Blog
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Dawn Flyover
I prefer to do my gardening sessions first thing in the morning. That fits my personal body clock (I usually wake before sunrise), and it’s the coolest time of day. Consequently, I am often outside as the first light is showing, which is about 30 minutes before sunrise. I have noticed that during the dawn… Continue reading
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Native Grasses — Chapter Five: Growth
Previous posts: Planning, Preparation, Seeding, Rain Crisis The story so far is that I prepped land for seeding native grasses, dispersed the seed, and then had most of it washed away or damaged in a rainstorm a few days later. This rain event was certainly disappointing, and at first I thought I’d lost everything that… Continue reading
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Native Grasses — Chapter Four: Torrential Rain Disruption
Previous posts: Planning, Preparation, Seeding I wanted to plant native grasses in the first year here to get them established while I later worked on other projects. So this was almost the first project I started, although it took three months of work to prepare the ground for planting. I was happy with the seeding,… Continue reading
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Native Grasses — Chapter Three: First Seeding
Previous posts: Planning, Preparation Finally in May 2023 it was time to seed my native grasses. The ground was as weed-free as I could get it and the ground was softened with recent rain. Thunder Turf is a mixture of Buffalograss, Blue Grama and Curly Mesquite. You can buy the seed as a mixture, but… Continue reading
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Native Grasses — Chapter Two: Preparation
Previous post: Planning To clear the area for planting native grass seeds, first I had to get rid of about 1,000 sq ft of Bermudagrass sod and I started doing this in February 2023. I literally tore it off the ground with my hands. That one task took about two months, but I learned a… Continue reading
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Native Grasses — Chapter One: Planning
The saga of replacing builder-installed Bermudagrass sod with seeded native grasses is a lengthy one, still ongoing, so I will use several posts to tell the story. My overall plan for the back yard is to have about one-quarter of it dedicated to native grasses. These grasses put down deep roots, so they should help… Continue reading
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Bees Feed On Grasses, Too
This little episode was a lot more fun to watch than photograph. There was a small bee collecting pollen at a patch of native grasses and with all of the bee and grass motion in the wind, I was having a hard time capturing everything in focus. Here’s my best attempt. Back in May I… Continue reading
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A Weary Clouded Skipper
This rather battered Clouded Skipper butterfly was resting on my Desert Willow tree in the morning sun. I didn’t see it feeding, although apparently its favorite flower colors are pink, purple, and white. The open blooms on this tree are a dark pink. Continue reading
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Texas Lantana
Seguin and Houston, although only 160 miles apart, represent different ecological environments. When selecting plants for Seguin, I need to be mindful of what is native or adapted here and not just assume that something that did well in Houston will thrive here. One resource that is helpful for this research is the plant database… 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 