mexican olive
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What The Garden Did While I Was Away
I was away from the garden for ten days in September 2024. Here are some highlights of what happened in my absence. First, there was zero rain and neither was the garden watered while I was gone. The plants here have been chosen to be drought-resistant, although there were a couple of things that looked 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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Mexican Olive Recovery From New Growing Points
I planted a Mexican Olive (Cordia boissieri) tree last year and it looked healthy until a major freeze in January 2024, when I thought I might have lost it. I had to wait several weeks, but the tree did eventually recover. All the previous growing points of the tree were killed in the freeze, and Continue reading
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Two Plants I Thought I Had Lost, And A Visitor
Mexican OliveI didn’t realize it at the time, but of the trees I have planted here, my Mexican Olive (Cordia boissieri) was at greatest risk during the winter freeze when temperatures got as low as 16F. The strongest factors in choosing plants here have been that they are preferably native and highly resistant to heat Continue reading
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Short-Term Effects Of The Freeze
In the past week we have had five nights of below freezing temperatures, with the lowest recorded here of 16.0 F. I expected to see some wilting, blackness, or loss of leaves and we certainly had that. With native plants, that is almost never a concern, and it’s just a part of nature cleaning up. Continue reading
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Tree & Shrub Growth Report, January 2024
I think that about once a year I will take approximate measurements of the trees and shrubs that I have here. Like children, when you see them every day, sometimes you don’t appreciate how much they’re growing (or not). The measurements were recorded on January 6, 2024 and the photos were taken a day or Continue reading
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Southwestern Squash Vine Borer
This colorful visitor has been on my Mexican Olive tree for a few days; it’s a Southwestern Squash Vine Borer (a moth). If I were a vegetable gardener, this might be something of concern, since their caterpillars eat squash and pumpkin vines from the inside. As far as I can tell, I don’t have any Continue reading
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Defining Areas For Two Small Trees
The Mexican Olive (Cordia boissieri) and Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) trees were planted earlier this year, and each had vaguely defined mulch circles already. In order to more clearly separate these trees from the seeding activities that will happen near them, I’ve given them each a stone circle and added fresh mulch. Here’s the Continue reading
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I Left The Garden For Five Days. What Did It Do?
I went out of town for five days. Of course I wanted to see what the garden had done while I was away, so a tour was in order as soon as I returned. Most of what I noticed was a consequence of a soaking rain on the first day, and the start of consistently Continue reading
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Robber Fly!
This fierce looking critter (with a body over an inch long) was resting on my new Mexican Olive tree. At first glance I thought it was a spider, but there are only six legs. After iNaturalist ID’ed it as a Robber Fly (genus Diogmites), I had to look again to see the wings which I 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 