Way Out West

August, the perfect time to get outta Dodge...and head for the hills...or rather the mountains, the Davis Mountains and Big Bend. Hubby and I participated in this year's Texas Hummingbird Roundup and took in some much needed adventure. I'll spare you the entire itinerary and just say that before the Roundup, we went to Balmorhea, hiked in the Chiuahuan Desert at the Research Center and laid out under the stars to see the Perseid Meteor Shower, whilst drinking some Hoptober and enjoying our friend and fellow CAMNer, Bill.

Female Black Chinned Hummingbird in the cage. Christmas Mountains

Female Black Chinned Hummingbird

Male Lucifer Hummingbird

Flowering Huisache

Christmas Mountains


The roundup took place in and around the Davis Mountain Resort, on 3 private properties including the above Christmas Mountains and our final destination was a hike to the bottom of the Chisos Basin at Big Bend.



Tuna, the fruit of the Prickly Pear was abundant.

All over the Chiuahuan Desert cacti were in bloom, like this Century Plant on the hike down the basin. This is another favorite of hummingbirds and bats.

Nicotiana in bloom, the preferred food of the Blue Throated Hummingbird

Ocotillo outside of Big Bend.

The beautiful Texas Madrone tree, in all our hiking we only saw 3 in the mountains, but we saw a few at Sul Ross that had been planted in honor of Deans.

Emory Peak, Big Bend.

One of many blooming mallows.

The trail behind Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains State Park, it's a relatively easy hike.

The clearing after a brief storm outside Alpine, Texas.

Well, I went through the pink flowers in the "Wildflowers of Texas" book and didn't find this beauty, I'd love an ID.

Indian Lodge trail.

The Indian Lodge from the trail.

The Indian Lodge was built by the CCC, a troop relocated from Bastrop. They made the bricks, built the lodge and also made a lot of the original furniture which still remains. I think it's one of the nicest of the CCC lodges I've been to, and I always try to stay at them whenever possible. However, the bed was lousy, the shower had no pressure and there was no complimentary coffee. The restaurante left us unimpressed, but I must say it was reverently quiet. We ventured into Ft. Davis and found a wonderful Mexican Restaurant, BYOB across from a liquor store and a darling natural food market that resembled a manageable WholeFoods/Central Market in a SunHarvest size, it's attached to Stone Village Tourist Camp, where we stayed for 3 nights and it was wonderful! Organic gourmet coffee free to the guests, pool and they had hummingbird feeders that were packed!

Top of the trail.

Milk Thistle

I love the rock piles created by hikers over the years...this one was huge and had wildflowers growing through the cracks and around the base.

More view from the hike, which took us about 2 hours. We saw javelina, jackrabbit, roadrunner and a bunch of butterflies and other birds, and the cacti were all blooming like this Spanish Daggar.

One of many, many DYF's (damn yellow flower) on the trail.

The clarity of the puddle and the single butterfly wing in it was poetic.

Though I've heard about the dung beetle, I'd never seen them in action. We stopped and watched these two roll this perfectly round ball of dung a few feet...they were amazingly quick.

This jackrabbit didn't seem to mind us watching him snack on tuna.

It was really wonderful to see wild Esperanza! This is taken from the top of the hiking trail off Skyline Drive, overlooking the town of Fort Davis.

Our favorite resting spot on the hike, we went back later that evening to just sit and take in the beauty and silence.

These barn swallow nests were everywhere we went! I totally admire the building style.

Watching Mama Barn Swallow go in and out feeding her kiddos!

Well, this was the last hike we took and we were the first ones on it that morning...made me feel guilty walking through all those spider webs. This hike is rather hard to find as it's tucked behind a picnic rest area about 10 miles from the McDonald Observatory off the road completely. Well worth the time it took to find it.

I wish I knew what this Dr. Seussian thing was! Not knowing her name didn't stop us from admiring her blowing in the wind! Thanks to Lee and Christine, who live way out west...for the ID...it's an Apache Plum!

My favorite rock pile on the Madera Canyon trail.

Not the largest grass hopper we saw, but he was very balanced and strong, the wind was blowing and he just went about his business swaying with the DYF.

This is the last view I'm going to leave you with, it's the last place we sat down for a rest on the hike. The trip was magical, the hikes were invigorating and gorgeous and I think West Texas will go on the calendar for next August as well. It was expandingly beautiful and cool in the evenings and though hot during the afternoons, it was not as hot as Austin! I hope you enjoyed the photos from our only escape from town this summer!

Happy Gardening

It's a Cool, Cool Summer! GBBD

It's been awhile since I posted and it's not because I've been busy working in my garden. No, I haven't been doing much outside at all. This most amazing Texas summer (so far...knock on wood) has been taking care of my yard for me. Regular rain along with cloudy, breezy days makes me feel like I'm on vacation. The barometer bush, seen below seems to have been in constant purplidge (I think I just made that up.)

Leucophyllum frutescens, Texas Sage, Texas Ranger, Silver Leaf, Barometer Bush, Purple Sage, Silverado, Cenzio has more common names than 2222.

