BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU WALK

If I have said this once I have said it a thousand times. Is it any wonder. And what happened to the resolution that I would keep the pathways cleared this year?

I can't help that the rose Zephirine drouhin happened to start growing right at the top of the ramp. We can't use this entrance any more. Even without the rose the bluebonnets bar entry at the bottom. This ramp was supposed to make it easy to get the wheelbarrow up into the garden!

And do be careful as you go round this corner, please.

I wouldn't even try to walk this way.

Or this.

It's getting tough to get to the water barrels.

And those bluebonnets are taking over in the English garden once again.

And soon you will have to jump over the trailing wine cup. Ah, well. Maybe next year.

CALIFORNIA POPPIES

California poppies are blooming everywhere.

I love the more common orange ones.

But I really love the white one. I never know when it will show up. The variety is Eschscholozia californica 'white linen'

SUMMER YESTERDAY, WINTER TODAY

Yesterday the mercury on the thermometer registered 90°

Daffodils bloomed alongside gazanias.

 As the temperature climbed the first California poppy of the season unfurled its delicate petals.

By afternoon a clump were in bloom.

And more gazanias opened with their companion alyssum.

The Texas Mountain Laurel opened its blooms which immediately began to fade in the heat.

The dwarf iris, Iris reticulata, bloomed in the sunken garden.

The viburnum 'spring bouquet' flowers  changed from pink to white.

And tiny daffodils in the sunken garden bloomed amongst the columbine leaves.

Today is a different day. During the night a chilly wind blew in and this morning it is still there with the temperature hovering at 45° We are forecast a cold night tonight. I may have to return some of my plants to their winter quarters.
The little calamondin tree has blown over and oranges are scattered on the ground.

California poppies and gazanias are closed this morning. It is too unpleasant to work outside. It's just another day in the roller coaster ride of Texas weather.

SPRING WHITES

With a little help from IPhoto this false garlic, Nothoscordum bivalve, looks as though it is growing in a bowl. It is actually growing against the rocks in the lower level of the sunken garden.

Most people wouldn't even give the time of day to this plant, but I rather like it. The flowers are as pretty as any of the spring flowering bulbs. It is in fact a member of the lily family. Outside the walls it mingles with wild onion to form a mass planting later in the spring. One of the other names for the plant is crow poison, presumably derived from the fact that the plant is poisonous.

Of a similar color, a California poppy, Eschscholzia californica 'white linen', opened today. I am always very happy to see the reappearance of this poppy, preferring it to the orange one.

HERE COMES THE SUN...AGAIN

I'm an early riser and if any gardening is to be done it had better be done early. I am no longer fooled by the perfect temperature at 6:30 am. It's going to be another day in the 90s. This morning we both agreed to skip breakfast, work outside for a few hours and enjoy a late morning brunch.

One of the first jobs of the day is checking for eggs on the squash. Today, there were more to remove but today was also the day I was to discover that at some point several eggs must have escaped my notice and had hatched. A small pile of telltale frass at the spot where they had entered the the stem. I took one of my coat hangers and wiggled it around in the hole. Hopefully this would put paid to the larva. So far his year has been my best year for squash.

The sun doesn't reach the front garden until around 12:00pm, so the day lilies are much later to begin their bloom cycle. These groupings have been in the garden for 8 years and would probably benefit from division. Maybe in the fall. They are such reliable and prolific bloomers that I hate to disturb them.

It certainly feels like mid summer but a few things are flowering now that should not be flowering until the fall. Here Eupatorium, fragrant mistflower, shrubby boneset. It is even in a shady location underneath a Texas persimmon.

Mums. I keep trying to get rid of these, pulling them out, but they always return from underground stems.

Mums and California poppies at the same time!

I think that this year is turning out to be one of the craziest garden years I have ever known. Missing from the scene this year are oakleaf rollers, harlequin bugs and leaf footed bugs. Not to mention hispid cotton rats. Instead we have little black beetles on the coreopsis- how dare they attack native plants, and hundreds of furry caterpillars who eat everything. If I thought they were the offspring of the red admirals who appeared in their hundreds a few weeks ago, I was wrong. There will be no fruit on the Meyer lemons which survived the winter, the sago palms will spend a year looking rather bare with only one rosette of new leaves, Mexican feather grass has gone to seed already. New rosettes of rose campion have germinated late but will likely not flower because it will get too hot- it is too hot.

