I was taking the trash out for the sanitation workers this morning, when I saw this out of the corner of my eye...


a bit of a surprise actually, it's been raining and a little on the chilly side all week. I had seen the buds last week, but I thought that they'd wait for some sun and heat... this close-up isn't the best, but it is in the wee hours of the morning, so the light isn't the best...

There's a pic of this Echinopsis in this post, back when I first planted the rock garden last March... http://lpfleamarket.blogspot.com/2008/03/winter-hardy-cactus.html I have no idea of the species, as it was sold to me as 'Echinopsis species' If I get any seed pods off of it, I might try to sprout them, but there are many many Echinopsis hybrids out there. I'm not sure what may turn up...

As stated in the above post, this was sold to me as winter hardy to at least 20 degrees... and it certainly survived last winter. And from looking at the pics, I need to get out there this weekend and pull out some weeds...

have a great day everyone...

today it was raining like cats and dogs.

So obviously I don't got any pics.

but I do got a dancing pickle...



just thought I'd throw that out there...

no pics today...

I've been having a rather stressful time since last Friday...

Not going to go into too much detail, but Mom's been in the hospital and managed to give us quite a scare... anyway, now she has a new pace maker and she'll be coming home Thursday.

And I've never been under Aneasthesia, but if I ever am, I certainly hope I don't come out of it cussing at everyone in sight... she certainly did...

But no new pics, and no new blog kind of news. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to my normal cantankerous self soon...

Have a great day... I'm off to work soon...

So, I had some stuff to do in the garden today...

On earth day, I celebrated by buying a plant. Actually, rescuing a plant from Home Depot... I should know better, but I stopped in Home Depot to buy something or other and I dropped by the garden dept, and there'e these little cactus... I got a Pereskia aculeata that was badly in need of attention... I think I used Earth Day as an excuse to buy it...

Now Pereskia aculeata is one of THOSE cactus... Primarily because it doesn't much look like a cactus. They're the only cactus genus that isn't considered succulent. There's an arguement that they're primitive cactus... in other words, this is what cactus looked like before they developed succulent stems and all their leaves evolved into spines... but I'm not going to worry about that. They're a tropical plant, native to Brazil, that produces white flowers and edible fruits on climbing vines... called Barbados gooseberry...

This one was etoliating, and I decided to get it into a better situation this morning at about 7 am.

So I picked a dead branch off my curly willow tree to give it something to climb on, and then grabbed a glazed flower pot to plant it in... and something jumped out of the pot at me...

Now, I should make myself clear... I'm not particularly squeemish about snakes, spiders, lizards and such... but that's based on the general assumption that they don't want to be around me far more than I don't want to be around them... but at 7 AM, fortified only by 2 cups of coffee, I can't be expected to react well when paniked critter decides to do a Kamakasi leap at my face! After he settled on one of the straw bales that I'm growing tomatoes in, I determined that not only is he harmless, I actually don't mind him being here... It's one of the common geckos that live in this part of the world.
They eat huge amounts of bugs and such, but they generally only do it at night so the only time you see them is when they crawl up the sides of the house to catch the insects attracted to house lights. You also see them when you pick up the flower pot they've decided to sleep in. Anyway, after he squirmed into another hole, I continued with my project... And here it is...

I'm not expecting much, but I may get some blooms from it next year, and maybe a berry or two...

The plant, when established well, is a bit on the rampaging side, using its small sharp spines to grab onto trees and branches and scrambling up to 10 meters. It's white blooms make it appear to be more a climbing rose than anything else, when it blooms, and while commercial growers use Hylocereus undatus to make those grafted cactus at Wal-mart, the stems of Pereskia are often used to graft tiny seedling cactus, to make the seedlings grow much quicker. It'll need more water than my other guys, and I do now have another plant that has to come in this winter, but we'll see how it goes...

Meandering around, and a surprise at home...

Had a long drive out today... all the way to Bridgeport Texas... I don't know why they call it Bridgeport... I didn't see a bridge, and there's definitely no port... but there we are...

I saw this rather magnificent stand of Optunia... I wish I could say it was natural, but it's a deliberately planted security barrier... unless you're driving a tank, I seriously wouldn't recommend trying to get through this...

And here's a rather magnificent scrub oak... I've always loved the meandering twisted branches on these things...

