Blog
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A Mid November Look Around The Garden
It is already mid November, but even for central Texas we still have unusually high temperatures (daytime 80s F). Despite the warmth, the garden is clearly making seasonal changes so I thought it might be interesting to take a look around. I keep the area in front of the house fairly neat. For instance, I Continue reading
american beautyberry, beach sunflower, blackfoot daisy, bluebonnet, common sunflower, cowpen daisy, fall, flame acanthus, food, frogfruit, frostweed, habitat, indiangrass, leaf litter, meadow, mealy blue sage, mexican mint marigold, mexican plum, native grasses, rock rose, season, shelter, shrubby boneset, texas mountain laurel, white mistflower, yellow yucca -
Green Lynx Spider With Egg Sac
I regularly check my Texas Mountain Laurel tree for Genista Broom Moth caterpillars, which can eat a lot of tender new foliage if they get out of control. On this particular morning I did see a couple of caterpillars, which were plucked off and flung away. The Texas Mountain Laurel tree is a common resting Continue reading
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My Story, Told By Native Plant Society Of Texas
Months ago, a little after two years into my “rewilding” project, I responded to a call from the Native Plant Society of Texas for descriptions of gardens that would survive in heat and drought. They didn’t use my piece then, but they did publish the article in the 2025 fall issue of their magazine, which Continue reading
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Another Prairie Grass
The mid-height prairie grass area is developing quite nicely. There are established populations of Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), and Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris). There is also some intruding Curly Mesquite (Hilaria belangeri) from the Thunder Turf grasses nearby, which I have allowed to stay until now. However, for Continue reading
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Two Kinds Of Mistflower
Very early after I arrived in Seguin, I planted Gregg’s Mistflower (Conoclinium greggii) because I knew that it was a butterfly magnet. It is particularly beloved by Queen and Monarch butterflies, but many other pollinators visit it as well. This is a photo from a year ago, on a day when I happened to see Continue reading
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Rain Lilies
On a whim this year I bought a small pack of Rain Lily aka Prairie Lily (Zephyranthes drummondii) seeds. These are flowers that appear briefly after rain, so they’re a nice pop-up surprise appearing en masse on roadsides. A couple of years ago I tried planting a few seeds that I took from a roadside Continue reading
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Increasing Diversity In The Wildflower Meadow
The wildflower meadow in the front of the house has completed two seasons of growth. Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) and Firewheel aka Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella) have done very well, with some spectacular displays in the spring. A few other wildflowers have grown too, but even though this is a small and limited area, I would Continue reading
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Inland Sea Oats
Inland Sea Oats aka Inland Wood Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) grow well in a shady environment, and are useful in preventing soil erosion. In the shade bed on the north side of the house, where water run-off from the roof has cut a groove into the ground below, I thought that Inland Sea Oats would be Continue reading
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Finally We Got Rain
After weeks of drought and high temperatures, we finally got 1.54 inches of rain over two days (October 24-25, 2025). And instead of temperatures high/low of 90s/70s F, we are now expecting a more normal 70s/50s to arrive in a day or two. (Although, as I write this on the afternoon of October 27, the Continue reading
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Fall Mowing Of The Wildflower Meadow
October is a good time to put the wildflower meadow in front of the house to bed for the winter. It’s a seasonal project, so to keep the area tidy this is when it gets a good trim. The process for 2025 was largely the same as I did in October 2024. The plants still 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 