thing that came to my
mind..."must stick my finger into it."
So I leaned in... and I immediately lost my balance.

My left kidney ended up inches away from being
impaled by a variegated agave. The amber
sap was "set", no stickiness, no moisture.
It was solid and hard...most bizarre,
what is this sappy process?

On exiting the cactus bed I happened to notice this agave pup waving
its head around searchingly at the end of its umbilical cord,
inches from my face...I remained totally motionless.

One last amber (okay a bit of a stretch).
The first flamboyant bloom on my Pride of Barbados has arrived.
I love the silver-grey, feather-like contrasting leaves on this plant.
It is a carnival in a plant!

Nerd Alert, Nerd Alert!

I was recently doing my rounds with
my fish and seaweed emulsions when
I noticed this black waspy fly, it seemed
to be attracted to the smell.
I tried numerous times to get a decent
picture of it, but it was really easily spooked.
It finally settled down in some ivy where I
shot these two images, check
out the colorful eyes!

Black Soldier fly.
Hermetia illucens Linnaeus
A really interesting looking fly, which adorns some
crazy flapping antenna.

This fly occurs throughout most of the Western
Hemisphere and the Australian region from Samoa
to Hawaii. Adults superficially resemble wasps,
but have no stinger and are completely
harmless and apparently very rarely encountered.
I was happy to encounter mine!

"Can you believe this fly Rodders?"
It is another con-fly, cushty!

Photo by G. McIlveen, Jr.
The larvae of black soldier flies feed on decomposing
organic matter. If you have a compost bin you will most
likely have seen these, I am pretty sure this fly emerged from
one of my bins.

The larvae of black soldier flies
has the beneficial effect of rendering
the breeding media less suitable for the
production of house flies. I am beginning to
like this chap!
Soldier maggots are in-fact the good guys!

Note how the wings, in a relaxed state, fold over each other on the back of the fly. (Hey I warned you with a nerd alert!)

In fact these maggots
(which incidentally have absolutely enormous appetites)

are being used in some settings to break down
household and pig-farm wastes,
(they are natures ultimate disposal units), the larvae
are employed in a technique known as bio-conversion),
and no, they are not salaried.

"Burying our food waste in giant rotting
mounds is ridiculous given the elegant
solution represented by bio-conversion
with black soldier fly larvae".

Want to find out more about this fly and how bio-conversion works?
Then here is some serious bed-time reading just for you..
Thanks for your help J!

http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/

"And now for something completely different"...

Remember this member of
the "Na,Na, Nabooboo" tribe
wearing the agave carcass
"bad hair day" headdress?

Well I think I caught another member
of the same tribe today performing,
what I could only interpret to be
some kind of rain dance...

And rain it did...
I even think he was a little surprised that his rain endusing
gestures actually worked!
I ran up to thank this little pygmy tribal member,
but, like a hobbit, he had already scurried away on fast legs
and large feet into the surrounding undergrowth.

The rain bounced on the roofs...

and pounded our deck (I really must stop
putting off unclogging that gutter)!

It even brought a tear of joy to the Botox lady's "half-eye".
Or perhaps she is thinking of Bob at Draco Gardens?
Or perhaps she has conjunctivitis?
Hard to tell.
At least she is no longer bald! Well not quite.

The rain refilled my redneck, everything but the
kitchen sink, rain water collection "system,"

and made for yet another historic "snail harvest".
Wait, he does not belong in here!

A lilly pad seemed a more apt place to return this tiny gulf coast toad.

"Hi little guy, don't be afraid we all know how
disgusting you taste! You are safe with us".

And the snails?

Well, I was treated to the most amazing escargot dish, prepared
to order in our outside "kitchen", by our resident chief.

But the best thing about the new rain?

Had to be the fresh smell, right after it had stopped.

Here is the view from the street of the ESP. Left is my Vitex shrub / (no you will be a) tree,
in full bloom right now, and right, my desert willow. Left front is my spineless prickly pear
that I have been pruning up to encourage a more vertical habit.

