What plant is this Texas edition

The game is find the mystery plants in the yard and I.D. them. I usually have the best luck with Dave's Garden.

Honeysuckle?

Mystery rose

Henbit - Lamium amplexicaule just a weed

Nandina Domestica Invasive

Chinese Privet, Ligustrum lucidum Invasive

False Garlic, Nothoscordum Bivalve

Large patch with another mystery plant

Hemlock? Poisonous!!!

 

So if we have poison hemlock in the WHOLE backyard what do we do?  Short of burn it I don't know yet.

Incomplete list of Butterflies

Texas has roughly 450 different types of butterflies depending on what sources you use.  This is not including moth species.  Florida has around 211 and I believe that is including moth species.  The United States has around 750 butterfly species and 11,000 moth species.  The following is a small sampling of the list my daughter started writing.  I think we will need to decide on a short list of host plants to start introducing.

The incomplete list

The Soldier-Danaus Erecimus
Larval food-Milkweed
Flight period-All year

Monarch-Danaus Plexippus
Larval food-Milkweed
Flight period-Spring to Winter

Gulf Fritillary-Agraulis Vanillae
Larval food-Passion flower vine-Passiflora
Flight period-All year

Zebra Longwing-Heliconius Charitonius
Larval food-Passion flower vine-Passiflora
Flight period-All year

Red Postman-Heliconiidae
Larval food-Passion flower vine-Passiflora
Flight period- All year

Golden-banded Skipper-Autochton Cellus
Larval food-Pea family
Flight period-May through August

Silver-spotted Skipper-Epargyreus Elarus
Larval food-Pea family
Flight period-May through September

Long-tailed Skipper-Urbanus Proteas
Larval food-Mallows
Flight period-All year

Marina Blue-Leptotes Marina
Larval food-Legumes/Fabaceae
Flight period-All year

Melissa Blue-Plebejus Melissa
Larval food-Legumes
Flight period-April through October

Brown Peacock-Anartia Fatima
Larval food-Ruellia(Wild Petunia)
Flight period-All year

Now for research

Now I have decided to just make the butterfly garden.  We will put off the vegetable stuff until fall planting time.  I know the weather here is similar to Florida in the meaning that I will possibly be able to plant veggies year round.  Of course winter and summer being pretty tough on the plants.

Any way...Even before I made the decision on the garden my daughter had already checked out a butterfly book from her school library.  First book in the new school, Mama is proud.  She mark the pages that had butterflies that live in our region and then made a list of plants for hosting.  Yep my girl.  We are researchers.  We love to write things down and then I lose said paper.  That is why I made the blog.

Research is important!  It is important to know what plants are invasive, if they will prosper,  are they waterwise?  

The first Internet stop I made was Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center.  I used this all the time back in Florida.  By the way it is just up the road from here!!!! Spittin' distance as my Dad used to say.  So much information for native plants for all your gardening needs.  Of course the Internet has a wealth of information on gardening but this is just up the road.

Next I looked up some local blogs. I have to say and, it maybe the population difference, but folks here are more of the bloggin' type.  Garden blogs are kinda like reading someones garden journal.  It's first hand experiences that will really help me figure out this new area.  Now I feel like a blog stalker because I am reading all kinds of past blog post to get a feel for gardening here.  

Finally my favorite the library and book store stops.  Always a wealth of knowledge found between the covers of a good book.  Ok, just FYI there is a place called Half Priced Books.  I have no idea if we had one in Florida but there is one in my area.  I am in love.  

From here I have a pretty good idea of what I would like to do.  I am also very please that some of my favorite plants are native here also.  Spiderwort, Coneflower, Mistflower, Phlox, just to list a few special flowers to grow here.  Now just to get them all.

Good luck gardening everyone!

Where to start

So where do you start with a new garden?  In my opinion it is best to assess the area.  Where could you put a garden in your yard.  Is it an easy to access area, safe from heavy traffic like kid, animal, car?  Are you in a rental?  What restrictions do you have on planting with property managers or HOA's?

Here are pictures of the skeletons of a garden.

Two mystery roses

Pretty sure this was a sandbox

This far corner is filled with small branches 

The only thing holding this together is the mystery plant

I am not really sure what exactly each planting area was meant for.  I know the original gardener had some plan.  The soil looks amazing.  Rich black earth for planting.  Now we need to measure the areas and decide what would be best for vegetables or butterflies.  I am so excited!

Good luck gardening everyone.

So quite

The blog has been so quite for SOOO long.  A lot has happened over the last few months (years).  We finally gave up that house.  It was a had decision but the family couldn't pass this opportunity up.  So this little born and raised Floridian is now living in Texas!

Even after a month it is still strange to say "I live in Texas".  I am still marveling at the difference from Florida.  Texas has real honest to goodness dirt as apposed to the sand in Florida.  They also have something called Fall and Winter instead of Monsoon and Sauna.   Texas also has this strange obsession with orange and white Longhorn cattle.

I am currently filling my little garden book with the planting dates and variety of vegetables suitable for this area.  Planting times are similar here as they are in Florida.  Some veggies can get start very early, like lettuce.  Of course I am not sure if that will happen just yet as we are currently sitting at 34 degrees Fahrenheit. (WHAT!!)

Good luck gardening everyone.  I'm going to just stay in for a few more days and drink hot coffee.

Happy Earth Day 2013

The day was beautiful (even if I had to work)!  My little group planted a few flowers, adding to the Pumpkin Patch.  Oh, but you haven't heard the story about the pumpkin...  Around Halloween time, the little group dug into a large pumpkin.  Seeds and goo were everywhere.  Great fun was had by all.  Wash off the sidewalk, clean hands, and back inside.  Let's fast forward until April, during an outdoor check for lizards, frogs, flowers, or snakes. Yes snakes, it is Florida.  We had a five footer in a tree once.  Well, we find three baby leaves that are different from the grass leaves.  What else could they be, but pumpkins growing from our big pumpkin six months earlier.  We were concerned the mean lawn mover would mow them down, so three little pumpkin plants got dug up and replanted in a pot... and the pumpkin patch was born.

Missed the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-April 2013

A lot has been happening around the garden.  Never a free second...well if I would manage my time better...

Here are a few plants blooming in my little piece of paradise.

Aztec Gold daylily

Spiderwort or Cow slobber(snot)

Ghost Succulent-Graptopetalum Paraguayense A resent gift

Coreopsis Salsa