ESPatch

“2010”

ESPatch Dec 29, 2009 10 comments

2010 started eerily in the Patch…

I walked outside this morning only to find this other-worldly mist sweeping in, and it was dense. The other thing odd about this morning was that it was very quite, unusually quite in fact. I clambered further into my timer bamboo for a better look at this strange phenomena.

I peered through the giant timber culms and heard a muffled sound, I squinted into the dense fog then recoiled as I witnessed my neighbor being attacked by something over the garden fence, something hideous…something that came from…from….inside

The Mist!

Eeek, Eeek, Eeek!

Okay, so the mist actually turned out to be nothing more than steam emanating from the washing machine duct, and my neighbor? Well that was the last I saw of him.

The Giant timber near the house has climbed to a significant height, you can really see it this time of year when the surrounding pecans have died back. Have I told you how I can’t wait to get rid of these trees, and that stubborn sticker on the stock tank?

This Timber Bamboo is already prematurely celebrating it’s win over the Pecans by proudly displaying this victory belt around the mid-drift of it’s culm.

Another bamboo patch…

My Buddha’s Belly Bamboo.

Bambusa tuldoides ‘Ventricosa’

Apparently this bamboo only develops the sought after Buddha bellies if it is root bound in a container, well not this one. I do not know what sort of neglect and torture I have inflicted on this plant underground but I have about 64.2% belly culms, (adjusts nerdy glasses) the rest straight. Not bad considering it is planted in the ground. This bamboo has grown a lot in the last year, although all the new culms this year have been frost-nipped and are doubled over. I think this is due to the fact that this bamboo is still an infant, albeit a twenty foot one, (something that makes me shudder with a slight twinge of a neck crick).

Guess what we did this week?

The ground was once again covered in a blanket of seed snow.

Yes, cattail wands were once more frantically casting their seedy spells all over the Patch, streaming tiny seeds up into the thermals…

…and a few others in less welcome places.

“What were the clouds like when you were young”?

The seeds provided all manner of play, when the spells had all been cast, then the shoveling and “cauldron” concoctions were started. I took advantage of the distraction to wander freely around the garden to see what else was happening. The relative peace!

Sedum reflexum

Sedum reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’ (thanks Pam), this little succulent is spreading very nicely in my cacti & succulent bed.

I tuck this plant in wherever I can, usually it ends up between my moss boulders where I invariably trample on it as I am contorting myself into some ridiculous shape to reach “that” dandelion all the way back there, (well that is where they always are, all the way back in there)!

Dandelions I have found, also love to co-exist right up against the spiny fat belly of a barrel cactus or any other flesh ripping plant for protection, like this sotol, “gently does it…easy…just a little more…almost there”…then Snap, you are left only holding only the top of the weed. Aarggh! The recoil motion invariably causes the the back of the “pulling hand” to adhere to an adjacent barrel cactus followed by ten minutes of highly colorful language, twenty-seven if I am alone. I have come to the conclusion, dandelions are smart.

Now where was I? Yes sedum…trampling, anyway this little plant always seems to bounce right back no matter the abuse, a great plant for filling in those small “detail” cavities in the garden.

Moving On…

The life-force continues to coarse through the ivy veins, despite the freezes we are enduring.

Seed-pods on my Thryallis, does this plant ever stop doing something?

Great winter color on the ornamental grasses.

And yes my Artemisia is officially out of control, almost time for the chop.

Question: is there a correct time to cut back this plant? I usually just wait until it is so leggy I cannot stand it anymore.

Even in the depths of winter this lantana is still throwing out spring-like blooms, it’s leaves turning from green to a frost bitten deep maroon now.

Finally…

Here are some winter games in the Patch recorded on my new “Flip”.

The music I created in GarageBand, it features sampled snippets of my oldest hobbit when she was little, finding her very first bug in the garden, and it wasn’t the featured ladybug that caused my youngest’s conniption in the video.

“Ewww”!

Inspirational image of the week:

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, just as this 3D effect rug called John Deere tractor. Designed by Permafrost, manufactured in Sweden and wool from New Zealand. The inspiration behind this rug came from a common image of rural America, the John Deere tractor.

