The Gregg’s Mist flower that we planted in the spring recovered from the summer heat and spread with the fall rains. We bought it because it is very attractive to butterflies, but the bees love it too!
Now the test is to see how they do over the winter. If they do well, we just might fill the whole front section of the flower bed with them. It is a Texas native.
We had a cold snap, a welcome drench of rain, and all the flowers think it is spring again. Hello Texas.
The grape hyacinth and paper whites are also stretching up their green leaves to the Texas sun. I’ve had paper whites bloom in December, but not grape hyacinths. We’ll see what they do. I should have planted more peppers.
We are finally cooling down here in Texas. We actually had a freeze warning in October, which seemed unusual. I did a few additional things this year in addition to shutting down sprinklers and disconnecting hoses. Basil turns black if the temperatures drop below 40 degrees. In past years I’ve tented the raised bed with plastic, with minimum success. This year I actually gathered my remaining basil and brought it inside to dry.
I also cleaned out the cat bench and put in new straw. I don’t think any of the neighborhood cats use it, but just in case, it has fresh bedding and a handful of dried lavender to deter bugs. I made this bench with the insulated compartment several years ago.
I added a rider to my meadow deer for Halloween. The deer was purchased as a holiday decoration a couple years ago, and I liked having it in the meadow so much I decided to make it a year-round ornament. I have a few more projects on my plate this year than last, so an ornate Halloween sculpture wasn’t going to happen. But a simple three foot plastic skeleton twist tied to the back of the deer, with a length of scrap white ribbon for a bridle, well that was very doable.
Our Texas sage bush bloomed! This is supposed to be a sign of coming rain, but it has not panned out. I’m pleased to see blooms, though. This little bush has seen some trauma; it originally lived in the flower beds by the house, but that was too much water and its roots were wet. Not a happy plant. When a freeze came through and we thought we lost it, we moved it to the meadow, just in case. We were quite surprised when the following spring it sprouted leaves. That was two or three years ago; this is the first time it has bloomed since the transplant.
