Transformers: more than meets the eye
The best part about a garden is how things change from one minute to the next. If you aren’t paying attention, magical and fascinating moments slip by without notice.
Little stubby yellow shrooms one day; twirling, leggy, frilly caps the next.
Peter’s Purple Monarda starts out plain, but then look out! Some serious color and crazy shapes beckon all the pollinators.
The year of the caterpillar
It’s been a wormy spring here in Austin. We’ve had a population swell of all kinds of caterpillars. The worst of it seems to have past thanks to a bacterial outbreak that left many cutworms liquified or floppy. There are still plenty out there of course. We enjoyed a herd of Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars as they quickly munched through my small Dutchman’s Pipe. I had to bring home some supplementary food in the form of a Pelican Flower, which they happily switched to as if it were the main entree!
And then there was this guy. I haven’t been able to positively ID it, but maybe a Laugher?
Out there, in the garden
Sweet Pea
Strawflower
Morning Glory
Andean Sage
Acanthus Mollis
Cleome
Catmint
Zucchini Jungle
As Spring Bursts Forth
Everything is blooming! I can’t possibly keep up with it all. If only I could capture time lapsed records of my garden like the short film Life of Flowers by Vladimir Vorobyoff:
