Bits of Blooms

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Tina

Celebrating a bit of bloomin’ for April and I’m loving my back garden’s bloomin’ bits.

The fuchsia bloom spike of Hill Country penstemon (Penstemon triflorus) is almost drowned out by the loud red of the Martha Gonzales roses.

I was attempting shots of busy native and honey bees–no joy there– but the shrubs and flowers posed beautifully and smiled winningly for the camera. The yellow Engelmann’s or Cutleaf Daisy, Engelmannia peristenia began blooming in full force during the past couple of weeks.

It’s a good perennial to accompany the pond path with its sparkly daisies that flower from April to July and its year-round, attractive evergreen foliage.

Nearby, Gulf Coast Penstemon, Penstemon tenuis are also at full-bloom speed.

Honeybees are particularly fond of this native penstemon and I’ve also seen a variety of native bees working the blooms as well.

This small area of the large back garden receives decent sunshine for much of the growing season. The potted American century plant, American agave oversees blooming perennials and shrubs during spring, summer and fall.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), grey foliaged, not-yet-in-bloom Heartleaf skullcap (Scutellaria ovata), and Gulf Coast penstemon front the potted agave, while a stand of autumn blooming Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) serve as its backdrop.

These unknown variety of Amaryllis came from my mother’s garden.

My mother’s Amaryllis grows with Gulf Coast penstemon, Knock-out roses, and poppies.

The Amaryllis don’t attract pollinators (that I’ve noticed) but they evoke fond memories of my mother, who was an avid gardener and who loved flowers of all kinds.

In her last garden, she mixed her amaryllis with blue-bloomed Plumbago, Plumbago auriculata and it was a stunning combination.

In searching for a small tree to add some height to a narrow part of my garden, I chose Goldenball leadtree, Leucaena retusa. I think it was a good decision!

The yellow-puff balls charm the gardener while feeding bees and butterflies throughout April. Goldenball leadtree is an airy, open little tree and thrives in part-shade.

I’m pleased with my April garden and thank Carol at May Dreams Garden for hosting this monthly bloom frenzy known as Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. Join in and share your garden pretties, then click over to her lovely blog to see and learn about blooms from many places.

Plant Swap Time!

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Tina

If you live in Austin and are in a plant-y sort of mood this coming Saturday, April 16th, you might want to mosey over to Mother’s Cafe and Garden, 4215 Duval Street and E 43 Street, where the Hancock Native Plant Swap will be happening. You’ll need to get there early because the plant geeks will be there between 8-9:30 am. Plants, Habitat Stewards, and Master Gardeners will be in abundance!

Some of the plants available for swapping include, but are not limited to, Gregg’s mistflower, Conoclinium greggii,

Monarch butterflies and their kin, Queen butterflies, LOVE Gregg’s mistflower.

…White avens, Geum canadense,

White avens is a pretty, evergreen shade-tolerant ground cover with sweet spring blooms.

…Rock rose, Pavonia lasiopetala.

A native shrub with a long blooming cycle, Rock rose blooms from May to November. Best in sun, it also works well part-shade.

A native shrub with a long blooming cycle, Rock rose blooms from May to November. Best in sun, it also works well in part-shade.

Some of the plants that will be for sale ($3 each) include, but are not limited to:

Four-nerve daisy or Hymenoxys, Tetraneuris scaposa

These cheery daisies bloom in the cool season and sport a tidy evergreen foliage.

These cheery daisies bloom in the cool season and beyond, and sport tidy evergreen foliage.

…and Flame acanthus, Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii.

A pollinator magnet, this large, deciduous shrub is tough and hardy as well as pretty, pretty!

A pollinator magnet, this large, deciduous shrub is tough and gorgeous!

All of the plants available are either water-wise or wildlife friendly–or both. The National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Habitat program promotes beautiful home gardens–big or small–that attract and support local wildlife. The Hancock Native Plant Swap also supports the mission of making “yards more beautiful and easier to maintain, while consuming less water.”

Worthy and easily attainable goals, indeed!

Austin plant swappers-n-gardeners come on out to Mother’s Cafe and Garden this Saturday between 8-9:30 am where you’ll find some lovely plants for your garden and meet some lovely people to hang out with for the morning.

The Camera Doesn’t Lie

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Tina

The camera may not lie, but it doesn’t work, either–more about that later. Back in December, we installed a bird camera in the nesting box for “our” Eastern Screech Owl, Megascops asio, couple.

Bee Daddy perched precariously…

Wrapping the wiring around the tree…

After The Bad Squirrel Incident in April 2015, we thought it wise to keep a third eye on our Screech Owl seasonal residents. This spring, with the camera up and transmitting to our desktop and Mama in the house on a regular basis, it was a fun, if not somewhat addicting, to watch her preen and rest in her little nest box.

On Sunday, March 6, Mama laid her first egg.

Here, Mama is peering out of the box, with her wings ready for take-off early in the evening after a hard day’s egg-laying.

The second egg came on Wednesday, March 9,

…the third,

Friday, March 11

…fourth,

Sunday, March 13

…and fifth.

Wednesday, March 15

The eggs appeared on an every-other-day schedule and that is typical of how Screeches deliver. The egg photos were taken shortly after Mama left the house on each of those evenings. You can imagine how exciting the prospect is of observing and chronicling the owl family as it grows and develops. The gestation for Screech Owls is approximately 28 days, so by this post, if all are healthy, three owlets have hatched, with the other two hot on their heels–or shells.

Alas, there were some heavy winds here a couple of weeks ago and the camera went dark. Boo! We’ve re-configured and manipulated all the connections and wires, opened up the house (when Mama flew out for her brief foray into the night) to diagnose the camera’s issue(s), and eventually removed the camera itself for further inspection.

It seems that our bird camera has pooped out.

This photo was taken with Bee Daddy’s cell phone during his last scramble up the ladder and tree limbs to remove the camera permanently.

Mama landed on the branch Bee Daddy straddled, just a few feet away, to keep her two big eyes on him. Once he removed the camera and we realized it’s not repairable, we decided not to interfere with the owls further this season.

I still see Mama the old-fashioned way,

…as she peeks out for a breath of fresh air, weary, and momentarily away from those hungry beaks. Just after that series of shots, Mama yawned. I don’t know if owls yawn, but that’s what it looked like to me.

Mommy-work is hard.

Dad Owl keeps a close watch each day, all day in a neighbor’s tree which is a quick swoop away if he’s needed.

Dad Owl snoozing in the last rays of afternoon sun.

Daddy-work is hard, too.

Five growing and hungry owlets are a big responsibility. A favorite food of Screech Owls are pond toads, which there are usually plenty of in our garden, but the toads haven’t noisily appeared this year, which is odd. Toads are a ready source of “big game” food that our owls hunt directly and since they’re not yet available, I imagine the owls’ menu is consisting mostly insects and the occasional rat, mouse, or bird from wherever Dad Owl can find them. He’ll do all of the hunting until the owlets are so large that Mama can’t stay in the box and then she’ll join in the meal runs for the little ones.

The owlets will fledge in May and we’ll see (hopefully) how many of the babies have survived to that point.