At home, day 11

Today is day 11 of being at home.  My work-from-home setup is fairly solid.  I like being able to see the garden, and open the window if the weather isn’t too hot, cold, or humid.  We have lots of bird feeders so there is almost always activity in the yard.  I’ve been enjoying the garden a lot.  The bees have been very active on the tropical sage flowers. They overwintered well and came out early.  (Our winter wasn’t very pronounced this year.)

Tropical sage in full bloom

Oxalis

Work-from-home setup

Gardening at Kivuvu

kivuvu garden 3, originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

My dad is a talented gardener, and he really got to exercise those talents at Kivuvu. Our garden was the source of most daily vegetables. Grocery stores were non-existent, and although peddlers did bring vegetables to the back door it was on an irregular basis. Here is a shot of our garden, in about 1967, two years after we arrived. It looks to me as though Dad took it by standing on the washblock and putting the camera up over his head.  That's my sister Sara touring the garden with Jeremiah, the black cat. (He was named after the prophet Jeremiah in the Bible, because of his continual lamentations. A very talkative cat! Sometime I’ll have to tell you the story about the end of Jeremiah – it’s not a happy end.)

Our climate in Kivuvu was hot and wet during the rainy season, and dry and cool during shivu, the dry season. This photo was definitely taken during the rainy season, since I see the endive and collards (?) are bolting. The rainy season was slightly longer than the dry season, running from October through May. During that season we could expect daytime temperatures in the upper 90’s and nighttime temperatures in the 70’s. Skies were blue, with lots of puffy white clouds. Rain came in the form of huge thunderstorms. Since the station was on a hill, lightning strikes often accompanied these storms. (A particularly dramatic lightning storm will be written up soon!)

The dry season ran from June through September. Daytime temperatures were in the 70’s, and nighttime temperatures could drop as low as the high 50’s. During the dry season there was no rain whatsoever, although because of the continuous presence of grey, low hanging clouds you would expect rain. As the season advanced, the dust would get thicker and the well-water became muddier.

Gardening was quite different in the two seasons. The rain and heat of the rainy season meant that tomatoes and peppers and eggplant did very well. You can see lettuce and endive in the garden, but those would be hold-overs from the dry season garden, when cool weather crops did better. Late lettuce was always so bitter due to the heat. Pineapples also grew well. In a large field off to the right, we sometimes grew peanuts, sweet potatoes and field corn.

Off in the distance you can see the profile of the Bangu mountain. In between us and the Bangu was a cattle ranch full of half-wild cows with dangerous horns, and other wildlife. Most of the big animals were long gone from this part of Congo – the biggest might be a small antelope. Lots of snakes and mongooses, field rats and pythons, large and small birds of all kinds. The fields were burned off annually to control the regrowth of the forest and promote good grazing for the cattle.

Fortunately for the Meyers table, we had help with our garden. The main gardener was Garcia, an Angolan refugee who was a cool dude as well as a good worker. You can see that he took good care of the garden! Dad and Mom instructed him on how the garden should be maintained, and he did a great job of keeping it up.

gardenia (hipstamatic)

gardenia (hipstamatic), originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

This little gardenia has finally bloomed!  We bought at MarchMart two years ago, and it struggled through last year.  Now we have four blooms, four buds, and the leaves look healthy.  Gardenias are notorious for being finicky, so I can only hope that this one has found its feet. 

I used the Hipstamatic app (iPhone) to take this shot. Even the most mundane shot becomes poetic!

Peach blossoms!

The first peach blossoms opened on my little Bonanza dwarf peach tree today.  This will be it's third year and I'm really looking forward to the fruit. It was very tasty last year!
The garden is really starting to green up and grow.  By the time we come back from vacation things will be in full swing. 

Atlas Mandarin crop

Atlas Mandarin, originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

Not much of a picture. But, this is the ENTIRE crop of Atlas Mandarins from my tiny little tree. We planted the tree a year ago. Yes, I know you aren't supposed to let such a young tree fruit, but we just couldn't bear to pinch off all of the little guys. So, I left this one.