I am trying to create a naturalistic setting here, one that ties in with the architecture of the
1890's victorian house. The highest point on the left hand side of the picture is actually the
top of my giant timber bamboo at the back of the house...

This one.

Fruits and things picked this week in the patch:

We finally started to pick some of the limes from our mexican lime tree, and I have
to say they were really impressive, thin skin, lots of flesh, (hannibal murmurings) and
lots and lots of mouth puckering limey flavor.
It looks like we will be in good shape on the lime front for the foreseeable future.

Tequila!

This was one curly pepper. I almost put a face under the hat on the left image, then decided
it already had one!

Barbados cherry picking to make a really tiny tart.

And finally...

Some frosty silvers,

a warm yellow sun,

a ruby jewel,

and some firecracker fun.

Inspirational image of the week:

Stay Tuned For:
"Event Horizon"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

east_side_patch @ 2009-05-14T13:00:00

2009-05-15T01:01:13Z

Here is my entry for this month’s Picture This Photo Contest:
http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=5306
The subject this time is containers. And Steve Silk, the master of creating
magnificent containers, is our mentor and judge.

A collection of towering "Jurassic" succulents.
The Land that Time Forgot!
Back left: Senecio vitalis
Back right: Flap Jack kalanchoe
Front: Echeveria

"Old Friends"

2009-05-10T02:18:25Z

Larva of Scymnus?
What is this spiny anomaly? It was tiny,
I forgot to add, it twitches and shudders
like a "Tribble" when I get close to it with
the camera lens!
Brrrr!

"Analysis, Mr. Spock"...
"It's life, Jim, but not as we know it...
I would suggest evacuating non essential
personnel to the saucer section".
What a great new Star Trek movie!


It has been a fungi sort of week down
here in the patch. This saucer section
crash landed under one of my giant
timber bamboos, this was one of the
larger ones. But there were others,
of all shapes and cup-sizes...

"Yeah Baby"!


I decided against doing a comparison shot of these beauties
for fear of offending any sensitive readers, and any family
members that follow these posts.
I finally managed to avert my gaze away from this toad stool erotica,
only to witness something even more explicit...

"Ohh, matron!"                                                        "Annoles gone wild!"
I laughed so much trying to capture this shot, this
was the only image that was not blurred.
It is amazing what goes on behind closed
garden gates in a spring time suburban
habitat!

"Really !"

Now, where was I?

Mmm, close, but not quite.
Oh yes, fungi:

Leucocoprinus birnbaumii
The fungi previously known as Lepiota lutea.

That was my idea!
Other common names for this potential
gastrointestinal disturbance include the
flower-pot parasol, and the plant pot dapperling.
This fungi is commonly found in flowerpots
or greenhouses or any other place with
organically rich soil where the temperature
is warm . This particular fine specimen
was growing in a stock-tank which houses my

black bamboo Phyllostachy Nigra.
I suppose it is a giant plant pot of sorts.

I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies,
the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind.
Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as
real as the here and now? ~John Lennon

Break out the handkerchiefs,
it is time to say good-bye to my old Mediterranean Fan Palm,
so long old friend!

I had made my decision, I finally was to say goodbye to my 3 year spiky friend,
it was the humane thing to do, I refused to witness its slow demise a
second longer. I had come to a hard decision, one with so much
stigma attached...
I was about to perform palm euthanasia.

"Noooooooo!"
How could I allow more suffering,
more yellowing from the center,
(Yes a bit like you, Patsy!)
more "flopping" from the central core.

My decision was final, I was not
going to avert my gaze one more
time walking past it. I trudged slowly to
my shed to get my harbinger of death.
In this case my shovel.
The death march played on my ipod, I exaggerate.

