Wide view, end of the month and all that..

I've been enjoying taking the time to take wide-angle pics to see how the yard looks. The idea comes from Heather at http://xericstyle.wordpress.com, who has made a charming space out of a San Antonio suburban yard.. and Helen at http://patientgardener.wordpress.com/

It's wonderful to see what a few months (and a lot of needed rain) can do!

Now..

This past March..

Now.. (ignore the volunteer wisteria and grass that did not get mowed this weekend!)

This past March..

I'd like to think the chickens are the key to the St Augustine revival (after being decimated by trenches dug by the builders), but I think it's all about the rain. I plan to carve out more low-water beds, but will save my energy until winter since the grass is greedily reclaiming all the space it can..

In the back (behind the addition), the changes are startling!

Now..

This past March..

I think I will discourage the Maxmillian sunflowers next year since they overwhelm the space. That should let the buffalo grass and wildflowers blend in more. I'm happy a dry caliche-soil area with minimal watering (too lazy to drag the hose that far) has blossomed as well as it has!

Details..

Next on my to-do list is to turn this embarrasingly thrown together chicken fence into a pretty fence.. I have ideas on how to do this without digging fence holes.. Note the red rake aimed at the prime chicken-hopping over the short end zone!

Time to weed the nut sedge in the new bed.. The green santolina has been slow to fill in..

Baby eggplant!

The volunteer passion flower vine is healthier, and I wonder of this wasp has picked off the gulf frittilary caterpillars?

These bluebonnets still think it's spring!

The butterfly week is completely recovered from it's aphid infestation, all by itself!

I'd been pulling these guys up, but realized they are Texas betony! I'll leave them alone..

Bamboo barrier doing it's job (keeping the scraggler bamboo away from the Mexican plum roots). Will attack it in a day or so.. I've had about 4 shoots thus far, which isn't bad. I think most was dug up and the rest is isolated behind a concrete retaining wall.

Some type of sumac tree that pops up everywhere. My husband says he's allergic. I yank them out without any reaction but have even noted roots under the house. The lot must have had a whole slew of these trees when the house was built in 1950!

Hope everyone's garden is thriving!

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!