What's Blooming Now - White Mist Flower 10/31/10

White Mist Flower is a fall bloomer. It is very fragrant. I sat by mine for a very long time today and tried to photograph the butterflies in which it was engulfed. It was truly amazing. Interestingly, the large butterflies didn't seem very interested in the white mist flower, but the tiny ones were covering it. Every time I waved my hand over the plant a cloud of butterflies rose up and fluttered around. Fascinating! It's very hard to photograph butterflies, but I did the best I could.

I will never forget a very brief conversation I had with a lady wearing a very large sun hat and a pair of muddy jeans at the Antique Rose Emporium last year during their annual bulb festival. I was walking next to her as we left the lecture. We stopped at the same time to admire the White Mist Flower that was blooming along the path because it was alive with butterflies. I remarked, somewhat dismayed, at how large their White Mist Flower was - more of a shrub than a plant. "It grows much bigger than I expected," I told her, "I've planted mine in the wrong spot." "Don't we always?" she returned in such a jovial and matter-of-fact way. It was delivered as if it was self-evident - all gardeners are grand experimenters and mistakes are the essence of the journey of discovery. Now, when I realize my planting strategy was a mistake and something tall is in front of something small (or a myriad of other errors), mixed in with the frustration, I always have a little smile and think of gardeners: "Don't we always?"

There are a dozen insects on the plant in this picture, not very visible, unfortunately, because it's amusing.

This is White Mist Flower next to Curry Plant, and behind it is Snow Nymph Salvia that I am letting go to seed.

A sulphur butterfly sipping the nectar of a dianthus flower.

Not all butterflies are pretty. These little brown creatures are butterflies, and, although they are are bit homely, they contribute a lot to the frenetic activity in my gardens.

Pretty Gulf Fritillary has striking wings on both sides - bottom and top.

American Painted Lady Butterfly is distinguishable by the two eye spots on the undersides of the wings.
I don't know the name of the little butterfly in this picture. It is white with two tiny orange spots on its back wings.
These little fellows are in the skipper family.

What's Blooming Now - White Snakeroot 10/25/10

White Snakeroot is very happy in a shady location. Be careful when planting it because it is poisonous. After it blooms, the seeds are attached to a fluffy white tail, and they will be dispersed by the wind and reseed readily. Snakeroot got its common name because it was thought for some time that the root cured snakebites.

This is the plant that caused milk sickness in cows. White Snakeroot contains the toxin tremetol which can pass through to humans in the milk and the meat. When the European settlers began settling in the Midwest and southern United States in the 1800s they were unfamiliar with this plant, and thousands died from the disease. Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln's mother, died from the milk sickness. It was decades before the cause of the disease was traced to Snakeroot.

Shade Garden in the Fall

Southern Wood Fern is in the forefront of this picture.

Colocasia fontenesii 'Black Stem' and Pigeonberry.

Lace Fern, Charity Mahonia, and George Taber Azalea.

Gingers, Giant Ligularia, and Firespike.

Holly Fern and some Guacamole Plantain Lily (just going dormant).

Southern Wood Fern and Daisy Delite Canna.

A Weekend at the Farm 10/23-24/10

I got to the farm middle of the day on Saturday.

• Drove around collecting cow manure from the neighbors pastures. I sneak over the fence and scoop it up with my shovel and toss it into the back of the cub cadet. Then I dump it into the compost pile. I have been taking my Houston neighbors' bags of grass clippings and bringing them to the farm. I have big piles of grass clippings in my compost bins. Now all I need is the huge fall leaf drop. I'll grind up the leaves and add them to the grass clippings.


• Buried orange peels in the boxes of the Vegetable Garden including my asparagus.


• Sprayed herbicide in the Rose Garden. Dalhberg Daisy is springing up everywhere in all the paths. As pretty as it is I can't let it go. It will look really messy.


• I spread all my poppy seeds (I have bags of them!) - in the Wave Garden, the cul de sac, around the Rose Garden, and several of the "points" in the Star Garden, and the front flowerbeds.


• I spread some of the seeds I ordered from Wildseed Farms.


• Raked the paths in the Shade Garden.


• Put out some suet for the birds.


• Planted some Sweet Peas - Starry Night and Wedding Blush - around the arbor at the entrance to the Orchard.


• Dug up some daisies growing in the yard and planted them in the Long Border. I'm not sure what they are, but they grow wild in my yard. The flowers look like Shasta Daisies. Really nice flowers. They bloom in the spring. I keep meaning to look them up, keep forgetting.


• Deadheaded my zinnias.


• Repaired chicken wire I have covering one of the flowerbeds behind the house. The armadillos are not deterred unfortunately. I need better stakes.


• Fertilized my Copper Canyon Daisies with fish emulsion. They look like they might bloom after all. They were pretty water stressed this summer, and I didn't think they were going to bloom. I saw some buds on them today so I decided to give them a reward!


• Watered some areas.


• Weeded, weeded, weeded.

More Pictures of My Beautiful Prairie Aster

Sometimes something in my garden is so pretty I just have to take more pictures. I love blue flowers. I always have.

What's Blooming Now - Blue Mist Flower 10/23/10

Blue Mist Flower (Eupatorium greggii) blooms in the fall. Butterflies are very fond of it. Mine is growing under a couple of Pin Oaks so it gets a few hours of shade. Not much.

I also have White Mist Flower (Eupatorium havanense) in one of my gardens. The flowers are just about to open. It should be in full bloom when I go back next weekend. I grow this in full sun.

