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Oh, my…

I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but I just don’t have one.

But I do have a story to tell.

Tonight as I was closing up outside, I heard rustling on the other side of the fence where Kallie and I placed more Malabar spinach vines for the deer. So, I snuck in to peer out the window, and there was … not Emmy, but a young buck with pretty antlers munching on my spinach. He turned and cocked his head in my direction – saw me, and ran off. I had my camera in my hand, but it would have never worked … it would have been a photo into the dark, far away and through the window…talk about a challenge.

But, it was so nice to see him there, having a late dinner and a drink from the water bowl, knowing that these animals are desperate for moisture and food since we are down 13 inches below our normal rainfall (and our normal rainfall isn’t much to begin with).

I’ll change my tune when he tears stuff up later in the week, but tonight, I’m soft-hearted and touched.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:08-05:00September 30th, 2008|Blog, deer, malabar spinach, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Ok, don’t laugh!

So, I had a brainstorm.

If you’ve been following my posts about my veggie garden, you know I have rampant Malabar spinach that is literally taking over my garden and threatens to consume my very house.

While Lori of The Gardener of Good and Evil and Robin, of Getting Grounded were here visiting last week and shaking their heads at how it’s taking over, we thought perhaps the deer would like to eat it — instead of my newly-planted Cuphea!

What a great idea~

So, last night my DH helped me haul an armload of long vines full of juicy green leaves out to the edge of our septic field and next to the water bowl I leave out for the deer. The picture above shows the path that leads into the woods and the septic field (the bright green grass on the hill in the distance).

And this morning, lo and behold, the vines are strewn about and the leaves have all been eaten off of it!

I know – feeding the deer is precarious, but better this than live plants! And, besides, it’s almost like they are in the garden beside me pulling the vines out to make room for more Fall garden veggies! (well, not quite!) It might take me a little longer giving them bunches at a time this way, but hey — this way, I literally am … “sharing nature’s garden.”

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:52-06:00September 29th, 2008|Blog, deer, malabar spinach, Sharing Nature's Garden|7 Comments

Oh, just flog me…

Time to flog this blogger. You’d think I’d learn. But, no….

So I bought this beauty at Barton Springs Nursery on Friday when all the activity was going on in my gardens and I needed to add the filler plants too the new bed. The owner recommended this as a great plant for partial shade and said the deer leave hers alone so I scooped it right up.

And threw away the pot, and with it, the NAME!

Sigh.

So — anyone recognize this? It was mislabeled as a vine, and she said, that this wasn’t the vine, it’s the shrub of the same name. Whatever name that is….

Sigh!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:52-06:00September 28th, 2008|Blog, mystery, Sharing Nature's Garden|16 Comments

Transformation…

Well, the wonder guys came and did my big project work yesterday and boy did I (rather, we) clear out some stuff! It’s hard to tell, but now there is nothing behind the pool wall until you get to the line of cedars outside our fence. There used to be huge overgrown vines encroaching on the wall and covering up the Hibiscus pots. I dug around and found an old before picture to give you some perspective — two or three years ago I planted two primrose jasmines on either side of the back of the pool. And they grew into monsters!

Can you see the HUGE vines behind the 3 pots and how tall they were? And they went all the way across to the other side of the pool.

So this is all the space I’ve opened up. And I’m really excited about it because I’ve come to realize lately that many of my garden beds are becoming shadier. Which is hard for me because I haven’t historically been a shade gardener.

The is the new bed out behind the wrought iron fence that I meant to put in last Spring and instead I let the heat beat me down. So, on the left side is a variegated Agave that is a passalong plant from my neighbor that has a big agave collection. The lovely pot is flanked by two trailing Lantanas. There are three pink Skullcaps in the front, three little Blackfoot Daisies on the right in front of a Sago Palm, and there are also three Feather Grasses scattered about. In the pot, I have a toothless Texas Sotol. I also plan to put in some Aloe pups that were given to me by Pam at Digging

This is the back corner bed where I had them pull out the three Viburnums. They were just taking over the bed and I wanted some more room to plant other things, so I passed them along to Robin, at Getting Grounded, where she has given them a good and loving home.
This is what they hauled out of here!!! Plus a truck bed full of stuff and the 3 Viburnum that went to Robin’s.
And, besides the empty spaces and clean beds, they left me 350 pounds (yes, 350 pounds!) of crushed granite for me to refresh my pathway because every time I weed I throw about granite bits. And since I can’t carry all that, they put it in buckets for me all along the path so I can put it out as I weed. So, now I have another job to do!

Whew, I’m tired just looking at all that!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:08-05:00September 27th, 2008|Agave, Blog, new beds, Sago, Sharing Nature's Garden, sotol, viburnum|11 Comments

eeeewwwwwwwwww…

When I was wishing for some help in the garden yesterday, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind!

Isn’t he creepy looking?

He’s a Cicada, an insect of the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha and in the superfamily Cicadoidea. Wow. That’s a mouthful for such a little guy.

There are about 2,500 species of Cicadas around the world and they like more tropical climates. Like Texas!

They are the biggest noisemakers — and they sure get the most bang for their little body buck. Who knew something so small could be so loud and annoying?

And worst of all, after I took his picture to make him famous, he didn’t even reciprocate by pulling weeds or pruning or sweeping up anything. Some bugs!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:08-05:00September 25th, 2008|Blog, cicada, insect, Sharing Nature's Garden|5 Comments

The latest in garden decor?

What do you think? Modern art? Sculpture de plastique? An obstacle course?

No, it’s my latest attempt to protect my plants.

Yes, that’s right. Little Miss Emmy (as I’ve named our resident yearling deer) has been munching on all my newly-planted plants. Remember the Cuphea I planted on Sunday? She ate about 1/3 of one Cuphea the first night. Then she nibbled on another one. And by the time I bought these milk crates and got them out there this afternoon, she’d sheared them all way down to the base. And she ate all the bloom buds off of the 3 mums, too. She did leave the Mexican Oregano alone, though.

Sigh.

I’m hoping that the only reason she ate the Cuphea was because it was young and tender and newly planted, and that she’ll leave them alone when they grow a little bit. After all, I thought the mums would be safe because I have two of them that have lived in the same spot in pots for a YEAR untouched. They are big ones, so, I’m crossing my fingers and hoping they grow big and woody and taste terrible!

See how little she left me?

While I was planting all the plants for the deer to eat for dinner on Sunday, I also dug up several volunteers and potted them. The first two, L to R, are probably not going to make it, but the last 3 are Crape Myrtles and should be a beautiful fuchsia color if they came from the seeds of the nearest tree. (Though I do have a row of white ones far away — just my luck — these will be white when I want them to be fuchsia!)