Hibiscus and Cactus

well, here's two plants that were never meant to be within 500 feet of each other...

The winter hardy hibiscus is one that I rescued... a neighbor had dug it up and was throwing it out because it was "too big." She was evidently uncomfortable with plants that got over a foot tall... whatever. And of course, a little prickly pear that ended up on the lath house after it got repotted.

Nothing really dramatic to talk about. I want to spend the day lying on the couch like a big gelatanous blob... It turns out that the dispatchers at work are fairly impressed with my problem solving abilities, so they are giving me the orders that they think might have issues. GEE THANKS. And of course, these orders have issues... like being written up wrong, being undeliverable, or the only delivery address being "in the middle of the cow pasture 9 miles west of known civilization."

Trust me, the little bit of time I get to spend in the garden is very theraputic. But, today I have to go to the flea market and get some stuff stocked, and I have to see if I can chase down a heating element for this oven. And I have to get some grocery shopping done. And all that stuff that I just don't have time for...

Capsicum annuum - chili pequin

These came to me from my friend Debra, who got her plant from her Grandmother-in-law who brought her original plant from Mexico when she emigrated. Don't you love plant's with a history?

These tiny peppers - slightly larger than a piece of buckshot - pack a wicked hot punch and are the wild variety that all of our domestic sweet and hot peppers descend from.

In my yard, the plants are a perennial, coming back up from the root every year to grow to 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide, although I'm given to understand that there are wild varieties that hug the earth and spread like a ground cover. The fruits are very much beloved by wild birds, in this area mockingbirds in particular visit every morning. Birds don't have the sense receptors to taste hot, and are probably going after the vitamin B.

Further North, the plants can either be grown as an annual, or grown as a pot plant. Further South, with no winter kill, they have been known to grow to small trees about six foot tall in the wild, and up to 15 feet in greenhouse culture.

This is the first flush of blooms and fruit that I'll get this year. This will be followed by a mass of blooms that don't produce fruit, and a further mass of blooms that will produce fruit. This is due to the fact that peppers, along with their cousins the tomato, are NOT pollinated by bees or other insects... the blooms don't produce any nectar to attract them. Instead, they are pollinated by the slightest movement, provided by wind, rain, or passing animals... and then only when night-time temperatures are below 80 degrees. Whether or not the pollination takes place at night, or if the drop in temp creates some bio-chemical change is unclear... But what this means is that here, in central Texas, when our humidity provides too much insulation and the night-time temps barely drop 10 degrees through July, August, and most of September, there is no pollination going on. (All this info comes from PEPPERS; The Domesticated Capsicum, by Jean Andrews, so all you bee people can take it up with the scientific studies that she sited.)

As stated before, these tiny peppers are HOT. Usually within the 50,000 to 100,000 Scoville unit range, which puts them in the company of the Capsicum chinense (habaneros, scotch bonnets and manzanillas) and much hotter than your average jalapeno. Three or four of the tiny things are usually more than adequate for a batch of salsa. Some claim that they have an under taste of smoke or citrus... but all I've ever tasted is hot. In Mexico, this heat is referred to as arrebatado, meaning rapid or violent, due to the fact that's while it's very hot it doesn't last long.

Chile pequins, or peqin, or cliltepin, or bird peppers are the only agricultural product that is still primarily harvested in the wild. The few farms that raise them exist in South Texas and Mexico, where they are usually grown in shade houses, due to the fact that in the wild, the plants usually are shaded by tall grasses. The seeds are primarily spread by birds, and thanks to the local mockingbirds, my plant has put up about 20 more along the fence row, and a few more around the neighborhood.

I've given a few to a friend who plants them in bonsai pots and turns them into little trees.

did not have a great day yesterday... every delivery was a little bit more troublesome than was absolutely neccesary, and then when I got home it was to the news that the oven had stopped working and we obviously needed a new one.

A quick check tells me that the heating element needs replaced. A quick fix, and while not cheap, it's cheaper than a new oven.

But anyway, I read a book that tells me that some people leave the house worrying and fretting and pretty much determined to have a bad day... and I am going to do the oposite.

I have promised myself that today will be a better day than yesterday...

of course, in aid of this noble pursuit, there may be a few people that have to be eliminated.... but they should have thought of that when they left their house this morning...

I'm kidding of course.

Honest.

Texas Bluebell Season...

Was delivering out west of Cleburn TX today, and saw these wonderful things... I like the Texas Bluebells more than I like the State flower, the Bluebonnet... the plant is more impressive, standing taller and more upright, the blooms are much showier, and it's blooming when everything else has pretty much given up the ghost...

Eustoma grandiflorum has just now started it's blooming season, and will continue through July and into August... when everything else is trying its level best to hide under a rock. These are random plants that were growing on the road side, but it's possible to see almost whole pastures of these as you drive through some parts of the state. It, and some Japanese cultivars of the plant are available for gardeners, under the name of Lisianthus, in colors ranging from white, pink and lavender... These will bloom, go to seed, and sprout this fall and winter for next years bloom.

mom...

I found an old pic of Mom from the 50's... couldn't help showing it off...

Love those shades!

Cereus hildmannianus

This is my Cereus Hildmannianus... one of the about 2 dozen cactus species referred to as Queen of the Night, sometimes called Peruvian Apple. (I call it Hildy...)



It's not blooming right now, this is from last year... I'm probably not going to get any blooms from it this year...



