Blog
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New Pond Plants
On a recent visit to Pollinatives in Converse (my favorite semi-local native plant nursery), I had a lucky find of their last two native waterlilies of the season — I wasn’t expecting to see these in stock until later in the year. That purchase led to an unexpected and rather urgent pond session to get… Continue reading
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Recycling Annual Plants
Many of the plants currently in the garden are annuals, so after a season of growing, they disperse their seeds and die. This is an intentional part of my strategy, so that I can have a seasonal wildflower meadow in the front yard, and plenty of wildlife-friendly plants in the back yard to fill in… Continue reading
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Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars Doing Their Thing
I have seen plenty of Gulf Fritillary (Dione vanillae) butterfly activity around the Scarletfruit Passionflower (Passiflora lanuginosa), including some egg laying. So it was not at all surprising to notice one day that there was caterpillar frass on leaves of this plant. (It was just over a year ago when I discovered that the name… Continue reading
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Repopulating Pond Fish After A Major Flood
On July 5, 2025, the day after devastating floods in Kerr County, Seguin had its own flash flood event. I recorded 8.64 inches of rain in just four hours, which was a lot more water than my land could hold. In addition to standing water that was present for a few hours, for the first… Continue reading
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Gulf Fritillary Eggs & Tiny Caterpillars
When a butterfly visits a plant it is usually for one of two reasons: (male or female) to feed from flowers or (female) to lay eggs on leaves of host plants. It’s usually quite easy to tell which is happening by watching which parts of the plant are visited, for how long, and by whom.… Continue reading
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A Color-Changing Treefrog
I was just walking by the American Beautyberry shrub one day when out of the corner of my eye I saw what looked at first like a large white fungal growth. When I looked closer it turned out to be a striking pale colored small frog! I was thrilled to see it because I had… Continue reading
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Grackle Fledgling Drama
While eating lunch on the back patio one day I noticed some odd activity among sunflowers near our Texas Mountain Laurel tree. With the aid of binoculars, I was able to see that there was a dark-colored baby bird sitting about halfway up a sunflower stem, apparently unable to fly. Nearby on the fence was… Continue reading
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Mexican Olive Has Now Exceeded Last Year’s Height
Long-time readers may remember that my Mexican Olive tree has had a tough beginning getting established here. This is a tree that does very well in heat and drought, but is more prone to freeze damage than I realized. During its first winter (2023-2024) some growing tips were lost during the one freeze we had,… Continue reading
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Planting Powderpuff That Was Foraged From Houston
A few weeks ago when I was in Houston I spotted a plant growing wild that I wanted for my garden — Powderpuff aka Sunshine Mimosa (Mimosa strigillosa). I dug up some root and stem pieces and brought them to Seguin, but because I was travelling I didn’t have a chance to get them into… Continue reading
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Finch Nest Update
Unfortunately, this post does not have a happy ending. Since the House Finch eggs hatched on June 24-28, 2025 I was periodically observing them with a stick mirror. On July 3 I caught my first glimpse of a baby chick from the ground without the mirror. There was one little beak visible at the front… 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 