The temperatures and humidity in the central Texas area have soared this week.
It was time to let rip with the back-deck misters for the first time this year,
an event that signifies the onslaught of summer heat is just around the sweaty
corner, and it felt nice. The misters I mean, not the pending
onslaught of another Texas Summer.

Off with the socks and gardening boots and on with a cold beverage
and a refreshing misting. It has taken me years, but I have finally found
the perfect misting system for my back porch.

It relies on a series of overhead misters, a vague understanding the prevailing winds,
an elaborate system of pulleys and wheels, and a rather large industrial fan situated in
"just the right position" on my back porch.
The prevailing wind whips the mist around into the strategically angled fan,
which in turn blasts everyone on the deck with a cooling misting...Ahhh!

"Roger that ground control, I will keep a look out for that reported patchy mist...
descending to one foot past the blooming Barbados Cherry, as instructed.
On final approach for a decomposed granite landing."

My Barbados Cherry is insane right now, most of the hover flies
have now vacated, as the shrub is in full tilt making thousands
of berries. A great nature magnet, I have no idea why I still have
only one of these in my garden!
It smells good too.

This gazing ball on an old cedar carcass reminds me of the movie "Sphere".

Another sphere comes from this new addition to the patch.
This is Spilanthes; the Toothache Plant.
When chewed (which I have) Spilanthes stimulates the flow
of saliva which cleanses the mouth, tones the gums, and
enhances immune function. It is strange though, it takes
about 30 seconds before you sense the reaction.

"It really does stimulate saliva production,
you're right"!

Spilanthes also improves digestion and eases flatulence...

"...It really (pppaaarrrp) does, as "Powdered Toast Man" I will vouch for this
plant's flatulent (pparp) reducing capabilities, I think I need a lot more!"

This versatile little plant also improves the appetite, and helps
to overcome nausea and vomiting by its stimulating effect
on the salivary glands.

It is called the toothache plant because
when you chew on the leaves or flowers
it produces a numbing effect to the
tongue and gums. Spilanthes can
be used in this manner to help ease
the pain of a toothache.
Poor Ren, if only he had had some for
his stinky gums when he needed it most.

Soft Leaf Yucca Yucca recurvifolia
This yucca is about three or four years old, I lost it's sister when I transplanted
it into my new middle succulent bed early this year. I have moved this plant
around a lot, from a container into the ground, back into a container and now
back in the ground where it has really found its roots. It works well
architecturally next to the wispy mexican feather grass.
When back lit by the sun the red tips on the
leaf-ends really light up.

My White Stone crop Sedum album "waterfall" continues to fill in,
it has almost made it down the slope to stock tank pond, next to this
I have a large amount clinging to the hillside, my goal here is to completely
envelop this slope with this tiny plant.

Another new stone crop addition went into my middle bed this week.
I have no idea what this one is called, but I like it.

Other plants taking off this week...
I
Inland Sea Oats, and Canna lily filling in all the gaps around my pond.
The toads love getting in this foliage. The Burgundy cannas are one
of my favorite container plants here in the ESP. I have four
(soon to be five) that I use as repetitive "stabilizing"
elements in my overall scheme. You can see
them on those earlier "mister" shots.

Like the finest Cuban cigars, the first cattails are now just being rolled out of the plant.

As are the first wisteria blooms...

and the first new giant timber
culms, now erupting from the
earth.

Artemisia 'Powis Castle' hill with a new container that
I inherited from my neighbors...

"Live long and prosper in Baltimore my friends!"

My front Vitex shrub (oh no, you will be a tree), is blooming.
I do like this shrub / tree, whatever it is, even though it
requires constant maintenance, and "up-pruning". The
bees go crazy on it.

Fresh blooms on my Texas Purple sage, could this mean rain?
Leucophyllum frutescens
Also known as cenizo, Texas silverleaf, barometer bush, and Texas ranger.

And all the while my front yard "seed experiment" continues to bubble, fizz, grow and bloom.