Slowly, slowly it got bigger and bigger. I had to add a support because the little tree (it is all of 2 feet tall) was leaning perilously towards the ground. Slowly, slowly the fruit changed from deep green to lime green, and in the last 2 weeks, more and more orange.

Since we were not going to be home the next few days, I clipped it off and brought it with us. We peeled and ate it tonight. What a wonderfully tart flavor, juicy and seedless too. I think it would be better to leave on the tree another week or so, but it was still eminently edible. Here's hoping our crop at least doubles next year!

odd birds in Houston

We've seen some unfamiliar birds in the last few days in Houston. Possibly the huge storm that blew through here on Saturday has driven some off of their migration course.

On Sunday, I saw a Baltimore Oriole (Icterus Galbula) - the very first time I've ever sighted one here. What a cheerful, beautiful song they have! The photo that I took is completely lousy, so I'll have to use someone else's... from a fellow microstock photographer on Dreamstime, Watware.

This afternoon, DH called me all excited - the bluebird of happiness was in the backyard! Once again, the photos do no justice to the bird. But I was able to positively identify it as the Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides). He was clearly blown off course since they don't usually come near the Houston area. Here is a nice shot from another Dreamstime photographer, Peterll. I'm glad this little guy stopped by - he sure is cute.

The final surprise happened this evening as I was watering the garden. There was an unfamiliar shape high in the sycamore tree... and I realized it was grey/brown, and had a crest. A Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)! Several of them perched high in the dead branches, and then a mockingbird flew at them and they hustled off towards the neighbor's live oak. While not completely unknown in Houston, I haven't seen them for many years. Here is a nice shot from Stephencoyle, another Dreamstime photog.

projects in progress

A few things in progress today:

• finished up stage 2 of the limoncino project. Stage 2 involves straining out the lemon peel and adding sugar syrup.
• planting out the milkweed plant and cosmos flowers bought yesterday
• installing the trellises that I bought yesterday for my pole beans
• researching the next "big" trip - the Trans-Siberian Railway... ordered a book, read online for a couple hours...
• booked the car (Nova Car Hire is highly recommended) for DH's trip to Italy in May
• made waffles for breakfast!
• finished up the taxes. Will re-do to see if I can eliminate the $2,000 we have to pay.

All in all, a busy productive day.

dancers

dancers, originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

We have had a couple days of cool, rainy weather here in Houston - very welcome because we are running a deficit of almost 7 inches this year.

These little evening primroses (or buttercups, for Texans) are weighed down by the rain. They look like dancers to me.

snapdragon

snapdragon, originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

This snapdragon is something of a surprise to us. You may recall that last year we bought a bunch of plants for just a couple dollars. Apparently among them was a snapdragon. I've never actually grown one before so I didn't recognize the young plant until it began to form buds.

I love the color the flowers take on in the afternoon.

Two plants I'm thinking about today

First, the Tree Dahlia, Dahlia tenuicaulis. A Flickr friend posted a lovely shot (not this one though) and it reminded me how much I wanted to try this one. Not sure how it will react to the warm humid Houston summers but it should like cool wet winters!

Second, the Sunflower Tree or Tree Marigold, Tithonia diversifolia. I've seen it growing in Tampa so I know for sure it will handle Houston! The bush I saw there could easily have been called a small tree - it was 12 feet high and covered in butterflies. There is a possibility it is an invasive species, from some of the reading I have done. So I will need to read some more before I dive in. I've already lived (and we are STILL living) the nightmare called ruellia.

Do any of you have experience with these lovelies?

Early December garden update

The first two weeks of December have been dramatic. We have had warm humid sunny days, then cold, then warm, then back to cold and wet. Plants that grow well in Houston are tough!

