Tougher than they seem..

Snowy sweet blooms on my pyracantha shrub in the front. It finally recovered after a too vigorous trimming from some fellows my husband hired as a "treat" for me a few years ago. They left it gangly and thin but it is filling in again. It isn't a native (the plant comes from Southeast Europe to Southeast Asia) but it is tough and produces red berries that the birds love to eat. Despite it's soft look in the picture it has sharp long thorns (and makes a great barrier!).

Bee? Fly? The furry legs make me lean towards bee (as well as it's complete focus on this pummelo blossom). 

Pumpkin looks sweet but has taken to pecking us to get our attention. She stops when we pick her up. I have a chicken that thinks she's a lap cat!

A flurry of activity today, getting muffins baked, veggies and fruit chopped, baked french toast prepped. We are going to have both sides of the family here with an Easter egg hunt (if it is not pouring rain). I love having a garden big enough to have nooks and crannies to stash the eggs! Happy Easter everyone.

Good morning

A brief sweet good morning on my walk to the car. I love spring..

Spring in Llano and Mason

We headed out to my parent's place in Mason this weekend, hoping to catch some wildflowers (and let the boys frolic in this gorgeous weather). The highway wildflowers were ..not-yet ready, simmering with bluebonnets, but not the symphony of colors they might become in the next few weeks (if.. it rains, stays nice, etc etc). Out in the Hill Country the trees are a week or two behind the city trees: branches are still bare (or have buds) rather than the bright new light green of fresh leaves that popped up around town when I wasn't looking. The live oaks look yellow with old leaves still needing to fall. Some areas are bright with lush spring grasses (so verdant!), others have a dry look to them (all that caliche..).

Instead of zooming through Llano (with the habitual donut stop at Chrissy's Homestyle Bakery), we paused at Robinson City Park a mile or so west of the town square, located along the Llano river. It was a great place for the kids to get out and romp, and seems like a fun location to put in kayaks and swim on a hot summer day (note to self..).

They even have bluebonnets amid rolling boulders

Requisite close-up :)

Imagine this spot in summer when the tree is full of leaves.. I would laze on the bank and watch my kids frolic (avoiding the turtle sunning itself on rocks of course)..

Perfect hopping rocks for a 5 year old..

Spiderwort plants have popped up in between the boulders.

At my parent's place, the flowers were still subdued and waiting. Mason is apparently 1000 ft higher than Austin, so it will be a couple of weeks before the hills are bursting. There are many early starters that caught my eye though..

These are Blue Gilia (Gilastrum rigidulum), which I found along shady draws in caliche soils.

This early Huisache daisy has a plump bee as a fan.

All along the hills I could see the soft white mounds of Spanish dagger flowers peeking out.

This white prickly poppy (Argemone albiflora) is a wonderful combination of toughness (cows and deer won't eat them) and delicateness (look at those paperysoft petals!).

I found a few claret cup or Hedgehog cacti- they epitomize the word tough- growing in limestone cracks where not much else can survive..

Even if we didn't get rolling fields of flowers, we did get beautiful spring light and color. I snapped this picture of my youngest leading us on an early evening adventure hike, through dirt roads, prickly pear stands and draws. He always seemed to sit down near the carpenter ant piles (!), but hopefully he'll remember having his mother and Abuelita's attention as he told his quirky stories and chased his own shadow..

Happy spring everyone!

So much promise this time of year!!

I wish I kept bees so I could turn the amazing honey smell of my Wisteria into reality. It is practically vibrating with fat bumblebees..

And the mountain laurels.. of course!

Can I acidify this potted blueberry bush enough to get these flowers to bear fruit? A volunteer red poppy will stand watch.

Fireworks? Pinwheels? Coral honeysuckle in its glory..

From a 4" pot to a sturdy drought tolerant small bush: the Old Gay Hill rose I planted last year has so many ..almost blooms.. It is named after an old Texas homestead where the plant was found growing.

Almost tropical Mexican honeysuckle tucked into lush flat parsley..

Seasonal transition: yaupon holly berries brightening up my waking-up Turks cap..

Off to wander through country roads and see wildflowers this weekend. We are in the sweet spot of the year- I hope everyone is enjoying it!

Colors

I love the colors of newly minted spring- trees mixed with light greens and honey colored buds and seeds, fresh new leaves against moist brown bark. It never seems as vibrant once summer heat sets in...

Even my hens have added color into the mix- the middle eggs are from my Americaunas. We've debated- are they green? Blue? Grey?

Native violet, planted years ago, coming back despite construction and neglect..

Tentative leaves from a pomegranate

Stubborn native seed packet successes : standing cypress and goldenrod, bigger and stronger in their second year (standing cypress is a biennial so I expect red flowers this year).

Coral honeysuckle getting ready to burst in orange/red..

I'm loving euphorbia plants- the top for it's chartreuse vividness, the one on the right hand side of the second picture for it's coral reef shape and red colors at the top.

Finally a nondescript mystery tree growing in the back. It's small (smaller than a redbud) and doesn't do much, but it provides a bit of green and shade and height so I've left it alone. No fruit or berries that I've noted. I'll look it up some day when I learn the terminology (leaf shape, bark, etc)..

March blooms

There's a story behind these irises:

Travis Heights was one of the first suburbs in Austin. Houses were built from the 1920's to 1950's in my section. They were primarily small houses on big lots- great wood floors, porches, but not much storage space. In the last decade or so, builders, California transplants, and returning Texans like me have moved to the neighborhood in droves. Of course, I first lived here in 1994 (I think there were still hookers on S. Congress..), but then I moved away and here and there for a few years. One of the common things builders do is split lots- refinish an older house on one side of a lot and squeeze in a new house on the other side. I prefer when they do that to when they demolish a house and build a duplex.. but I guess dense urban infill is preferable to rampant building in the suburbs and over the aquifer..

The point of the story is that the house across the street had its lot split, and one day it was evident that bulldozers were going to take out the plants growing in what used to be a driveway. My good friend (and neighbor at the time) Debbi noticed these yellow bearded irises and decided to stage a late-night rescue. She crept over with a pitchfork and dug the majority up, sharing them with various neighbors the next day (as the bulldozers leveled anything that remained). I planted a bucket full in my front yard (they are filling in beautifully) and they have been the sturdiest, most xeriscape friendly bulbs I have had. I have no idea what kind they are. They bloom brilliant yellow for only 2-3 days, but their leaves are gorgeous, glossy (and work amazingly well to hold the soil in place on my sloping front yard). I bet their ancestors were planted 60-80 years ago and I'm grateful that I have lucked into getting to enjoy their tenacity and beauty. Go Debbi!

The rest of my blooms are brand new by comparison.

My Mexican plum blooms have faded, but they made me want to have a Japanese tea service and meditate in the backyard when they were blooming!

My spontaneously planted hyacinths are patchy, but I loved showing my eldest how they smell today. It's pretty amazing that nature can smell so good..

Thanks to Carol at http://www.maydreamsgardens.com for hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

Bursting