Don't Mess with Nature.

King of the Ant Hill.

Miscellany.

• the butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa) is on the verge of blooming, but a small herd of monarch caterpillars is grazing on the foliage and will almost certainly get to the flower buds before they open
• the summer snowflakes (leucojum aestivum) have experienced a recent growth spurt, but still no sign of flowers
• the coral honeysuckle (lonicera sempervirens) has new growth at almost every node
• to my great surprise, three chinese trumpet 'regale' lilies are sprouting under the tea olive
• narcissus "petrel" are sprouting in various places, most are about eight inches tall
• the "wisley blues" have a vase-life of about 48 hours

Things Still To Do.

• cut back driveway lantana (done feb. 29)
• move lantana out of front bed and relocate to site tbd
• move cuphea hyssopifolia (mexican heather) out of front bed to ??
• cut back pentas lanceolata and relocate ??
• trim (heavily) trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmine)

Today's Accomplishments.

• put the wee little russelia equisetiformis (firecracker plant) rooted cutting in the ground -- deck bed between tecoma stans (yellow bells) and unknown iris
• planted the two callicarpa americana (american beautyberry) rooted cuttings in the backyard side fence bed
• finally put the hippeastrum x johnsonii (st. joseph's lily) in the ground -- west end of deck bed
• planted four sprouting gladiolus byzantinus (byzantine gladiolus) corms in deck bed in front of iris
• cut back, divided and replanted cymbopogon citratus (lemon grass)

Weekend Reading.

• from the houston chronicle's lazy gardener -- don't be bugged by garden insects -- suggestions for organically coping with bugs in houston.
• from the seattle post-intelligencer -- 10 commandments for carefree gardening -- applicable to all gardeners, not just those in the northwest.
• also from the post-intelligencer -- 10 ways to garden with your partner and stay together -- i need to try some of these strategies.

You Know You're a Gardener When...

you wake up in the morning and remember dreaming about pulling weeds.

Ipheion uniflorum "Wisley Blue".

the wisley blues that were just starting to bloom nine days ago are gradually increasing in number.

the flowers are not large, but they close at night (and on overcast, rainy days) and reopen for three or four days. i haven't tried cutting any to bring inside, so i don't know how well they hold up. i'm torn between leaving them to try for the flower-carpet effect and satisfying my curiousity about their vase viability.

update: i decided to go ahead and cut some to put in water. i'll try to note how long they last. the erlicheers i brought in yesterday remain beautiful.

i'm also trying to remember to note how flowers smell. the wisley blues have a delicate scent similar to green tea.

Little Things.

my sidebar has been slowly growing longer and today i finally did something about it. i didn't cut any links out, but i did convert the unwieldly archive links and typelists to drop down menus. i found the necessary tweaks on the blog of une very stylish fille.

one of these days i'm going to do a major overhaul of the decor, but i'm having trouble settling on colors.

update: egad, the "little things" title is more appropriate than i intended. viewing gardenspot on my other computer, a mac running netscape 7.0, the items in the drop down lists are tiny! i should probably do something about that, since mac really is my platform of choice.

Narcissus "Erlicheer".

the narcissus "erlicheer" by the front door started blooming late last week. unfortunately, the recent rains have beaten down the scapes. i think part of the problem is that they are top heavy -- the scapes are relatively long and have multiple flowers, anywhere from six to twelve per scape.

since the poor things were pretty much lying flat on the ground i went ahead and cut them to bring inside. and that led to an extended flower photo session. my digital camera is far from top-of-the-line and my photographic skills are far from great, so i had a tough time getting pictures that could do the erlicheers justice. and, of course, pictures can't convey the scent of the flowers. it is strong but not unpleasant -- sweet and citrusy, i would say. in the background is my lavandula multifida (fern leaf lavender).

last year the erlicheers bloomed a few weeks earlier, early-february rather than mid- / late-february.

Dream Catcher Hills.

darin and i are back from an overnight trip to the fredericksburg area. we stayed at dream catcher hills, a b&b a few miles out of town. i highly recommend it as the perfect setting for a romantic weekend -- secluded, quiet, and, unlike in houston, the night sky is full of (visible) stars.

before leaving the fredericksburg area today we went to enchanted rock state park and hiked up the summit trail. having hiked around enchanted rock in july a few years ago, i can say the it is much easier in february -- probably has something to do with the fact that the temperature was about 40 degrees (fahrenheit) cooler this time.

the bluebonnets and other wildflowers won't be blooming for several more weeks, but the texas hill country is worth a visit any time of year.