Today I checked the Giant Granadilla to see how it was holding up. After all, we have had freezing temperatures and this is a tropical plant. There are 11 buds, 4 of which have actually opened! This is the first time the vine has flowered since its first year back in 2003. I doubt we will have fruit, but it is fun to see these giant flowers.

On our walk this morning, we discovered a treasure trove of discarded dianthus plants. The landscaper for the nearby office complex dumped a pile of plants in the empty field. By the time I spotted the pile, the marigolds had died. But there was an entire colony of pink and red dianthus thriving! So we hauled about 15 plants home and tucked them into the damp earth of the back garden. Dianthus are pretty hardy, and I have several plants that have survived for years. They suffer during the heat but if they are in a somewhat shaded location they will stumble through and then are in glory for the fall and winter months. Butterflies depend on their cheerful flowers for nectar, and I depend on them for a little color!

One of my crepe myrtles has gorgeous yellow leaves - a nice surprise. Houston isn't known for fall colors, and there is nothing else in the yard with color.

Tomorrow will be another humid day. Then we expect a cold front on Wednesday. I'm hoping for a freeze, to knock down the mosquito population! On the other hand, the giant granadilla will probably freeze back.

November in Houston - garden update

November in Houston is usually wonderful - the temps can range from warm to mild to cool, and we usually get some rain. Today is a warmish, humid day with sun peeking through the clouds and the promise of thunderstorms this afternoon.

I spent an hour pulling weeds in the garden (this time of year is the only time it's possible to get ahead of them) and noticed that my giant passionflower vine has quite a few buds! A nice surprise. Giant Granadilla source and photos

The fig tree is bravely producing fruit but the chances of it ripening are slim. We have had one ripe fruit from the fall flush.

The pineapple guava trees had LOTS of fruit this year, but they have all fallen off. Perhaps it was too cold, or too dry? Or maybe they needed some fertilizer. I've been lax in that department this year.

Most of the plants and trees have recovered from the hurricane damage they suffered during Ike. The crepe myrtles look less lush because all their leaves blew off and the time for growing leaves had pretty much passed. I still need to work on the climbing rose - it was severely blown around by the winds. That is a prickly job though, and I haven't taken the time to do it.

Inside the house I completed a second batch of limoncino. We should definitely have enough for years to come, now! Sometime in late December I will bottle the first batch and let it mellow. Now I am on the hunt for a good coffee liqueur recipe to use up the leftover vodka and grain alcohol. :)

flamboyant tree

The extravagant flowers of the Poinciana Tree, or Flamboyant, are almost unbelievable. This is a tropical tree, one that I associate very strongly with my childhood in Congo. They really don't have a scent, and yet when I was standing under the tree today, I caught a whiff of Africa in the late afternoon sun.

We are visiting our beach house in South Padre Island for the Memorial Day holiday this week. Just down the street from us, this beautiful little tree is blooming. Because it is a tropical tree, the examples you see here on South Padre Island are quite small. The trees of my childhood would get 20 feet tall at least, and a beautiful umbrella shape. The ones here are perhaps 10 feet tall.

I remember these trees lining the dirt roads, and somewhere there is a charming slide of my little sister swinging from a low branch with such a sweet smile and dusty bare feet. That image of her lives in my heart...

We had quite a few other trees on the station as well - oil palms, mangos (the best were the little ones we called "peach" mangos"), avocados, oxheart, eucalyptus, kapok, and chalmoogra. These last were planted by my father, to see how they would prosper in our climate.

our early summer garden

The Rangoon Creeper is the most spectacular plant in my garden right now - and will be for several weeks. I was introduced to this vine by the landscape designer that I hired to keep me from making very bad mistakes. It was definitely one of his two best suggestions (the other was the miniature agapanthus). The best thing about this vine is the way the color changes, from white in the morning to the bright rosy red that is in the picture below. In the evening, its strong sweet fragrance permeates the garden.

