WALK YOUR GARDEN EVERY DAY

Let's look at the really rewarding part of gardening; the walking around and taking in what you have achieved and then those, somewhat rare for me, moments, just sitting and enjoying the sights smells and sheer loveliness of nature.

On Thursday, I went out, camera in hand, to see if there was anything new. Wow! The Echinopsis was blooming. Three gorgeous pink flowers on what I believe is Anastasia. Isn't she gorgeous? It is a fleeting flowering with the buds opening during the night and closing by lunchtime. Their job over.

I can't tell you the number of times I have missed that fleeting moment, but not this particular day. Thank goodness I walked around in the morning because I could so easily have missed the open flowers. You can see another bud between the two flowers and that one opened on Friday. One of the withered flowers is visible to the right.

I don't know if there are night-time visitors. Maybe they don't exist here because this is not the natural habitat for the Echinopsis which comes from South America. The only visitor I have ever seen is a tiny bee and he was there again today rolling in the pollen. In fact there were two of them.

That was not the only cactus to be blooming on Thursday. Along the outside edge of the walls I found another cactus in bloom. This one is the Nipple cactus, Coryphantha sulcata, a Texas native. The flowers last a little longer, usually a couple of days. I'm happy to say that the rains last summer have prompted number of babies to pop up around the base although it will be years before ti forms a good sized clump.

There was another surprise in the front Bluebonnet( currently bluebonnet less ) meadow.

A single stem of standing cypress, Ipomopsis rubra. Where did that come from? It was right next to the clump of lace cactus and I had never noticed its feathery foliage before. The one standing cypress I did have in this bed, and which I had been watching for weeks, had had its top nipped off. Deer!!! I must think about getting some seeds to plant in this area in the hope of more flowers.

I was surprised to see the first Mexican hats, Ratibida columnifera, blooming. I wonder how many different colors of flower will show up this year?

That prompted me to go up to the top meadow and see if there were any more colors. A little disappointing this year.

But I did observe all this activity on the milkweed pod.

I left them to it and walked down the culvert where I saw these tiny beauties.Mountain pink, Centaurium beyrichii, and the tiny yellow, ubiquitous daisy. I must try to collect seeds from the mountain pink because I think I have a place for it inside the garden.

And returning through the gate there was the anole waiting for a photograph.

Even if you don't take your camera with you take a walk around your garden every day. You may find some surprises.

THERE'S A BRIGHT GOLDEN HAZE ON THE MEADOW

I call this our meadow. An area above the house which has relatively few obnoxious invaders, unlike our septic field.

I don't even know what this carpet of flowers is, except that it belongs to the Asteraceae family of which there are so many members. It is too common to appear in my wildflower books.

There are also large stands of prickly pear cactus. There used to be more but before we bought the lot someone came along and stripped a whole area to put in their garden! I heard this from my neighbor.

There is always incredible activity inside the flowers. These same beetles show up ever year wallowing in the pollen. Their activity will mean plenty of tuna in the fall. That is another thing that disappears overnight and I don't think it is the deer!

There never was a more fascinating flower than the antelope horns milkweed, Asclepias asperula. I must go up there when the seed pods form as their resemblance to antelope horns gives them their name.

The Mexican hats, Ratibida columnaris are beginning to flower. Summer must be on the way.

The native Texas mullein, Verbascum thapsus, will soon send a shoot with pretty yellow flowers but I will be careful to remove the seed heads. I don't need a field of triffids.

The retamas, Parkinsonia aculeata, are having a tough year. Although this branch has healthy blooms the lack of rain has taken its toll by producing smaller flowers than usual. Everywhere is bone dry and yet all these plants have flowered with the minimum of rainfall. Way to go Texas natives.

OUR UPPER MEADOW

This year many of the fields in central Texas are golden yellow. The four nerve daisy, Tetraneuris scaposa, is spreading a carpet of yellow across the land. On my upper lot, where there is a small field- like area, bluebonnets are competing for space with this yellow daisy.

For some reason cedar trees have not invaded this area, which runs along the edge of a rocky escarpment. In the 50s a fire raged across this area, as evidenced by the burnt out stumps of tree trunks.
Along the edges grow twist leaf yucca,

and prickly pear cactus, Opuntia. Along the edges of the pads are rows of flower buds. This is the yellow flowering variety. They used to grow all the way along the edge of the rocky ledge but someone removed many of them before we bought the lot. There was so little soil underneath that it is taking years for soil to reform and anything to grow back there.

There is one clump of green flowered milkweed, Asclepias asperula.

This close up shows how the flowers are arranged to form a 3-4" ball. Each flower is composed of 5 partially divided petals inside which are the white stemmed stamens capped by ball like anthers.

This is one part of my property that has been left to nature. There is a good stand of live and Spanish Oaks and the bird life is plentiful. Every night I hear owls and this week heard the first Chuck Will's widow.

Clearly other things go on out there too. I wish I knew which bird ( possibly turkey)these belonged to. Was it the fox, coyote or the owl who made a killing?

Better watch out my dear.