Farewell summer.

Posted on November 14, 2012 by curtis

The last bits of summer finally met their end last night. First frost! Time to enjoy the long* winter ahead. With mugs of coffee, sitting by the fireplace.

Cosmos are toast

Red blackberry leaves

Peas! Only a week or so left and then I’ll turn them and the oats under. Green manure!

Coneflowers still truckin’ along

The primrose is still blooming also.

Borage showing signs on life.

Preparing for the expansion. Ripped up the spearmint patch and removed the rock border. The fence will extend beyond here and a new garden bed will go in it’s place.

I’m over at Sprout today. Check out more photos from the first frost.

*short

Blackberry lily

Posted on October 13, 2012 by curtis

Before my sister and her husband up and left for the AT, she sent me a load of plants that she wanted me to take care of. This blackberry lily is all that is left.

The great sunflower takeover

Posted on May 1, 2012 by curtis

The onions have taken to laying over by themselves as they seem to done growing. As such, the giant sunflowers are taking over.

Untitled

Posted on April 23, 2012 by curtis

I couldn’t come up with a name for this. Just something I put together. Hope you like it.
Music credit: The Head and the Heart.

Saddened by Bluebonnet cleanup

Posted on April 21, 2012 by curtis

The bluebonnets have been hanging around for about the last three weeks without any color. They were beginning to become unsightly. The seed pods were plump enough that it was time to do some cleanup around the mailbox.

I cut the tops off most the plants to hang and let the seeds pods dry.

Unfortunately, during cleanup I discovered where all the butterflies were coming from. It turns out, I ripped up the hiding place where the caterpillars were making their cocoons. I left this one and another one. I didn’t bother looking through the pile of pulled plants to look for more as I was saddened enough.

Through the Looking-Glass

Posted on April 19, 2012 by curtis

Everyday when I come home from work I am mesmerized by the amount of butterflies fluttering around in the front yard. I could sit out there all evening and watch them sit and bask in the evening sun. I was able to get these four on camera. The others are more camera shy.

When I see the sunflower leaves all chewed up, I just remember that soon I’ll be able to enjoy that pesky caterpillars true beauty.

Sitting out there I think of the Bread and Butterflies from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. If you just sit still for a few moments in a small area, there are amazing things going on right under your nose. Sometimes I’ll get down on their level and try to see the world from their perspective. It is amazing.

The Old Ladies

Posted on April 3, 2012 by curtis

Back when we lived in an apartment some 6 years ago, I purchased a tiny little mini rose to set on the back porch. When we moved into our house I put it into the ground. The first year it did fairly well, but ever since then it went down hill. This past summer I dug it up and put it in a pot. I must say, it loves living in the pot. It hasn’t had this many buds in a long time.

Got this one after Stephanie’s grandmother died in April 2010. It struggled the first year, but has been a beauty ever since.

Ashleigh’s rose. We planted this one after the passing of over daughter in May 2010. Massive blooms. I’ve wanted to move this one to a different location, but it has always been prolific in putting out new flowers where it is that I just left.

This is another mini rose that I got for Stephanie for Valentine’s Day last year. It’s a win-win for both of us. After the holiday, I got to plant it. This sits next to the other mini rose.

Planted this one back in January. Still pretty small, but there is a bud on it. So there’s that…

Dutch Iris

Posted on March 28, 2012 by curtis

Stephanie said she didn’t like bearded iris and to never plant it, so I planted Dutch Iris instead.

A morning hike

Posted on March 19, 2012 by curtis

The last weekend in April, I’m planning on going on an extended weekend backpacking trip in Arkansas with a group of old friends from my scout troop. Since its been about a year since my dad or myself did any sort of hiking, we decided to head out to the Fort Worth Nature Center to put in a few miles and work the ol’ muscles out. Two other guys that we are going with came with us as well.

There are many different trails at the nature center and they offer a variety of different things. From flat and swampy, to more hilly and spacious. In recent years, the center has began to charge an entrance fee, but at 5 dollars it’s not a huge hit on the wallet and well worth it. You can also purchase a pass for the year.

We all showed up with our packs loaded up with some weight and we were off for a nice 6 mile round trip hike.

Spring offers lots of color, though I think we were a few weeks early as every thing was just starting to open up and very few things were flowering.

The sun coming up over Lake Worth.

Pretty sure this is primrose.

Vining periwinkle (Vinca minor).

This stuff was growing everywhere. Well, everywhere in this one spot on the trail.

Two and half miles.

Dad and me and the shameless self portrait.

The bluebonnets. They were spread out over a few hundred feet but only a few had started to bloom.

This picture was taken inside an outhouse that was built by the CCC in the mid 60′s. There are lots of remnants of old structures that the CCC built, including the one featured in my previous post.

The hike was a quick 3 hours and we were home by lunch. On our way out we ran into a group of about 25-30 people spread out over a good half mile or so. Not sure if they were a church group or from a get motivated center or what but everyone ranged from late teens to this one lady that was probably early 70s or so. A bit odd, but whatever gets you outside is fine with me.

Majestic Lupinus texensis

Posted on March 6, 2012 by curtis

One of the greatest signs of spring here in Texas is the blooming Bluebonnets. Its one of the first flowers you’ll see blooming on the sides of the roads and highways. Most wildflowers you see are red or yellow or orange. There is something majestic about the blue that the bluebonnet possesses.

I took this picture last October 19th in front of our mail box.

Some 4 months later and I have a nice bluebonnet bush by the street. A few years ago purchased a plant and the rest is history. Every summer the seed pods form and every fall the pods crack and the seeds sprout. It seems year after year the ‘bush’ gets bigger. This year I had spotted a few plants growing in the grass.