A Passion Vine for Nola

Here is a picture of my passion vine (Passiflora incarnata) commonly known as may pop. This vine is currently 33 feet long after I cut six feet off of it yesterday. It is growing in full sun on one end, part shade in the middle, and deep shade towards the end. I never water it. Gulf fritillary butterflies lay their eggs on it and the scary looking caterpillars eat it up. During the late summer, it is covered up in beautiful orange butterflies and orange and red striped spiky caterpillars. Very nice habitat.

Here is the very exotic looking flower.

Today, I met Nola of Alamo North. She and her husband are a lovely couple. She commented on my passion vine when she saw it in the background of a picture I posted a week or so ago. I brought a division of the passion vine with me just in case she showed up to the Scarecrow Festival in Kaufman. She showed. What a very exciting day. I met someone from the blogosphere and she wasn't a scary person. After yesterday's post, I would have thought she might want to avoid me.

My master gardener group had a booth at the Scarecrow Festival. We gave out information, calenders, and sold some native and adapted bulbs (daffodils, gladiolas, pinks). I would now go on and on about the Kaufman County Master Gardeners, but Nola did a fine job of that for me on her blog today.

It was great to meet you Nola. Enjoy the passion vine, I sure do.

Triple Pumpkin Homicide Aunt Debbi Still At Large

Another vegetable killing occurred tonight in Combine Texas at approximately 8:30 pm. The serial killer is still at large.

Here are the Monkeys' Jack-O-Lanterns.

Here they are again lit up.

Happy Halloween.

Mexican Mint Marigold and a Monkey Update

This is a really bad picture of a really pretty plant. It is Mexican mint marigold, which blooms in the fall. The plant tag said full sun, but I grow it in dry shade. It is very drought tolerant and hardy to zone 8. I divide the plant in the spring, but have also found that it will reseed itself. Butterflies are attracted to the blooms. The leaves can be used as a substitute for French tarragon. I love it with sweet pickles in tuna salad.

Teenage Monkey got his cast put on today. The break was a green stick break, meaning the bone was not broken all the way across. He only has to wear the cast for four weeks.

Brrrrrr

The cold front came in at about 3:00 this afternoon. Of course I had just started a fire in the chiminea and had completely torn up the giant compost disaster. So I had flames shooting out of the top of the chiminea and compost flying all over the place. Then, of course, it started to rain. I am lucky this way. Let me start a big messy project, and the wind and rain will show up to get me wet and and covered in mud. Thanks Mother Nature, thanks a lot. Somehow, I didn't catch the house on fire and the compost is now back in two piles instead of a giant mess all over the back of the garden.

It is going to get down into the 40's tonight. This is winter weather around these parts. Hopefully, we will get a little more rain to get the fall veggies off to a good start. The tomatoes are not long for this world. I hope the fruits get big enough for me to bring in to ripen in a bowl on the table.

How is your weather?

Let Me Explain This One More Time

I love my neighbors. Really, I do, but this has gotten out of control. Remember when I told him to feel free to put the grass clippings into the compost pile. I was grateful for the compost ingredients and didn't want them ending up in the landfill. A couple of days ago, I began turning and sifting my compost pile. I was about half way through this process when neighbor man mowed his lawn again. I found this mess this afternoon. Nice, he covered up my bucket, my compost screen, and a couple of tools.

When I told him he could use the compost pile anytime, I also told him to quit bagging the clippings once he got the lawn short enough that piles of grass clippings would not be laying on top of the grass killing it. Pretty much the instructions are to mow higher and more frequently. I patiently explained that the grass clippings fall down onto the soil, decompose, and create humus. This builds up the soil and feeds the grass. By bagging leaves and grass, we rob the nutrients from the landscape. Leave them if you can and let them decompose. Did he listen, does he have clue? Nope, he has bagged the grass ever since this.

Here is his lawn. Pretty sparse and mostly scrubby.

Here is my lawn. Never fertilized, never watered, and mowed to a little higher level. Oh, and I need to mention, about 1/4 the size of Neighbor Mowing Mans lawn. See the lawn behind ours. The other neighbor has a lawn service who scalps his lawn every two weeks whether it needs it or not. Another lawn no-no we will save for another day.

Broken Monkey

There will be no garden blogging today. I got a phone call from the school. Teenage Monkey had hurt his arm playing football. An X-ray showed a buckle fracture of his radius.

Halloween Kitty

I am Trixie and I love Halloween

Trust me. Just ignore my evil eyes. I mean no harm.

Bwahahahaha!!!