It's Fall, Y'all!

I had a lot of social plans for this weekend but because it was a draining week at work and I had the place to myself for the weekend, I punted all plans in favor of being a homebody. I needed to recharge my batteries, restore my balance and experiment so I...

Frog Fruition

Today I got a "do over" in the yardening arena. I've been wanting to plant some ground cover around my chicken run but I didn't have success with the creeping thyme that I planted at the end of May. I thought that Frog Fruit would be a really good option because it seems very hardy in other people's yard so... 

Frog fruit is a fast growing, low maintenance, and long blooming herbaceous plant that attracts bees, wasps, and butterflies. 

Last fall I was gifted a welcome mat sized cutting of Phyla nodiflora and I put it in my front flower bed to overwinter. It didn't survive its new digs, but I thought I might have another go at it again this year. This morning I received more Frog Fruit cuttings from my friend's amazing pollinator garden.  I took pictures of what it could look like when (if) it grows up in my yard.

Q: What's Growing On...

A-Existing: Fredonia grapes, hops, figs, lemongrass (overwintered in my front bed and was relocated to the chicken run border), lilacs, peonies, roses, hydrangeas (successfully propagated), butterfly weed

A-new to the garden: My Chaos Garden is a bust as far as I can tell. I dusted the area with the seeds given to me and I got bupkis. Part of the problem is that we dug around in the same area to set up a post (reusing segments of an old flag pole) for a shade sail for the pond and the seeds may have been buried a little too deep in the end. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have 2 peanut plants surviving currently from the 9 or so peanuts that I sowed! The squirrels feasted on most of what I put in the ground. 

  

It's Alive!

A friend of mine gave me her Whale Fin Sansevieria plant when she moved away last summer. I did not feel worthy of this gift, but I accepted her and could not tell if she was happy for the longest time. Then, this spring she finally gave me a sign! Plants rule!

 

 

Hope Springs Eternal 🤞

This year I'm trying to grow a few new things in the yard, like borage, zinnias, turmeric and peanuts! I didn't know that peanuts grew in Oklahoma! 

I also have (fingers crossed) a Chaos Pollinator Garden sowed with random seeds given to me by a friend. I am stoked about that and the frog fruit transplant that he gave me as well. 

Borage, Salvia, Feverfew, Yarrow, Basil, ???

Falling into Color (and Feeling Crafty)

Corking it Up

Collector Corks

Leftover Acrylics - Yellow Paint Is Better Than None, Right?

Added a Lovely Spot of Color to the Unlovely Porch

Promise of a New Day

After a particularly long week at work last week, I was ready for the weekend...and the elusive rain. Saturday we spent the first half of the day in the yard and alley clipping, raking and bagging up yard waste. I decided to get busy on rooting some English Ivy for the back drive because all of the exposed concrete wall is too tempting for the local graffiti artists and the clematis roots that I bought this past spring were duds. The English Ivy is readily available here so I'll go with that. Kids don't spray paint pretty green vines, do they?

I also got to spend some quality time in my garden and I'm disappointed that I let it go so much this summer. Earlier this summer we harvested the single kabocha squash that I'd grown (before it died on the vine) and Emi cooked it up in a sort of hash that I didn't get to taste. ;.( One of my Casper pumpkins perished because of the heat or possibly because it was choked out by some mystery melon species that I wish I'd cleared out months ago when I found it growing in the compost pile. I am not 100% sure, but I think it's an invasive wild melon.  The other one is sitting on the counter in the kitchen possibly maturing, not sure at this point. It definitely doesn't look like Casper though. It's a brownish green.

My organic watermelon vine grew 2 melons that were taken over by insects before they could get too big. ;.( Actually one is still out there possibly surviving, possibly not.

Last October I brought these home from the office breakroom ..

Mystery Melon - do YOU know what they are?

We didn't eat them because we were never sure what they were - ever the composter though, I tossed them into the compost pile.

And this is what I found in the garden last week.




Something had already started gnawing on it so I threw it away, but then I really inspected what was left in the garden and it looks like I have at least 9 more of these babies growing on a vine that had taken over my garden. We cut one open yesterday to see what was inside and it smells like cucumber and it looked like it was oozing.




I should have been suspicious when this vine was growing so well. Only weeds grow this well, right?

I am still hoping to get a bumper crop of tomatoes as the weather cools down and maybe I might be able to salvage that single watermelon out there....

