Nature
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Yesterday the girls and I saw a set of twin fawns! They were across the road so it is not the best but it is not uncommon for around here as there seems to be at least one set, sometime two sets, of fawns every year and you know which doe is carrying them too. A load to lug around. I know a thing or 2 about twins!!!
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 You have to wonder how evolution lead to the Sotol being almost two entirely different kinds of plants -- a low ground shrub-like feeder and then a 12 ft high 'bloom'. I mean, I guess it has to do with the need to preserve the seeds... but other plants have the same need. It's just pretty unusual.
Also-- huge Carl Sagan fan here. Probably my most admired person I met in person.
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Yuccas do the same with a high stalk and their flowers up where the polinators can get to it. The birds went up and down the bloom gathering seeds in the late summer. They lasted for weeks. The one and only time they bloomed.
I got a book by Neil DeGrasse Tyson signed when I saw him in Austin years ago.
Speaking of blooms....a couple of my bluebonnets still have blooms, while the others have turned to seed.
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Found a picture of the blooms on the sotols. Go Spurs Go!!!
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 I loved Neil on Colbert! So smart and so funny. Did you see him on the final night?
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I don't have pictures yet, but nature was a major beyatch here last night. I heard wind reports of 98 and 113 mph. Our whole neighborhood is almost tree-less (ok. Ii exaggerate a little sometimes but not much this time). Me, my wife and the chainsaw have been outside since 8:30 this morning and we're nowhere near done.
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Today's photo is of a grand-flowered horned poppy plant that was the only one to survive a very hot spring one year. The grand-flowered horned poppy is a vibrant red poppy that loves full sun and well-drained, fertile soil. It is virtually pest and disease-free, as well as deer-resistant. Do note, their roots are toxic if ingested.
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Here's a couple of my sunflowers that have bloomed in the garden. First one is a Mammoth. The second one sprouted on its own and came back from last year in a raised bed and has a colored stalk, beet red.
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Here's a couple of Zinnias. These make excellent cut flowers for an arrangement. Do you grow anything special because you get great joy from them?
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Here's some blossoms for your Saturday! Go Spurs GO! It's do or die time.
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That two tone flower is really cool! Go Spurs!
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A baby praying mantis that was on the outside of my second story bedroom window this morning (taken without my glasses on)!! He was no bigger than my thumb nail.
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Had flooding in areas around me but here's what the rain gauge showed this morning, before we got another round of soaking rain, to the point where there are 83 low water crossings closed right now with rivers and creeks reaching flood stage.
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Today's post shows a couple of different blooms on my lantana plants! The hummingbirds love them.
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The crepe myrtles have bloomed after all the rain!!!
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Today's photo shows my tallest palm tree that is the only one to have survived the many elements that have come its way since Mike planted it in 1986, on the one year anniversary of our having moved in. He got it and another from a load of Washitonians brought up from South Padre that he ordered for a property he maintained and got paid for the job with those palms. The other one was planted on the east side of the house and we lost it during the freeze of 2021. Somehow this huge one out back unprotected has survived. The sotols are around it and under the big tree in back are the brittany spaniels who Mike buried there under his tree stand (archery).
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Today's photo is of a couple of Texas Sabal Palms that are planted just outside of the She Shed and have really taken to this spot. I used to be able to cut off the fronds that hung down around the bench behind the palms, but now can't reach any.
Texas Sabal Palm β Sabal texana or S. mexicana This Texas native palm is cold hardy and can grow to 50β in height with a trunk diameter up to 30β. Individual, fanshaped fronds can reach 15β in length. These fronds create a canopy of foliage between 8β β 25β in diameter. The trunk of older specimens has closely spaced annual rings. Part of the trunk remains covered with old leaf bases that form a characteristic crosshatch pattern. The smooth petioles (stems) are thornless. The ο¬owers and small, black fruit are inconspicuous.
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This guy was busy rebuilding his web after more heavy rain last night. He's in liriope, which bloomed due to all the rain we've had. Some plants are white blooms that remind me somewhat of my favorite flower (that I can't grow here
) lily of the valley
Some of the other plants produce purple flowers. I haven't had to turn on the sprinkler system nor do any outdoor watering of plants due to the rain we have been blessed to get. I picked beans for a third time and there are still new blossoms on the plants!! Best year ever!!
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Happy Father's Day Bucketeers! Here's a couple of photos I scanned of Mike's bench he built for his office. Miss him.
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I just noticed that one of the sotols out back under the Washitonian palm has another big bloom coming up. It's about head high. It's the rain.
