WILDFLOWER CENTER PHOTOGRAPHY

Last evening David and I had the pleasure of attending a reception at the Wildflower Center to view the wonderful art photography of Bruce Leander.

Although Bruce has had a life long interest in photography, over the years his subject matter changed to include garden photography; his own. His wife, Patty Leander is well know in Austin circles for her expertise at vegetable gardening. Many of Bruce's photographs have appeared in articles written by Patti for Texas Gardener magazine.From the vegetable garden to the Wildflower Center, photographing wildflowers and nature, was an easy move.

Since he began volunteering at the Wildflower Center in 2008, and weather permitting (that usually means no wind) Bruce has moved quietly around the garden carrying tripods and lenses, shortly after dawn and before the sun rises.

In his photographs Bruce brings to our attention things we might never see with our own eyes. I remember him once showing me a photograph he had taken of the eggs of the harlequin bug. The amazing detail on these little barrels was amazing. The macro lens can bring to life a whole new world.

Also in this exhibition are photographs Bruce took on a recent visit to Big Bend National Park. He brings alive the beauty of this desert park.

A real family affair. Patty and their girls who helped with refreshments.

Among familiar faces another Austin blogger and Travis County Extension Service horticulturist, Daphne Richards.

Later we moved into the Visitor's Gallery which has received a complete makeover in the past year.

The old film in the back of the gallery has been replaced by a series of monitors, generously donated by Bruce. Here the visitor can enjoy a slide show of Bruce's work while sitting in a comfortable chair. It was hard to get David away from his enjoyment of the photographs.

Things are still blooming at the Wildflower Center. Witness the array of flowers on this display table highlighting current blooms. Bruce is never short of something to photograph.

The exhibition of photographs can be viewed in the McDermott Learning Center through August 23rd. Proceeds from the sale of the photographs go to the Wildflower Center.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH A BIRD HOUSE?

I keep asking myself, "What is wrong with my birdhouses?" This one I carted all the way back from England about 4 years ago. I saw a wren pecking at the entrance one time, but no one has made a nest in there. I thought it was perfect for my English garden.

Then this beautiful dovecote, also in the English garden. Austin gardeners will recognize this as once having been in Pam's former garden. I know birds made nests in there because I had to empty their old nests. No easy job because everything that went in through the small doors had to come out through the small doors. On the wall behind is the only birdhouse which has ever been inhabited. So what am I getting at?

This. It is not a birdhouse but a planter hanging on the front gate. Inside is a plant shared at one of our blogger meets. I thought it a perfect spot, being a plant that required no watering or sun.

They have moved so much furniture in there and reorganized my plants to the point where they are now starting to wilt. Not to mention that we will no longer be able to use the front gate. This all happened in 2 days. The question is, will they actually use the nest? You know those wrens. Make several nests and then bring her along to choose the one she would like to lay her eggs in. Will we be honored? Only time will tell.

When I was in Dallas at the weekend I went with my son and grandson to the new butterfly garden at Fair Park. There I learnt that shortly before the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis it becomes darker. Yesterday morning I saw changes. I left at 11am and when I came home at 4 pm the butterfly was out. I had missed the emergence.

It was hard to get a shot for all the fluttering. I wonder if it sipped from the sugar water I had left in the container. Now free to go and lay more eggs on the few parsley leaves they haven't eaten!

I COULDN'T DO IT BETTER

I couldn't do it by myself. Mother nature had a helping hand in the profusion of color in my garden. Now, well into July the flowers are still coming.

Alyssum, skullcaps, blanket flowers and black eyed Susans manage to find the perfect spot to grow making a tapestry of color. Gomphrenas are moved from unsuitable spots in the gravel to fill in any spaces.

Of course some of them can be a bit pesky, like this amaranth. Several are growing in a not so perfect spot at the foot of the steps to the herb garden, but who can resist their gorgeous pink, bristly plumes in the fall. The birds love them too. That's a Russian sage, Perovskia, which is growing at the foot of the amaranth.

This morning two rain lilies opened. Sometimes they are hard to spot, buried among the other flowers, but these ones are growing out of a clump of creeping thyme.

I certainly love the cleome which seeded right at the front of the bed behind the pool. The long, snaking stems with deep pink flowers. I even like the seed heads. I'll be saving some of those for next year.

As long as this morning glory stays on the fence then it can stay, but I know it's not going to do that.

IT'S A CANTALOUPE!

Full marks to the identifiers. It was a cantaloupe and it was perfect for eating. Delicious on my cereal this morning.

MELON ID PLEASE

I just took a turn around the garden to see what had happened since I left Thursday. My one and only melon had unhooked itself from the stem. Now, this usually means ready to eat and there is a sweet smell up close, but I have no idea which melon this is. The reticulated skin makes me think it is a cantaloupe! I picked up the plant at one of our garden meets; I believe it was at Diana's so maybe it came from Ellie. Can anyone id it for me so I know whether it might be ripe enough to cut into.

OH DEER

Yesterday one of the deer showed up with a broken leg. Life is going to be pretty tough from now on.

She got a special treat or two yesterday.

