Let It Snow!!....

It's been ten days ago, now.

But, something that very rarely happens in this area, happened.

IT SNOWED!!!

Enough to stick.

That was a Thursday night.

On Monday of that week, we hit 84 degrees.

Welcome to Texas weather.

It kept on snowing...

And, snowing...

Wet, heavy snow...

The next morning dawned bright and sunny.

The snow was already beginning to melt.

But, it was beautiful, while it lasted.

I worried about some things.

But, they came through ok.

They's no telling when we'll ever see this again.

It was SO fun!

When you live with Texas weather...

you just never know what you'll get.

Hope the weather's just the way you want it,

wherever you are.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

You Can't Always Get What You Want...

This has been a wild ride winter.

We've yo-yoed back and forth, from cold to hot,

and back to cold.

It's been confusing to our bodies,

and our gardens.

One day recently, the morning started at 28F degrees,

and ended at 88F degrees.

Really? Sixty degrees?

Whew!

Shortly before that, we were below freezing for over 38 hours.

It turned the nice, focal-point agave above...

...to this.

In fact, all of this same kind of agave...

I THINK it's Americana...

were turned to mush.

I trimmed it up.

Maybe it'll come back.  

I'm giving it a while to try.

The Bicolor Iris was burned back,

but I trimmed it, and it's coming back.

A lot of things burned back,

are already coming back.

Maybe to soon...

I'll wait a while to trim this Sago Palm.

Hopefully it'll come back.

It moved down here with us, so it should be huge.

These winters keep knocking it back.

I'm waiting on the Oleanders, too.

They'll come back.

We had some high, high winds a few weeks ago, too.

No big limbs down, but lots of small ones.

It sounded like someone throwing rocks on the roof.

We stayed under cover.

Then, there was the clean up.  There were several cart loads.

But, one good thing is this rosemary blooming for the first time.

Happy things and sad things.

Happy with our new great grandson.

Sad that we lost our neighbor across the street.

He fought the good fight, against cancer, knocking it back once.

But, this time it won.

He was one of the good guys.

He was 89.

Things go on...

in the garden, and in life.

I hope all is good, wherever you are.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Hello, Again....

Halfway through January, already.

It's been fun.

Today it's 75 degrees.

Last Friday, we didn't get above freezing.

A few days before that, it was 85.

Whew!

Too crazy a ride.

This was the morning it was 13.

If you look closely, you can see the ice at the edges.

We were in the 60s by afternoon.

All this makes gardening here verry interesting.....

I took this photo before the freeze.

It's worse now.

But, as you can see, the deer have done their thing.

My fault...

I should have put wire around it.

I usually do.  But, I let myself get lazy.

The bucks didn't seem to have velvet on their antlers, to wipe off.

And, you just can't cage everything.

They messed this one up, too.

Worse now, since the freeze.

And, this one...

they chomped it.  AFTER they moved this piece of wire off.

I put it back.  So far, they've left it alone.

I won't show you the lovely frozen plants in the rest of the yard.

I'm not sure what to go ahead and cut back. 

That might make them put on new growth,

and I know we're not done with cold weather.

I'll cut a couple of the agaves back, and try to keep them alive.

So, I'll just show you one of our Christmas gifts from our Son's family.

Pretty, huh?

It twirls in both directions.

We put a solar spotlight on it.

A nice view from the porch, on these warm evenings.

We got another garden gift from our Daughter's family.

There is some assembly required.

So, we'll show you that later.

And, oh....

This is our oldest granddaughter.

These two here, under the Wimberley Trail of Lights big tree,

are giving us a GREAT grandson, in just a few days.

We are truly blessed.

Hope your holidays were happy also.

This year is going to be a good one.

Stay safe and warm.

Seems we'll be warm, here.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Frosty Mornings...

Maybe it's because I just never noticed.

Or, maybe it was because the grasses in the Deer Grove

were all pushed over or washed away,

in the Halloween Flood.

Or, maybe I was looking out the window,

at just the right time.

But, I got to see the Frostweed, when it was doing its thing.

