Thoreau on Weeds

Spent some time in the yard today building beds, planting seeds, and pulling weeds, which made me want to share this little passage from Walden:

Consider the intimate and curious acquaintance one makes with various kinds of weeds — it will bear some iteration in the account, for there was no little iteration in the labor — disturbing their delicate organizations so ruthlessly, and making such invidious distinctions with his hoe, levelling whole ranks of one species, and sedulously cultivating another. That's Roman wormwood — that's pigweed — that's sorrel — that's piper-grass — have at him, chop him up, turn his roots upward to the sun, don't let him have a fibre in the shade, if you do he'll turn himself t'other side up and be as green as a leek in two days. A long war, not with cranes, but with weeds, those Trojans who had sun and rain and dews on their side. Daily the beans saw me come to their rescue armed with a hoe, and thin the ranks of their enemies, filling up the trenches with weedy dead. Many a lusty crest-waving Hector,(12) that towered a whole foot above his crowding comrades, fell before my weapon and rolled in the dust.

Poison Ivy in the Fall

Someone I know identified this plant growing near (but not on) our property as poison ivy. The tree that it its using for support is taller than a two story house. The vine itself has grown up to about two thirds of the height of the tree.



The pictures were taken in fall, before the plant dropped its leaves, which scattered everywhere.

Unfortunately, the vine grows in somebody's front yard, near the street, where the leaves fall all over the sidewalk.

Yet another mystery weed.

This is popping up all over the place in one of my flowerbeds. Anybody have any ideas?

Waiting games.

No digging until the ground dries out some more. Rats.

For some reason the rain does not check with me before it comes. :)

Knockout Roses

I am looking forward to seeing these in my garden again:



Right now my Double Knockouts are taking a blooming break. In the meantime I suppose pictures will have to do.

I still love these plants. They have already survived a significant episode of leaf spot with most of their leaves intact.

More Bauhinia Pictures

Here are some photos I took of the Bauhinia I saw last December:





I'm still determined to get one if I possibly can, once I get my new fruit trees in the ground.

For more info on these, see my other post.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Time to prune those roses! (And other shrubs)

Photo by Aaron. Used with permission.

This is also a great time for transplanting any tropical fruit or citrus trees.

Template Annoyances

Excuse the fluctuating colors as I try to restore my old background here. For now, at least, I have managed to get some color displayed. :)

Bauhinia variegata (Orchid Tree)

While out walking with my husband last December, I saw one of these (or something very similar) in someone's garden. I think I'm in love!

Photo by P. Shontelder. Click for photo source.

Why grow tropical flowers in a greenhouse when you can have them on trees?




Factoids:

Common Names: orchid tree, purple orchid tree, mountain ebony, poor man's orchid
Height: 20-40 ft (sometimes smaller if subjected to winter freezes)
Width: 10-20 ft
Spacing:
Habit: Tree
Nativity: Introduced to US from Asia (I have heard some say it is a Texas native)
Duration: Deciduous in freezing temperatures or winter drought
Flowers: Pink, variegated. Winter-Spring.
Light: Full sun-light shade
Moisture: Keep moist during summer months, water less frequently in winter. (Fortunately for us in southeast Texas, this happens quite naturally). Needs very good drainage.
Hardiness Zones: USDA 9-11, Sunset: 13,18-23
Propagation: Seed, cuttings, suckers (occasional)
Soil:


This tree is categorized as invasive and disruptive of native plant habitats in Florida, and should not be planted in that state.



Another tree with flowers resembling orchids is Texas native Chilopsis linearis (a.k.a. Desert Willow or Desert Catalpa), which, according to its USDA profile, likes the drier regions of West Texas. It has also been known to grow in other parts of Texas, including the Houston area, and in parts of California.


Bauhinia Variegata Links:
Floridata
Dave's Garden
Wikipedia
Desert-Tropicals.com
USDA Plants Database
Stanford University
University of Florida Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants

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Update: I have posted pictures of the actual specimen I saw. Maybe someone who knows more about this genus can tell me if they are the same species or not.

Troublesome background...

Blogger has for some weeks now flatly refused to display either background images or colors on this blog. I have no idea why this glitch is happening only here, as the graphics on my other blog are unaffected.

Template changes may be in order.

Catnip update

So last spring I planted some catnip plants I picked up at the home improvement store.

They did great until the heavy rains came. Then root rot took them.



But not before they went to seed.


Little tiny catnip plants are now making appearances in the bed where the original two plants were.

The lessons here?

1. The people who tell you not to put good soil below ground level in gumbo are not kidding.
2. Catnip seeds grow spontaneously (and happily from the looks of things) when scattered in summertime.
3. Some plants do okay with their roots in gumbo, as long as they are in an area that is slightly higher than others, allowing for drainage.

Bluebonnet update

I scattered the seeds in the fall this time, and there are now several little baby bluebonnet plants popping up in my flowerbeds.

Rather than meticulously starting them in peat pots, I decided to just toss them out there. I figure if that works well enough for mother nature, it's good enough for me. After that, I did little else to them. I figure if they're Texas natives and I'm not, the bluebonnets probably know what's good for them, especially since they've been around here longer. :)

They began to come up in December, and they are still there. Even some of the Russell hybrids (which were all eaten last year) are surviving so far. Hopefully, we'll have flowers this time around!

Playing in the dirt.

The ground finally dried out enough to allow me to plant the two muscadines I obtained at the fruit tree sale. I've been keeping them in mulch up till now. A few of the roots (but thankfully not all) did get a little dry on one of them, so I hope no permanent damage was done. Time will tell.

Either way, it was a perfect day for it. Warm, with just enough of a breeze to keep me from getting overheated, and ground that was moist enough that I could dig in it, but not so moist that my digging would damage the soil structure.

And I cannot overemphasize the usefulness of wheelbarrows when one is taking out grass and putting in even themost slightly raised of beds.

There is something wonderful about being tired, covered in smudges of dirt, looking at a brand new bed with fresh plants in it and thinking, "Yeah, I did that.".