I've had the plant for about 10 years, got it when it was less than a foot tall on a clearance table at one of the local nurseries. Since then, it grew to about 4 feet tall, and put out one branch (on the other side of the plant in this pic) and puts out a couple of dozen blooms a year, about 8 inches across and at night. It's not winter hardy here, being only capable of surviving occasional light frosts, so I bring it in every winter and let it go dormant. This carting back and forth is probably why I was resisting putting it in a larger pot... which I regret now, as it turned out to be so top heavy that the last wind-storm blew it over and broke it off.



Before this, it was doing fairly well... It had two more trunks coming up from the base of the plant, both about 3 inches tall now.



Fortunately, the break was just above the branch, so now it's a stump with a foot tall branch sticking out of the side, and a couple of other branches coming from the bottom... in about a year it may have put out more branches from the trunk, so it'll end up fine. As for the pieces broke off... I've cut the growing tip off and put it in a pot to root... and the rest of the trunk, about two feet, has been cut into two pieces and laid flat on the ground in one of the flower beds. I have it on good authority from an Internet search that it will throw roots into the ground, and then start sprouting growth all along the pieces... I'll get anywhere from six to a dozen new plants to break off and root individually... I'll probably end up putting them all into one really huge pot, with the mother trunk in the middle.



But all this trauma may have ruined my chances of seeing any of the 8-inch wide blooms glowing in the moonlight this year...



Tracing the origins of this plant has proved to be a challenge for botanist... It's probably native to South America. The problem is that the plant, which can attain heights of over 15 feet in the right climate, has been grown as an ornamental, as well as for it's edible fruit, for so long that there are no records of it's original native land.



We'll see how everything works out.

senecio...

So, after the infamous raccoon -cat debate that took place in my yard... see 4 posts back... I am out of potting soil. What could be easier than dropping by home depot on my way home and grabbing a bag, right?

So I'm walking in, ignoring all the annuals, and I pass the cactus table... and we all know how this story ends, right?

well, here he is...
The label says he's a Senecio scaposus...

now, the real question... does anybody out there know what this is? Or what it does? Does it bloom? How big does it get? Anything?

Winecups...

Found these growing by the side of one of the warehouses today... Winecups (Callirhoe digitata) are a wildflower that grows throughout most of Texas... One of my favorites. We're pushing the end of the season, so it was kind of a surprise to see them growing beside one of the warehouses I delivered to today... fortunately I had a few minutes extra to take a quick pic.

Nothing much else today... just another work day for me. Haven't been having many slow days lately, a bunch of the drivers have quit, due to gas prices, which means I'm working a whole lot... since I get paid by delivery, that's good.

crepe myrtle blooming...

well, if you live in this part of Texas, Crepe Myrtles are a neccesity. They bloom during the heat of summer, and it's pretty difficult to kill them off...





I have two varieties here... one was a mistake... Natchez white... Mom gave me the plant years ago and I had to plant it... unfortunately these are one of the huge tree varieties. I know, all the garden writers insist that it's not a tree. But these things can get 25 feet tall and can develop trunks as big around as my thigh, and I call it a tree... It takes constant trimming to keep it in check...
The other one here is Dallas Red... (that's how neccesary Crepe Myrtle is in Texas, we have varieties named after us...) This pic was taken in too bright light, the blooms are deeper and a bit bloody looking... but it's a nice plant, topping out at 6 to 7 feet... This is the plant that I have the egyptian onions planted underneath... I talked about them in a previous post...

I always trim the bottom of Crepe Myrtles out, making them a little more tree-like... this is because I have a small yard and the width of a plant really matters. It also gives me a place to grow annuals underneath, most of which appreciate the protection in the middle of the day.

Very tired tonight. Another 12 hour work day. Came home a cooked what my Grandma used to call a "bachelors skillet"

Turn oven to 450 degrees.

Put empty cast iron pan in oven to get hot...

Cut up 1 onion, 1 small potato and add whatever veggies were on sale at the grocery store this week... Hard veggies cut small, softer veggies cut big or leave whole... Tonight I used edemame beans, frozen sweet corn, cherry tomatoes and a yellow squash... I also can recomend using whole green beans, asparagus, whole mushrooms, eggplant, brocoli (stems and all) literally everything. Except cabbage, which turns to water when it cooks, and most greens will over cook.

add enough olive oil to coat everything, and whatever seasoning you like... curry powder, lemon pepper, cajun spice mix, whatever you're in the mood for. Toss it good.

When the skillet is hot, carefully pull it out and pour in the veggies... then push to one side and throw in a couple of chicken thighs, or any meat you want, keeping in mind that it will end up well done. (you vegetarians can skip the meat...) Put pan in oven and cook 25 minutes. You can give it a stir and turn the meat halfway through, but you don't have to.

Pull it out and eat.

Pretty good, and not that difficult.

little garden bob...

OK, I know a few of you out there have fairy gardens and such... I have no such thing...

I have little garden Bobs...

I can't really pinpoint the origin of garden Bob... I know that when I was a kid, I used to name everything Bob.

I outgrew that, I have a pug dog named MoonPie and two black cats named Phennig and Charcoal Briquette Cat, so my naming has definitely moved beyond Bob, but as soon as I could handle a pocket knife, I, for some reason, have been carving heads on the end of sticks...

Mom and my sister used to take them and make little folk dolls out of them. They don't anymore, so whenever I get a small limb, or a broken broomstick or something, I carve a little head, name him Bob, and stick him in one of my flower pots... The bigger ones make decent plant stakes and the small ones scare away the slugs. Or I tell myself they scare away slugs. I really have no idea of their real purpose. It's just something I do.

They vary, this is one of the simpler ones, just a nice strong nose, brow and lantern jaw. There's a few around that look like skulls, and some that are a little more expressive...

For some reason, I thought someone out there might be interested...