Conscious Gardening: What's Going on at Hornsby Bend?

Monday, April 12, 2010

What's Going on at Hornsby Bend?

Last Saturday morning, my friend Patty, a fellow Master Naturalist and I went out to Hornsby Bend to check things out. It was the official Audubon's Monthly Bird Survey, which is a serious event and we wanted to take it easy, look at the plants, the bugs and all the other critters as well...so we did.

This guy was sunning himself in the middle of the road. I took a million pictures trying to get him with his tongue out but my camera has too much of a delay.

The understory was peppered with sunlight exposing yards of Baby Blue Eyes.

The yellow flower, gorgeous as it is and is blooming all over town on roadsides is "Bastard Cabbage," and I can't find the purple flower in the wildflower guide...anyone know this?

We were marveling at the American Coot not 20 minutes before we found this guy on the side of the road. The feet are beautiful, iridescent green and black with a snakeskin texture.

At one point we were wondering through the wildflowers, some several feet over our heads...like the Queen Anne's Lace, when we disturbed a group of Dragon Flies...this handsome fellow was brave enough to let me hone in on him!

Philadelphia Fleabane

The description in the Wildflowers of Texas guide describes threadlike petals...yea, you could say that.

Sweet Baby Blue Eyes up close.

More of the forest floor and the Baby Blue Eyes.

and still more...it was really magical in a way that my little digital camera just isn't able to capture.

The green house is a settling pond with a carpet of duckweed. The acoustics in this place are eerie, like a scene for a murder. The frogs, spiders, birds and bats love it!

I wonder what traveled this way?

The sweet face of the Day Lilly...a favorite food of my chickens and rabbits.

Wolf Spider on the edge of the pond. It was an easier day than the serious bird count and we got to geek out on the plants and critters and thoroughly enjoyed this perfect Texas Spring! Thanks for coming along!

Happy Birding!

1 comment:

Marilyn Kircus said...: I love Hornsby Bend also. The unknown flower you asked about in your blog is blue curls. I took a picture of it at Lady Bird Johnson's Wildflower Center and also bought some to plant. They grow in morning sun to dappled shade. I never noticed them until this year and now I'm finding them in lots of places. Here's my link to my picture.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2194058300031168545HMuUCi; 12 May, 2010 18:31

Wordy Wednesday! Solstice 2012!

CBC Update

I wrote to the CBC on April 26th letting them know that I'd had an arborist come out to confirm the fire blight on their giant Barlet Pear tree and had a quote for them. They have yet to have it removed. I've had to let go of any hope or fear about what it will do to my garden, and our neighbors's gardens. Here is a shot of the hell strip across the street. I've continued to plant things there and try to go over at least once a month to pull weeds and keep it somewhat tidy. The rocket myrtle is looking lovely!

Wordy Wednesday 3.21.2012

At 7:30 this morning I went out to snap a few shots of the garden and discovered the owl. I sat with her the entire day...until 3:30, when the American Elm she and her babies called home had been taken down around her, she dropped down into her box. Had I known that my Mr. Owl had started a family, I'd have waited on the tree. As it was, we didn't realize it was "mama owl" until several hours later...when she refused to leave, and then finally at sunset, when Mr. Owl arrived...I hope the babies make it and that we have a family...come May!

Wordy Wednesday 2-29-2012

I walked into the kitchen just in time to see mama redwinged black bird strike the window just inches away from the supposedly "safety sticker" purchased from Audubon specifically for preventing bird strikes. She was in shock and we were terrified that one of our furry monsters would get her...so we carefully placed her in a little nest I made in a wire basket. Her beak was split up the middle and she sat still with her mouth open and her head at a strange cocked angle for a good 5 minutes. I ran and got the camera and when I came out she had closed her mouth...which was bleeding at the tip and her breathing had calmed. I went inside to give her some peace, when I opened the door 20 minutes later...she took off!

"Be the change you want to see in the world." Gandhi

Chicas Verdes

I went to lunch today with a host of lovely Green Ladies who meet at various locations on the first Tuesday of each month to discuss all things Green in Austin and beyond. The speaker was Niyanta Spelman, executive director of a fairly new NGO, Rainforest Partnership~Linking People to People for a Sustainable Future. It's a worthy cause and I wanted to give a shout out to her group and invite folks to check out their site if this tugs your heartstrings.

Her presentation was engaging and she is available for presentations and networking.

www.rainforestpartnership.org

Rose Garden Planting at CBC Valentines Day 2009

We are going to be putting in a rose garden tomorrow morning at the Baptist Church on Dartmouth Ave. Anyone in the neighborhood is welcome to join us. We'll meet at the coffeeshop at 10am for cookies and a brief talk, then we'll be planting 9 Martha Gonzales roses, leaving space for an upcoming pergola to house two Lady Banksia's. Both roses are featured in the new Grow Green guide that will be released to the public on February 22nd, next Sunday at Zilker Botanical Gardens for the 5th annual Grow Green Festival. The festival begins at 12 noon and is free. Please help us keep Austin Green!

