“Walking on Thin Ice”

ESPatch Jan 25, 2011 15 comments

Sitting on her wizened cedar stump (thanks Bob) the local “Patch” seer predicted a hard freeze this week in her crystal ball…

…as night fell she swirled around her fire, occasionally devouring a marshmallow, and a few

blackened shrimps? (Okay that was really bad).

Naturally she was right about the freezes.

A lone canna leaf, frozen to the spot. The temperatures swing wildly at this time of year in Central Texas, freezing nights contrasting with clear warmer days.

This canna doesn’t seem to know what to do.

Pinecone cactus have decided there is safety in numbers and huddle up close in the cold, check out the face on the winking Mayan-looking character lurking behind the ice plant on the right.

Tephrocactus articulatus

The rather fearful, grimacing expressions on these cacti indicate exactly how they feel about the cold. The extremities on the “cones” have caved inward in response to the cold night temperatures, though it will totally recover come the spring, with some heat and a few Botox injections here and there.

“Ya ya! Give it to er now ESP, make sure ze has enough left for me esp? ESP? EESSSPPPP?!”

A few plants respond to the cold a little more elegantly, like this very regal Queen Elizabeth Stonecrop,

Sedum spurium ‘Queen Elizabeth’

This little plant just keeps getting better and better, the colder and colder it gets.

It’s leaves now resemble miniature roses.

This royal succulent can live up to ten years!

“I am not impressed”.

This dwarf miscanthus also looks better as the temperatures dip, its once green leaves now a pin-striped white and purple maroon. I cut these ornamental grasses back to a few inches from the ground in the spring as soon as I see new green growth re-emerging. I see these all around town cut back prematurely, completely missing this purple phase.

Moving on…

The Patch has been hard at work on a residential installation in south Austin, removing a bit of this,

and a lot of that. I detest unnecessary steel edging almost as much as the Bermuda grass that it invariably attempts to contain, and it is the first thing I usually remove on an install. It really is horrible stuff, overused and invariably badly implemented as a sort of short garden “hurdle” to trip up any unsuspecting person walking in the vicinity. Should you have to remove it? Expect some, or all of the following:

You can count on being finger-nipped or worse, impaled on one of “Vlad, the Impaler’s” metal spikes, (Vlad reportedly invented steel landscape edging back in the 13th century). I will not mention the language that you will adopt as you work your way down a wobbling unruly line of removed edging, trying desperately to pry and wiggle one rusted or earth-clogged section from another in the most contorted positions imaginable (feet have to be used). It is harder work then shoveling! Oh and if the end of a metal spike has hit a stone or tree root as it was driven into the ground? Forget about it and just resort to bending the two sections together (I have found three sections start to get heavy), though be warned, in a final ditch attempt, this demonic barrier will try to spring up to slap the side of your head with the back of it’s aggressive metal hand. Give me bricks or boulders any day for a less annoying (physically and visually) and infinitely more flexible and naturalistic edging solution.

Under copious amounts of mulch, I found these ghostly roots tightly interwoven to the underside of the weed suppressant material that we were removing, desperately searching and scouring for a way out from under the smothering black blanket. These roots had traveled staggering distances.

Amazing…Bermuda grass IS the Borg.

“YOUR GARDEN WILL BE ASSIMILATED…RESISTANCE IS FUTILE”.

“Oh, but I know your weaknesses Bermuda Queen”.

Oh come on, it is Bermuda grass! Do not talk to me about vinegar and this and that!

Finally:

Cast Iron plant is once again living up to it’s name.

Soft leaf yucca catching some winter rays.

Ghost plants look their best this time of year.

One of my favorite clean up jobs!

I love picking up leaves at the best of times as you know, but when they are embedded into the heart of a sago palm?

Well, enough said!

Stay Tuned for:

“Reflections and Double Agents”

All material © 2011 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Anchor’s Aweigh”

ESPatch Jan 16, 2011 14 comments

Prolonged rains this week in the Patch, and do we need them!

My “everything but the kitchen sink” rainwater collection “system” is fully replenished once again…

…and the stock tank sea has been boiling up a “Perfect Storm”.

[warning Billy over the radio] Billy? Get outta there! Come about! Let it- let it carry you out of there! What the hell are you doing? Billy! You’re steaming into a bomb! Turn around for Christ sake! Billy, can ya hear me? You’re headed right for the middle of the monster! Billy?…

RIP Billy.

Remember this? : https://www.eastsidepatch.com/2010/07/%E2%80%9Cgarden-coffins%E2%80%9D/

As you can see we went out to our halfling-friendly restaurant the other day and, well, I just had to take another shot of the sarcophagus planter, it is a tradition at this point after all. As I walked up the strip-mall pathway toward this morbid scene I thought to myself:

“what if I rounded the corner and was suddenly confronted by an inviting and lavish planting scheme (complete with jungle lighting and piped-in tree-frog croaks”)? Imagine what a great post and ending to this sad saga this wou…as my mind contemplated these odd thoughts my body rounded the now familiar corner…

…nope, there it still was, in all it’s “Bela Lugosi” glory, long dark shadows crept up the surrounding walls as I walked toward it. I couldn’t help but subtly lean over the concrete edge to see what I could see. I did notice that there had been some significant “shuffling” of plants since my last visitation, the shards of broken terracotta pots had actually been REMOVED! Eeek Eeek Eeek!

Once inside the front doors of the establishment all darkness and morbidity immediately lifted, the spell shattered. After the customary family seating kerfuffle there followed some obligatory dough capers which were coincidentally in-keeping with this posts watery theme. She was Squidward apparently, and he was a pirate, obviously. I ordered the crab cakes, naturally.

Moving drizzling on:

These wet Crepe Myrtle trunks look like they have been varnished,

as does the leaves on this loquat, that is starting to set fruit.

This patch of

Hedera colchica

‘My Heart’

or Persian ivy is threatening to consume one of my decomposed granite pathways, a good looking plant in the winter rains. I am not sure what is going on with that draping agave americana? Or is it a large crustacean?

Another great “all year rounder” is rosemary, this one blooms more than any other in the ESPatch, if only I had kept this ones name tag all those years ago!

This

Bauhinia corymbosa

or Phanera as it is commonly known, is one of my favorite evergreen vines. It has attractive and unusual foliage with small orchid-like flowers and unique 2 lobed leaves that give a clue to the plants placement within the pea family.

This plant is cold and drought resistant, though a good soak in the middle of summer does make it look more luxuriant. This visually fine textured vine makes a great trellis subject but looks even better when allowed to grow up, through, and on other coarser foliaged shrubs and trees. I allow this one to grow up a loquat on one side and a larger conifer on the other. Unlike other vines Phanera does not look ungainly even when it gets large. Another one of these will be going in the ground come spring.

Dwarf miscanthus also looks great at this time of year, it’s brown hair streaked with purple, and who can beat…

…the explosive qualities of a sotol to warm you up on a cold and wet winter day? I keep this one pruned up so that it is easier to maintain and to stop it draping over the adjacent plants. The aloes on the left have already flushed with frost damage.

All this water talk made me want to re-run the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” series once again, just in case anybody missed it the first time around…no?

Stay Tuned for:

“Walking On Thin Ice”

All material © 2011 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.