"Old Friends" This song has unfortunately been
reverberating in my head for over a week due
to the title of this post. It has been driving me crazy...
I wake up humming it! I go to sleep
cursing it, I think I need help...
from the old friends...arrrghhh, I cant stop!

"Snail Harvesting"

2009-05-02T19:16:14Z

Texas spineless prickly pear - Opuntia ficus-indica
On a vist to one of my Irish watering holes, I caught this prickly pear cactus
going completely bezerk. It is planted on a raised strip of wall which means
you have to look up through it making it even more looming. (Better it is up high
then stumbling wildly into it after a few dozen frothing ales).
What a specimen.

Talking of going berzerk...

This great botanist most definitely did. I have been threatening my eldest that
I am going to grow out my facial hair, and fashion it like this picture, before I
saunter into her pre-school.
It always gets a reaction.

Another variety of prickly pear cactus is named after Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer (1801-1879)
who is often called the "Father of Texas Botany" because of his work as the first
permanent-resident plant collector in Texas. Lindheimer settled in New Braunfels
after fleeing a politically volatile Germany, he was granted land on the banks of
the Comal River, where he continued his frenzied plant collecting. He also attempted
to establish a botanical garden in the area.

The flowers are also coming out of the center of the paddles!

Lindheimer is credited with the discovery of several hundred
plant species. In addition his name is used to designate forty-eight
species and subspecies of plants, including the popular perennial,
Gaura lindheimeri.

Ferdinand Lindheimer died in New Braunfels                              Gaura lindheimeri.
in 1879 at the age of 78. His house, on Comal
Street in New Braunfels, is now a museum.

On to some other historic events in the Patch this week, well,
at least for this little detective...

Guess what I watered again today?
I am telling you it never fails!
He didn't even see me water it this time!
The first picture is when he first heard and realized...the constant dripping
was "magically" happening once again...the customary closer inspection was
a necessity.

My Brugmansia / Angel's Trumpet situated under my Post Oak
has it's first delicate bloom of the year.

The Brugmansia flower looks remarkably like human skin,          (Obligatory Lector noises).
right down to the fine hairs and blood capillaries!
(click on the image, then click again if you don't believe me, it is uncanny)

"Ahem, err Mr Hannibal? you probably don't want to consume any part of
this plant...you do know all parts of this plant contain dangerous levels of
poison, right ?
Why are you uncorking that nice Chianti and laying fine silverware?
No! oh no, please no! AARRGGghhhhhh_________"

"Sorry ESP, I couldn't resist the Brugmansia's flesh-like allure, I got peckish".
(More obligatory Lector noises).

Urarina Shamen: "Far Out! I don't remember my village huts looking remotely
as colorful as this, oh wait I had Brugmansia in goats milk for breakfast
at the 'Mansia' Cafe! Now, if I can only make it to my mush'room'?"

Brugmansia consumption is an important aspect of shamanic practices
among many tribes of western Amazonia. It is a central component in
shamanic practices of the Urarina peoples of Loreto, Peru.

Moving forth...

The twisted trunk of a wisteria vine curling its way
around its terrain, and itself, like a giant squid. Okay,
perhaps not giant, but of a good size.

Orange Canna is in full bloom in my front yard, along with yet more
Gaura lindheimeri, and a particularly stubborn patch of, yes you
guessed it, Bermuda grass...The bane of my existence.

Staying in the front yard a little longer...

Which seed / weed will rule supreme?   "Weed will, Weed will, Weed will, flub a dub."
Who asked you Bill and Ben?

Here is my battle-of-the-plants, "Hell-Strip". I threw an all-out plethora of seeds
into this barren strip, just to see what would happen...wild flowers, amaranth,
hollyhocks you name it, if I had it, it went in here!
Look at this concoction!

Ah, Hahahahahahaaaaa!

There are numerous weeds in here as well, but do I care? Oh no,
not in here, this is chaos theory, survival of the mightiest,
and I like it. The jungle continues to develop, and is
constantly full of surprises, more on this area as the
year moves on.