What is your Signature Plant?

This is in response to Tina's question (In The Garden) about signature plants. It came to me right away as I was reading...mine is a Sunflower...for many reasons. They are a weed, the Kansas State Flower, where I was born, they are super sensitive to sunlight...that's why I live in Texas...to keep warm, I'm a sun-lover, yellow is the most cheery color, there are so many different kinds of Sunflowers...one for every mood it seems. Also, almost every part of the flower is useful: petals for dye, stalk for fiber art, seeds...well that's obvious. They bloom where planted. I feel strong and diverse, like a sunflower...When I took the "what flower are you?" test on
Gardening While Intoxicated blog, I came up Sunflower and last but not least...I have a two flower tattoos...one of them is a Sunflower:)

Tree Planting November 1st!

We are just one week away from the scheduled planting date at the CBC on East Dartmouth Ave, south side of the street.
I'm encouraging everyone to show up at 10am for coffee at the Connection Cafe and to pick a tree. Please bring your garden gloves, shovel and wheel barrel if you have one. Davey Trees is delivering mulch! There are 17 trees to be planted along the sidewalk and around the corner on Woodrow Ave. This project is to help replace the 5 trees that have died over the past decade, beautify and also to address the heat island effect.
Please join your neighbors in this project! It's a great opportunity to introduce your kids to gardening and get involved. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to call me @ 459.7314

Happy Gardening!

CBC Update!

The time is drawing near for the CBC/Dartmouth Av. Beautification Project to happen. Paul from TreeFolks came by last week to verify the space and trees for our November 1st plant date. We will be putting 17 trees into the ground along both Woodrow and Dartmouth Av. At the Neighbors Night Out I will have a map of the tree locations and familys can choose which tree to plant. My daughter has designed a T-shirt logo that you can check out and we will order shirts for participants who want to share the joy. Remember to bring your own shovel for digging and hauling mulch. This spring we will add flowers and hopefully some benches! Please join us
in the transformation of our street!

Hard Core Gardening...

CBC Update!

We are having a meeting with Tree Folks September 12th just to verify the space and trees. Some of the grass has grown back but we're dedicated to getting the good stuff in right! Our current planting date is still set for November 1st, 10am and we can use all the help we can get...if you'd like to know how just e-mail me at greengardener@grandecom.net
The Crestview Baptist Church has really taken going green quite serious. This morning I was speaking to their Minister of Community Connection and he informed me that the entire staff were now taking Monday's off to save energy...Right On!

CBC Plan Approved!

Chicken Heaven

One of the joys of gardening is the evolution of crap, or composting. I love turning the pile...it's hard work for sure
but it's just so rewarding. The top is always dry and airy but when you dig down to that super rich level...full of bugs and worms and wet delicious smelling fresh soil, you know you're doing the right thing. No one loves helping out more than the chickens. They are usually a bit jumpy due to their teeny weeny bird-brains but when they have their sight on dozens, maybe hundreds of plump critters their excitement and need for protein overwhelm their fear of the shovel and they literally dive in face first. I'm going to have to catch it on film sometime...they love compost almost as much as my dog loves Kitty-Rocha. Nasty, nasty stuff.

Old Fashioned Family Fun

Taking photos at dawn is the best. Staging photos is an art form. Dealing with pre-teens and full on teenaged girls can be a nightmare. We were down visiting my neighbor's horses a few weeks ago and stumbled upon a blackberry forest...literally! So we decided to arrange a morning of bliss. The following weekend we took my two girls out to pick blackberries, ride horses and do a photo shoot. A morning like this has the potential of going sour, not everyone rises like the sun, shiny and full of energy...not to mention typical teenaged attitude and the borage of petty complaints. Throw in a camera however and suddenly eyes sparkle, hair flies, dimples emerge and between handling the animals, the reflection on the water, arranging the props and making sure your models don't have blue lips and are not tearing each others hair out for "that shirt" the potential for magic emerges. The girls were so funny, they couldn't believe how many blackberries there were..."how many can we eat? As much as you want, but let's take enough home for a cobbler." (Rare sound of giddy squealing) The second location was in the hayloft. The texture of the hay and soft lighting were perfect. I was expecting wining about how it itched or the bugs etc...but it all seemed fine, we just made sure that the same amount of attention was paid each model. Then off to the horses, who would be fed after their work. Now working with horses is a bit more of a challenge. Taking a picture of a flower is one thing...composition, lighting, background...mostly nature takes care of the beauty but the horses have to be directed along with the girls, and of course there is the safety issue and only one of the girls is comfortable and "into" horses. Once again though, the camera seemed to erase all fear and the inner model arose. The entire shoot lasted about 4 hours, which included feeding and tending 4 horses, 5 changes of clothes, staging photos at 3 locations and picking several containers of berries and one prairie-girl sized basket. The great thing is that the morning goes down in history, beautifully. In a few years we won't even remember the hassle...
Blackberry slideshow under construction.

Conscious Gardening

Monday, April 12, 2010

What's Going on at Hornsby Bend?

1 comment:

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