Another plant in that family grows practically wild in my Shade Garden. It is called White Snakeroot (Eupatorium fistulosum). It is poisonous, but I don't plant on eating it so I love it! It reseeds like crazy, but it's shrubby, so it's easy to pull up if it sprouts somewhere you don't want it. It is just starting to bloom and it will also be in full bloom when I go back next weekend. This plant likes the shade. It is as happy as can be in full shade.

What's Blooming Now - Toad Lily 10/23/10

Toad Lily (Tricyrtis formosana) is a really beautiful perennial flower, but it is the sort of flower that you have to bend down and notice. If you weren't looking for it you would miss it. Toad Lilies like shade. I have mine growing in the Shade Garden.

There are buds at every leaf joint on each stem. It is just beginning to bloom. But you can see what I mean - if you don't peer down closely you would miss the very exotic blooms of this plant. It even has a homely name. Poor little Toad Lily!

This plant's quiet, but very special beauty, reminds me of the poem by William Wordsworth:

She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways

Beside the springs of Dove

A maid whom there were none to praise

And very few to love.

A violet by a mossy stone

Half hidden from the eye

Fair as a star when only one

Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown and few could know

When Lucy ceased to be

But she is in her grave, and, oh,

The difference to me!

Beautiful Foliage

My Shade Garden looks very pretty right now. Foliage is the star of this garden.
Lace fern has pretty, shiny leaves. Of all the ferns I had growing last year this one was the only one that came back with some vigor after the hard freeze we had last winter.

Above is Alligator Shoes Hosta. I ordered 5 different varieties of Hostas and planted them last spring. This one is doing the best. Of course, any plant would suffer if they were being dug up twice a week by armadillos!

This is the underside of Colocasia fontenessii 'Black Stem'. Beautiful purple stem and veining.

This is Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic' with the sun backlighting the pretty veining just right.

Black Magic again.

This is a close-up of an 'Illustris' Colocasia esculenta leaf. This Illustris leaf is an aberration, they usually have a purple-ish center with light green veining and stems. But I thought this leaf was so pretty that I snapped a picture.

What's Blooming Now - Prairie Asters 10/16/10

My Prairie Aster is just beginning to burst into bloom. You can see all the little buds in the picture above. Next weekend it will be a pretty great show! After it blooms I let it die away on its own and turn brown. In the late winter I cut away all the branches so that only a rosette of greenery is left.

Prairie Aster is a butterfly magnet. It's quite the busy scene of activity when it is in bloom.

Marigolds in the Vegetable Garden

Marigold are supposed to deter nematodes. I haven't seen any sign of their reduction! Maybe I should try French Marigolds because some organic-believers tout the French Marigolds specifically for nematode deterrence.

This is certainly their season. They love the fall weather. In my zone 8b climate they will die back, but in Houston they will remain evergreen through the winter. They are excellent reseeders and once you plant marigolds you will always have marigolds.

A Day at the Farm 10/16/10

Above are Valentine rose and Laura Bush petunias. How outrageous of me to plant red and purple together!




October is a perfect month in Texas. The weather is wonderful.

• I spent quite a bit of time in the Vegetable Garden. I pulled up the last of the okra. I buried lots of grapefruit peel in the box where the okra was.


• Fiddled around with the sprinklers again, fixed the one that wasn't working.


• Watered the compost pile. There has been no rain for a long time.


• Deadheaded the roses.


• Cleaned up the Star Garden, cut away some plants that had gotten unruly, particularly the butterfly weed.


• Planted High Scent Sweet Peas this weekend, and last weekend I planted some Princess Elizabeth Sweet Peas. Sweet Peas are very happy in our Texas winters. But they will expire as soon as the cool spring weather begins to turn warm. I planted lots of them last year, but the rabbits found them to be very delicious. They were more determined to eat them than I was to protect them so I didn't get a very good showing. This year I will beat the rabbits.
• Helped my husband drag 18 feet cedar logs over to the dry creek bed. Our vehicle could only drag them up to a certain point, they had to be dragged the rest of the way. We had a bridge built over the creek bed with two pine logs for the underside supports, and one of them broke a few weeks ago. Pine is a useless wood. Anyway, we're re-building the bridge. 18 feet cedar logs are really, really heavy. I want to build a whimsical bridge, like a fairy princess bridge, for my granddaughters. I don't have any granddaughters, but I assume I will someday. I'm thinking pink. :-) Or lavender. My husband is not enthusiastic. Planking on the bottom and some shaped dowels for the bridge siding and some sparkly knobs abong the top of each of the dowels. All painted pink or purple. I wanted to paint the treehouse pink, but my husband nixed the idea. So: the bridge!
• Spread some Snake Away in the Orchard.

My Spanish Eyes Black Eyed Susan Vine Arbor

I grew this vine from seeds that I planted this spring. For me, it is a mannerly climber, not aggressive. I have trimmed it several times, but considering I have some zinnias planted right next to the vine and it has not wrapped itself around them, I believe it can be classified as mannerly.

I believe it is an annual vine. But it will reseed. I had one in Houston, and I always thought it was a perennial that came up from the roots each spring, but now I think it's an annual that is springing up from the seeds it throws off. I'm not really sure, and not too inclined to find out. The seeds I planted are called Spanish Eyes. There is also a pure yellow variety that really, really looks like a Black Eyed Susan. It's pretty on the arbor in the Star Garden. This vine is so cheery. I love cheerful flowers.