Now onto a few insects...

"Mmm my spots have got to be around here somewhere"!       "Meeeoowww.....hissss"
This was one really shiny lady!

"Once, twice, three times a lady"
(That was really bad, I know).
Now this song will resonate in your heads
as it did mine for 4.68hours..
You can thank me later. :-(

Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak, Strymon istapa istapa (not a stutter)
Great detail accents on this bird. This particular Hairstreak has been in the wars.

"Aye, well, It better have been against the
English, ay lads?"
Oh be quiet William.

The Giant Swallowtails (Papilio cresphontes) are back,
busy laying their eggs on my mexican lime tree.

And I know nothing good can come from these huddling iridescent gents,
whomever they are!

Chores in the patch this last week were split up into:

Snail harvesting...of which there were many.

"Listen to him Ma. ESP thinks he knows about
chores! Talking about snail harvests and such!
Ha ha ha ha,
woof."

And naturally lots of pruning...wait, not the palm! And surely not the sago, at least not there!

And to end...a couple of glazed flowers I shot on a trip to the Natural Gardener recently.

Pass the clotted cream please.

One last thing I need to do..
This one goes out to to "Side-Show-Bob"
at Draco Gardens! :-)
http://dracogardens.blogspot.com/

Well I had to use your image Bob (left, hope you don't mind).
And you did ask, after all!

Stay Tuned For:
"Old Friends"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

"Holey Marbles Batman"

2009-04-25T00:40:10Z

Remember I mentioned the new craze
in the ESP was filling up the Texas
holey rocks up with marbles?

Well I decided to get in close and see what all the fuss was about.
The passageways and caves in this strange subterranean
landscape were staggering, but treacherous to walk on.

I left a trail of string to ensure that I would safely find my way out of these labyrinths.
I rounded a corner in this cave and caught this marble reflecting the Texas
sun lodged in the roof of the cave.

This particular marble was a little too well embedded into this holey rock for
someone's liking.

While I had my nose down in these rocks, I decided to pop in on Bill and Ben, the holey rock men.

I only got through saying hi to them both, and a brief nonsensical conversation
about the marbles, when they got a knock at their stone door...a visitor!
Yes there are now three of these tiny succulents growing on practically nothing!
"Goodbye Bill, goodbye Ben, Bill and Ben, Bill and Ben, the holey rock men!"


                                                                                                "I can see green succulents."
One of Bill and Ben's neighbors, finding life in this holey rock's eye socket...spooky.

From rocks to water...
Here was the scene earlier this week in my feeder tank.
I call it my feeder tank as I siphon water out of here into
my main 900 gallon pond when water levels get low. There
will be no siphoning going on here any time soon.
I do not want a repeat of last years fiasco:

http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/11450.html


My Texas gulf coast toads are up to their
egg-laying shenanigans once again!

Quite a few strings of eggs have appeared in here, I decided to track their
progress throughout the course of the week.

From tiny eggs, (and rather large reflected fingers).

The round eggs turned elliptical then                      "Yeah, go little dudes"!
evacuated the actual egg "tube".

To...

Feeding time on the remainder of the egg tube. The tiniest of tadpoles have grown the tiniest of tails and are now all huddled around the perimeter of the stock-tank. All this development in a week!
The way that top tadpole looks made me want to post an image of the monte python "fishy,fishy,fishy" sketch, but I found something even better, something real, this is only a little bit strange.

Now to the continuing saga of my new pathway...

With my Sweet Olive removed and re-planted into its new site
(vital signs...so-far-so-good), it was time for the dreaded bog
cyprus extraction. I only replanted this small tree last year from
my feeder pond, but oh how it's root ball had grown.
If I had left this in here very much longer It would have been
really hard to manually dig it out, and I do like to dig.
With a few disgruntled final groans and snaps,
(from both the tree and myself), the tree finally gave it up,
and I heaved it out of its crater.

