Category: Flora

Convergent Lady Beetle

On By CarynIn Flora, Wildlife

I learned something new when I snapped a picture of a lady bug resting on a Gregg’s mist flower leaf and uploaded it to iNaturalist. The name of my friendly neighborhood native is the Convergent Lady Beetle, because of the “two short white lines on the black pronotum (shoulderlike section behind the head) that converge toward each other.” (Mdc.mo.gov) The markings are harder to see in my picture, but these are the most common of the 500 lady beetle species in the US.

Photo description: Convergent Lady Beetle with my finger as the background

The Gregg’s mist flower is doing its job of attracting pollinators and helpful insects. Our front garden bed is full of the mist flowers and Common Yellow Wood Sorrel, which are also native and edible. The yellow and purple are nice together, and the density of their leaves is blocking out other unwanted growth, which means less weeding for me!

Bluebonnet patch

On By CarynIn Flora, Garden

We have our own bluebonnet patch!

Photo description: grassy clearing with leafy trees in the background.

It looks like an April Fools joke, but it really is a bluebonnet patch. Here is a photo taken from another angle:

Photo description: sparse bluebonnets in a field of green, taken at a ninety degree angle from the first picture.

There are more bluebonnets in this area than last year; we’ve had a wet spring. Some of my neighbors’ yards are breathtaking with their bluebonnets. I’m hoping this patch continues to thrive and expand. We won’t mow it until late summer, when the state starts to mow its wildflower filled roadsides.

Signs of Spring

On By CarynIn Flora, Garden

We are full on Spring here in Texas. It was quite a mild winter, and I was afraid the grape hyacinths were not going to bloom since they started growing their greenery at the end of last year, but they not only are in bloom, they are putting on a spectacular showing.

Photo description: uncultivated grape hyacinths with multiple blooms coming from one leaf clump.

We have oxalis in the front bed, also volunteering, that started off as a dense carpet and with recent rains has become quite lush. I like oxalis because of the leaf shape and delicate yellow flowers that come later in the year. I think it makes quite a nice ground cover or border and does a fair job choking out other weeds.

Photo description: Oxalis leaves so dense I was able to get an entire picture filled with only oxalis.

We also have Gregg’s mist flower emerging from the area where we planted it last year. No photos yet, but very excited that it does well there.

Bluebonnets loading

On By CarynIn Flora
Photo description: Dried leaves and twigs with green leaves emerging including the five leaf clusters of bluebonnets. Photo credit to my husband.

My husband took a wander out to the meadow and made a lovely discovery: bluebonnets in progress! I like his photo composition as well, with the arc of a twig, opposing arc of dried grass, and the line of bluebonnet leaf clusters trailing down from the top right to the bottom left.

Hanging shelves

On By CarynIn Cats, Flora

Our front window at our house gets the most sunlight, enough that cactus are happy. This would be a great place to start seedlings, so I ordered some hanging acrylic shelves to put in the window.

Photo description: Three hanging shelves with pots of cactus, the top pot has aloe, the middle pot (yes it is a ceramic skull) has a succulent, and the lowest pot has bunny ear cacti. There is another hanging basket and, not shown on the left, another set of three shelves.

I received two sets of three shelves, and installed them centered in the right and left window panels. The idea is that it gives me more space for sunlight loving plants, and raises the plants above the windowsill so the cats too can enjoy the sunshine.

Photo description: picture out the window during the day showing the whole window. The acrylic shelves on the left are nearly invisible. Thor the gray tabby has enough room to walk across the windowsill under the shelves.

The shelves consist of formed acrylic trays, twisted-steel polymer-coated flexible cable, and tubes threaded for screws that act as stoppers. The assembly wasn’t difficult, but did take some time. Could I have made a wood and rope version? Absolutely. I like that the acrylic lets light through.