Burleson library spring flowers

Chainsaw artist

Remember to click on picture for larger

Thanks to Keep Burleson Beautiful library patrons are treated to Spring color that lasts throughout the summer.

Being a long time gardener and weed puller, I manage to pull a few weeds and litter from the beds when I finish my volunteer time.  I  look forward to strolling for a short while every Monday.

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Spring Nandina do over

Struggles with a new laptop have made blogging too much work. If I didn't have something to keep for the future, I think I would just post pictures like a photo album and not fight with it.

This old bed has been a mess for many years.  Just living with it has become a constant fight with leaves and dirt.  Thus, time for a change.

The brick is the fireplace to the right of the patio.  There is a little corner between brick and door that collects whirlwinds of dead leaves and detritus that gets dragged into the house on shoes or vacuum when the storm door is opened.

this is the largest clump of roots

Hubby did pitch in and chop the roots loose for me as I was on my hands and knees scraping dirt from roots, clipping same and ending up with very sore hands.

At the end of a productive, chilly, windy day.

A lot of clean up on the other side of the flag stone path, but not thinking
 about that right now.

The bed is not that large and plan to lay under- layment and mulch and then place pots.
It will be much easier to deal with pots and not the messy root/sprouts from nandinas that were a constant battle to control.

A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.Apr 23, 2014

My newest addition/sans the thingie on the top/is a metal bird bath from a local flea market.

It needs cleaning and repainting and, oh yeah, filling holes in the bottom with silicone.  Didn't notice until I got home.

Transplanted Butterfly Bush/Update

MY BAD!  HUMMINGBIRD BUSH, NOT BUDDLEIA!!

Click on picture for larger

As of today, April 29, the transplant went through stages of wilting, perking, big wilt, now healthy.
I am sure it was just shock of the move.  Hope it will survive the hot days ahead.

Transplanting this time of year is iffy.  I have transplanted in the past with poor to fantastic results.
This year things are looking good.

That said, I have nurtured one of many, many seedlings of the butterfly bush that came up in the "wrong" place 2 years ago.  I let it go and it is now a nice small bush.  Unfortunately, sends out many, many seeds....

I have tended one seedling, thinking that it was three close together.   Yesterday, the weather was cool and overcast and damp. Perfect for transplanting. I attempted to dig out the plants(s) only to find it was one plant.  By the time i got to that point, the roots were exposed.  Three perfect roots.  I quickly moved to a perfect spot and did my best to arrange the bare roots just so.  Got it settled in and watered and went inside.  Lo and behold, the sun came out.  Not good.  Too stressful for transplanting. It didn't look so good last evening.

This morning, the plant was perky.   Then the sun came out again...  I got a picture of perky.
Now to wait and see if it takes hold.

Sweet potato seedlings;update

I love having my hands in the dirt. It is never a science and always an art. There are no rules. And if it comes down to me versus that weed I'm trying to pull out of the ground that doesn't want to come out? I know I'll win. Matthew McConaughey

A month  later and views change.no sweet spud,cantalope lost out,watermelon, other plant is a regular potato plant and a cherry TOMATO  (eventually pulled the potato plant up and enjoyed 2 nice size baking potatoes.)

Yesterday I was pulling weeds.  They never die!  Every season, another set of weeds. I really should know the names of the pests, but not worrying about names as much as how to pull as many as I can while they are small and before they head out in more and more seeds. Which is laughable as I think of it.  The tiny seeds from miles away can end up in my beds!
I use vinegar spray on the youngest in the paths and beds. Sometimes it works well but with arthritic hands, hardly worth the effort.

Last year, I had buried table scraps in my still poor soil.  Some seeds will germinate no matter how deeply I bury scraps.  Given that roaming critters and neighbor's dogs can sniff out food, I bury deeper than necessary.

I have learned that I cannot  put my scrap bowl out on my dry sink as, even with no meat, something sniffs it out and it will end up dumped to the patio floor and make a stinky mess. Cats? Raccoons? Squirrel?  Big dog?  There are some big dogs that roam at night and prowl out food just like critters...

While muttering at the speed with which weeds take over, I found a nice surprise.
There is a watermelon or maybe cantalope seedling peeking out and an expected sweet potato seedling or three.
I will let both grow for the time being and see if my idea of last fall will be the deciding factor of which to let take over the bed.

sweet potato/NOT

melon

Last year, the two or three vines of both melon and potato overwhelmed the bed, pathway and even climbed on pots when it could. The reason being that I bury food scraps all winter and seeds from the very few melons that left seeds when rotting...
The sweet potato sprout is a puzzle.  I thought I yanked everything out...

