Larval Food Plants April 20, 2014

Butterflies are very specialized.  Most butterflies will only lay their eggs on one kind of plant.  The most well-known example is the Monarch butterfly.  The Monarch will only lay their eggs on Milkweed.  I grow lots and lots of host plants.  I love butterflies.  Some of my newest host plants are below.

 I planted this tree this past winter.  It is a Paw Paw.  Paw Paws are native to Texas.  They are the host plants for the beautiful Zebra Swallowtail.  Zebra Swallowtails like wooded areas.  They will never been seen in urban or suburban areas.  Paw Paw trees are interesting in their own right.  They make huge fruits that have a banana-ish taste.  Paw Paws colonize.

 This is a Spicebush.  I have a female and a male Spicebush.  This is as interesting as they get.  The female will make little, insignificant yellow flowers in very early spring.  What makes them special is that they are the host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly.  They feed at night and hide during the day.  But, you will know if you have caterpillars if you see rolled up leaves on your shrub.  They roll themselves up in the leaves during the day.  They are an amazing-looking caterpillar with huge "eyes" on their hind parts to scare away predators.

       This is Frogfruit.  Frogfruit is a ground cover, and it is the host plant for the Phaon Crescent.  I bought this at the Mercer plant sale this spring.

Bearded Irises April 20, 2014

 This is Galactic Gold.  I bought some at the River Oaks Bulb Sale a couple years ago.  I remember that I looked at the price on the sack and thought - this is a steal of a deal - and put the sack into my cart.  When I was checking out I realized that the price on the sack was for one, not all of them..  Expensive day.

 This is Missy Prissy.  Interesting color.

 This is Victoria Falls.  These have been good bloomers for me.

The Hot Border April 19, 2014

 The Hot Border is located along the Vegetable Garden fence, between the Vegetable Garden and the Shade Garden.  I am growing Tansey (which is an herb, the roots make a yellow dye), Rudbeckia Maxima, Candida Rain Lilies. Maxima Sunflowers, and Hinckley Columbine. 

Columbine are interesting flowers because they cross pollinate.  If you want your Columbines to stay the same color then don't plant another color.  The different colors mix themselves up and make new colors.  You can see the yellow and red flowers in the photo above.  That is the result of a bee or some other pollinator carrying pollen from one of my red Columbines over to my Hinckley Columbine, and there you have it - a new color.

Quick Trip to the Farm April 12, 2014

First poppy of the season - I never get tired of them.
Gretchen and Beckett in from New York for a quick visit.  So I ran up to the farm on Friday and went to my mom's on Saturday.  Lake on Sunday.  Went up to the farm mainly to water the hops vines that I planted last weekend, but on Wednesday my Colocasias arrived int the mail, so I had to plant them as well.

• Purchased 5 Blue Hawaiian Colocasias (elephant ears), 5 Mojito Colocasias, and 1 Borneo Giant Alocasia.  The leaves of alocasias point up, and the leaves of colocasias point downward.  Alocasias seem to be able to take more sun too.  I planted all 5 Blue Hawaiians right at the top of the Boardwalk.  I planted 3 of the Mojitos in the Shade Garden in the bed with the Burgundy Stem Colocasias.  The Burgundy Stems have mostly faded after going strong for about four years.  And I planted the other 3 Mojtos on either side of the Borneo Giant at the bottom of the Boardwalk.  Borneo Giants are massive (if given enough water and attention), the leaves can be 6 feet across and twelve feet long, a curiosity plant.  I thought I would give it a try for fun.
• I used my trombone sprayer and foliar fertilized the azaleas and camellias and the La Marne roses.
• The La Marnes are infected with powdery mildew again this year.  Very aggravating.  Saturday morning before I left, I sprayed all my roses with fungicide.  I haven't been bothered with Black Spot this year.  I saw a very little when it was still cool during the days, but the roses seemed to beat it on their own.  But powdery mildew threatens roses as much as black spot.  It really deforms the leaves and flowers.  Last year it was on all my roses.  Hopefully I have stopped it from spreading.
• I watered many of the shrubs, my new little hops vines, all my new perennials that I have planted over the last month or two, and my newest fruit trees.
• Cut back an overgrown salvia greggii Hot Lips near the house.
• Noticed that my Hartlage Wine and Venus Sweet Shrubs are in bud  They are still tiny - only about two feet tall and not really any branching of note, but they have flower buds nevertheless.  I can't wait to see if they have a good smell.  Sweet Shrubs, contrary to their name, do not always have a good smell.  If they have a scent it is wonderful, but some of them have no scent.  I have waited two years to get a bloom so that I can find out if I'm one of the lucky ones.
• Noticed that one of the mystery bulbs I dug up from the deserted house has finally bloomed.  As I suspected, it is a rain lily.  White.  I was hoping for something more interesting, but at least it is an impressive rain lily.  Large, pointed, waxy, overlapping petals on a strong, upright stem.  The few gray-green leaves of each bulb do not go dormant.   