And I'm sad to say that those pesky orange caterpillars devastated my passion flower again this year. I hope the vine will be able to come back next year, but a couple of years ago when they invaded, my vine never recovered... ;.(

But we got rain (glorious rain!) last night and between that and the rains from last week, things are looking up around here (except for my fragrant Craepe Myrtle which was looking down after being soaked with rain)...



I am looking forward to a new day and a new week...last week was brutal...

On the way home from MeeMaw's and PeePaw's

Here's to the promise of a new day for us all this week.

Hope you all have a fantabulous week, friends!

Ready to Fly

This week has been an adventure for me.  Learning lots about the program and the people and the processes. I am suffering from Information Overload (but I'm an information junkie, so that's ok).

Along with meetings and work, I've been enjoying some Good Eats...

Pork Roll and Pate Banh Mi from Lee's

My OC Dog from Jerry's Dogs

I failed to capture my Fish Taco Combo with black beans and brown rice at Wahoo's

And I've enjoyed nature close by..

Bunnies on CSU Campus

I watched hummingbirds feeding from this tree (and they are HARD to photograph)

Peaceful Fountain

But I am ready to get home...

soon...

"Lellow"



Greenery

The spindly passionflower went from this:

July 2011

to this:

April 2012

Last year we got a single bloom and I missed it. Now I am seeing a few each day and I bet I get fruit this year like I did back in 2009. I'm hoping my kiwi vines do as well or better.

And I got a single bloom from my peonies after I removed a ton of suffocating growth from around the clump of plants.

A prominent color in my yard it seems - this summer I hope to mix it up a bit...

I decided to divide the peonies now before another year passes by... so I planted 4 of the newer offshoots to the East of the Moon Flower plant (which I will keep in check this summer) and just North of the red Asiatic Lillies that will hopefully grow and bloom this summer.

Watch this space for changes...

Speaking of plants that come back every year.... I can totally recommend banana trees (mine overwinter outside), day lillies and irises... All of these plants come back thicker every year and I'm still amazed each time I catch some spot of color in my yard.

My almond tree looks heart shaped these days...completely opposite of the way the tree is supposed to be shaped. I probably should have pruned it better a few years ago when I let it get too bushy. Oh well, I think it's pretty and it looks healthy and I hope we still get almonds one day.



This is what things look like from the dog yard (through the almond tree)...




Can you say cabana? (Maybe one day...)

How about jungle?

I am working my way up to working on this area again... I neglected it last year and it sort of scares me now...maybe I should have ended this post with the cabana thoughts? Nah...we keep it real around here...

Hope you are enjoying this fabulous weather even if it's for only a bit...

Pretty in Pink

Blooming Quince

Evergreen

My Yaupon Holly baby didn't make it. ;.( I transplanted it back at the end of August to replace another plant that had died and the heat killed it (I think). Previously that location didn't receive full sun as a neighbor's carport blocked the sun, but they ripped the carport down earlier this summer. It was old and dilapidated so I'm glad it's gone but my poor plants suffered a little. Scott thought we should plant a Crape Myrtle in that spot because our other one was such a champ through all the heat, but I'm really thinking of evergreen, conical even.

Poor baby Yaupon Holly, R.I.P.

I had a candiate shrub around the corner - it hasn't exactly thrived since I planted it there a few years ago but now I am thinking I should leave her there. My transplant track record this year has not been  very good...although I do still have live Butterfly Ginger plants that I got from my mom this past July.

The candidate plant is a Foster Holly that I looked high and low for and I found that poor baby at The Greenhouse with a lot of trumpet vine choking it slowly to death.  They were even unaware that they had it in stock because the vine was hiding it. I got a discount due to their neglect (always good) and I thought I could save it and make it grow fuller, but it  seems to lack fullness.

Until recently, I thought maybe it wasn't healthy, but when Emi and I went to the Fred Jones Museum of Art recently in an effort to meet the Phineas & Ferb co-creator, we passed by the OU President's house and noted that all of this holly bushes looked similar to mine and he has a team of people taking care of his plants. [Note: Jeff “Swampy” Marsh was there to do character drawings and autographs but he wasn't doing that until after the screening and we had to leave to go to Emi's basketball games. Wish we could've stayed!]

After we got home from Emi's games and picnicked on some really unhealthy fast food in the front yard I was able to get a good look at Holly and determined that she's fine and she's staying put.

Foster Holly

Maybe she needs a mate around the corner?  I'm thinking a taller, fuller more conical Foster Holly would be nice in that empty corner....I would like some color when all of the leaves are gone and it's snowy and cold out...plus a little sound dampener too and some vertical interest. I know, I don't want much, do I?

