sunflower
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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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The Intricate Design Of A Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval stage for a moth or butterfly, between egg and adult. As they grow they shed several times before the pupation phase where they develop into their adult form. Here’s something I had to look up: moths make cocoons; butterflies make chrysalises. I find it fascinating that the coloration of caterpillars often Continue reading
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Conjoined Flowers
This conjoined flower caught my eye, and of course I had questions. Is this common? What causes it? First, the plant is a volunteer sunflower, I believe perhaps a Cucumberleaf Sunflower (Helianthus debilis). I have several of them here, and they grow to about 3-4 feet tall. They are also called Beach Sunflowers, and although 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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Culling Sunflowers
Last year the land here was rather barren because it was a new development lot with nothing but builder-installed turf and landscape plants that were mostly not nature-friendly. As I was in the process of clearing, planting, and planning, I was thrilled to see volunteer sunflowers arrive and really cheer things up. Unless they were Continue reading
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Wildlife Visitors
I am not building a garden to have a collection of pretty plants, although that will hopefully be a pleasant side-effect. The real goal is to create a small pocket of nature that will be healthy for the land and welcoming to wildlife. Here’s an example of what is happening, which encourages me. As I Continue reading
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The Last Sunflower Has Been Taken Down
To have received so many volunteer sunflowers in this first year here has been such a gift. They have colorfully provided food for birds and insects that I hadn’t planned and I’ve enjoyed watching all that. Over time, each of the plants has been removed to make way for other projects and it’s time for Continue reading
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I Did Not Know This About Sunflowers
I’ve taken a lot of photos of sunflowers on my property here. But for a change, here’s a beauty at Headwaters at the Comal in New Braunfels, where I have done some volunteer work. Here’s one thing I didn’t know about sunflowers, daisies, and asters: what I had thought was a single flower is actually Continue reading
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Finally, A Monarch Butterfly
I help to maintain a pollinator garden in a Seguin park, and one of the team there is a Community Scientist who monitors sightings and activities of Monarch butterflies in the garden. In that garden, there had been zero evidence of Monarch activity all year until a week ago, when we finally saw a caterpillar Continue reading
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When Wings Look Weird
When I first saw this butterfly on a Sunflower, I thought it was odd that it seemed to have an extra set of wings. A companion on the same plant looked the same, so I concluded that it’s supposed to be that way. iNaturalist told me that this was a “grass” Skipper of some sort 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 