Restless Natives

It is moving toward summer time in Houston. Not all plants do well in our Houston heat. However, this fine blossom is Winecup. It is also called Purple Poppy Mallow.  It is just one of the four Texas Native Plants for Houston that are featured in the May Horticultural Report for the Norchester Garden Club.


As usual, you may download this report, along with any of the previous ones by clicking on the link located under the "Useful Links We Like" list in the right hand column of this blog site.



Any may be viewed, downloaded, or printed by clicking on the desired topic.

Three Mornings at the Park

The cell phone did well on these three mornings but it would have been nice to have my good camera along.



Matzke Park has a lot to offer.  In addition to the Butterfly Garden it has fine old trees and a great walking trail.  I especially like the trail very early in the morning from about 6:15 AM.  Yes, it is dark.
I try to get out most mornings for 6 laps of brisk walking. (4.2 miles).  


This morning (Apr 17) about 7:00 AM it was getting light and I caught the moon setting over the Cougar Country water tower which the sun was starting to highlight.  You can see this when walking to the west along the north side.










I was a bit late, 7:20 AM this morning. (Apr 18) I saw this as I was driving toward the park.  It was floating very low right over Jones road at about the Met.  By the time I parked and got out.. it had risen again and was to the west of Jones.... Not exactly the Albuquerque Balloon Festival but another gorgeous morning to be outside..

And Easter Morning, April 20, about 6:30 AM... ground fog blanketed the cricket field while the morning sky was a fitting welcome to this special day.

Spring at Fawnview Ranch

Wow... isn't Houston great in the early spring ?  

This is a wonderful time to stay at home and literally "smell the flowers."      I have decided that after being in this same spot for 32 years, it is as close as we will likely come to owning a few acres in the country. So I have now designated it The Fawnview Garden Ranch.


The front lawn is a work in progress since Saint Augustine has decided to present us with a good bit of decline.

Three yards of special mulch delivered from Conroe is supposed to help this problem.  Thank goodness for a cheerful helper as there are a lot of wheelbarrows in 3 cubic yards

This year, our resident Master Gardner has worked especially hard. And things were looking very nice. However, a number of plants, like our roses, are still just in the bud stage.

Of course there is a good reason things look so nice... it has to do with one of my favorite little stories; modified just a bit......






The stranger said "the Lord has blessed you with a beautiful ranch." And I replied...
"Yes, and we are thankful. But you should have seen it when he had it all to Himself.

If you would like to see more pictures from this week's tour of "the ranch,"  you can CLICK HERE and take the short slide show.