I've trained it over an arch in the back yard. In the photo below, the arch is spotlighted by the setting sun. On the other side is a pot planted with bronze fennel and a Giant Passion Flower vine given to me by my brother. The bronze fennel is a favorite with butterflies. I'm looking forward to seeing the giant passion flowers... there are 4 buds coming!

Early summer is of course the best time of year for many gardens, and that is certainly true of ours. As you can see, we have lots of blooming things, and this photo shows about half of the back garden. In our part of Houston we are in Zone 9, a semi-tropical zone. Which means that the passion flower stays out all year, as well as our orchids (not visible). The bougainvillea is nice this year (far left of photo) - I've finally wired it to the fence.

In the back right corner, we have a large Celeste fig tree, which has yielded one ripe fig so far (on May 10) this year. But it is completely loaded with ripening fruit. My goal is to get more than half harvested before the critters get to it.

You will notice the large green tree on the other side of our back fence. This is a pecan tree, source of much nourishment for the neighborhood squirrels. It has been heavily hacked by the guys who keep the electrical lines clear of interference, so the shape is a bit strange. I believe it is a native pecan, since it rarely seems to have trouble with worms or blight. Our neighbors to the east (on the right of this photo) also have a young pecan, but often it has those problems so it's probably a hybrid.

In the foreground, there is one of several crepe myrtles. This particular one is only 4 years old! It has gorgeous white papery flowers, exfoliating bark, and will eventually be almost 30 feet tall. Around its feet are Indian Blankets, Rudbeckia, miniature agapanthus, daylilies, a tiny fragrant pink rose from my friend Ev, and rosemary. There are also 2 strawberry guava trees which may someday actual ripen fruit. Meanwhile their powderpuff blossoms in spring are pretty.

These garden beds are only 4 years old, so I'm happy with our progress. I am not the most attentive gardener - weeding is something that gets done at odd times in the early morning cool or late evening dusk, all the while fighting off mosquitos. Watering is a pleasurable task, always done by hand. We water the grass in times of drought and certainly never fertilize it. The lawn has its share of bugs and patchiness, but St. Augustine grass is very hardy and can usually manage to outgrow anything. Our goal is a garden that more-or-less takes care of itself - and we are getting there!

A hard rain

A big storm came through early this morning, with lots of lightning and thunder, and an inch of rain. No damage, and the plants are all happy - our almost-dead ones as well as the living ones...

Today I need to get some of these little guys potted up. And I should devote a few hours to doing some work for the people who pay me, since I left work early on Friday.

Perhaps more later.

13 dollars, 66 plants

We had to go to Lowe's to buy some plumbing parts for the latest project by DH (my dear husband). His birthday is today, but he is happy NOT to celebrate it...

Another item on the list was to pick up a couple packs of flowers. We have an ongoing project to plant as many monarch-butterfly-friendly plants as possible in the garden, and we acquired several more milkweed plants earlier in this spring. One is going to live in a large container at the corner of the driveway, next to the kitchen door. My plan was to get some color for this container. As we wandered through the garden center we stopped by the almost-dead-plant section, to see if there were any bargains. The friendly Lowe's lady ambushed us by saying that if we took the entire rack she would charge us only $10. DH has a horror of killing plants and endless sympathy for the underdog, and since we had already picked out $6 worth of almost-dead plants this seemed like a good deal.

Thus we are now the proud owners of the following: 19 Big Blue Liriope, 4 Jim Crockett Star Asters (these are very good butterfly plants), 2 culinary sage, 1 Senetti Blue Bicolor Cineraria, 3 Festival Mix Gerbera Daisies, 2 Purple Fountain Grass, 1 dianthus, 1 Asian jasmine, 1 white impatiens, 18 petunias of unknown color and very little health, 1 strange little plant with stiff curly/wire stems and no name, and the balance filled out with delphiniums that are almost sure to die of the heat. We paid full price for 12 portulaca and 6 coxcomb. All have bee carefully placed in the light shade of our crepe myrtles and watered tenderly. Who knows what will live or die - and where the *ell I'm going to put all these things.