Eastern Screech Owl in Cypress tree in a city garden. Click image for full size view.
Each summer a pair of tiny screech owls are active in and around my garden. They may be here year round but in the summer they are noticeable and curious. Screech Owls mate for life and the pair travels and hunts together around the garden. I am amazed at how curious these small owls can be. They have flown up to within 5 or 10 feet of me to check out what I am and what I’m up to. Like a humming bird they feel safe enough at a few feet distance to relax and soak it all in.
Recently as dusk settled over the garden, I noticed a Screech Owl land in a nearby small Cypress tree. I casually walked away and got a camera from the house and on returning found the owl still perched on a low limb of a small Cypress tree in my garden.
This is the best photo I got. I like the reflective red eyes. This owl is only 8 to 9 inches tall and weighs about 8 ounces !
Here is a link to more information on the Eastern Screech Owl
Tags: Bird, Night Creature, Owl
We keep a few cacti around the TIKI Hut, and one of the best ones is the Lady Finger Cactus, Echinocereus pentalophus var. procumbens
Dr. Joe donated a start of this beautiful native Texas cactus to the TIKI garden back in 2005. Each spring she blooms with gorgeous giant 4 inch wide pink, white, green and yellow flowers. Lady Finger Cactus is an easy to grow and easy to propagate cactus. She prefers full sun and protection from too much water in the winter. To flower well, this cactus needs cool dry conditions in winter. Be sure to keep the plant dry during this resting period as it is prone to rotting if kept too wet. The stems of this variety are greener and narrower than most other Echinocereus and she makes a good hanging basket plant or specimen for a tall pot. Propagate from seeds or cuttings. Hardy to around 20 degrees F. (-7 C ).
This week the flowers on my cactus have opened 5 consecutive days in a row, closing each afternoon until the next morning.
Lady Finger Cactus, Echinocereus pentalophus var. procumbens, a Texas native.
Aloha Garden Friends,
On my last trip to Pensacola Florida, I stopped by to visit Charlie Knight,
one of the worlds premier Sabal Palm TIKI carvers. While there,
I selected a TIKI for the garden.
He’s in place now and tonight at dusk I took these photos.
Today is the first full day of spring and the new garden is coming along well.
Thanks to Chuck and CayDee for helping get the new border fence installed.
We feel a lot more secure here on the island, knowing natives from neighboring villages
won’t be raiding the TIKI Treasure Chest or roasting us over lava coals for dinner.
Thanks to Beth for the wonderful solar powered TIKI lights to guide our
way through jungle paths at night.
And to CayDee, Randy, Phillip, and Wayne for many new plants to add
a unique ‘tropical flavor’ to the island garden.
And to Joe and Beth for a wonderful collection of assorted one of a kind
and utility pots for growing TIKI treasures in.
And to Brother Steve and Sterly for many creative ideas on garden design.
Mike
TIKI Surveys His Domain
…
Night Falls on TIKI ISLAND
Spring is definitely here and my ‘Lavender Lady’ Passionflower is now in full bloom. Also sold as ‘Amethyst’ Passionflower, this beautiful passiflora hybrid was made by Patrick Worley using P. amethystina and P. caerulea. Peak flowering is in spring and fall but flowers open regularly from March to November. The vine appears to be hardy into the lower 20’s and almost any moist well drained garden soil will be adequate for good growth. Mine is growing around the trunk of a large Texas Sabal Palm so it’s growing in partial shade. Flowering might be even more prolific in full sun.
The lavender flowers are 3 to 4 inches across. The outer segments have reddish violet margins shading to nearly white centers, while the inner segments are painted lavender. The corona combines bands of purple, white and deep maroon.
I found my plant at Caldwell’s Nursery in Rosenberg, Texas. CayDee Caldwell offers a huge selection of Passionflower Vines but she does not sell mail order. Online, you can find ‘Lavender Lady’ and many other rare and collectable Passionflowers at Zone-9 Tropicals.
