bluebonnet
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Tidying Up The Native Flower Meadow
The native plant meadow is my most visible project, right in the middle of the front lawn. Therefore, I want to keep it relatively tidy (inasmuch as a wild nature project can be), and one recent morning’s gardening session was devoted to cleanup in the meadow. By now, I am confident that a lot of Continue reading
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The Bluebonnet Season Is Longer Than I Expected
Bluebonnets were among the first flowers to bloom this year, in late February. Now, in May, they are no longer the showy display that they were, because so many other things are blooming now as well. Some plants have completely given themselves up to seed and have died, at which point I leave the roots Continue reading
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New Plants For The Front Pollinator Garden
If you want to skip the preamble, I have a list of plants further down this post. Last year I planted several native plants in the flower bed in front of the house to make a small pollinator garden (replacing builder-installed plants that were not wildlife-friendly). I was pleased with the growth of the plants Continue reading
barometer bush, beebalm, bluebonnet, cenizo, chile pequin, fall aster, flame acanthus, gregg salvia, gregg’s mistflower, gulf muhly, horseherb, lantana, lyreleaf sage, mealy blue sage, native plants, pink evening primrose, pollinator garden, prairie verbena, scarlet sage, silver ponyfoot, skeleton-leaf goldeneye, smallflower desert-chicory, straggler daisy, texas sage, texas toadflax, tickseed, volunteer plant, yarrow, zinnia -
I Was Away For A Week. What Did The Garden Do?
I was out of town for April 13-20, 2024. I had a helper to check on seedlings (to lightly water, and evict caterpillars), but other than that, the garden was left to fend for itself. What was different when I returned? Many of the back yard plants had grown several inches, including Firewheel aka Indian Continue reading
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Bluebonnets Are Beginning To Seed
I’ve never grown Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) before, so I am enjoying watching their life cycle. Seeds for this year’s crop were scattered last fall, and by November or December there were small flat rosettes of leaves which stayed that way until spring. Blooms started appearing in February. There are still blooms in April, but I Continue reading
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A Wildflower Meadow In An Urban Environment
I have only a small piece of land. I am trying to “wildscape” that as much as possible, but I also need to bear in mind that I am in the middle of a housing development where many of my neighbors (and the HOA!) have expectations as to what an urban lot should look like. Continue reading
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Adding Extra Beebalm To The Front Meadow
My front yard “wildflower meadow” was seeded last fall with Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis), Indian Blanket aka Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella), and Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata). The Bluebonnets and Indian Blankets have already grown and are blooming very nicely. I haven’t noticed any Spotted Beebalm yet, but it’s still a few weeks before the expected bloom time. I recently visited Continue reading
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A Non-Specific Spring Update
I have several projects in process at the moment and I’ll post about them when I have something to report. So today I thought I’d just include some photos of what I see when I’m outside enjoying breakfast/lunch/tea/whatever. These photos were taken on the morning of March 22, 2024. The first round of spring blooms Continue reading
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Bluebonnet Seeds Are Already Starting To Form
Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) are annuals and therefore need to reseed each year. Last year I scattered seed in the fall. However, given how many plants I have here now, I should not need to buy seed again if I let these seed themselves. The easiest way to do that is just to leave the plants Continue reading
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Genista Broom Moth Caterpillars Eat Bluebonnets, Too
I have twice had populations of Genista Moth (Uresiphita reversalis) caterpillars on my Texas Mountain Laurel tree (September 2023, November 2023) behind the house. On both of those occasions it was more important to me to protect my young and somewhat stressed tree and so I picked off caterpillars as I found them. I only 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 