Teenagers out past curfew...

Chicken adventures this week: Silverwing and Houdini wandered off yesterday morning. I found them pecking at the grass in our back neighbor's yard in the evening when I got back from work.  I scooped up Houdini fairly easily but Silverwing ran off for the night. Now, we live in an urban area, but we have foxes, raccoons and coyotes in nearby creeks, so I went to bed worried she'd become a tasty meal while roosting in a tree that night. Just yesterday morning we caught and released a grungy possum that wandered into our back yard (and trapped himself in a milk crate we used as a nesting box)..

We got up this morning and she was still gone. I poked my head over the fence and called but saw nothing.. I went home for lunch and spied Silverwing back in the neighbor's yard. I wound up climbing, cajoling and scrambling to catch her as she flew around- even roping in a nearby electrician into helping out! He ended up grabbing her by the wing 10 feet up a tree... When I brought her back to the yard she sauntered around like nothing had happened- teenagers!

I went back to work with grass stains in my khaki's and promptly bought extra chicken wire to make the driveway fence taller... No more escaping curfew for my girls!

Bits and pieces

Finally, a yellow pepper..

One view through the window- the girls like to huddle outside the back door and check us humans out..

A different window view. My youngest at the Thinkery getting ready to paint (and laugh and laugh as he blocks my view). So solemn here..

Foliage goodies

Pot of succulents

Baby Pride of Barbados for my mother

Greenbriar hiding in the flowers, will pull up soon!

Aphids gone from the butterfly plants. I didn't do a thing- some ladybugs must have come by for a feast!

Shady street side bed filling in

Dry back shady bed filling in!

Gardener's Bloom Day..

Shall I join along? I'm a bit of a neophyte, but am enjoying the community out there! Mary at http://www.maydreamsgardens.com hosts a Gardener's Bloom Day, and it's a wonderful idea..

I like close-ups rather than wide shots, and of course I consider my chickens and cats to be walking/breathing blooms :)

Up front..

My eldest who is eight loves to feel the spikes of the coneflowers. I was envious of my mother's patch that started blooming a month ago but my group has started to put out flowers. They like to self-seed and I've created a much larger (non-grass) bed for them to spread out into, so I hope to have many more next year!

Pride of Barbados.. looking like a fat tropical bird.. I ignore it and it grows immense..

I alternate between loving lantana and being tired of it (after 34 years in Austin). This one I admire because it puts up with bleak harsh sunlight and has a proud stoicism to it. "Bring it on.." it seems to say..

I'm a newbie to fall asters (this is a new plant in the new front tear-out-St-Augustine bed). Isn't it supposed to bloom in the .. fall? I welcome the cheerful blooms anyway!

Mystic spires salvia in front, another (mumble mumble) native red Texan salvia that I can't remember behind. They are new-ish and while they aren't bursting with blooms they've rooted in and grown nicely. I love it when plants grow where they are supposed to!

Headed to the back back..

Some background: the building to the left is a new addition that took 10 months longer than promised. Last fall I threw wildflower seeds into a debris-strewn dirt pile in the hopes something pretty would poke it's head out this spring. Happily, these Black-Eyed Susans are happy to point the way to the back of the lot, living in granite gravel and little water, surviving the kinks of my water hose and making gorgeous cut flowers. I'm a fan!

Not native, but thriving and pretty and low maintenance- Cut and Come Again zinnias in front of a Copper Canyon daisy, growing in a little "pocket garden/rain garden" that catches run off. The brown mulch has been replaced by gravel, but these guys are tall and happy (and the butterflies love them)..

Native yarrow and Houdini my English Speckled Sussex.. The yarrow is in a back dry corner that gets afternoon death rays of sun and it looks great.

Sunflowers behind a different version of Black eyed Susans..

Same view with Silverwing, my Silver laced Wyandotte. The girls love eating the bugs around the compost bin. If I had more time and mess tolerance I'd scoop out a bunch for them. They have their own kitchen scrap pile near their coop but it's too small to get much of a "compost heat" going..

Why having chickens has been great for my garden- woe to the poor bug they found.. They happily slurp up grubs, hornworms, June bugs as well as weeds like clover and even the horseherb. Of course they've also developed a taste for any green tomatoes I don't protect with chicken wire..

New Turk's cap in the dry shady back. They've grown and put out flowers despite living in the corner farthest from any garden hose (and I'm exceedingly lazy about using my watering cans)..

Oregano blooms, which usually mean it's time to shear the plant so it doesn't get leggy..

Ruby my bantam (ie mini-chicken). She lays teeny eggs that are yummy, lets us cuddle with her and enjoys sneaking up on my fat cat Toby..

Sunflowers = ubiquitous. Many were knocked down in the recent rains so I have multiple vases with their blooms in the house. Did they come from Johnny our old neighbor? Or from the birdseed I put out? No matter- they are resilient, vigorous and make the birds and squirrels happy!

