This and That....

It's been a while, since I posted.

It's been busy around here.

Lots of weeding and cleaning up, getting ready for Spring.

We had some out-of-town guests, and took them over to see 

The Painted Churches.

Then we ended up in Gruene, for an early dinner.
Can't go there, without going to Gruene Hall.

We had this little guy come into the yard, one morning.
He was acting a bit strange.  Not aggressive...just like he felt bad.
He rested a while and then went off.  We thought he was ok.
Later, Animal Control (I wasn't even aware we HAD Animal Control here) came.
They went down to the creek with a cage.  Then they came back up with him inside.
I'm hoping they helped him.

We got the privilege of replacing the water heater.
Luckily, it only flooded the front porch, through the overflow pipe.

I couldn't help myself, and after a few days of 70s and 80s,
my daughter and I went to some garden centers, and I planted.
Mostly some 'Color Guard' Yuccas and some rosemary.
But, also some geraniums.

Silly me!
I forgot to cover the geraniums, and they froze.
So, I can buy and plant them again.

Such pretty, warm days, make you feel like the cold is over for good.

The Red admirals were flitting around everywhere.

We had some dense fog, the first day of March.
It was warm and humid.

Then, ANOTHER cold front.
We went from 75F to 25F, in just a few hours.

Out on the porch,
we have a fountain, that the birds love to come to.

Standing there, looking out into the Grove,
this little Titmouse came for a drink...not two feet away.
He didn't notice when I moved to take his picture.
They're usually very timid.

We were lucky enough to miss the ice that they got to the east and north of us.
We did get some hail, and sleet, and enough rain to bring us to .75 inches, for the year.

All in all, except for this yo-yo weather, it's been a good year, so far.

I've been doing good, with my
Project 365....so far.
The photos here, are for that.  I've been posting them on my
Photo Blog, and Flickr feed.

That takes up a bit of time, editing, etc.

So, that's what's happening here.
Have you been getting ready for Spring?
It is coming.
I promise.

***********
'Til later...
Take care...
~~Linda~~

Beautiful Visitor....

I posted this over on my photo blog, for one of my

Project 365 photos.

But, thought I'd share with my garden friends.

He's a Red-shouldered Hawk.

Just beautiful.

I'd just set down on the porch, after pulling a few million weeds.

He flew threw the Deer Grove, and up into a tree.

I'm glad I had my camera at hand.

He posed quite nicely, and the sun setting on him 

added to the beauty.

Have a great weekend.

***********

'Til later...

Take care...

~~Linda~~

Blooms and Foliage....

We've had a harder than usual winter.

So, there's not much going on here.

Well...bloomwise.

But, I thought I'd try to join in with Carol at
May Dreams Garden
for
Bloomday.

And, Pam at Digging.
for
Foliage Follow-Up.

As I said, there are not many blooms.

Purple Violas

And, Yellow Violas.

And, just because it has a bloom,
Henbit.
The bloom means it'll probably seed before I get out there and get it out.
So, there will be even more to remove.

Foliage is where things aren't looking too bad.

Gold Dust Acuba, is hanging in there.

The Japanese Arailia really has surprised me.
It looks so tropical.  But, it doesn't even have any burn on the leaves.

Quite unlike my beautiful Dianella.
It obviously doesn't like low temperatures.  Especially lows of 12F.
Guess that'll have to be replaced.
I'm researching what might work, in this dry, shady bed.

The Chrysanthemum pacificum is putting on new growth.

I'll be cutting back these ugly leggy parts, as well as the
Aztec Grass behind it.  I think there's some life left in that one.

The cold...or heat...never seems to bother the Dusty Miller.

Or, these Iris.
I think this is the peach one that Jenny from Rock Rose gave me.
I hope so.  It looks nice and healthy.

The Rosemary and Agave lophantha, in the new Grass Bed area
are unfazed by the cold.

And, the Mexican Feather grass is looking good,
with a new haircut.

This Peter's Purple Monarda, is doing well.  I didn't realize it had that nice purple
on it's leaves.  Another plant from a local Austin garden blogger,
Bob Byer.
I'm looking forward to the pretty purple flowers.

Here in the Front Bed, we have the Texas Sabal Minor...looking not too bad.
The Sago Palm got burned pretty badly.

But, there is some green in there.  So, maybe it'll come back to life.

This palm in the Island Bed, has a little burn.
But, it's held in there.
I can't find my info on what this is.  But, I like it.

This agave is one I rescued from one of our neighbor, Elli's, remodels.
I don't know what kind it is.  It's growing fast, and has several pups.
The cold didn't bother it at all.
I have a feeling it'll get too big for this pot.  And, when the cage comes off,
I'll be getting those pups out of there.

I'll make a wild guess and say this Asparagus fern is a goner.
I forgot to bring it in.  I've just left it out there.  Gold fern...messy, but still interesting.

On the front porch, I didn't think this Foxtail Fern would get hit so hard.
One on the back (north) made it fine last winter...not this time.
This one is larger, and there is some life in there.
I won't cut that burned part back until we're sure of no hard freezes.

This Prickly Pear is one I moved from the Deer Grove.
Actually, it's half of that one.  The other half is almost as big, and in the
Island Bed.
They look fine.  A few little spots, but no real damage.
It's never bloomed.  Are there male and female Prickly Pears?

This, in the back Tree Bed, has collapsed.
I'd blame it on the cold, but it started this last summer.
Can't even blame the Flood.
I'm going to cut it back hard, and see what happens.
It's another one I moved from the Grove.
This one usually has yellow blooms.

This little Purple Prickly Pear is a pad I took off our daughter-in-law's cactus.
We gave her the cactus when it got too big for our old garden.
I 'rescued' a pad from some along a road in New Mexico.
It was winter and they were beautiful.
I hope it does something good here.

I have several of these.  Elli gave me some pieces, and they have grown and grown.
I babied these in pots on the Porch, but some I put in the ground did almost better.
I think it's Bunny Ears.

Then, there's the Big Green Monster.
Rose Jasmine, planted around the power boxes between our driveway and Elli's.
Elli planted these years ago.
The deer don't eat them.  They hold up to cold.
They hold up to heat.  The flood rushed right through them, and they've
been left for long periods without any extra water.

Maybe I should plant them everywhere.

Well...that's what we have here.
Be sure to go to Carol's and Pam's and see
lots more blooms and foliage.

***********
'Til later...
Take care...
~~Linda~~

Another New Feeder...

This crazy winter continues.

After cold and damp and temperatures not out of the 30sF,

we had a day of sun and almost 80F!

We spent the day outside, working in the garden.

There is a lot to do out there.

The new bird feeder arrived.

Not all that pretty, but maybe it will last.

It rotates when something heavy gets on it.

So, squirrels are thrown off.

And, large doves.

I kind of like the doves.  I prefer the small ones, but we seem to have 

mostly Whitewing Doves.  They can empty a feeder, almost as

fast as the squirrels.

This one just couldn't understand why he couldn't get that seed.

There was some thrown on the ground,

so they got something, after all.

The feeder is attached with a clip, on a long chain.

If raccoons can get this one down,

they can have it.

The day was so nice,

the moon decided to show up early, to enjoy it.

We ended the day, on the porch,

watching the sunset through the trees.

We're having another one of those days, today.

More work in the garden.

Then, tomorrow we're forecast another round of 

cold and damp.

Ugh....

Hope you're having a good day,

wherever you are.

**********

'Til later...

Take care...

~~Linda~~