And fairly close to my house, there's a cemetary that I realized I'd never visitited... of course, I looked for cactus... But I think that other cemetary I saw them in is an exception to the norm... there's no cactus here at the Rehoboth Cemetery... I intend to look up the word Rehoboth, because I have no idea what it could possibly be referring to...

Thsi is the grave of Mary Miller... the first grave at this site...

And this is the grave of Clara Bell and Cora Lee Whitehead... twins who were born and died within a month.

And here's a distant shot of the cemetary... You can't tell from the pic, but the grounds are dotted with small wildflowers... which is really kind of a relief... I get tired of cemetaries that are maintained like golf courses. A more natural look is far more fitting to these historical sites...

And this was blooming it's fool head off when I got home... My Parodia werneri was blooming! I thought the buds were a couple days away from opening, but the heat over the last couple of days must have spurred them on... These pics don't show the colors well... the blooms are actually darker, almost royal purple...

UPDATE: The name Rehoboth is biblical...

And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." (Genesis 26:22 ESV)

I'm still not sure that I totally understand the reference, but there it is...

Cactus & iris...

Yep, it's another Escobaria missouiensis... but this one ain't in no graveyard... this is the plant that crowns my hen & chick tower... I used to have sempervivums at the top, but the top of the tower was just too dry for them... Most people don't realize the Semps, while succulent, are native to Europe, and can't take a Texas summer without a huge amount of watering... They do all right in the lower, plastic pots, but the top pot, with it's smaller amount of soil and very pourous terra cotta pushed the things to the edge. So I replaced the poor things with these last year.

and this is an iris that's been growing in the back yard so long, that I've forgotten the variety name... I think it's called "Forty-niner" but I'm not absolutely sure. Anyway, it's a nice yellow bloom, late in the season.


And that's about it for today.

I almost forgot... I started Crusader Rabbit, so here's episode 2 in which our fearless hero sets out to do battle with those evil, wicked, mean and nasty Texans... just as soon as he finds them...

By the way, the voice of Crusader Rabbit was done by Lucille Bliss... who later in her life did the voice of "Smurfette"

Crusader Rabbit vs. Texas

Howdy folks... I've had a rather tiring day, and not one darned pic to post...

so I found this... Crusader Rabbit!

This is episode 1 of the first cartoon to ever be produced specifically for television. It's literally a story told in a series of 15 four-minute cartoons, much like early radio serials, all of which are available on YouTube. Not the best of cartoons, they are however fun in a funky kind of way!

The rose pavillion...

Back to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden...

This time the rose garden... I've lost my little piece of paper where I wrote down all the names of all the varieties... so I'm having to depend on my memory here. I have no idea what this ones called...

This is the view looking down the hill from the rose pavillion. The pavilion was built in 1930 or 1931, and was the first public works project built by the government during the great depression... it's really a great little building, and the waterfalls go down the center of the rose beds. The beds are filled with Knockout, Pink Knockout and Blushing Knockout... which aren't my faves... they're semi-double blooms on bushes that are often used as hedges... nice enough though. When you stand in the pavilion, the breeze comes up the hill and you get the best scent from all the roses coming up to you...

After you get to the bottom of the hill, there are beds to the right, and even more extensive beds to the left...

This is a climber named Carnea... an antique rose that was introduced in 1804 or 1805... I was really impressed with it, so I remembered it...

This is one of the squirels... they're very tame in the Gardens, if you have something they want, they'll come right up to you and take it out of your hands... This guy was wondering if I was gonna cough up a cookie, no doubt...

This one I remember because I loved the color... Cinco de Mayo... the colors are just as festive as the name implies!

This is from the bottom of the garden looking up the hill...

And this final pic is the only hybrid tea rose I have here in my yard... Someone gave this rose bush to my mom as a gift, and then she gave it to me... so, here's Blue Girl... even though I think it's more lavender than anything else... pardon the dried edges to the petals... she's in a very exposed area and I think the wind dried her out some...


Hoping you all have a great day!

Cemetary Cactus...

