Blog
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Winter Cut-Back Of The Pollinator Garden
There is a small flower bed in front of the house that mostly has perennial native plants, chosen to attract and feed pollinator insects and birds. The above photo was taken mid-January 2025, when most of the plants were not in their blooming season. As of January 15, 2025, we had already had two nights… Continue reading
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Giant Swallowtail Caterpillars Have A “Back Off!” Signal
During one of my regular wanderings of the garden I spotted a Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) caterpillar on a Common Rue (Ruta graveolens), which is one of its host plants. Given the size of this caterpillar (nearing pupation, I think), it must have been there a while and I just hadn’t noticed it before. As… Continue reading
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Shrub Growth Report, January 2025
It is now an annual tradition (i.e., this is the second year!) that I take note of how my trees and shrubs are doing. This post addresses shrubs. Trees are described in a previous post. The measurements and photos were recorded on January 2, 2025. For the older plants, I’ve included photos from a year… Continue reading
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Tree Growth Report, January 2025
It is now an annual tradition (i.e., this is the second year!) that I take note of how my trees and shrubs are doing. Like children, when you see them every day, sometimes you don’t appreciate how much they’re growing. This post addresses trees. There will a separate one to describe the shrubs that I… Continue reading
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Shelter For Insects
I quite often see insects wrapping leaves around themselves or constructing cages of leaves to protect their young. When this happens in fall or winter, these may be insects that are trying to stay protected from the weather for a few hours or days, or even preparing to survive the whole winter. This is why… Continue reading
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Checking Repair Of An Earlier Tree Split
Back in May 2024, a major wind event caused a significant split in a fork of my young Desert Willow tree. The photo above is from that time. I applied a paste of rooting powder into the split and tied everything together with garden tape and a bandana. Following are photos of the repair first… Continue reading
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A Review At The End Of Year Two
My garden “rewilding” project is now almost two years old, and this time of year (December) is a good time to reflect on progress achieved and lessons learned. Planting for the year is finished and projects now largely involve tidying, trimming, or fixing things here and there, and waiting for spring when the garden will… Continue reading
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A Bug Just Chilling
Finally (mid-December) we are beginning to get cooler temperatures in Central Texas, but on one unusually warm and sunny afternoon I spotted this bug resting on a rock in the pond. It wasn’t doing anything, just sitting. I couldn’t get close enough for a proper identification, but the shape of the back legs put it… Continue reading
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Certified Wildlife Habitat
Until there was a pond here, this property was incomplete as a wildlife habitat because there was no reliable source of water. However, now that piece is in place, this garden is certified with the National Wildlife Federation as a Wildlife Habitat and I have a new sign to show that. To qualify for certification,… Continue reading
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Plant List, December 2024
We moved to Seguin, TX in February 2023, and that’s when I started the multi-year process of transforming our bare builder’s lot into a nature garden with priority given to native or adapted plants. We are in Plant Hardiness Zone 9a and our soil (below the builder rubble) is sandy, being part of the Post… Continue reading
About Me
Nature Lover.
Inquisitive Observer.
Student Gardener.
I invite you to join me on my journey to convert my sterile (from a nature point of view) new house lot to a healthy and diverse ecosystem, as I make discoveries, mistakes, and hopefully progress. I am not an expert or professional. The project started in February 2023 and the location is Seguin, Texas, USA.
Rewilding My Lot 