Of course there are the faithful; squash vine borers, hornworms, the little beetles who frequent the purple skullcap; a nice crop of pomegranates; blue flax which has put on a magnificent show; winecups galore; hundreds of blackfoot daisy seedlings. Yes, that's gardening.

POPPY FRENZY

This certainly is the year of the poppy in my garden. Even the normally single petalled poppy are turning up with can can like frills.

Not that the bees like these new frilly ones. They couldn't find their way in to find the pollen even if they tried. It's fun to watch them as they revel in the multiple numbers of pollen loaded stamens. This bee couldn't stuff more into his pollen sacs if he tried.

The corn or Flanders poppies must be thinking they are in Europe this year after the cold winter and all the rain.

What do you think of your cousins, California poppies? They don't need the sun to shine to open up! After all you can't rely on the sun to shine over the pond. We haven't had much sun over the last few days.

So many of my flowers didn't get a chance to join bloom day this April because there were so many. The mealy blue sage for one. Not in a good spot because underneath is growing the blue flax and flax took pride of place on bloom day.

The yellow mound of basket of gold, Alyssum saxatile. I started from seed last year and wish I had done more this year. I hope it likes its new home in the English garden.
Talking of English, this is an English daisy. Not the pom pom pink flowers that were on the seed packet. I am often disappointed by the picture on the packet. Even so it's a nice little flower.
Rose campion, began to flower last week. This area of campion, heart leaf skull cap and gulf coast penstemon got together to form a completely different planting from last year. They pushed out the yellow columbine that was growing there last year.

This year the pyracantha espalier and the philadelphus flowered in unison. Not good planning. I really need to put in a purple clematis to break up the white. Nevertheless, I am starting to train the pyracantha round the corner of the wall. keeping up with the pruning is a big job.
I think the philadelphus could cope with a pretty little Texas clematis twining among its white flowers. I have just the one, purchased at the Wildflower Center plant sale last Friday and still looking for a new home.

EARLY SPRING FLOWERS

Although the more common, orange California poppy blooms in huge numbers in my garden a few white ones show up every year. This selection is called 'white linen' and has seeded itself from one of last years plants. It is always a surprise when the first flowers open.

This white hyacinth may only bloom one time as hyacinths are not commonly seen in the Texas spring garden. It was one of the bulbs in the white selection of bulbs I received as my prize in the Gardening Gone Wild photo contest. It will be interesting to see if they return next year.

Other white bulbs from this selection are the white grape hyacinths. As they fade their foliage will be covered by the creeping wine cup.

The Tulipa clusiana, seem to be a little bit of a mixture. The red underside of the closed tulips opens to a brilliant yellow.
Bluebonnets are waiting in the wings for their day.

Winter must have been just what the stocks were looking for. They have put on an incredible display. All mauve, but the second ones to open were doubles.

Only one scabiosa plant made it through the winter and the first flower opened this week. I don't know anything about the structure of this flower but I noticed tiny flowers inside the center. Are they the flowers or is the whole flower the flower?

Columbines would probably take over the garden if I were to let them. The Hinkley's yellow seems to like sun or shade.

Too bad the garden is going to get another dose of winter this week. A likely frost on Saturday night following another bout of rain tomorrow morning. Time to get those plants indoors again!

EATS SHOOTS AND LEAVES

But keeps coming back! For several days I have been noticing a good deal of nibbling going on in the garden. For an enclosed garden this is quite distressing. First it as the larkspur, all pruned to about 6''. Then today I noticed blue eyed grass.

Then some desert succulents growing in a little pot.

I also noticed a lot of empty stalks on my violas and wine cups. I have been setting the havahart every night but nothing so far. I have a feeling it is the cotton rats as I saw one a couple of weeks ago.
To crown everything the harlequin bugs turned up today. I guess the 80 degree temperatures brought them out. They were on the napa cabbage so pretty easy to spot and dispose of. As most of them are going to seed I'm hoping that this will act as a trap crop.

I will finish on brighter note. My first California poppy bloomed today. It is growing in gravel with no decent soil beneath. Just what they like apparently.