I dragged my new burden all the way
to my front yard (It was to heavy to lift it into
my wheelbarrow)...

and shunted the root ball into its new home, adjacent to my
"struggling" and now rotting mediterranean fan palm.
(I don't want to talk about that).
The cyprus has plenty of room to grow here, and no
overhead power lines to grow into.
(The one in the picture is a long way away).

Back at the extraction site, my day laborers were hard at work.

The area required flattening, and these workers made short work of it,
armed with their brand new buckets and spades from target.

Here is the new cleared and leveled area. After watching the most recent episode of the Central Texas Gardener I have had a major re-think of this little patch of land. Rather than yet another pathway of decomposed granite, I am now considering using turffalo plugs to create a soft grassy area that apparently requires very little maintenance (apart from some hand weeding). This area is relatively small, so I don't think this will be a major chore. Unlike buffalo grass, turffalo (Tech Grass) actually forms a dense turf that is apparently easily controllable. I think it will make for a nice, unexpected contrast to my other granite pathways, and create a soft area, (extremely rare in the ESP), to lounge and play on. It will also make for a good, "experiment".

I would love to hear from anyone who has had
any experience with this grass, or any other
water sensitive turf suggestions.

Moving on...

Nierembergia hippomanica violacea Cupflower. "Mmmmmm?".
Have you ever seen so many blooms on one little plant?
This little plant never seems to stop blooming!
A low maintenance plant, that puts on a dazzling display!
I am getting a couple more of these.

The name cup flower refers to the shape of the flowers, which is somewhat like an open-faced bowl. The plant comes in a few different colors and is supposed to be an annual...although this one is two years old now, and going strong.

Talking of blooming...

This Barbados Cherry is causing all sorts of problems
at the moment, and it is absolutely packed with flowers.
The shrub is full, and I mean full of bee imitating hover-flies.
It is like the bush has a built-in humming
sound to it.

Stroll past this bush and the hover-flies will swarm
"aggressively" around you, bluffing that they are
about to sting! I find them funny, but this pathway
has been blacklisted by others in the patch.
I have witnessed some really hilarious, contorted facial
expressions and unusual shoulder positions passing
this shrub as of late.

Other blooming oddities right now...(london accent)

I don't recall ever seeing a bloom on a potato vine before,
perhaps I have just not looked close enough. Looks very
"morning gloryish".

Crazy zipper sago palm growth.

A regal monsoon wedding, complete with poppy crowns and tons of red pomegranate confetti.

Bloom on a chive.

A tangled web of blooms on one of my mist flowers.

A daisy in waiting

Canna lily, pin-stripped fabric.

And a couple of painted canna blooms.

Translucent variegated succulent leaves, catching some rays.

Falling through the cattails.

And finally...

My day laborers letting off some steam.

Here we go round the circular bed,
The circular bed, the circular bed,
Here we go round the circular bed.
On a dull and breezy morning.

Get well fast T.

Stay Tuned For:
"Snail Harvesting"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

"Grass"

2009-04-22T00:58:11Z

My Entry for the Picture This Photography Contest.
Hosted by:
http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/

Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella tenuissima).

Other common names for this grass that is native to Chile, Texas,
New Mexico, Mexico, Argentina: ponytail grass, horsetail grass, horse tail grass,
hair grass, angel hair grass, angelhair grass, finestem needlegrass

This graceful ornamental grass lines most of my pathways now. The slender,
silvery, nodding panicles emerge above the foliage at this time of year and
respond to the slightest of breezes. Plant it where a westerly setting sun
will catch it like this one, and let the show begin!
A great xeriscape plant.

(This has to be the shortest post in the ESP historical blogging records).

"Belly-Up."

2009-04-16T17:47:24Z

A wild flower going supernova.


"Captain there is a level two shock wave
approaching, suggest evasive maneuvers".


