Blog
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American Basketflower
American Basketflower (Plectocephalus americanus) is a seed that was included in a few of the wildflower mixes that I have used here. It is therefore no surprise to see it eventually appear, except that the several specimens that I have are not in the area where that seed was scattered! Nevertheless, I am glad for Continue reading
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Shredding A Few Excess Plants
I am limited in what I can compost here because I only have space for a small tumbling composter. That takes care of all of our household kitchen scraps and some of the garden waste. Tumbling composters don’t get hot enough to kill weed seeds, so there are some times when I will discard plant Continue reading
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Fall Asters Confused About The Season
This is the second year when I’ve seen my Fall Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) bloom in the “incorrect” season. As the name would suggest, this plant normally would bloom in the fall (September to December), but mine has several premature flowers that started appearing about a month ago. Other Fall Aster plants in Seguin are doing Continue reading
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A New Plant For The Succulent Area
There is an area towards the back of the garden where I have clustered several succulent plants together and surrounded them with stones. The stones serve several purposes, including being shelter or habitat for small creatures, and being a place to collect the MANY stones that I have dug out of this ground (they were Continue reading
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More Fish In The Pond
Very soon after the pond was finished in November 2024, I added six Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), chosen because of their diet: zooplankton, small insects and insect larvae, and detritus material. However, after that first day of release I never saw them again, dead or alive. Perhaps they died of starvation, cold, or being eaten Continue reading
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The Next Chapter In The Wildflower Meadow
In March and April there was a surprisingly impressive display of Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) in the wildflower meadow in front of the house (see first photo in this post). It was surprising because elsewhere in Central Texas where we would normally see bluebonnets in fields and beside roadsides, the displays have been poor this Continue reading
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Freaky Storm Event Yields Seed Gifts
We recently had a very heavy storm pass through, which brought 1.45 inches of much-needed rain. Accompanying the rain was hail and extremely strong winds. The hail and/or wind was enough to flatten some plants and tear a few small branches, but nothing serious. The winds were also fierce enough to blow open the large Continue reading
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Native Milkweeds
Milkweeds are the only plant that Monarch butterflies will use to lay their eggs and host their caterpillar larvae. However, Monarchs will feed from a lot of other nectar sources, as will other creatures, and so before planting milkweeds I focused more on building a garden with a variety of food sources to be more generally Continue reading
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Trauma At The Barn Swallow Nest
There has been some traumatic event at the barn swallow nest, which now appears to be abandoned. Here’s where I wish I had installed a camera to watch it so I’d have more information. As it is, I can only look at the evidence and deduce a hypothesis. Here’s a timeline: In the last part Continue reading
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Pond Blooms
There are three aquatic plants in the pond that are now blooming or budding for the first time. I thought that I had purchased two American White Waterlily (Nymphaea odorata) plants in November 2024, which would have blooms that are white or pink. However, the waterlily that is blooming now has a yellow flower, so 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 