Slim

I call him Slim Shady. Ain't he cute?

Thanks Mama!

Lemony Fog

There's a lovely, romantic fog hanging over Austin today. We're having a couple of relatively warm days after a seriously nasty cold snap at the beginning of the week.

Our Meyer lemon was not deterred by such cold and is totally going for broke with sweet smelling blossoms this winter. I have no idea why it's decided to bloom so profusely at this time of year, and I've done nothing to encourage it. The blossoms are even making it through the cold without covering!

Because it's winter, there are no pollinators, so I've become the Pollinator. I've been using a paint brush to dabble at all the open flowers and transfer pollen between them. I have no idea if this is even necessary with citrus, but what the hell. I love me some big juicy Meyer lemons and would love to have a nice crop this year. Of course, there's always the chance that these will get nabbed by some nasty freeze before the cold season is up, but I'm holding out hope!

The small variegated agave pup given to me by Pam has also decided it likes its home in the blue tube and is beginning to grow in earnest. I ganked this tube from a construction site - it's the left over end of a hollow column built on a McMansion in the burbs. I think the yellow and blue will be real nice together, and I just planted a bunch of flame acanthus around it which will bloom red in late summer and fall. Hot and cool.

Plants-o-rama

Today was a beautiful winter day in Austin, Texas. Calm, blue skies, 65 degrees, and John and I planted and planted and planted our new beds. It was fabulous. We have a ton of space to fill and we're just getting started...40 purple coneflowers, 18 black-eyed susan 'Irish Eyes,' a button bush, 3 chile pequins, 5 flame acanthus, bamboo muhlies, some dwarf yaupons, rosemary, golden thyrallis, and a whole flat of salvia 'Indigo Spires' (not what I was actually thinking of planted, but it sort of fell in my lap, so I ran with it). A few pix from the nice December day...

A random coneflower decided to bloom.

Planted some new succulents in the steel succulent bed.




I love the hot pink on this succulent.


The butterflies started cruising in just as the Indigo Spires went into the ground. Here's a painted lady, Vanessa cardui.




The beets are growing big. I've never successfully grown these, and these are the best I've ever had!


Super hot peppers on our native Texas chile pequin. These are really tiny peppers, but they seem to pack a potent punch. Can't wait to cook with them.


Some of the small new plants in the beds.


A winter queen, Danaus gillipus, sucking minerals from the soil beneath the leaf mulch.


Flotsam after a hard days work...