My Passion for Passion Flowers

Look what I found this afternoon. My Passion Flower has already started to bloom. This is Passiflora incarnata or Maypop. This vine is about 25 feet long covering a corner of our chain link fence. It blooms almost all season. In my area it is almost evergreen. It is also the larval food for Gulf Fritillary butterflies. In a few weeks we should have caterpillars having an feast. As soon as they show up, I will post a picture.

According to Wikipedia, Passion flower is native to all areas of the world, excluding Europe and Antarctica. There are nine species native to the U.S. The structure of the flower requires a large bee or humming bird for pollination. We will see humming birds, bumble bees, and caterpillars all over this all summer. It is a happening place.

I am a pretty happy gardener right now.

I Hope They Found What They Were Looking For

Have you ever played around with your site meter? Every once in a while, I like to go check out what search words brought people to my blog through google. Sometimes it's pretty straight forward, sometimes it's scary, and sometimes it is funny.

Here are a few examples:

Fracus plant - I am pretty sure that is what my Logan's hardy lemon tree is. Every time I back into it and get poked in the bohiny there is a fracus.

i killed green worm in container plant - My worms are red. If I found a green worm I would definitely be here braggin' and trying to figure out what it was. Unfortunately, I think the inquirer may have killed a little garden snake.

Dandelions in compost - I feed my dandelions to the bunnies. They eventually make it to the compost after being converted into rabbit pills.

Blog block of the month - I bet out there someplace there are quilting bloggers who do this. I am afraid to go look because I might not make it back here. Picture me staring at the computer screen whispering "look at all the pretty colors."

Is sauerkraut good for my pet - I don't know. What I do know is that if we were to feed Abby sauerkraut, we would all have to leave the house because of the noxious gas.

Yarn Monster - Yes we have a yarn monster. Here she is.

Composting on a patio - Yes, absolutely, compost on your patio. I will show you how it's done.

Amish rabbit hutch - Now I don't know exactly what that is, but I am absolutely sure I want one. Here are our bunnies Starr and, um, (uncomfortable silence) Mario. Mario only answers to the name Lucy.

Hope they found what they were looking for.

Really Horrible Herbal Tea.

I have been trying to get sick and finally succeeded. I don't know what it is, but my throat hurts, my nose is stopped up and I am coughing like crazy. All of this has set my asthma off badly. This morning at 5:00 am I woke up wheezing and thought I was going to have to go to the ER. Cold water made it worse. A warm bath made it better. After the bath, I reason that a good cup of herbal tea should really sooth things. I had some fennel I cut yesterday. Smells like licorice should taste nice and feel good. NO, DO NOT DO THIS. Fennel tea tastes like grass and dirt. How do I know what grass and dirt taste like? I am a gardener - I know exactly what grass and dirt taste like. I know some of you will tell me that a little dirt is good for you. Might be so, but I still don't enjoy it. I do like the taste of our little annual winter rye grass and I love wheat grass. This taste, however, was some kind of skunk weed and should never be ingested by a person. As soon as it gets light outside, I am going to go find some chocolate mint. I know that will make good tea.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Here is Duchess de Brabant an 1857 tea rose. This was a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt. He often wore a bud as a boutonniere.

This Madam Joseph Schwartz 1880. This rose is a sport of Duchess de Brabant.

These are two of my antique roses. I have about fifteen varieties now. If I had room, I would have more.

Here is a terrible picture of the two blooms together. I tried and tried to take a clear shot, but my camera just wouldn't do it. I need photography lessons.

Happy Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Wild Flower of the Week

Baby Monkey presents the Wild Flower of the Week. Behold the Texas state flower, the Blue Bonnet.

Here they are without my kidlett.

There are actually five Texas state flowers, but all of them are Blue Bonnets. In 1901 Lupinus subcanosus or Buffalo Clover Blue Bonnet was declared the state flower of Texas by our legislature. Off and on for the next seventy years there was a Blue Bonnet debate. Many people believed that Lupinus texensis was clearly a prettier Blue Bonnet. In 1971 they solved the argument by making both Blue Bonnets the state flower as well as three other Lupins. Here is how it reads "Any other variety of blue bonnet not heretofore mentioned." The other three are Lupinus harvardii the Big Bend or Chisos Blue bonnet, Lupinus concennus or annual lupine, and Lupinus platlensis the only perennial Blue Bonnet which is found in the Panhandle. The pictures above are Lupinus texensis. Thanks to the Texas Agrilife Extension for the Info.

Over the next couple of months I am going to try to post a Wild Flower of the Week. I want to learn more about the native flowers in my area. If you have a post related to wild flowers and would like me to link you here, just leave me a comment and I will come back and create a link to your blog. Everyone can play.

Here we go.

Weed Wackin Wenches are the first players. It's not a flower but it is something wild.

In Notes From a Cottage Garden I found more wild flowers. Check out small flowered Blue Eyed Mary.

Look What I Found Under My Mess

Hola Senor Werm, glad you stayed warm under the Comfrey all winter.

Behind all of the weeds and overgrown, gone to seed broccoli I found Senor Werm and a beautiful spider wort in bloom. Why do beautiful plants sometimes have such awful names?

Here, relaxing under the Duchess De Brabrant, is Miss Trixie taking it easy.

I made it. I did not get lost. I did get sunburned. What did I do with all the broccoli and weeds? Well, I hid them behind the rose bush on the other side of the garden where there are several beds that won't be planted for a few weeks. You see, last summer I found a book among my grandfather's belongings. It was published in the 1950's and was about one woman's struggle to grow a productive vegetable garden. The point of the book was to use mulch. Last fall, I used my pulled weeds and the soft stuff from pruning to mulch my fallow beds. I just dumped them on top of the weeds that were growing in the unplanted beds. After about two weeks I pulled back my "mulch" and the weeds were dead. Better yet, the soil looked awesome. I just cleaned up my weed mulch and removed it to the compost pile. Then I planted my rows and was off. It's not pretty, but it works great. I looked and looked for about 10 seconds for the book so I could give you the title and author. I will actually spend a little time and look for it tomorrow. I am pretty sure it is no longer in print, but maybe you can find it at a used book store.

I''m Going In

Here is my crazy overgrown winter garden. See the broccoli all gone to seed? Isn't the Swiss chard lovely. It tastes good too. Then there are the misplaced French hollyhocks.

So, I'm going in. I intend to spend the next two days cleaning up this mess. We will also be on a search and rescue mission. Somewhere out there are little lettuce plants, sugar snap peas, carrots, and radishes.

This is the result when you have a tiny garden and absolutely no self control. I am pretty sure I need counseling with regards to my plant addiction.

Here is my comfrey plant in the foreground and my Duchess De Brabrant rose in the back. Can you tell I never got around to pruning her last fall? I know you can't see it, but there is a Celtic knot pathway through this disaster.

I intend to use this Monkey as slave labor/helper. That is his own personal lawn mower. He just came in and invited me to help him with the lawn, so I gotta go.

If I'm not back by tomorrow night, send a rescue party.