Blog
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Eight Spotted Flea Beetle
This cute little Eight Spotted Flea Beetle (Omophoita cyanipennis) was resting on the Mexican Olive (Cordia boissieri) tree. Continue reading
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Sleeping Bees
This garden attracts a lot of bees of different types and sizes. Most of our native bees in Texas are solitary and one of the most delightful things to see in the early morning are bees that are still sleeping on plants. Here are a couple of Eastern Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa virginica) that I saw… Continue reading
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Fall Asters Are Blooming
The average blooming schedule for Fall Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) is September to November. My plant (and others in Seguin) had a brief time of blooming in May this year, apparently confused by some environmental signal. However, now we seem back on track and new flowers are forming in the correct season. Continue reading
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Installing A Trellis
There are several native vines that would be fun to grow, but there has been nowhere for them to climb. I have pondered a variety of structure options, but for now have decided to go with a small free-standing wall. As always with this lot, a major challenge is digging down through our stony soil.… Continue reading
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A Second Blooming Of The Mexican Olive Tree This Year
My Mexican Olive (Cordia boissieri) tree was only planted last fall, and then had to recover from a serious freeze in January this year. So when this young tree produced a single cluster of flowers a few weeks ago, I was very happy with that and did not expect more this year. However, I have… Continue reading
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What Is My Soil Here?
Having a hole dug down two feet to prepare for an ecosystem pond allowed a nice opportunity to see a cross-section of the soil here. So from top to bottom, here’s what I have. The tool I am using for scale is 12 inches long. The uppermost layer (dark brown) is 1-2 inches of the… Continue reading
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Pond #3: Breaking Ground
I’ve waited a long time for this, but construction of the ecosystem pond has finally begun. The story continues to have twists and turns that you just couldn’t make up (most of which I have not shared here). We are now in Month 7 of the project. First, a baby excavator arrived, which had to… Continue reading
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More Tree Propagation That I Did Not Plan
My Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) tree was recently pruned to allow for it to be braced for stabilization. That revealed a few tiny new branches that were growing directly from the main trunk, in a position lower than I want new branches to grow. Obviously I could just cut these off, but I decided to… Continue reading
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Big Toad Sighting
Our property is in the central part of a development, so to get to the development boundary, one would need to cross at least one street and one or more properties. I would have expected in these early years of the new development that most of the visiting wildlife would fly in or already be… Continue reading
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A Pleasant Surprise In The Tall Grass Area
There is a small area toward the back of the garden that I have designated for mid-height prairie grasses. Developing this area has been confounded by the fact that I am not very good at identifying grasses. Here’s a summary of what has happened in this area in the past year: In this photo, Waco… 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 