I was looking out the kitchen window,

and I could see something white in the Grove.

It was 24 degrees.

Yes...not bad, considering the blizzard going on 

in the Northeast.

So, I grabbed my camera and went out to investigate.

Sure enough...it was the Frostweed.

Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) stores water in its stems.

When the temperature gets really low,

the stems burst open, and the water comes out and freezes.

I didn't touch it. But, it looks like shaving cream.

When I went out a couple hours later, 

the foam was gone....as if it never was there.

Isn't Nature interesting?

I searched my files, and couldn't find one photo of this

plant in summer.

So, I borrowed one from the Wildflower site.

www.wildflower.org

It's a nice looking plant, although unremarkable until it blooms.

The white bloom clusters are nice.

It blooms in early fall.

In the Grove, it lives without much water....none at all in most summers.

And, the deer don't touch it.

Maybe I need to move one up to the house.  

Not sure how well it might transplant.

*****************

We haven't had any real rain in a while.

Less than a tenth of an inch, over a week ago.

We're supposed to be getting more rain than usual,

because of El Nino.

We'll have to water soon, if nothing happens.

*****************

I hope you're safe a warm where you are.

'Til next time...

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

The Light in Winter...

We've had an interesting winter, so far.

A few days warm, then a few days cold.

But, whatever the temperature, the winter light is wonderful....

especially the morning light.

This last Sunday was cold...a heavy frost.

But, the light sparkled.

Streaming across the fairway...

On the front side of the yard...

And streaming in the front windows.

It's a completely different angle, from the rest of the year.

I like it....

*****************

Speaking of things I like...

Tomorrow is this guy's birthday.

We've spent quite a few of these together.

And, it's been a pretty fun ride.

Happy Birthday, Mr. P....

Hoping for many more.

'Til next time...

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

That's Pretty Seedy...

We've been busy around here,

taking down the holidays, and getting back to normal...

or what we call normal.

One busy chore we've had is seeds.

Millions and millions of seeds.

You see, we live under a lot of Cedar Elms.

Usually, I'm whining about all the leaves.  Usually, the fall brings TONS of

LEAVES.

We sweep them up and pile them in the beds as mulch and in the compost bin...

which is really a 'leaf rotting' bin.  

The deer don't leave green stuff in there long enough to compost. 

Yeah, I know...we could wire it off...but....

Anyway...the trees also have seeds. Those seeds usually fall in October.

Not this year.

This year they started falling in late November.

And, we have a bumper crop.

They can't be put in the beds or compost.

All of those seeds will turn into little Cedar Elms.

Millions and millions of Cedar Elms.

We'll have enough that will have to be dug up, 

just from the ones that fall into the beds.

So, we sweep them up and carry them to the Deer Grove.

The deer like them, and so do the squirrels.

Those in these photos fell in one day.

That's the porch and deck.

Didn't get a photo of the driveway...

But, it's almost over.

We'll have a short leaf break, and then the Live Oaks will start

doing their thing.

I still love the trees...

*****************

By the way...

Can you believe January is almost half over?

Me either...

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Yes...We've Been Away....

It's been along time, since we last met.

Last time, I showed you some nice new growth in the garden.

I was worried it was coming out too early.

I was right.

While we were gone, we had some cold weather.

How cold, I don't know.  But, it burned back things that had made it through

24 degree mornings in winter.

Where were we?

Well...headed west.  We had lovely weather that first day...lol

Saguaro National Park, Tuscon, AZ

But, we soon came out into the sun.

We were taking our time, getting to our destination...

seeing places we'd never seen before.

Closer and closer....the Pacific awaits us.

I just happened to look out the hotel window, as our ship came in.

We boarded and sailed away to Hawaii.

I'll have more on that later.

Meanwhile, back at home, the weeds and rye grass were getting a good hold.

The joys of living on a golf course.

I'm making some progress.  It's slow going.  There is a lot of grass.

But, I think Spring has sprung.

Time for new beginnings, in the garden.

Life is good.

Hope all is good where you are, too.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~