Category: Flowers

Tuesday at the chez…

Latest project.

It’s Tuesday already.  Almost halfway to the weekend!  The picture above is of Monte’s latest project… a homemade sundial.  I think this is a prototype.  But it seems to work pretty well.  He’s aligned the center of the dial with magnetic North using a compass. Some adjustments will be necessary.  Stayed tuned.

The zinnia patch has flower stalks that are over 4′ tall.  We’re still harvesting them. This is today’s selection.

Fresh cut zinnies.

And, last one, this is a shot of 2/3’s of the flock as we settle in for the evening.

Whacha dooin?

G’nite!

Fall florae.

Purple dainties.

We worked in the yard today.  The rain yesterday is long gone and strong winds dried the grass enough to mow.  The temps were lovely all day, in the 70’s.  A rare treat for yardwork.

Soon enough all the color will disappear for the winter months.  For now, though, Mother Nature still has a little left.

The rains have brought out bunches of these little purple flowers.  They seem to be flowers that are part of the clover, but I’m not sure what they are.

The lantana bushes will be going to seed in the next month or so, when the weather turns colder.  For now the bushes are going strong and still putting out lots of color.

Good ole lantana.

In the wooded area in the back the yaupon holly boughs are covered in red berries.   A feast for the birds.

The big 1-0.

Happy Anniversary, to us. 🙂

(our song)

Hot pink zinnie.

Vivid.

Yep.  Another zinnia – hot pink.  The zinnia patch still has some legs.  Have great week!

Our lone rain lily bloomed!

Mother Earth’s “thank-you” for a several days of rain.

Better late than never, i always say.  We only had one rain lily pop up in our yard, and it bloomed a day after all the others in the neighborhood.  Another fringe benefit, though dainty and fleeting, of the recent rains.

I played around a bit with black and white to show off the bloom, but I left a spash of color in the middle.

…AND, Happy Birthday Mom!!!   This pic is for you

Where have all the rain lilies gone?

Field o’lilies.

After the rain the last few days, the lake is up over a foot, and rain lilies have popped throughout the neighborhood.  I was a bit bummed that our yard has zero lilies, but my neighbors on all sides have a yard-full.  Maybe mine are waiting another day or two…

Before the rains came (hoping, hoping…)

plumbago auriculata (i think).

I took this shot of the plumbago out back before the rain that’s in the forecast (yay!) gets here.  It’s an amazing plant; can withstand pretty much any drought and heat.  This one is sprawled over half of my flower bed.  So pretty.

There’s another coldfront coming in from the north tonight.  I can hear thunder already.  I hope this one is a super-soaker.  Today the marina was planning on moving our dock to the end of another dock, since the lake level continues to drop and it’s now too shallow where E-dock currently is.

C’mon rain!

Hoping for a gully-washer!

Made it!

Yes, one more.

Yay Friday!  Made it through another week.  Got a very early start.

Monte worked in the shop all day.   After work we picked up Julie and went out for Indian.

I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  I hope yours is, as well.

My cousin and Aunt will be visiting tomorrow morning.  After that we’ll be headed to the lake.

Late tomorrow night, Saturday, August 11, and early morning Sunday, August 12,  the Perseids Meteor shower hits its peak.  In Austin the moon won’t rise until about 3AM, so I’m hoping we’ll have a great view and get to see some good burners.   There’s supposed to be 30-50 meteors an hour.  We’ll be watching from our boat, anchored up in a dark cove on the lake.  🙂  If you want to take a peek as well, here’s a link with more info on where and when to look.

The shot above is of yet another zinnia in the garden.   Have a great weekend!

Watering day.

Liriope muscari (aka lilyturf)

Austin recently relaxed the restrictions on watering that we have been under for over a year — moving from drought stage 2 to 1.  That means that we can now water 2 days a week, as opposed to 1.   Our days are Thursday and Sunday.   We can only water before 5 AM or after 7PM on those days.  We are trying to take advantage of both our scheduled days to give our trees and flowers water to thrive in this heat.   It’s been a bit of a challenge since our automatic sprinkler system has been kaput for the last 2 years.   So it means schlepping hoses.

This is a shot of one of the liriope plants on the front porch.   I replanted these this spring because the ones that used to flank our front door were wiped out from either the drought or the freezes during the winter.

I’m trying to remember to water them.  So far, so good.  They’re rewarding me with lots of flower spikes.   Very dainty.

Humongous Morning Glory?

Big bloom.

I saw these huge blooms on a plant near the marina.  They look like Morning Glories, but the blooms are about 4 inches across!  I’ve never seen one so large.  This shot below shows the plant in its larger setting, to give you a better sense of its size.

Big blooms.

Orange you glad to see another zinnie pic?

Zinnie in the garden.

The rains have been sucked up by very thirsty trees, flowers and lawn.  This is a shot of one of the zinnias in the garden — a pretty fiery orange one.

Zinnies and zinnies and zinnies, oh my!


More zinnias from the garden.

Starburst.

The marina has many of these blooming plants that seem to thrive in the dry rocky soil.  I don’t know what they are called, but I like the flowers…they look a bit like a bursting firework.

Update:  6/25 – I found out that this flower is called a buttonbush, in case you were wondering.

First zinnie of the year.

Pretty pink zinnia.

We headed to the lake today to spend the night.  Before going we spent time in the yard watering, trimming and tidying.  This is one of 2 zinnias that Monte cut to bring in the house.  These were the first ones to bloom.  Many more to come.