Some stats from yesterday:
The Subaru turned 100,000 miles.
And we loaded another 1,000 lbs of rock into the trailer. It’s much nicer to do in the winter than in the dead of summer. We’re getting closer to our goal of removing the river rock from the beds around the house.
Susanne is visiting us this week and she has been a big help as we knock off some of our yard projects.
I truly enjoy the trees in our yard. But, there are many of them, and they collectively drop billions and gazillions of leaves every year. Over the last day or two, we raked and scooped up 5 or more trailer-loads of those bad boys – a good workout. Our new pile-o-leaves (and future garden soil):
I can’t complain though. It has been lovely outside. Today the temps were close to 70 degrees F. Thankfully, cedar pollen levels are below the threshold that triggers my allergies. As I sit here, sore and tired, I’m sipping a glass of wine listening to the news guys report on the cold and snowy weather up north. Yeah, I’ll take yard work in the winter in Austin over that any day.
I’m so excited! I have several custom searches saved in my profile on craigslist that I check every few days to see if THAT-ONE-THING ever comes up for sale at a crazy good price. Today something popped up in my gardening & outdoors search that I just couldn’t pass up. I was all over it within minutes of its posting and swooped in for the sale. I picked up all of these ceramic pots & pavers for a song (plus a couple big sago palms and succulents as a bonus). And it ALL fit in the back of my SUV.
I’m one happy girl with dirty fingernails. 🙂
Monte is the Bluebonnet Whisperer. We have several patches in the yard, and they’ve started to bloom. It’s going to be a big year. This is the first one to be brought in to the house.
(photo manipulated with Brushstroke iPhone app)
Our neighbors of many years recently sold their home and moved away. They had cultivated irises and planted them in their yard. Over the years, whenever they separated their bulbs each season, they’d hand me several over the fence. I planted them in different places in our yard, and some have reliably bloomed each year.
These are some of the first bulbs given to me, purple irises, that are already in bloom this year. I’m hoping to see some of the others do the same.
We brought our vulnerable outdoor plants in when the weather turned cold last week. Most of them are in the shop. I brought a few small ones into the house. I’m enjoying this one, a pretty pink impatiens.
This is a picture of the Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) shrub in our yard, finally in bloom!
I have nurtured this for several years. Though the brutally cold temperature dips appeared to kill it to the ground every winter, it popped up green shoots each spring. But, this is the first year it has flowered for me. While we were out of town for the month of August, I hoped I could keep it and some of our other flowering plants alive with an automated sprinkler. Upon our return, I was so pleased to see that not only did they all survive, but this plant had 2 flower heads ready to bloom. A happy gardener, here. 🙂
FWIW, I would recommend the low-tech sprinkler controller I picked up at Home Depot, since our underground sprinkler system is out of commission. But I’m also overjoyed by the unending rain we’ve had since we returned at the end of August. I’ll happily take every drop.
We spent the morning working on the flower beds along the front of the house. This little guy hung around, feasting on bugs in the dirt – flirting less than a foot away most of the time – an adorable Eastern Phoebe.
The first batch this year from the garden. So pretty!
I awoke at 3:30 this morning to the sound of rain falling. I think I could hear the trees rejoicing as well. We got half an inch. I’ll take it!
We are spending the weekend at a family reunion this weekend. Our hostess, Susanne’s, garden is the perfect setting. Everywhere you look there’s a lovely surprise. We are missing those that can’t be here.
We have some giant sunflowers growing out back. Seriously. They are at least 8 feet tall.
One of the blooms:
Two volunteer pumpkins have been harvested from the compost pile. A little early for pie, don’t you think?
Monte’s been keeping the basil coming all spring. Yum.
