Update: Signs of Spring II

The brown iris wants equal time. It was only a bud yesterday, but blooming today.

I always think of this iris as a bit "cocky."

It is really stunning. I have no idea where it came from, but it was likely stolen from a neighboring house where they were bulldozing a long established iris bed. There was no point in all those plants going to the landfill. But I may be too old for "midnight raids with a sharpshooter."

A coreopsis * started to bloom after successful overwintering in the side yard.

This little guy is just barely peeking over the lip of the pot. I don't think I realized I was buying a miniature variety.

And the pecans? Well, the pecans know.** When they bud you can be sure any risk of freeze is over. I didn't see the buds yesterday. It was overcast and then dark this morning - until the end of the walk. And then we saw them - little bits of green at the ends of the fingertips of the pecans. Green where some of the splayed black pecan coats still hang, having dropped their fruit and survived the cold, wet, and windy winter.

And there we go...the message from the pecan tree.

The cardinals have been a delight through the winter and into the spring. We have seen them on almost every walk. This morning I saw that familiar red resting on the ground. One of our neighborhood male cardinals lay still. I did not see his mate, but wondered what she will do.***

Flash of red in the street, near the curb.

I refused to get too close, but it is clearly a male cardinal.

NOTES:

* While I usually try to use a plant's common name, the coreopsis' common name is "tick seed." I prefer coreopsis. There are many varieties - different colors and "double" petaled flowers. This one is a "dwarf." I had some I grew from seeds I found on a walk (it was growing in the street, for heaven's sake). One of my favorite neighbors (she of the 4 gardeners and lilting southern accent - gone now, but an unforgettable "lady") confessed that she "saved" seeds from my plant. I laughed and confessed that it was the same way I got my plant.

** Native pecans, mind you, know. I'm not sure about hybrid varieties. We have the good fortune of having a large native pecan tree in the side yard. It does also seek out our plumbing - a mixed blessing I suppose.

***http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/Cardinal.html

I read elsewhere that the life expectancy for a cardinal is a year. So those birds I thought I recognized from year to year are probably different birds (but they could be related, right?).

Checking out the signs of spring...

I took a quick look around the yard to see what needed attention. Darn. Everything needs attention. I need to clean up some awful weeds in the side and dog yards.

I took some photos and then took off to class to get a jump on some of my clay projects.

The iris have started to bloom in the yard. The wild winds of the past couple of days blew the first flowers apart, but more arrived to brighten things up.

This is a small-ish iris. It is one of about a dozen planted in an old wheelbarrow.

I shoved a number of leftover cuttings of my friends' figs into dirt in February. I tented them with plastic and kept them in the kitchen about a month. All the other cuttings I tried did not work. This is often my experience. If I follow directions to propagate some plant I get bupkis. If I shove the cuttings in dirt I seem to get results.

I will need to repot these guys soon. If I wait too long their roots will be impossible to untangle. [Yeah, like 10 plants per pot. It's crazy.]

 Some things are already almost bloomed-out. The redbud is putting on leaves and the blooms are quickly falling off. The snowflakes were halted mid-bloom by our freezing weather a few weeks ago. These snowflakes came with the house 25 years ago. I have moved them and shared them. They are still one of the first things to bloom. And they don't last long.

Redbud in foreground. Chaos of pots and such in the background.

Snowflake.

 A couple of grey-green plants grace the garden. I know why I have the hen and chicks. It is an easy succulent to grow and looks good all year round. I have often wondered about the other plant. I don't know the name. I don't know where I got it. Most of the year it just looks weird. What was I thinking?

Well, today I got my answer. It was blooming - lovely little purple blooms. AND the blooms had attracted a bumble bee. I do plant for the insects and birds and I suppose that is the point of the no-named plant. [It is so easy to grow and propagate - another thing I can just break off and shove in a pot of dirt.]

During the drought something ate the leaves of this guy for moisture. It is better now, though scarred. It will be blooming this year too. I will keep an eye on it.

Most of the year this is not much to look at.

But the blooms are sweet and the bees love it.

As I headed off to the rest of the day I had two more stops.

A few weeks ago I noticed a new tree at an unnamed location that was strangling. It had been braced against the wind while it established its root system, but the bracing had not been adjusted as the tree grew. It needed to be rescued. I consulted with a local plant super hero who promised to resolve the issue. I checked and discovered the tree had been released.

Why would someone pay a fortune for a tree and then choke it to death?

It looks bad. Time will tell.

 Then I walked over to another tree that housed a nest from last year. It looks a bit like a mourning dove nest. I would have expected a dove to nest higher - out of reach. I will be watching to see if anyone returns to the nest this year.

It is a work of art.

How beautifully made.

That's it...just odds and ends and no dogs.

81 degrees and separation

"Scruffy's delight" - we were all delighted to be walking this afternoon.

 We have a standing engagement on Friday afternoons - a play date for the dogs at the creek. TDW was going to be delayed a bit today so we did not get to the park until 2:30...and boy was it hot.*

We were well hatted because of the sun, but still headed quickly for the creek and shade.

This was the first walk since we learned that TDW will be moving to accept a new position.** We are excited for him, but will miss him and Stanley and Ruby and Hugo. We will miss tales of Betty,*** even though we don't really know her. So, I guess this will be one of the last walks as TDW packs and prepares to leave in the next few weeks.

The wildflowers were amazing. These yellow flowers I have stubbornly refused to look up**** were everywhere. I am now a true believer and will look for them each spring (as is recommended by the only one of perhaps 4 wildflower books I own that I can find right now. I suppose the others have not made it back to the bookshelf). They were one of the earliest blooming this year and have continued to decorate the meadow and creekside.