Spring April 7, 2014

 

The Chinese Sacred Lilies are in full bloom.

 Our precious babies, Henry and Oliver Bonassin.

 Columbine and daisies.

 A few of the many Blue Bonnets on the property.

The Ox Eye Daisies are about to be amazing.  I know I use the works "beautiful", "amazing:, etc too much but nature is powerful.  It's hard to down play the impact of her display!

Weekend at the Farm April 5 - 7, 2014

I love when the George Tabor Azaleas are in bloom.  The color pink is beautiful.  The soil is limey around these parts, and azaleas like acid soil, but I grow them anyway because I love them.

Rain, rain, rain on Sunday.  Took Monday vacation and left for work on Tuesday morning.  Monday turned out beautiful - cool and sunny.

• William, Kim, their babies, and Nathan, Jess, and their baby came for a visit.  We watched the kids on Saturday while they went to the antique festival in Round Top.  Fortunately the rain held off on Saturday for them.
• Sunday was mostly a lost day for working.  It rained all day.  Rain is always wanted, so that's ok.
• I spread three loads of granite in the Shade Garden on Sunday afternoon.  Looks good.
• Dug up half dozen or so seedlings of Rudbeckia Maxima that was growing in the paths of the Vegetable Garden.  Moved it to various spots in the Star Garden and the Hot Border.
• Gathered Arugula and Lettuce from the garden for Sunday dinner.
• Planted 3 clumps of gingers that I dug up from the garden in Houston.  Planted one in the Medicine Garden and two in the Greenhouse Gardens.  I have one more clump to plant which I will do on Monday. 
• Spread some French Marigold seed in the Vegetable Garden in the beds where I planted the green beans and the squash last weekend.  French Marigolds deter nematodes.
• Spread the rest of the Laura Bush Petunias and the Baby's Breath in  Star Garden.
• Monday I spread a truckload of granite in the Star Garden in a few spots that I had left undone previously.
• Also spread several truckloads of granite in the Shade Garden.  It really looks good!  Not sure I'll have enough to finish before I run out. Fifteen yards has gone pretty far.  Farther than I thought it would.  
• Sent my husband in to town to buy wine.  There was nothing left but bad, cheap wine.  Sorry, we're just not that poor.  He had to take the mower in to town anyway.  It needed some sort of part.  It's always breaking.  We need a tractor.  Can't afford one - using up all our money drinking good wine, I guess.
• Cleaned up dead debris in the Star Garden around the Mexican Salvia.  Loosened the soil and seeded the area with Ruby Parfait Celosia and Cockscomb and Cactus Flower Zinnias.
• Planted the hops vines that Josh gave me for my birthday.  I planted two of them against the arbor that leads into Max's Garden - that's fitting!  Facing the arbor, Columbus is on the right and Galena is on the left.  I planted Brewer's Gold on the arbor that leads to the shed.  And I planted the fourth plant, Zeus, on the arbor that leads into the Long Border.  Josh has been encouraging me to build a beer Garden.  It would contain plants that have historically been used to make beer and other spirits such as Mead.  He gave me a book about plants that are grown for such uses.  I am indeed interested in doing that, but it is a big project.  I don't know if I have another one in me without help such as a mini front end loader.  Me, my shovel, and my wheel barrow are getting pretty tired working all by our lonesome.  And irrigation is always a head ache.  The farther I get from the house the more difficult access to irrigation  becomes.
• Watered here and there.  
• Weeded - always!
• Wandered around and around, wine glass in hand.  Planning, dreaming, and observing.

Spring Flowers - Columbines April 7, 2014

 Columbine are some of the most amazing flowers ever!  Their gorgeous spurs are unforgettable.