Think Spring! Mid-February in Galveston

For my northeastern friends who are watching the snow fall, grow deeper and deeper, and prepare to drift, here's what's going on down here in Galveston today.

The orange harvest is nearing an end; as you can see, the competition for the last of the oranges is heating up between the critters and me;  this one the critters got before me, leaving only the empty shell.  Sorry to say, there are quite a few empty shells both on the ground and some still attached to the tree. 

There seems to be some disagreement between the thermometers;  under the tree it's reading 38;  the metal thermometer on the deck says it's 34.  Or maybe they are both right and there's that much of a difference between the two.

There are always some flowers blooming here;  how about the blue rosemary, the orange violas, and the more standard variety of narcissus now coming on full bore.

 The vegetable garden has some cold-tolerant goodies coming on too, here are my sugar peas just coming into full production.  Yum, the bigger pods will be part of lunch today:

Zootie and the birds have their own issues.  Here she is staunchly defending the bird feeders;  and you can see the birds staring back from the safety of the neighbor's orange tree or giving her some taunting chatter from the telephone wire 20' above her head.

 Doesn't take long after Zoot comes back inside for the birds to come back in droves, the smaller birds kicking seeds out of the feeders and the bigger ones, the pigeons and doves, to take up pecking on the ground. Squirrels participate too, it's a wild place I live in.  ????



And one more for you shivering folks, here are Ellen and Zootie taking in the Mardi Gras parade (Krewe of Barkus and Meoux) in 2011.  Ahhh, think of a warm day in the sun with the Gulf of Mexico in the background.  And that was February also.

Fall coming on to the garden

Finally cold fronts are beginning to arrive and the garden is having a burst of fall color, many of the plants resuscitating themselves from the summer heat and putting on quite a bloom.  The vegetable garden is going in;  second planting includes newly formed ratproof (I hope!) surroundings.  Here's what's blooming and growing right now:

Morning glories at their height at the end of October

As the weather cools the morning glories decline, and after several hours of work, they are removed so that cool weather plants, hopefully the sweet peas I just planted, will take their place on the trellis.

 Here is succession for the migrating monarchs.  They sure love the asclepias (milkweed) and there are always many of them flitting about.  If you look closely below the adult, you'll see the little green larva that will shortly become a butterfly itself.  When they are growing rapidly, the stalks of the milkweed are stripped to only their stems.

Fresh planted hanging basket

 Gotta look up the name of this shrub.  I can't resist occasionally purchasing plants I know little about just to see if they will grow and thrive.  This one has and as you can see, is blooming very nicely for me this time of year.

First paperwhite narcissus of the season!  I'm still amazed to see these plants blooming this time of year.  Growing up in Pennsylvania, the daffodils and narcissus sure weren't blooming much before April.

Red pentas

These justicias really surprised me with their size - and blooming in a high-sun area.  Thought they were supposed to be shade lovers

The yellow salvia madrensis just beginning to bloom, you can see the red lantanas and blue mistflower, white zinnias, still blooming.

 Two different blooms on the Rothschild lily.  Do they come in male/female blooms?  Why do they look so different?

Monarch butterfly on milkweed.  Note the green seedpod to the right.

 Battered butterfly on the yellow lantana just coming into its own.

RATS!  The devils ate all of my first planting of broccoli, cauliflower etc. so here is my attempt at keeping them OUT of the vegetable beds.  I wonder how big the plants will have to get to be left alone, but I fear not for a long time if at all.  Interestingly enough, they have not bothered the lettuce or the sugar peas that (so far) have made it up about 6".  The fig tree in the background is losing its leaves.

Satsumas coming on!  This bunch is on the tree in my backyard.  I've been taste testing the more-advanced ones on my neighbor's tree.  Still a bit tart but so much better than store bought.

morning garden report. 

sorry for 1 handed typing, arm in sling for several more weeks with shoulder surgery, but finally feeling well enough to go out and enjoy my garden.

the recently planted petunia is growing and blooming

oranges ripening on the tree

 love these sweet and fragrant stocks

where protected by wire, veggies are coming along;  parsley, cabbage, bok choy.  how long until scent of fresh grown produce is too much for rats/squirrels and they overcome defenses?  i hope never

 morning light on unprotected lettuce.  not enough calories to interest rodents?  the devils ate all germinating radishes.  love the red lettuce

 tail end of the eggplants.  will the tomatoes produce this fall, make it thru the winter?  basil hiding under the fragipani.  grow boxes can go inside if it gets frosty here.  no frost on the island last year

 supervisors. 

Scouting Cypress Creek:  Included in this posting are maps and shuttle instructions for multiple segments of Cypress Creek here in the Houston area.  These were created by Tom Douglas to aid in the scouting of the segments for possible inclusion as a State of Texas Paddle Trail.  I participated in two of these segments (1 and 2) and note at the conditions we paddled these are not recommended or even safe for the casual user.  Water levels were too low, and there were multiple nasty obstructions including a lot of broken concrete, rebar, and logjams that impeded our progress.  This posting is for information only and should not be considered an endorsement or recommendation for paddling the segments.  Check closely, these are not necessarily in order from top to bottom.

Segment 1 starting Bud Hadfield Park

Above is segment 2

Last segment to Hwy 59

Getting started in Galveston

I purchased a 1930 house in Galveston in 2010.  It's small, cottage-sized, and I liked it particularly because the layout of the property (42' x 110') lent itself to the size and type of gardening I like to do;  a cottage garden for the front yard, with space for an active dog as well as a vegetable garden in the backyard.  The intent of the blog is to share the garden's progress, and what blooms and produces well for me in Galveston.