Good bug, bad bug!

Found a small army of these guys munching on my tomatoes.. They are tomato hornworms, which turn into Five Dotted Hawk moths. Pretty as they were, the ones I found got turned into chicken snacks..

Slurp!

This guy wasn't nearly as pretty, and at first I was concerned his spikes would sting. Instead, he's the good bug- the caterpillar form of the Gulf Frittilary butterflies that inhabit my garden. His spikes are harmless, though he'd make the chickens sick if they ate him. The fritillary caterpillars eat the passionflower vines, which makes me glad I've encouraged some of the volunteers in the garden.

Grown up Gulf Frittilary enjoying the zinnias.

Edibles!

Summer yummies..

Caprese salad with sweet basil, lemon boy tomatoes and and some red tomatoes I can't identify now!

Newly obsessed with shishito peppers.. I got them because they were the healthiest looking plant at Natural Gardener a month or two ago, and they've done well being ignored in the front bed (see the pic below). I picked a handful and sauteed them in olive oil with a pinch of sea salt until they had blistered skins, then set them aside and sauteed the green beans. Goodness- they were amazing- not spicy at all but complex/salty/peppery yummy. I've seen them at the local farmer's markets, too- will be buying more until my plant regenerates!

I did not eat the caterpillar..

But I have just sheepishly realized that I have a huge crop of wild Italian arugula (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) growing in the back back. They're the plants with yellow flowers I was trying to identify a few weeks back. They've sprawled everywhere and I noticed a very arugula-spicy smell when I stepped on them so I tasted them and had my "aha" moment. Edible but very spicy. I threw a packet of wild Italian arugula seeds back there in the fall while waiting for the contractors to finish the concrete retaining wall and fence- then forgot about them completely. Good to know they don't need much water!

Green and yummy..

Wide angle of the back back and front yard.. sorta

Coneflowers, yarrow, buffalo grass, bulbine, dianthus, ponyfoot on one side, Indian blanket and Black Eyed Susan masses amid massive sunflowers on the other. Nicely green, but the flagstones have become overgrown.. Will edit/define later, happy to have some growth for now!

12 foot tall sunflowers. They get scraggly, but shade the chickens well and do so well (and volunteer!) that I've decided to embrace them..

The plants in the front are rooting in, sending up flowers. Nothing is taking over yet, but I have about 5 volunteer Pride of Barbadoses that will need to be rehomed. 

Trial and error zone..

This poor butterfly weed is covered in aphids, and I've been too infrequent with hosing them off to keep the plant looking good. I'm waiting for the beneficials to come clean this guy up, but it may be too late..

Tomato thief...

So I've resorted to this (note the colored duct tape blocking the large tomato..)

Out west (a little ways)..

No pictures of the wildflowers (sleeping kids and all) on the way there, but the roads between Austin, Llano, Fredericksburg and Mason are blazing with Indian Blanket, yellow daisies (greenthread?) and white thistles.. Gorgeous to see mustard yellow fields and everything green again thanks to the rains..

A visit..

We visited my parent's weekend place on the James River, which has swelled with water after the recent rains, much to the delight of the wildlife that lives there..

We saw a late spring burst of color and energy, and it's inspiring to see how many plants manage to thrive there, even in the face of drought and beating down sunshine..

So many thorns (prickly pear and cat's claw), but such beautiful flowers!

Wedged in limestone cracks, claret cup cacti and daisies bloom along..

Sotol, or sawtooth yucca? They are rampant and bloom happily (my boys brandish the fallen bloom poles as swords and pikes..). This one found a crack in a limestone slab..

Salvia Texana or Englemann's sage, found near the river

These guys (horsenettle weed) are reliable, though toxic and spiny and widely regarded as noxious.. Not one to recommend, but the flowers were pretty..

Mossy cuteness..

These guys (need to ask my mother the species) are in a nest just outside my parent's bedroom. The nest has been used every year for a decade..

Fruits.

We even got to bring home native treats!

My eldest rediscovered agarita berries at a visit to the Wildflower Center this spring, and will eat them like candy. They have a sweet/tart flavor and apparently make delicious jellies. We put on thick gloves, laid tarps under the bushes and had a great time shaking the branches and whacking them with sticks to get them to fall onto the tarps. It took a while to sort through the spiders/beetles/spiny leaves and shriveled berries, but we got a good jar of them. I doubt we'll make jelly since he eats them by the handful..

The Mexican plum tree has put out a great crop this year. Many guides say the fruit is too tart, but these fruits have been consistently delicious for eating- firm, sweet (and not too sour!). We took home an armload full. My new tree in the back only has a few thumbnail sized fruits, but I only planted it a few months ago. I'm excited to see how it grows over the next few years..