July Gardening

The front flowerbed is a cafeteria for all kinds of butterflies moths and bees. there is even a Toad living under one of the sage plants.

The front flower bed has done so well this summer. I can't seem to stop myself from wandering out three or four times a day just to look at it. I am counting different butterfly and moth species species and trying constantly to get a decent photo of one of the two large bees that visit so I can post on BugGuide.net and find out what kind of bees they are. Any time i go outside i am rewarded by seeing at least three or four butterflies and a couple bees. Several times now I have seen a Bumble Bee Moth. I have never been quick enough to photograph her though. I've always, all my life, wanted to see one, and now here she is in my front yard. I'm ecstatic!

Earlier, in June, B and I tried removing the front strip of yard closet to the street. That was a project from Hades! I had read that you could remove the grass (in our case a mixture of five or so different types including Crab Grass and (horrors!) Sandspurs) then cover the dirt with a thick layer of newspaper and mulch. Well that was only minimally effective. The grass is less but it certainly isn't dead. I have been weeding it in the evenings now, trying to get rid of the last of it. Ha! Grass does NOT go down without a fight. I will post some pics of the progress (?) a bit later. After we made this attempt I read that you could also do a similar thing to fertilize your garden over the winter, remove the old dead growth and cover with layers of newspaper and compost. This is supposed to be very good for your garden soil. It's called a "Lasagna Garden," in fact. So now I wonder if, instead of killing the grass in the front, I have, instead, done the equivalent of giving it a carb loading feast. It can go on forever now... Sigh.

Anyway, we'll see if I can get the grass gone. I have planted new, low water use plants; Lantana, yucca, a cactus I trans-planted from the side yard, Mexican feather grass and Rosemary as well as a small tree who's tag fell off while it was being loaded in the car and who B. said we shouldn't buy anyway because we'd never be able to pronounce its name. Now I dont know its name at all. It is in the pea family I think and has little yellow flowers that the bees like. Pictures of that area coming soon.




The front flower garden has butterflies in it all day long. Lots of
Swallowtails and Gulf Fritillaries as well as Skippers and Hairstreaks
and Sulphurs.

I just don't understand why ANYBODY would prefer a boring old hedge to a flowerbed full of wildflowers, butterflies, and bees.

Oh and just one more thing, Brain. I want to give a shout out (as we used to say in the club) to Round Rock Gardens. Best garden center for miles and miles and miles, maybe in the whole of Central Texas. I've been getting all my plants there. They pay particular attention to low water use plants that are well adapted to this region. They also have great sales, coupons and fun events like this past Saturday's salsa cook off. They even won an award as one of the top 100 revolutionary garden centers in the country. "Check 'em out, well."