In the Box

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Tina

Lookee who’s here! Ms. Screech has been in our nest box for a week, poking her cute head out just after sunup and just before sundown. As well, I see her and her mate perched in my small trees or on the wooden fence if I’m outside near sundown. She seems comfortable with me, never skittish and hiding herself when I offer her a cheery ‘Hello!’.

Since it appears that she’s chosen this box to nest in, we recently wrapped the tree with a sheet of vinyl flooring.

We used this vinyl sheet in 2024, after the previous year’s clutch of Eastern Screech Owl eggs were snatched from the box, most likely by either a raccoon or a grey fox. Our original plan was to wrap sheet metal around the tree, but the vinyl proved easier to handle and less expensive. Two weeks ago, when I’d noticed that the owl seemed intersted in the nest box, I also saw on our wildlife camera one night that a grey fox showed great interest in the tree, walking around it and looking up to where the nest box sits. As the owl has settle in the box, I figured it was time to wrap the tree. We’ll leave it on the tree until the owlets–if all goes well–fledge sometime in May.

Raccoons have formidable claws for climbing and our local grey foxes can jump up to 6 feet. The bottom of the vinyl sheet starts at 3 feet off of the ground and the sheet tops out at about 7.5 feet. The vinyl should be too slippery for the crawlers and is placed too high for the jumpers. The nest box is not in the photo; it’s placed about 4.5 feet from the top of the vinyl piece.

The year after the lost clutch of owls, we wrapped the tree and that Screech couple successfully fledged three darling owlets. The camera in the nest box captured the entire nesting process and you can read about that here. Alas, our nest box camera stopped working last summer and was never fixed or repaired. We’ll have to observe the chick-raising the old-fashioned way: from the ground at night and early morning. We’ll observe any goings-on by the tree through the nighttime wildlife camera. I’ll be watching for confused raccoons or foxes as they attempt to climb the (hopefully) un-climable tree.

You’ll notice a strip of black tape on the right side of the tree. It turns out that the tree has widen its girth, like so many of us! The tape closes the small gap admirably, but in the future, we’ll need to purchase a wider swath of vinyl.

All the best to you, little Screeches!!

First Spring Wildflower

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Tina

Riffing on first Texas wildflower blooms profiled at Portraits of Wildflowers, I noticed that my garden’s first wildflower is abloom. This wildflower is a common weed according to some, but I love the pretty, purple, pollinator magnet and so do the bees and butterflies. Insects were tucked in this morning, owing to the chill and clouds, but they’ll find this rich source of nectar and pollen when the sun returns and the temperatures warm.

This Spiderwort, Tradescantia, sp., has popped up from last years’ roots at the base of a winter-tawny Big Muhly, Muhlenbergia lindheimeri. That splash of green has been a colorful companion to the muted grass since early December. Now, the green will be topped by rich purple to augment its beauty.

The spiderworts couldn’t have chosen a tougher place to plant themselves. Facing west, these two clusters sit at the curb, not even in the garden-proper. I never water this area, it only receives what bounty the sky delivers. There will be more spiderwort blooms in the coming months–from these two and many others throughout my garden–then the foliage will disappear, the roots in hiding from the long, hot summer. The muhly will provide some coverage, as new growth drapes over the curb and spiderworts’ spot, but this area is hot and dry most of the year.

It has begun, this renewal of life. Birds and squirrels chase their potential partners and rivals; flirtation as the rule of the first kind of chase, establishing territory the point of the second. The main winter clean-up work in my garden is finished, or nearly so, and change in the garden will be a daily, if not hourly, occurrence. Game-on, Spring!

Frosty Photos

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Tina

Along with much of the continental United States, my garden has been stuck in freezer mode since Saturday morning. There hasn’t been snow, per se, but instead, the wintry mix weather folk like to talk about. The sleet started over night Saturday into Sunday, the thin blanket of ice covering everything, everywhere, all at once (with apologies to that worthy Academy Award winner of a few years ago).

Here in Austin, we’d experienced one light freeze before this deeper, longer one, prompting my check for the swirly ice sculptures which give native plant Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, its name. No ice capades appeared in my garden during that first freeze, but this deeper freeze delivered a dramatic frost show–but on only one of my Frostweed plants. Usually each plant produces its own icy artwork–ranging from bombastic to minimalist–but this winter, one of my largest and oldest specimens was the sole artist-in-residence.

The beauty of the ice, fragile and ephemeral, belies the rather violent nature of the super frozen moisture as it bursts through the plant’s stem structure, destroying limbs of the now-ended growing season. Frostweed is done; I will prune the remains to the ground soon. In a matter of weeks, spring will beckon, fresh growth will emerge, and the cycle for a new year of foliage, blooms, seeds, and ice flowers will commence.

The ice sculptures are called many names: ice flowers, ice ribbons, frost flowers, and more; my favorite of the nicknames is ice beards.

On less swirly–though still slippery–ice, this this Fox Squirrel, enjoyed some scattered seeds and peanuts for breakfast these past mornings.

Birds are also busy at the seeds, though this White-winged Dove, Zenaida asiatica, was content to chill in the chill.

One of the winter warblers hanging out in my garden, a darling Yellow-rumped Warbler, Setophaga coronata, is unfazed by the cold. He bopped around the garden, nibbling on this-n-that, dashing to shrubs and trees for protection.

Once this freeze is history, I’ll assess the damage to the garden. I don’t expect any permanent problems, as I choose tough plants to grow. But winter pruning must begin this week and the next 6 to 8 weeks are my busiest time in the garden. The goal of pruning completion is the first week of March; wish me good luck with that!

Winter has left its impression the garden.