"Geordie I think your visor needs re-calibrated.
It is clearly a wild flower in the ESP".

These colorful wild flowers flowers are popping up in
my hell strip, (along with a lot of weeds after the recent rains).
My philosophy here was to have one last, all out, bloom
season before I go in and remove the top layer of "dust",
and xeriscape the entire area.
I spread out wild flower seeds some time ago, as well as
hollyhock seeds and amaranth to battle it out. We will
see who wins (who cuisine reigns supreme) in this nutrient
deficient piece of scrub-land...to be continued.

Nemo, stay away from the drop-off!
These fingers look like sea-anemone tenticles.
This is my Madame Ganna Walska.
(Nymphaea madame ganna walska)
She is my first tropical lilly to bloom this week. Madame Ganna is never short of blooms,
in fact she is one of the most prolific of the viviparous water lilies. Viviparous means it is
capable of germinating while still attached to the parent plant (or) producing plantlets.
The "madame" is an exotic violet-pink colored day blooming tropical water lily...phew!
It is easy to grow and adapts fairly well to shade. Her blooms rise far above the water's
surface to offer a grand effect.
Did I mention the camo leaves, and the smell?

Kidding!...It is....................................Pretty, pretty, good!

(I took this picture last year)...
That is a Green Darner dragonfly (Anax junius) laying her eggs, and it was a monster!
I have already executed my first "thinning-out" of the pond this year. These lilies can really cover and take over a large area in no time at all. I really don't mind this as all the pulled up vegetation makes for great, wet, nutrient rich composting material, perfect for mixing with dry grass materials.

This variety of succulents also looks like it would be equally as happy
under water as it does being a container planting I did last year.
All these plants survived the cold months, helped by our mild winter.

The small rounded leaves in the foreground are what I have "transplanted" (ahem) into
my "Botox Lady's" bald scalp...thats right, she will one day adorn scaly, mermaid-esk hair.
Anyone know the name of this plant? I am having the hardest time
identifying it!

Oh, I almost forgot...

She dragged her muckle stone head to the mall
this morning and purchased these sea-shell
earrings in anticipation of her future mermaid hair.

He is a symbol of happiness,
wealth and an innocent contented joy.
Buddha's belly is said to signify
bountiful wealth and prosperity.
By stroking it, it is believed to bring much luck.

I rushed out, clambered under the dense undergrowth and started to pat my own
Bambusa ventricosa Buddhas Belly -
(and I am referring to the bamboo, not some lewd behavior on my part).

Probably the toughest of the tropical clumping bamboos.
Buddhas Belly also loves to be stressed out,
in fact the more stress it is under, the more
curves and bulges it develops.

"You better not be making fun of my neck boil ESP."
How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)

I must be putting this plant under a considerable amount of
stress as It has developed some pretty good "bellies"
over the years. If it is going to be planted in the ground like
this one, a shady dry spot or a sunny well drained location
with very little water usually result in the most distended beer bellies.
My Buddha is about three years old, and has stayed around
the 15ft tall mark for some reason, although it can get to a
towering 40ft, so watch out for those overhead cables.
Some people also remove any straight canes as they develop.

Is that a lion hiding behind there?
Buddhas Belly forms a really dense thicket. This one has created a "secret tunnel" around
the back side of it that was getting a lot of attention so I placed a bale of hay at the end of
the tunnel under a fir tree, to act as a seat and hidey-hole of sorts.

I remembered my own childhood den.
It was a fortified hut made from tree stumps,
which propped up its old corrugated iron roof.
I used to hunker down in the bunker with my
home made wooden "Bren-Gun".
It was my tank.

You get the idea!
My father would stop his wheelbarrow
and hurl large sods of earth/grass at the
structure. I still remember the delay
of him throwing the "organic hand-grenade"
then the loud sound of the impact on
the metal roof and the subsequent gritty
taste of earth between my teeth after
the explosion, as all the loose earth came
flooding into the structure...It was the best,
and I never ever tired of it!

