anacacho orchid

Spectacular signs of Spring

Here she is, Miss Tangerine Crossvine in her full spring splendor. See how gracefully she climbs up into the nearby Live Oak tree?
Her blooms are cheerful and bright – bringing a cacophony of color into the shady corner bed.
And she just keeps on cruising down the fenceline, spreading her beauty.
Out front the little Anacacho Orchid tree that I planted last year is living up to her full expectations with a profusion of delicate white blooms.

The variegated lemon tree is chock full of pink buds, ready to burst into lemony goodness very soon. The bees are eager for the buds to open, too, as they were hovering around just like me!
Green beans peek out of the ground in the veggie garden.
The tomatoes planted before we left for our Indiana Spring Break trip were damaged by the 1 cold night in Austin last week. I think it got down to the mid-30s and the tomatoes all have leaf damage, but they will be fine. See, this one has a BLOOM!!!!! A wannabe tomato…the plants may not be pretty any more, but they are growing and developing, so I won’t complain.
These are the White Icicle Radishes shown in the sidebar photo above. Tasty – and spicy.
Here’s another Bluebonnet blooming in the greenhouse bed. I gave in a planted plants this year as I have not had luck with seeds — we just have too much mulch where I want to plant them, so I carefully amended the soil and pulled back the mulch and put in 15 plants this spring.
The Mexican Plum tree is full of blooms this week, too.
Aren’t they pretty?
This, however, is NOT so pretty. Witness, please the GAZILLION Live Oak leaves that are cascading from my trees. If they were white, you’d think it was snowing in parts of my yard. And they aren’t even 1/2 done with their littering of my beds.

I’m itching to get out there and blow them elsewhere, but more will fall right into their place, so I will wait a week or two. I know, for instance, that there are dozens of wildflower seedlings under here waiting to get out…and I can’t wait to see them…next week maybe!

A few little pretties

Today, my husband and I cleaned out the garage. No gardening and no interesting photos there, although it’s nice to have to done and all clean with room for more plants and pots and gardening tools!

I took these pictures yesterday. This lovely, delicate white flower is from my Anacacho Orchid Tree (Bauhinia congesta ), which I planted in the front bed when we had to remove all of the shrubs because of the Oleander disease. It replaces a Redbud that struggled most of the year. In the Spring, however, it always seemed happy and bloomed beautifully for me. I am so glad that this new tree also has lovely Spring blooms that everyone can enjoy. For a great photo for a full sized tree, you can check out Pam’s tree at Digging and see how much prettier the blooms get as the tree grows. (I have a little tree-envy, can you tell?!)

I had to capture a photo of this Verbena – the color is just so striking and it just thrives in this cooler Spring weather. It will melt when the heat of Summer arrives, but for now, it’s in its full glory and makes me smile every time I walk by it.

I saw Mr. Cardinal drinking from the top of my fountain and grabbed my camera, but by the time I got back, he was gone. But he invited some friends for a cocktail. Shortly thereafter, two mourning doves replaced him at the bar to wet their whistles!

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