Blog
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Paper Wasps
In my Desert Willow tree, not doing any harm, there is a nest of Apache Paper Wasps (Polistes apachus). It is fairly low down in the tree, just below the green tape. Paper Wasps are interesting and useful, and since they are not bothering me then I will not interfere with them. Paper Wasps are… Continue reading
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Pond #2: Prepping The Area
To prepare for the installation of an ecosystem pond, a few things needed to happen. The first step was to clear the quadrant of the garden where the pond will be located; that task started a few weeks ago. This zone had annual plants (mostly Firewheels), so there was no damage done in removing them.… Continue reading
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Red Yucca Seed Pods Are Rattling Now
This year I have one bloom spike on my collection of Red Yuccas (Hesperaloe parviflora). The spike is 65 inches tall and is still producing flowers from which hummingbirds feed. The last time I wrote about this plant, there were five green seed pods on the bloom spike. Now these seed pods are black and… Continue reading
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Pond #1: Why
We live on an urban property in a new housing development in Seguin, Texas. When we moved here in February 2023, from a nature point of view the land was virtually sterile. Any soil that had originally been fertile had been scraped away to be replaced with stones, sand, and poor quality dirt. Also, plants… Continue reading
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A Nice Color Contrast
When I last saw a Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia viridans), it was resting on the green leaf of my Mexican Olive tree. On this occasion, however, I spotted one on the very purple Leavenworth’s Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii). Green Lynx Spiders are more often found on the green leaves of plants. They are hunters that are… Continue reading
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Tall Grass Is Not What I Thought It Was
I have a small area of the back garden that I designated for mid-height prairie grasses. Some of the intended plants were transplanted in and some were seeded. One of the grass clumps that grew was clearly going to be tall, but I couldn’t identify it until it flowered. By the time that happened, the… Continue reading
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Bonus Standing Cypress Blooming A Year Early
One of the types of seed that I sowed in the back part of the garden last fall was Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra). This is a biennial plant and most often in the first year there is only a rosette of ferny leaves, followed the next year by a tall flower spike and seed production.… Continue reading
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Mexican Olive Blooming For The First Time
My Mexican Olive (Cordia boissieri) tree arrived here last fall and then took quite a beating in January 2024 when we had a major freeze. I recently wrote about how I thought I had lost this tree in the freeze and then how it has made a strong recovery, so I won’t repeat that here.… Continue reading
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Moving My Spare Stones
The land here (a new developer lot) contains a lot of stones, introduced by the builder as the lots were graded and levelled. As I have dug into the ground here, I have saved all but the smallest stones for a variety of projects here. They are markers, boundary edges, channel drain fillers, soil erosion… Continue reading
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Leavenworth’s Eryngo
I picked up a few Leavenworth’s Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii) seeds at a Native Plant Society of Texas meeting last year and scattered them without knowing how they’d do, or even what the plants would look like. I have now found at least two in the back yard, and one is already flowering. I had no idea what a stunning… 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 