Amazing giants these vines.  We even had a few bites of a watermelon that kept growing well past time.  Just a few bites.  Not bad.

This time of year, things green up so fast I cannot keep up.   The good thing?  I relish any excuse to be out there fighting again.  When temperatures are below 75°, I will spend hours and hours...and hours outside. Grateful that I can squat, kneel, hoe, dig, see, hear................Life is good.

Bluebonnet Promise

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter
 Carol Bishop Hipps  

I started this blog weeks ago and got caught up in attempting to find past bluebonnet pictures.
Time goes by and nature is in a hurry.  Just have to work with what I have.

Remember to click on a
picture for larger
Several years ago, I wrote a story of grandpa and the bluebonnets. See A Bluebonnet Story, April 2013.

It is time to get a little philosophical about this plant.  If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where they do their magic in Spring and have maybe tried to grow them wild on your property you will understand.

This morning after weeks of no attention and no rain or watering, there are probably hundreds of seedlings at the 2 leaf stage.  Some crowded in tight bunches and some a lone tiny gem.

It is in the 60's this morning and cloudy enough to not fight sun in the eyes. Nearly perfect for me. A little drizzle and 55° would just about do it.

After weeks of heat, no rain and being gone from home and a bit of a reminder that hubby and I are not as young as we used to be, I finally got to play in the garden.  I am working on an area that once held such promise and heat and no rain finally did in the majority of it.  I am not able to work hours and hours redoing year after year.  I will have to enjoy pictures from my blog.  My ideas were good, I am just not able to keep up with 9 separate plots.  The areas I took out have been an eyesore to some, I am sure. I do what I can.

The plan was to remove most of the vegetation and then (what was I thinking?) level out the slope so that when rain did come, probably a heavy down pour...) seeds wouldn't wash away.  Plans changed when I saw how many bluebonnet  seedlings there are.  Sometimes, timing is everything and plans have to be altered. I will pull a bluebonnet when it acts like a weed, but it is hard to scrape them off for aesthetics.

I did not sow one bluebonnet seed. Nature did.

The plan is at this point to leave not solved areas and work on big weeds.  Then get some sort of carrier for the tiny wild flower seeds so they won't fall to earth in a clump... and then water with fingers crossed.

I am also going to check when is the best time to sow the seeds.  Last year, I sowed some at the wrong time, with no carrier particles and wind.  The result was a disaster.

Hail, old October, bright and chill,
First freedman from the summer sun!
Spice high the bowl, and drink your fill!
Thank heaven, at last the summer's done!
~Thomas Constable (1812–1881), "Old October"

Waxwing wind up

      I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.  ~Henry David Thoreau       

Why do birds sing in the morning?                                                                   It's the triumphant shout:  

 "We got through another night!"

 Enid Bagnold                                               

                

 Click on any picture to enlarge

Three days ago, it was too warm.  Yesterday, back to chilly, today, downright cold.  

Two days ago, I posted the beautiful Waxwings.
Friday, was another show.  They are so fascinating to watch.  The pickings were slim on this day.
The birds were up in the tall trees.  It almost looked as if the clean up process was choreographed.

I set up camera, chair, wine, and waited.  When the show started it was fast and furious.  They became so excited that some would fly into the window.  I finally stood up to break the glare.
The window was reflecting the sky and as proof of how distracting the glare can be, the upper half of the window has a huge series of cracks.  Thank goodness for double pane windows!
A hawk was intent on its prey and flew right into the window.

The only regret I have is that I missed out on them feeding on the ground.  They were picking up berries that had fallen.

Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car. ~Author unknown

 

Bluebirds are busy

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” 

― Robert Lynd

“She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language. And birds fluttered around her, writing “yes” in the sky.” 

― Monique Duval

Don't forget to
click on picture to enlarge.

While I was busy shooting pictures of Waxwings, I inadvertently caught this precious picture.
No mistaking a male with a bit of nesting material.
I wonder where they are building the nest. I hope in the bird house they used last year.

I do have to tell a Waxwing story
We have a friend who is an avid animal rescuer in the Austin area.  They have animals on their beautiful place all the time.
One time, a mom brought her son with a box of sick looking birds, hoping our friend could save them.
Our friend told them they were not sick, they were drunk!
They had over done the berries and were falling down drunk.