Well, I know I was going to tell you more about my trip to the Ft. Worth Botanic Garden, but I found these today... I've been to about every cemetary I can find, (My dad was a history buff, and we used to enjoy looking for historic burials) and I've waded through more iris beds, crinum lillies and yuccas than I care to remember, but this is the first time I've ever encountered these Escobaria missourensis deliberately planted on graves. Of course, it may have once been very common to plant pincusion cactus over graves. Modern lawnmowers and weedeaters may have destroyed many plantings.

Some of the plants are blooming a decidedly green color...

some are very heavily bearing last years fruit...

and some are blooming a decidedly flesh-tone...

This is my size 11 work boot beside this clump, just so you have some idea of the size of the things...

I'm not going to give the name or location of this graveyard... the reason is that I am more than aware of the retail cost of these clumps of cacti... some of the clumps are at least a hundred years old... and I don't want to tell any cactus rustlers where to find a motherlode, but I did just have to show them to you...

Fort Worth Botanical garden... again...

Well, I got stuck in Ft. Worth at the end of the day, so I decided to drop by the Botanic Garden... I got tons of pics, but in this post, I think I'll confine myself to the cactus garden. I can't say that I'm particularly fond of the Cactus garden here... It's kind of wedged between the Japanese garden and the Oak Grove, and although the plants seem to do all right, I've always thought that they looked uncomfortable there... It consists of a kidney shaped planting bed full of a few winter hardy plants, and a whole bunch of cactus that are planted out every spring just sticking up out of the gravel... not my favorite kind of cactus garden. I much prefer a few other plants mixed in... anyway, this is surrounded by a ring of yucca, agave, mesquite and such. But, as far as I know, it's the only public cactus garden in the area, so I guess we'll live with it...

here's the claret cups...

And here's the Texas Horse cripplers...

And I forget what these are called, but I'm pretty sure they're some sort of Echinopsis...

The tall columnar cactus have just been planted out, and had big huge rebar stakes holding them up until their roots establish... (about a month) and the Golden Barrels all had sun-shade caps on them, so I didn't bother with them this visit...

And over the next few days, I'll try to post the pics of the rose garden and the entrance to the Japanese garden... It costs $3.00 to go into the Japanese garden, and I just knew that the second I paid for it, I'd get a call and have to run...

A few more wildflowers...

Believe it or not, I actually had a few minutes to stop by the side of the road and get some pics...

These are blue-eyed grass... I think it's Sisyrinchium chilense, to be exact, but I'm not 100% sure... there's about 70 different species of these little relatives of Iris in North America, and a few more species in South America. Cute little guys, a friend of mine has some of these growing wild in his yard, and I'm going to ask if I can transplants some of them into my rock garden.

And here's some Bluebonnets...(I hope you're not sick of them yet) aka Lupinis texensis, blooming with some Pink Evening Primrose, Oenothera speciosa.

And that's all I've got for today...

claude gets crafty...

I don't usually go in for craft kind of things... I'm perfectly willing to wrestle with a tire, or cart a 6 foot tall cactus lamp home, but quite frankly, most craft items end up being a little too pastel and cute for my taste. Of course, it behooves someone who works in a flea market to be able to take nothing and turn it into something, and every once in a while I get it into my brain to make something...

This started with one of those tin flower pots that had rusty spots and pealing paint... I started by sanding it, then spray painting it black...
Then I had these four things that I bought at the dollar store. They're sold as garden stepping stones... but quite frankly, they're only 7 inches across, and not big enough for a stepping stone. But, they're also only a buck each, so I bought them about a month ago, and they've been sitting here ever since...

So, I had some of this gold stenciling paint, and I drybrushed it onto the detailing...

And then I glued one on each side of the pot... a little more gold on the raised trim... and a coat of clear spray paint over everything, since that gold paint has a tendency to flake off...

And now, all I have to do is find a plant to put in it...

And that was my Easter day project.

Happy Easter everyone!

nothing much...

I took this pic of one of my sempervivums a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't publish it for some reason... anyway, here it is now, as it's not been a good couple of days for pic taking...

We've had gusty winds stirring up the dust, and wildfires west and north of us, so the sky has turned a little yellow on us. And the smoke and dust has made everything look foggy... not much fun if you have any sort of breathing problems. But the wind will be changing over the weekend, and they say there's actually a chance of rain coming in... which we desperately need!

Anyway, I was just posting so that everyone would know I'm still around...

later folks.