Passiflora ‘Amethyst’ is a hardy and easy to grow passionflower vine suitable for almost any passion flower collection. Here is a close-up photo of a flower on my vine this week.
Passiflora caerulea-x-amethystina ‘Lavender Lady’
Tags: Passion Flower, Vine
The garden is wet and rainy tonight, the plants are delighted!
Today’s been one of those cool, wet days we might typically expect in early March. This cool spell however follows a week of near record high temperatures here in Houston. Winter this year has not been ‘typical’ at all. It’s been dry and warm with only a few nights near freezing. Most of my plants are still dormant, waiting for rain to quench their thirsty roots.
Spring is a time of awakening and rebirth. It officially arrives in a couple of weeks and maybe this rain will bring fresh flowers, new baby birds and greenness to the garden.
It is difficult to imagine the loss of something as basic as rain and the seasons, yet there seems to be a growing sense among us that the Earth’s climate is changing. Our very survival may be hanging by a thread about to be severed by this sudden climate change. I find it difficult to imagine as long as life has been on Earth, I might see the destruction of our planet in my lifetime.
I try to do my part in saving the planet by growing things, promoting an understanding of nature, and living a relatively frugal lifestyle. Still if everyone doesn’t join in, frugal clean living by some will just leave more to plunder for the rest of the population living excessive lifestyles. It looks like our future as a species is going to depend on all of us working together to protect the Earth’s climate and resources or were out of here.
There seems to be no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in nature. Everything is natural in a universe where the present is just one outcome of infinite possibilities. As conscious beings we must protect and manage our environment and insure our technologies don’t destroy the planet, sending us all into premature extinction. There will always be obsticals ahead and we should never loose sight of a clear path forward.
I believe each and every conscious being has the God given right to persue their own selfish existence. Conciousness is experienced from points of existence we know as ourselves (the self). Each of us must decide what is best for ourselves, our families, the environment, and join in with other like minded individuals to help make it happen. Time and change will go on with us or without us. We can take action or ignore the facts. The future of mankind and this planet is now up to us.
So cold, rainy, and wet is welcome tonight because it is good for all that lives. I thank God for living things, the seasons, the rains and a clean beautiful environment to live in.
My Cypress pond last week before the rain. Usually it’s filled with water and lush with bog plants this time of year.
Tags: climate change, Cypress, drought, spring, weather
In Japanese culture, people can live in close quarters with others and still maintain personal privacy by making use of visual screens, privacy plantings, and respect for each others privacy needs.
There are instances where privacy is not even a concern. Once while hiking in the Tuxtlas Mountains of southern Mexico, I realized I had been so occupied by the ambiance of the tropical rain forest I was hiking in that I had failed to keep track of where I was going. For a while I felt a most sinking feeling of being completely alone and lost in a natural wilderness.
Privacy is a desirable quality in an urban garden and there are many ways of achieving it. For years I let the area behind my rear fence grow into a dense tangled thicket of wild trees, bamboo and Arunda Grass. The barrier was nearly impassable both visually and physically.
After Hurricane Ike, many garden changes were necessary and this mess along the back fence boundary needed work. I completely cleared everything in the 15 foot deep easement outside my existing fence except for a single 4 foot wide x 150 long strip of Golden Running Bamboo that had overgrown the area for several years.
It is now time to fence the easement outside my main property as most of my neighbors are now doing. My good friend Chuck C. has offered to deliver and help install a new security fence in the alley easement behind my property. This will add an additional 2,250 square feet of space a bamboo privacy barrier and a space to grow potted bamboo plants to sell on the Internet. I’ve decided to use thrifty 16 x 5 foot hog-wire panels and T-Bar metal fence posts to construct the fence. I’ll need a wooden gate for accesing the alley for mowing and cleaning the public green-space and to allow utility workers access to the utility pole inside the newly fenced area.
The fence will discourage intrusions through the bamboo border by passerby’s and will cut down on the trash and liter some people feel compelled to dump on public land anywhere. The fence and bamboo border will provide privacy for the garden and create a secure growing area for potted plants.