Large buttercup in the meadow.

Insect action on a buttercup.

Buttercups at the creek.

Wild verbena have started their big bloom. I love these little purple wonders. They are so hardy - starting early in the spring and blooming through the hottest summer and sometimes through the winter.***** My only frustration with these familiar friends is the difficulty in capturing that purple. Often the camera refuses to capture the exact color.

I call this "Selfie with wild verbena."

Verbena just off the path.

What I grew up calling "rain lilies" were also blooming here, even though we have had no rain for a week. Perhaps the soggy meadow allows continued blooming (although I do not remember seeing these blooms in the park until today - they are such humble flowers, I could have missed simply them). Their real name is not so poetic -- Crow-Poison.

Crow-Poison, Nothoscordum bivalve. They are similar to the bloom of the wild garlic, but have no strong garlic scent.

Such sweet flowers. I have received many a tiny bouquet of these clutched tightly in a small fist.

This park is covered in brambles, including dewberry vines, and we had wondered when they would bloom. We must wait no longer as the dewberry vines were covered in tiny white flowers all along the creek.

Dewberry vines and blooms.

I wonder if we will be around for berry picking.

Ah, and then there were the bluebonnets. The photos will tell the story.

The bluebonnet meadows were pretty, but we think they will continue to get better over the next week or so.

Stanley skirts the meadow and then runs across, making a path through the flowers.

The bluebonnets are even blooming among the rocks along the creek.

It was a bit of a Scruffy day. He took some of the best photos. He was really delighted to be in the park with friends.

Scruffy decided to run through the field too.

Pretty boy.

He is such a good dog.

You can see we still have lots of buds.

Up close the color is amazing.

That "star" at the top of a bud.

Add caption

The star at the top of a bloom, just started.

Lost wild verbena in the midst of the bluebonnets.

 Of course, the flowers brought out all the insects - bees and butterflies. It was almost impossible to take a photo of flowers without some winged creature fluttering nearby. My friend JH will need to join us on a walk as he is a friend of insects. I found myself in the midst of buzzing and humming creatures as I knelt to get just the right shot. Normally I stay far away from bees, but these did not concern me, nor were they concerned by me.******

Bees going about their work and ignoring me.

This guy stayed...

...and stayed.

Other creatures were out enjoying the afternoon as well. At the creek I saw a tiny frog hopping towards the water. He took shelter under some grass as DH and TDW make skeptical comments about my power of observation. The little hopper then made his way to the creek, proving me right.

There he is, a tiny frog hiding in that small clump of grass.

See him?

Paddy is watching the woods. I was not sure why.

Scruffy came walking up. She was waiting for him.

The waxing moon was up even as the sunshine was blinding us.

Some of the "booby-trap" barbed wire found all through this place.

One of those prickly wretched flowers dotting the area. I used my size 9 for reference.

Bastard Cabbage******* or "El Diablo." This invasive wild mustard plant often chokes out natives along the highways and in the fields. I will bring a bag to pull up the plants I find on future walks. It does not belong here.

Verbena and wild mustard look pretty together...but not for long if I have anything to say about it.

Walkers and more dogs and unknown flowers:

I found this in one of the photos. I don't know what it is, but will be looking on the next trip to the creek.

Dogs in the water, people on the rocks. DH is carrying a walking stick. I insisted.

DH, Hugo, Paddy, and TDW heading up the creek bank and moving towards the bluebonnet meadows.

I continued to be reminded that this place is beautiful. The spring green almost surprised us after the dry browns and greys of the winter.

TDW turns to talk to me as Scruffy moves up the path.

My walking companions head to the gate.

I am ending with this lovely view of the woods.

Although hot as blazes, it was so lovely today that I almost forgot that part of me is mourning the soon-to-be loss of my walking partner and friend.

  
NOTES:

*I suppose I simply cannot be happy. I have complained about the cold weather and the wet weather and the windy weather. Now I will complain about the sunny weather. Seriously, the first day of spring was a week ago. It was 39 degrees when we got up this morning. And it was 81 with a bright sun this afternoon. Couldn't we have some 40s and 50s and 60s before summer?

**The "separation."

***Betty is an almost feral cat who regularly brings strange dead things into TDW's home. She is a hunter. But she is also a love and sleeps snuggled against Stanley's warmth.

****They are a true "buttercup," the large buttercup, ranunculus macranthus. Who knew? Well, I do now. I have always misidentified a yellow primrose as a buttercup - silly me! It's what we called it as children as we let the pollen turn our chins yellow.

***** http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GLBI2

******And I came home thinking about some of the dialogue of Harry Nilsson's animated rock/folk story, The Point. At one point (pun unintended) the hero (Oblio - who travels with his dog, Arrow) is asked "You been messing with the bees?" And a character called Rock Man describes the woods thus:

     There ain't nothin' pointless about this gig. Just look around yourself--the birds singin' sweet 
     love songs to the trees, the squirrels doin' crazy things all over the place, Mother nature, she
     watchin' over the whole scene, and dig me, takin' it all in...it's the here and now that I'm talkin' 
     'bout--the smell of sweet life in the air, the warm feel of the sun, and the beeeeat of the music, 
     just diggin' yourself....you see what you want to see. You hear what you want to hear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjfKteUBa_s (Full Movie)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Point!

I almost forgot my brother had the album and we listened to it over and over again.


******* http://www.texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=RARU