Stay Tuned for:

“Carnival”

All material © 2009 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Milk, Cookies and Spells”

ESPatch Dec 23, 2009 22 comments

It was getting late in the Patch, and some major spells were being cast on me from deep within the amaranth. Horsetail reeds make for excellent wands it appears, though my eldest hobbit insists she got hers from Diagon alley.

Expelliarmus!

Some of these spells take an immense amount of concentration it appears. Now will you please get that reed out of my face!

This budding wizard just wanted to talk to me about Christmas and Santa and ask a thousand questions about why Muggles celebrate this holiday, and how Santa gets into houses and the global logistics of accomplishing such a gift-giving feat, all in one night? These discussions tend to last quite some time.

What a fine horsetail wand.

Come early Christmas morning, and it was early, our wizards were glad they had Muggle parents. Hands tore through wrapping paper as fast as their small fingers could find the ends of the tape. Santa had devoured the home-made “Santa” cookies we had left out for him, and had washed them down with some milk…

…we wanted to leave out a nip of whiskey for him but it was decided, (not by the Muggles,) that he would prefer milk.

This “Happy Van” was a total hit…a van filled with small candies…he was in hog’s happy heaven with two of his most favorite things in the whole wide world!

Going back to the amaranth, it was time for our annual harvest of the seeds, though the seeds were not nearly so abundant as last year, but nevertheless we got quite a few. The seeds also were reluctant to separate from their husks, I think they were less developed due to the earlier frosts we have had this year. Clearly some form of incantation was being muttered by this wizard in an attempt to make the seedpods magically shed their seeds into the bowls.

It was good to give the nimble fingers a break from tearing at wrapping paper! The clouds of dust that arose from these buckets smelled like the barnyards where I used to play as a kid, it is amazing how a smell can teleport you back to a specific place. It was all-hands on in the patch, and I knew my “everything but the kitchen sink” rain water collection “system” would come in useful for more than collecting water.

Talking of serious rainwater collection endeavors, this has to be one of the big ones…

http://dracogardens.blogspot.com/2009/12/last-tank-is-in.html

Amaranth harvest.

I also cut down My Papyrus “toupees” today. I could no longer convince myself that they still carried any “Winter form”. No, they now looked like a seriously bad episode of the Muppets, or perhaps…

Oh yes, this one will be going into the “Looks Like…” page!

These cattails are also in the process of popping.

Millions of tiny seeds will shortly be catching the ESP thermals. Climb in here for a good nights sleep.

At least a better night’s rest than you would have here.

My largest sotol. I am about to get shredded once again by this beast, still, it has to be done. The lower branches are once again laying flat against the ground, skewering the odd ghost plant (like they care, they are already ghosts).

Huh uhuh huh.

Like my agaves, I try to trim up these plants as high as I can, at least so that the bottom leaves are not resting on the ground. It is a personal preference, but I think it looks better and creates less of a jumble of plants at ground level. It also makes weeding a little less painful, I have to weed a lot more regularly than I trim these plants up after all.

Here is the Patch all cut back for the winter…store all that energy roots! You can see the frost damage on the top of my Mexican lime tree on the right. It feels good to have all the scraggly amaranths pulled out.

The top third of my lime tree has taken a good beating, but it will quickly recover in the spring.

There are still a couple of butterflies moving ever-so-slowly around, so slow in fact, it made them an easy catch.

Battered and torn are they .

And still the Gerbera daisies continue to send out new blooms.

Inspirational wintry image of the week…

Moonlight is a German company that makes these glowing garden orbs. The polyethylene spheres have been around in Europe for a while and they’re making their way to the United States via a new company called Moonlight USA. I think an icy-blue version would be appropriate for our warmer Texas nights, but you will not find one in the Patch…I need the space for more plants!

Stay Tuned for:

“2010”

All material © 2009 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

ESPatch

“2010”

Bambusa tuldoides ‘Ventricosa’

“Carnival”

“Milk, Cookies and Spells”

“2010”

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