Fall Begins - October 2014

It is been almost a month since I last posted - time has been getting away from me.  The day temperatures are now in the high 70's to mid-80's and the evening temperatures are in the high 50's to low 60's.  Perfect weather.  The fall roses are now blooming in my yard. 

Sombreuil Antique Rose

Belinda's Dream

Another Sombreuil Rose on same bush as the one above!

Maggie

Red Cascade

This spider re-builds a new web on my back porch every night.  I believe it is a Barn Spider which is an orb weaver.

A close up shot of the Barn Spider.

Broccoli and cauliflower were planted in the fall vegetable garden.  We have had a real problem with grasshoppers and bunnies this year eating our plants and the growth on these plants is very slow - I'm beginning to wonder if we are going to harvest anything.  The bell peppers in the center bed are still doing great though.  The tomato plants in the back are loaded with blooms although they aren't producing many tomatoes.

We also planted swiss chard, beans and english peas.

We received over 2 inches of rain in the past couple of weeks resulting in beautiful blooms on the Salvia Greggii and Flame Acanthus.  Unfortunately, many of our hummingbirds have now migrated through and can't sip the nectar.

I planted Pentas on the front porch.  They attract butterflies.

Here is a picture of a perfect garden spider web in the morning sun.

We found another garden spider that had caught a grasshopper in its web.

Close up.


It is the time of year that the spider lilies (otherwise known as naked ladies) are blooming.

The Monarch butterflies began their annual migration several weeks ago.  I leave my backyard unmowed to let the tiny asters bloom in September and October so that the butterflies have nectar for their long journey south.

And finally, a wild sunflower - we always have lots of these growing in our backyard in the fall.

Week Following Fall Equinox - 2014

I took the following pictures during the past week.  This is my garden journal post for the week following the Fall Equinox here in North Texas. 

We've had serious issues with grasshoppers this year in the vegetable garden - they insist on munching the leaves off the new foliage.  The marigolds planted on the edge of the beds are purported to keep pests away.   Maybe it helps with some pests, but grasshoppers could care less. 

Watering the beans, peas, broccoli, squash, and cauliflower.  The back raised garden bed contains tomatoes from the spring - they continue to flower and produce tomatoes, although not in great quantities now.   We are watering by hand this fall.  We plan on replacing the soaker hoses in the spring - they were at least 8-9 years old and had begun leaking. 

The bell peppers that were planted in the spring continue to do well.

A  giant swallowtail butterfly is sipping nectar from the pink/yellow lantana.  The long leafed plant next to the lantana is Mexican marigold - it has not started blooming yet.

Orange/yellow lantana

 Female Ruby-throat Hummingbird with pollen on its beak - sipping nectar from red salvia greggii.

Close up shot of salvia greggii with a paper wasp in the background.


A ruby throated hummingbird sipping nectar from blue salvia variety. 

A gulf fritillary landed on a dried purple coneflower head.

Gulf fritillary with its wings open.

Garden Spider

Garden Spider with zig-zag pattern on web.

A small butterfly sipping nectar from the blooming Lantana

We planted a couple of flowerbeds this weekend.  The fall is an excellent time to plant trees and shrubs because the days are getting cooler and shorter and the plants don't have to endure the searing heat.  The first bed I worked on needed some color.  Because I have so many green dwarf yaupons in my yard, I decided a deep red or purple was needed in a small shrub.  I found these dwarf loropetalums with beautiful purple leaves - they only get 1-2 feet in height which is perfect for the spot I put them in.

 Five dwarf loropetalums - we staggered them in the garden bed in front of the dwarf yaupons.  I think they will be either the same size as the yaupons or slightly smaller.

We also took out an old rose bush that was looking very ratty and replaced it with a large loropetalum shrub that has been pruned in the shape of a tree - it will get 10 feet tall.  Around it we placed 4 dwarf silverado sage plants - they are significantly shorter than the usual cultivar.

The tag of the dwarf sage - it will only reach 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide - I'll keep it pruned a bit shorter than that.

Fresh hardwood mulch was placed around the new plantings to help retain moisture and give the garden bed a clean and fresh look.

And finally - I caught a picture of a beautiful sunset in my neighborhood on September 27, 2014

Planting the Fall Garden - Mid-September 2014

Now that we have had a cool front come through North Texas (it was 57 degrees on my back porch this morning), we felt like going outside and working in the garden.

This week, my husband alerted me to a fight on the back porch between a wasp and a spider.

The wasp won.  The poison has taken affect - the wasp drags the spider off to his lair.

A female ruby throat hummingbird was visiting my garden and fending off a lot of other hummingbirds today that were coming by to sip nectar.  She sat on the rose bush and anytime another hummingbird came by, she ran them off!

Here she is going in for a landing on the blue salvia.

Flapping her wings!

See her white tips on her tail feathers.

This is the first Praying Mantis I have seen in the garden this year.  He/She is checking me out!

Climbing on the rosemary now.

I'm not sure if this is a male or female.  It is not too large - possibly a male?

We cleaned up the garden this weekend to make it ready for fall planting.  The ratty looking tomato plants are still producing some fruit so we left them in the ground.

Jonie and Clara are enjoying some bean pods from the plants that were pulled up.

This picture shows the summer garden weeded and raked and nutrients (compost) added.  Many of the summer plants have been pulled up.  Believe me - it looks much better now!

We planted broccoli, cauliflower and swiss chard plants - all of these plants are "cool season" plants and can withstand frost and below freezing temperatures.  My husband also planted snow peas and green beans by seed - we are taking a chance by doing this though.  Beans cannot withstand frost.  Snow peas can take some below freezing temperatures - but they cannot take long term below freezing temps. 

Another view of this fall's garden.

My bell pepper plants have tons of blooms now and should produce fruit up until the first frost.   These plants were put in the ground in April and have produced well all summer long.

The plants are covered in peppers!  We will have a big fall crop.

And finally - we had a frog swimming around in our pool today.  I took him out immediately - I didn't want the chlorine in the water to harm or kill him.

 When I fished him out - I looked at the frog's spotted belly and webbed feet.

This frog is very green - just like Kermit!   I will update this blog post when I identify his specific type.

I sat him in one of the plant pots on the back porch so he could catch bugs for me.!