Two of my Cenzio's do this, the others just bloom a light lavender color, sometime after the rains. According to what I've read the trigger is either humidity level or soil moisture...and it seems to be true either way.

The mound is becoming less visible as the ground covers continue to spread. I've got purslane, fernleaf verbena and Santolina along with various grasses and the Ocotillo, which is shy this year...lots of leaves, no blooms.


Thryallis, Golden Shower

Mexican Petunia, ruellia gets a bad rap for being invasive, and it is...but knowing that nothing can kill it makes it a favorite around here. This 'pink island' will be waist high by October...guaranteed.

Canna Lily

Tobasco pepper, Capsicum frutescens

Gregg's Mistflower, Conoclinium greggi

Birdii dorkus
So, this is what has become of my homestead TV. Common sense drove me indoors, away from the mosquitoes and air thick enough to swim in. We were blessed to have my brother take my girls for a month and we happened upon a wonderful carpenter so years of planning took shape. The window seat I'm sitting on was one of 3 built-in projects that gobbled up the better part of June. The former "studio" which has been re-named "The Bird Blind Bar" has become our favorite roost.

And here is the West Wall, the actual 'bar.' 7 years ago my beloved husband built the studio out of the existing screened in porch...the window bar, favoring the little coffee bar in Amsterdam where we decided to marry was planned that long ago. The window seat was an obvious need.
Check out my carpenter Bryan Thomas' new blog: btcountry.wordpress.com

And here she is, Ursala, our little Black Chinned Hummingbird that has stolen our heart!

Last Sunday we spent 6 hours drinking Peach Margarita's and documenting her comings and goings. My teen aged daughters were mortified, proclaimed us 'the biggest dorks EVER.' I've been called worse. She goes from the back feeder, over the house to the front and I believe she's built a nest in the American Elm...though until winter, when the foliage is gone, I won't be sure.

Turks Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus is one of Ursula's favorites

To date, I've yet to put out the sprinkler. After the loss of our Sycamore, I decided to let the grass go...it's St. Augustine, shade grass. It's mid-calf now and due to the rain and clouds shows no signs of stress, if not for the chiggers I'd be rolling in it.

And the Green Goddess has decided to don a lovely dress rather than give up! It looks like a crazy Carnival Tango get-up!

There seems to be a lot going on here, but what I'm showing is the height of the bronze fennel, nearly 5 ft tall!

My neighbor feeds the doves sunflower seeds, spreading the joy throughout the hood!

Red Yucca, another hummingbird favorite!

The most profuse tomato in my garden is Early Girl, she's got a dozen or so green ones holding on. The first to stop putting on fruit were the heirlooms, Purple Cherokee and Oaxacan Stripe. But this one, Green Stripe is still going. It's very flavorful and the skin pulls off at the slightest tug, but she's suffering seam splits along her color changes. All of them have this brown scarring.

Great year for eggplant!

Tickseed, Coreopsis Lanceolata found her way into my yard via neighbors.

I'm going to guess that this is a Julia Heliconian caterpillar, let me know if I'm wrong! It's near the Passionflower Vine, its host. This is one of the shy Silverado bushes that waits for wet feet to bloom. The Crape Myrtle's are still going strong!

Butterfly Weed, Tropical Milkweed Asclepias curassavica

We took a drive out to Fredericksburg this past Saturday and stopped in at Wildseed Farms
to pick up a hummingbird/butterfly mix and upon reading the label realized that there were just a few plants I was missing...according to them. So, I bought the mix and will put them out come October...we'll see how that goes. If you haven't been there, put it on your list. The hummingbirds were busy and butterflies amazing. They have a butterfly house, but we didn't drop the change to see what it was all about because the air was thick with them anyway.

I put in 3 bronze fennel plants last fall, this spring I ended up with 11. This one plant is the view outside my computer desk! I've been watching the swallowtails for nearly 2 months!

Passionflower Vine, host plant to the Gulf Fritillary finally bloomed. Randy gave me 3 babies last summer and I didn't think they'd make it. They not only made it, but they are popping up all over! The 'pillars have made skeletons out of several of the vines, but a few have survived into bloomage!

That's the update...there are lots more blooming things though:

Lavender

Hymenoxis

all of the Sage and Fennel

Indian Blanket

Skullcap

Buddleia

Plumbago

Second round of blooms on the Pride of Barbados

Rock Rose

Lambs Ear

Katrina Rose

Knock Out Rose

Belinda's Dream

Parsley

Oregano, and Mexican Oregano

Thyme

Society Garlic

Trailing Lantana

Chaste Tree

OOPS...forgot these:

Yarrow

coreopsis

Patrick's Abutilon

Curry

Cuphea (not the bat faced, but the "David" one...?)

Almond Verbena

New Golden Lantana

Next months Bloom Day will find me in the Davis Mountains counting hummingbirds with a group of Naturalists! I'm finding that my gardening interests are leaning farther toward sustenance and ecology and away from 'pretty plant' mindedness. I looove a gorgeous bloom but it's ever more precious when I learn how she fits into the greater web and I'm more impressed with strength and flexibility than ever.

Thank you Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting bloggers around the world! Check out her sight to see what's blooming anyplace on earth! And always,

Happy Gardening!