It is official, there is now one more little person staggering blindly around in the patch, (and no, it is not me after one too many frothing ales). My youngest finally found his feet this last week and is now swaggering down decomposed granite pathways like an inebriated pirate, making equally as much sense.
Oh, here comes trouble!
“Jack Sparrow’s the name, me thinks you need to stop with the drunk
pirate stereotypes…savvy?”
“Whats that plant over there, is that echinacea? I needs some of that to cure the curse on the Black Pearl.”
“Echinacea?
Me thinks you will need something a little stronger to cure me”! mmm…calamari
Amazing new blooms in November! This is the only one that has recently grown and bloomed at such an eleventh hour in the year. I am not complaining. The colors in this seed head are amazing, like red-hot pokers. All of my other coneflowers all have blackened seed heads by now, busy reseeding for next year.
Fibre optic seed heads.
Coneflower Echinacea purpurea. On a cooler note:
Can you guess what this is a picture of ?
A satellite image of algae ponds in Indonesia perhaps? (right photo courtesy of Farl, a great photography blog)
http://colloidfarl.blogspot.com/ check it out.No, you guessed it…
Hoja Santa.
Here is a before and six-month later shot of my circular “Microcosmic” garden. I really have enjoyed tracking the progression of this bed over the last half year. I am so intrigued with this planting that I am leaning away from planting lavender in my new middle bed, and may continue this on a larger scale. There is always something new to observe in here, the plants have reproduced prolifically over the last couple of months. My plan is to wait and see what makes it through the winter and base my decision on this.
Echinacea was used by Native American tribes as a tonic and antiseptic and proved effective in treating snakebites and infections. Otherwise known as Coneflower or Sampson Root, Echinacea came to widespread prominence in the late 1800s when it was marketed in a popular elixir called “Meyers Blood Purifier”.
It’s now a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry.
The plants really filled in quite fast and the mexican feather grass worked out a treat to soften the transition into the granite pathway. The burnt orange mexican gazing ball is enough to warm up the scene. See the donkey ear (Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri) central? …
Well it has sent up this amazing geometric candleabra, it really looks like I have stuck it in the ground, it looks totally fake.
and this is a detail of the flower heads that I am waiting to open. It would be really odd to walk out and see small candle flames burning, just as one last…”ah ha! you didn’t expect that did you camera boy”. This plant has been prolific this year. I must have propagated 20 babies, dotting them all around my back yard. They were so resilient, I began experimenting with planting places I thought they would not survive!
A patch of transplanted donkeys. “They look nothing like my ears”
“Tap of the mornin’ to ya”
In the same circular bed I caught these two rosettes looking like
an exotic bra advertisment for St Patrick’s day. You can see that right?
The clover? The rosettes? No?
And one more shot. Does anyone know where I can get some more,
perhaps a little larger lava rocks from in Austin?
Last succulent image I promise. I decided to plant under the giant timber bamboo that pushed through some of my brickwork earlier this year.
“whirling butterfly” Gaura with
an ornamental cabbage back-drop,
a great combination of colors and forms.
Now onto some insects…
This flowering loquat attracted a multitude of insects this past week, everything from monarchs to honeybees to…
Whatever this is? any thoughts? The pattern on this UT fan is amazing.
This was probably the most skittish of all the damsels I have tried to photograph. I spent about 20 minutes to just get these two shots. Again an ID would be greatly appreciated. This variety has a very tiny body compared to the ones I have captured on earlier posts… the tank turret at the end of it’s tail, what is that all about?
click on the image (actually any of my images), then click on it again for a super close up!
“Venture into my forest would ye!
It amazes me what fantasy worlds exist under the most unassuming of garden shrubs. This scene looks like an evil forest from a fairy tale.
From a prehistoric insect to a prehistoric landscape under a prostrate rosemary bush.
Purple fountain grass seed heads with bamboo muhly in the background, both respond well to the softest of breezes…talking of plants and breezes… Everybody into plants will have a new respect for their abilities after watching the movie by M. Night Shyamalan. (now out on DVD).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BRZ0u01KwQ
The slightest breeze gets my attention
after watching this movie.
Purples in the front yard. Mexican bush
sage against our front steps, always
puts on a great fall display.
Crazy amaranth seed heads…heat –
seeking missiles.
A wild sea-oat seedhead shadowed behind the back lit leaf of a canna lily.
Tattoo on an agave leaf – an imprint from when it unfurled.
It is amazing how unassuming the pre-blooms are on this red passion vine. Who would suspect that they turn into the most amazing of flowers. This vine has produced more flowers this year then any other, it is like the hotter and dryer the conditions, the better it does, a good combination for Texas.
One more red to end, mexican fire bush pods.
Stayed tuned for:
“Dead in a Shed”
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