I now get a few roars from my own "resident bears", occasionally lions, hiding behind the hay bale. I am quickly instructed to "run away daddy" which I do in the most ridiculous manner I can possibly muster, hoping all the time that nobody is witnessing my "silly walk" fake getaway, and posting it on U-Tube!


"There he goes again, look at him!"
"Oh and get your foot off me George, you know I can't even look
at you until your tail grows back yet again".

I have three Agave americana planted in front of the Buddhas belly bamboo which
are all doing some crazy spiky embracing thing right now...medic!
I try to put corks on (or snip) all the end points, as these spikes visually disappear
front-on, not a good thing to get an eyeball impaled as you are weeding around them.

"Yes, yes, I like this agave plant".
Earliest known portrait of Vlad the Impaler from c. 1560
(incidentally, Vlad was also a great proponent of using
chrysanthemums as tunic buttons).
Also the sap from cutting the agave leaves can be an
irritant to some people. I always take out all the lower leaves
for a higher, cleaner look, (I do this with sotols also).
If an arm is resting on the ground I typically chop it off
with my machete.
No, you do not want to go camping with me.

A couple more refreshing agave shots...

Taken after a recent shower.

My agave pup nursery continues to grow at an alarming rate.

I ran around from one resting point to the next to get a decent shot of this blue damselfly,
it just wouldn't stay in one place long enough for me to get a shot in. Look at that cartoon eye!

Staying with what I believe, and hope is an insect theme? I have, of late, been
observing these teeny, tiny "things" tethered to everything and anything, from a
lily-pad to floating debris. They look like minute fishing lures and are popping up
in all of my water features, from my ponds, to my red-neck rain
water collection "system"... http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/18452.html

They are also not the aquatic "rat-tailed maggots" that I have come across
in the past (feels a slight twinge in right knee)...
http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/15692.html

I have no idea what
these hang men are?
Anyone?

Another disturbing observation this week focuses on my
Mediterranean Fan Palm Chamaerops humilis,
situated in my front garden.

"Ah hahahahah, cursed the fan palm you did ESP ah hahahha!."
"Oh stop being ridiculous Helena"

Did I say a few posts back that this was one of the "hardiest" palms available? Oh dear.

The palm is dying from the center which makes me think that ants
may have found a way into the inner chambers of the trunk?
I grabbed one of the withered browning center frongs today
and pulled on it, it came straight out of the plant! I am afraid
it is now going to slowly decline. It is a real shame because
I have had this plant for three years and it has always looked
so happy and healthy. Any ideas anyone? Dig it up and
take a look and transplant? Set candles up around it
and perform a night vigil?
I am open to suggestions.

Confederate or Star Jasmine
(Trachelospermum jasminoides).
This highly fragrant jasmine kicks into gear almost as soon as my pink jasmine finishes,
a great planting combination to prolong the jasmine smelling season, if you like the smell
of jasmine that is. This one spans over half of my fence line, and will continue to bloom
on and off into the hot Summer months.

Pruning is a practice that Confederate
Jasmine benefits from as it can get
rather twisted and ugly if left to its
own devices.

Other things happening in the patch this week:

Crack open the champagne my
Vitex tree has had a baby!
If anybody wants this, I will pot it
and bring it to the get together.

Regal poppy heads

This containered cyprus in my main pond has
now grown to just below my post oak canopy.
It may have one or two years left before I
will be forced to transplant it, now that is one
task I don't want to think about!
(Fingers in ears) ...La la la la lal!

Inland sea oats have responded well to the rains,
as have the mexican bush sages.

Got to love loquats as a backdrop,
last count I had thirteen.

and finally...

Here is the latest "fill the Texas holey rocks up with marbles"
craze going on in the patch.

Stay Tuned For:
"Holey Marbles Batman"
All material © 2009 for east_side_patch. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.