I certainly hope it isn't this one which I captured giving her baby a bath a few days ago. I am fearful that our injured deer was nursing and maybe lost her baby in some terrible event. It is quite clear that our injured deer was nursing as her milk sacs are very swollen with milk. Poor thing.

THE 1LB TOMATO

Tipping the scales at exactly 1lb. It would be a celebrity even if it wasn't a Celebrity!

Just one day without picking and I have filled two colanders and a bowl. More roasted Roma tomatoes in the oven. Their wonderful aroma fills the kitchen.I am beginning to wish I had picked some of them green and made my green tomato chutney. I'm now stuffing tomatoes with squash instead of squash with tomatoes!

Thank goodness I picked the garlic and had it drying in a sheltered place. We had over 3" of rain in two days. They would have been rotting in the soil, I'm sure. Unfortunately with the rain comes the splitting tomatoes. The yellow pear are particularly affected.

CUT AND COME AGAIN

Around this time much of what is growing in my garden needs serious cut back. For some it may be the second cut back of the year.

The native cosmos is one that you can cut and cut and cut and it will still come back. It will take on a more bushy, pleasing appearance.

I cut back the chocolate daisy about 2 weeks ago. It is already flowering again.

I love the blanket flowers for their ability to keep going through all that heat with no loss of color on the flowers. They will look just as good in the fall.

I usually pull out the Gulf coast penstemon after it has flowered because of the need to reduce seed head production. This year I just cut off the heads. It has surprised me with a second flowering.

Other plants a cut back severely a few weeks ago were catmint, Salvia greggii, daisy fleabane and wine cups. Now it's the turn of the wine cups again, lantana, lemon balm, knockout roses, purple cone flowers, tomatoes, zinnias and on and on. Doing this now will ensure a good flowering in the fall.

I made a start today by cutting back the lemon balm and look what I found. My very first chrysalis. In all my years of gardening it is the first I have ever found. Not surprising. There are plenty of places to hide in my garden! Following the advice of someone on the internet I have put it, along with twigs, leaves and some sugar water in a clear plastic container with lid. I shall be watching it daily for its emergence. Hope it is something pretty.

GARDENERS' KNEE

The last thing a gardener needs is an injury that keeps him out of the garden. Last week working among the rocks I stretched for another rock and must have landed badly on my left leg. It didn't hurt at the time but sometime later there was a tightness in my knee and I could see there was obvious fluid build up. Darn it. I had too much to do than to be sitting with my leg up with an ice pack. A week later it is no better so today I am forced to rest it. Not all bad this morning.

Instead of the buzz from the bees in the garden I am listening to the buzz of those confounded trumpets from the crowd at the World Cup soccer match in South Africa. And it just happens to be England versus Germany. Now, I'm not much of a soccer fan even though I watched a zillion soccer games as we put three boys through years if Canadian and AYSO soccer. I can't help but feel a bit of emotion for this game. After all I have profound memories of the WC final in 1966 which pitted England against Germany. I had just graduated and was starting my first job in London. I arrived that morning by train and was watching the game in the living room of the family I was going to board with. When it got to penalty kicks I couldn't stand the pressure any more. To this day I hate watching those final penalty kicks.

Oh no! Germany just scored. Maybe I won't have to watch penalty kicks after all!

I may just have to switch to Find My Past to take advantage of the free viewing they're offering on the day that England plays in the World Cup. This may be the last.

IT WAS ALL GO AT MY HOUSE TODAY

Garden a Go Go time. The group came over to my house, this morning, to help me come up with a new plan for one area of my garden that was in need of some renovation. We changed the time to 9am so that everyone would feel more comfortable when outside. Even so the temperatures were already in the 80s by the time they arrived. After a quick tour of the garden it was down to work.

The area due for an overhaul is by the side entrance. A flowering senna tree seeded here, along with a vitex. Last year we pulled out the vitex and David was ready to say goodbye to the senna too. "Not until we come up with a plan for the area," was my cry. So 17 of Austin's garden blogging community collected by the steps and threw out ideas for a garden makeover.

After refreshments they set to work sketching their ideas on paper. I think everyone was in agreement that the tree should 'go' and the area should be planted with structural plants. The idea being to create a clean sharp planting to match the simple lines. One suggestion was for a rectangular water feature built using masonry blocks. I think that this would look lovely too but might be more maintenance than we have time for. I had thought of a tank in this area but there was little enthusiasm for this idea.

Thank you to our garden bloggers' group who visited today. Philip, Eastside patch, Bob, DracoGardens, Robin, GetGrounded, Pam, Digging, Katina, Gardening in Austin, Michele, Wabi-Sabi-Home and garden Caroline, The ShovelReady Garden, Ronnie, The Lazy Shady Gardener, Amy, Go Away I'm Gardening, Daphne, Chris, The Running gardener, Bonnie, Kiss of Sun, Ellie,Mostly Weeds, Lori, The Gardener of Good and Evil, Melissa, Zanthan Gardens, Meredith, GreatStems. And thanks to our other visitors who joined the group today.

Bob, the planter is simply gorgeous. I think it will be perfect for succulents. I look forward to seeing more of your work.