Here are a couple of shots of the border as I have been cleaning it since Hurricane Ike. The first image is the new area to be fenced as it now looks in February. The other is a shot from July 2008 when I had begun clearing brush from the ares. Now, even the variegated Arunda grass visible in this picture is gone, leaving only the Golden running bamboo to fill the allocated 4 foot wide x 150 feet long border barrier space. Look for updates in a couple of weeks after the new fence is up.
Let the new year begin! It’s January friends, a good month for new beginnings, perfecting old ways, and a great month for starting something new!
January sends me off on a year long journey, refreshing my experiences with Nature and the Living Earth in all her glorious seasons. Now it is time to reach again for perfection until she is as close as the moment is at hand.
Among our typical cold and dreary January days, there have been some very pleasant mild and sunny days sprinkled in here and there. I’ve been spending some of this good-weather time thinking over just what to do with this years new garden. I’ve discovered, well it’s just plain obvious, this garden needs better borders, newer fences, and wider pathways. Plants need labeling, beds need turning. That’s just the start, I won’t bore you with more details. Leaves are raked, construction projects are underway and plant propagation has started for the new 2009 growing season.
A new ’secret garden’ is in the making on the south side of the house. For this new garden section, I have in mind a simple open environment, off the beaten track, in a relatively quiet area with friendly features like warm night lighting, a small fire-pit, comfortable seating, art and privacy. The ambiance should be soft, natural, and as secluded as can be, considering the surrounding urban environment.
There’s also a new patio area on a high knoll in the center of the garden. This location offers a subtle different perspective with a slightly higher ground elevation than the surrounding area. Presently from the central patio can be seen the back fence, recently cleared of Arunda Grass and now framing a nakedly open view of the city beyond. This is a temporary novel view as privacy in open spaces is a must have feature for this crowded-city garden. A city the size of Houston makes few sacrifices to enhance private garden environments. This city is busy and does not cater to my garden demands.
So I build fences, shells, and walls to keep the city at bay on the outside and allow nature to take her managed course on the inside.
Hey, it’s good to have you here. Hope you enjoy the site, please comment if you like.
Here are some recent photos from the January 2009 garden.
Tags: Chac Mul, Garden, Houston, January, Patio, Secret Garden
Stinkhorn Mushroom - Clathrus columnatus - Fruiting Body
Picture 1 of 3
This is the mature fruiting body of the Stinkhorn Mushroom - Clathrus columnatus. Notice the blob of olive brown slime at the top beneath the octopus like tentacles. This has the odor and appearance of rotting flesh, attracting flies which unwittingly carry spores to new locations for colonization.
The cold weather earlier this week has warmed and last night the temperature and humidity were up. This morning I awoke to a dense fog in the garden and stepping out on the patio my nose immediately informed me the Stinkhorn Fungus (Clathrus columnatus) has started its cool weather fruiting season.
Stinkhorn Mushrooms are weird creatures. Neither plant nor animal, they often have bizarre fantastic fruiting bodies with the odor of something very dead! My mushroom is an octopus like creature rising out of a partially submerged white ‘egg’, standing several inches tall in a bed of decaying leaves and wood mulch.
Inside brightly flesh colored arched octopus like legs are blobs of foul-smelling, olive brown slime attracting flies and slugs. This bizarre adaptation is one of natures ways of dispersing the spores of this very smelly and strange organism. Duped flies crawl over the fruiting body as if it were a piece of ripe decaying meat all the time consuming and picking up fertile spores. Soon they fly away, carrying mushroom spores to new locations, possibly some new fertile bed of fresh wood mulch or leaf litter where a new mushroom colony might colonize and repeat the endless cycles of mushroom life.
On humid days like today, the odor of a fruiting Stinkhorn Mushroom is noticeable 20 to 30 feet away. I don’t need to see the mushroom to know it is present as nothing else has an odor quite like this one. And although it’s not a pleasant odor, it’s not that objectionable to me either, and I enjoy watching these unusual mushrooms growing in my garden during the wet winter months.