Sundry

This past weekend was glorious with the rain and the cooler temps ....

2 inches of soaking rain!

Last week I was looking at moving my blog to my hosted domain on Webhero.com when I found almost $200 of referral fees waiting for me....the little bits here and there came from when I helped set up websites for other reunions/classes over the past few years. I had no idea the money was sitting there waiting for me. While it's not the lottery, any time I come into money, I am a happy camper!

Also, shoes make me happy and I think that's in my blood line. ;.) I got some new tsinelas (pronounced chinelas - the tagalog word for slippers or flip-flops) from Atwoods for only $9.94. I was looking at the BOGS boots for inclement weather when I got distracted by these cuties...  will have to go back to get the cute short boots when they go on sale...

Please excuse my heinous toes!!  The 2nd toe was broken by a family member after the U2/BEP concert 3 years ago...he was going in for a hug and my UGGs didn't protect my toes at all when he stepped on that poor foot. ;.(

I got sidetracked by the plagues in my house that I forgot to check on this bloom until it was too late. I forgot that Passion Flowers only bloom for a day. Usually there is more than 1 or 2 blooms so I have a chance at capturing an open flower... maybe next time...

Missed It ;.(

We have a new dishwasher! This makes me so happy!!!



Never have I been so excited about an appliance before...

In My Yard

We once called "her" "Happy Feet". He now goes by "Ozzie"...it's so obvious NOW but it really wasn't before...

My Butterfly Ginger is coming up...



Another view of the emerging plant

The moon looked strange around 8:30

And the skies looked ready to rain down on us...

We got that rain around 10 pm, big fat raindrops for about 17 seconds (just enough time for me to update my FaceBook status!) followed by lots of loud thunder and flashes of lightning. It was music to my ears. I fell asleep listening to the "symphony" and then I woke up a short while later to the gentle rain. I was tired but I made myself get up to see if it really was raining. Beautiful! Thank you God for the much needed rain!

Intoxicating

My mom has some wonderful plants growing in her yard and these are my new favorite. They smell like a very concentrated Gardenia bloom and I am in love!

Butterfly Ginger

Biting Off

The end of Spring Break was spent in the yards weeding, hoeing, mulching, planting, raking, bagging and watering. We did take the kids to the zoo too, so it wasn't ALL work (not that the kids worked).




We got the garden started (possibly a little too early for these parts) and lots of seedlings started in the sun room - artichokes, lime basil, kale, tomatoes, basil, marigolds and CILANTRO (going to grow this in staggered batches so we have some all summer). We planted (hopefully not too early) popcorn, cauliflower, watermelon, napa cabbage, bell peppers and cucumber. I am determined to harvest produce this summer.  Emi planted a Jalapeno plant and some red onion too.




Scott trimmed up some tree branches and started work on the chicken coop while I excavated a few Mondo (Monkey) Grass plants from the front bed and added in some Creme Brulee Petunias. And instead of digging up some of my neighbor's lovely yellow Columbine plants (the flowers look like little birds), I got myself a trio of maroon, white and purple.




Also, in an effort to discourage the neighborhood cats from using this bed as a litter box (my cats included!) I dumped a bunch of  broken pecan shells and magnolia cones from the trees in our back yard into this bed. I also added pine bark mulch (the big pieces) because cats "don't like" the big jagged pieces. I used the quotes because, yes, they don't like digging in that stuff but I found a fresh dump on top of a piece of pine bark 3 days later...

In one of our HUGE back yard beds I extracted maybe 2 large bags of leaves and weeds and other plants that may have been purposely put in the bed that have annoyed me for years because of their "take over" nature. I left the pretty Asiatic Lillies, Daylillies and Daffodils, and planted a Bleeding Heart, a Japanese Fern and Dead Nettle.




Luckily some of our plants are coming back. The snapdragons that overwintered in a planter on the front porch and the asparagus (but only 1 shoot from 1 plant at a time - just enough for a snack for the pups).

This year we will also experiment with growing kiwi vines. After we get rid of the hot tub and flagstones to the East of the pool, we will install a pergola and sod and let the kiwi go! I'm looking forward to having a nice relaxing area of the yard besides IN the pool...we are also hoping to convert our chlorine system to a saltwater system this year.




We still have to clear out the pond and surrounding area as well as the back drive before either of those areas gets too jungle-like and we are also doing the urban chicken coop thing so STAY TUNED!

It Worked!

Successfully propagated my fern!