Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, this was a gardening blog. I posted pictures of plants and flowers in my yard. And then sometime in September, I took a bug class, and this blog veered strongly towards the bug love. Between the zombie watching, camping, and Peckerwooding, I haven't focused much on my own horticultural efforts.

But today is a new day.
The new sun bed, the one with the wine bottle edging, has survived the summer and is starting to come into its own. The yellow, white, and purple butterfly bushes are doing their primary job. Sometimes I feel like I should be a butterfly traffic controller. Oh wait, slapping my own typing fingers, must discuss something other than insects.
The rock rose is blooming like crazy, but I think I love the look of possibility more than the actual flower.
This Duchesse de Brabant may also be waiting to bloom, although I have less confidence that it will. The roses had a tough summer. The Cramoisi Superieur bit the dust (pun intended). No amount of watering seemed to help it. I've since replaced it with a Belinda's Dream rose, which while not a waking nightmare has not yet shown itself worthy of its name.
I also added some bluebonnet seedlings, which are rivaling the nasturtiums with their post-rain loveliness. Yes, that's actual rain in the center of the seedlings. I had five minutes of the wet stuff.
The new herb bed is also coming along. The caryopteris did not survive the summer, but I was able to stick a bronze fennel in its place. A dog who shall remain nameless ran through the bed and ended up relocating the hot and spicy thyme across the yard. It did not survive, but the French and lemon thymes are thriving, as are the oreganos and rosemary.
I do wonder though about this dill. It shouldn't flower until the summer. But as we haven't yet moved beyond the warm temperatures that most the country would label as summer weather, I guess it's confused.

I still haven't decided if I am going to edge this bed with wine bottles, but just in case, I've been maintaining a wine-drinking schedule. Feel free to maintain one of your own.
If I did not know that these garlic scapes are not supposed to emerge until spring, I would think this garlic bed was thriving. But I've read all the conflicting arguments about cutting the scapes, and know that I'm not supposed to be facing this quandary until two or three weeks before harvest--NEXT YEAR.

Once again, Annie has come to the gardening rescue. Bob, the "Garlicmeister, a self-inflicted title for amusement only," from Gourmet Garlic Gardens, confirmed Annie's wisdom. These shoots are not scapes. Guess I should have googled an image of the scapes, not just information on them. Aren't you glad that I'm here to make the silly (and maybe slightly embarrassing) gardening mistakes for you?

Here's Bob's response to my email asking for information:

Not a problem, that's what they're supposed to do. Garlic sprouts leaves (not scapes - those don't come until spring) and will grow throughout fall and winter, whereas up north the leaves usually do not emerge until spring. Garlic loves the cold so you don't need to protect it, just enjoy the greenery.

I guess while I'm discussing plants in the wrong time, I should mention these guys:
My beets and radishes have germinated albeit not the same position I planted them in. No neat rows here. Those seeds moved around a lot the last time we had any rain and are now growing wherever they want. And I'm fine with that as long as they keep growing.
I've also got some cute microgreens growing. These I tried to put in diagonal lines across the bed, like Carol's at May Dreams Gardens, but I am not as anal sloppy as she is.

So there you have it. An entire post about my own garden, with nary an insect in sight. I did stumble once and discuss one Hexapoda, but I did not post a picture of the cute little thing it.

Who am I kidding? This whole post may have just been an excuse to show off this picture of my Gulf fritillary butterfly.
I know he's mine, because I have his former home. I'm so glad that he enjoyed his initial stay in my yard enough to make a return trip.

Spread the word, Gulfie!