This common but unusual mushroom can be found from North Carolina down along the Gulf Coast and deep into Mexico.
For more information on this and other Stinkhorn Mushrooms species, check out this link. Mushroom Expert
Every since I was a child I’ve enjoyed capturing images of nature with my camera. In this selection of images made during 1984 in my garden I share a few of my garden art images with you. In future posts, I’ll add more of these experimental artistic images from the garden in years past.
I’ve been working with my current garden since 1980. I enjoy watching the daily and seasonal changes my garden is always going through. These changes are often ephemeral in nature and capturing fleeting moments with a camera is often the only choice for remembering and sharing the events with others.
Image Notes: The scans are from 24 year old 35mm color slide film. My photo imaging equipment and style has changed since 1984 but the awe and fascination I see in Nature is evident in these old images anyway.
Pond Rainbow is a summer sunrise over my Bald Cypress pond using a prism filter to break the sunlight into all the colors of the rainbow.
The Queen of the Night Cactus - Epiphyllum oxypetalum is a tropical epiphytic cactus. In nature it clambers over tree limbs and rocks where sunlight is plentiful. It’s always a special occasion for me when this cactus is in flower. The large 8 inch wide fragrant night blooming flowers are one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.
On May 30th 1984 we experienced a nearly total solar eclipse in Houston, Texas. It was an awe-inspiring experience for me. By mid-daylight most of the sunlight had disappeared, hidden by the moon, bringing almost 90 percent darkness to my garden. The remaining light filtering through the leaves overhead created beautiful crescent circles of light at ground level. My dog Daisy was there with me that day and in this photo you can see the crescents of light falling all around her.
In 1984 the Cypress pond was a new feature in the garden. The Bald Cypress Trees (Taxodium distichum) were small, and the pond held water all year long. In later years as the trees matured, they quickly use all available water during dry summer months but during these early years it was filled with water and had many established varieties of water plants. One, the day blooming yellow water lilies bloomed almost every day during the warm months.
After rains or a good watering, the Blood Banana (Musa zebrina) leaves are covered with sparkling beads of due at daybreak. Sunlight breaks into rainbow colors on the leaf tops.
A friend brought a fish windsock as garden art and we hung it high in a Chinese Tallow Tree (Triadica sebifera).
Another friend brought a bag of American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) which quickly naturalized around the pond. This is a photo of a mass of bullfrog eggs I found floating on the waters surface one summer morning. Another photo shows a bullfrog tadpole emerging from its aquatic life to start a new life on land. Bullfrogs are permanent residents around a pond and do not usually wander as long as sufficient water is available. My bullfrog population lived in the pond for 8 to 10 years before the pond started drying up in the summer because of the large trees using all the water.
Tiki Torches add a tropical touch to the garden. We often placed them around the garden for party’s and cookouts.
The sky above the garden is a feature most people never pay much attention to. For me it is an ever changing part of the garden landscape, often very beautiful if noticed.
In the fall and winter many of the trees loose their leaves for one last colorful splash for the year.
Tags: 1984, Artistic, Bullfrog, Bullfrog Eggs, Ephemeral, Epiphyllum oxypetalum, Experimental, Solar Eclipse, Tadpole, Taxodium distichum, Tiki Torches
What a surprise this evening when friends and family started calling with reports of snow falling in their Houston neighborhoods. Just around dark at 6pm it started snowing in my garden. Light at first, then periods of heavy flurries. I grabbed my camera and made some shots for you to view.
Snow is rare along the Gulf Coast, last time we had any snow like this was Christmas Eve of 2004 when about an inch of snow fell giving us the first ever White Christmas in Houston, Texas. For all you northern folks this probably seems pretty silly, getting all excited about a few flakes of snow, but it is pretty cool to see a few flakes of the white stuff every once in a while!
Hope this isn’t the start of an unusually cold winter. Winter doesn’t officially start for 10 more days. Here are the photos. Had any snow at your place recently? Comments welcome.
Tags: Houston, Snow, White Christmas, Winter
Recent Comments