This garden journal post finds both flowers and vegetables in the garden, as well as some new visitors.
As I was walking past the antique Mermaid rose, I noticed a lot of small bees flying around. Note their very tiny size.
I was amazed to see yellow pollen sacks on their legs, the same as on a honeybee or bumble bee! I have never thought about or noticed tiny bees with pollen sacks!
All of the Bald Cypress trees in my backyard are finally leafed out. I planted these trees about 10 years ago - they were in 1 gallon pots. They are easily 25 feet tall now. We have kept our trees watered by using our septic system water (we have sprayers due to our clay soil). My husband installed a switch to allow the water to go through water hoses instead instead of the sprinkler heads, and we move the water hoses every few days among the trees. It has worked well, especially during our hot and dry summers. A neighbor of ours had this brilliant idea (the one with the small vineyard) - and I'm so glad he told us about it!
I took this picture one morning this past Saturday just as the sun was rising on the purple Salvia.
The Red Salvia Greggii is starting to bloom now. A picture in the early morning sun.
Our usual hummingbirds around here are Ruby Throated hummingbirds - here is a female that is also visiting the red salvia.
Some wild geese were were flying overhead in my neighborhood in the early morning.
The Red Knock Out rose in the front yard is in full bloom now.
The Sombreuil antique rose is now blooming in the front yard. This rose is about five feet tall. It has problems with black spot and the blooms also ball up if it is too wet or humid. It can be a pretty bush, but it is not perfect. This is not a good year - I would not plant it again.
Sombreuil rose - full bush.
I always have a lot of Texas Dandelions or False Dandelions (in the sunflower family) in my yard in May. Here is a picture of some of the first ones to bloom this season.
Moving on to the vegetable garden - I noticed my Broccoli is ready to harvest!
Hey - who's that in my garden - see in the corner there?
How did you get under the fence? Look at him trying to run away from me!
Cabbage- I bet that bunny could have made a good meal out of these.
The Onions will be ready to harvest in about a week or so.
Lettuce.
The cucumbers are starting to grow.
Zucchini and Squash are starting to come up as well.
We have a lot of peaches on our tree this year. We are supposed to get a lot of rain tomorrow - I hope they don't get beat off!
We decided to check on our Purple Martin Families to see their progress. Here's my hubby lowering the gourds for a better look.
Our first family hatched recently! There are six chicks in this gourd.
One of the other gourds had brand new chicks. Look how tiny and featherless!
I'm closing this post with a picture of a wooden cistern that my husband built a few years ago. He opened up the valves today (May 7th) to capture the rainwater from our roof - we had 3 1/2" of rain fall on May 8th!
Here is a link to purchase his book on how to build a cistern. http://woodcistern.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment