Wildlife Wednesday July 2017

It's Wildlife Wednesday and that means rounding up wildlife photos from June to share on the meme hosted by Tina at "My Gardener Says...." on the first Wednesday of each month.  Let's look at the wildlife visitors I spotted recently in the garden.

This pretty creature is a Peucetia viridans or green lynx spider.  Green lynx spider is found throughout the southern U.S. and is a chief predator of southern pests such as the cotton bollworm, corn earworm, and cabbage looper moth.   It doesn't spin webs, but rather trails a line along behind like a trip wire, waits for prey to show up and pounces.  "Have a nice trip?  Ha Ha."  You can see a bit of what looks like a line between the glochids.

It's not all good with the green lynx spider since they are also a major predator of bees which might explain its presence on a cactus just to the left of Woolly Ironweed (Vernonia lindheimeri) where a Solitary Bee is working.  These Solitary Bees are actually very friendly and often come up to us just to take a look.

A green Carolina Anole (Anolis carolinensis) keeps an eye on the proceedings from a Yucca Rigida while waiting for insects to fly close enough.  Anoles claim plants, particularly tall ones and simply hang out there.  I heard one snap at a moth a while back and it's quite audible if you're in the right spot.

Turkey Vultures have been visiting us on a near daily basis for years.  Usually it's a thudding noise on our metal roof that alerts me to their presence.  They typically perch high up by the chimney, all the better for their view of the creek, but not easy to get a photo.  During June they moved closer to the water trough we keep out for wildlife and I created these GIFs.  Something may have died back there, a fairly common occurrence which is why they perch on the roof in the first place.

Our golf course correspondent turned in this view of an Egret and Cormorants fishing at a pond.

I typically conclude these posts with deer photos.  Today I'm posting deer damage instead.   Deer are creatures of habit and once they gain a taste for a certain plant they won't leave it alone.  Every new leaf is stripped nightly.  When we discovered this type of damage to a schefflera that had been near the front door for years without a problem, we protected it with wire grates assuming the baffled deer would move on.

Yesterday I discovered the deer apparently decided to destroy nearby variegated liriope plants instead.  Chewed down whole rows of them.



Deer typically nibble liriope randomly but not enough for me to worry about it.  This time whole plants were uprooted and dropped.



Fortunately, liriope is resilient which why it's planted here.  I've mentioned that we fenced deer out of the back garden a few years ago and these examples in the unfenced front yard show why.  Imagine going out and checking each morning to see what the deer got into overnight.

For more posts on wildlife in the garden, see the comments section at "My Gardener Says...".

Touring the Post-Winter Landscape Reveals Positive Changes

A frequent gardening question regards how to plan a landscape to look good year round. That's exactly what I had in mind when I planned our landscape nearly five years ago.  My landscape not only needed to look good in winter it also had to brave our brutal summers.  With an emphasis on native heat and drought tolerant plants the summer garden has been working well for a while.  That still leaves those winter freezes to figure out and with so many evergreen (or ever silver in my case) native plants to choose from it's pretty easy to put together an interesting winter landscape.  Over the years I've tweaked my original ideas to make it look even better.  Back in February, after a three-day freeze, I took a photo to document how the front landscaping looked after what passes for winter in South Central Texas.  As I was taking these photos a neighbor walked by and commented on how good my landscape looked.  Then she added that it looked the same as any other time of year.

I thought so too until I took at look at the same angle this week in mid-March.  What a difference.  Plants are greener and bright yellow Damianita blooms highlight the front beds.  Still I'm happy with the way things look in the first photo too.  It can't look like this every day even if I used fake flowers which would fade in our heat anyway.

Our average last freeze/frost date is March 2nd so we're well past the average danger zone though I remember losing some plants to a late March freeze just last year.  The safe date is March 20th and it looks like we'll make it without a late freeze this year.  That's also the first day of spring so it's time to take stock of the landscape before it arrives.

Damianita was a recent addition to the landscape and replaced existing Lantana 'New Gold' which looks terrible in the winter.

Lantana looked so awful during winter months that I couldn't find any photos to show.  The best I could do is that brown heap of sticks in front of the palm is how Lantana usually looks in winter.

I much prefer Damianita (those green shrubs in front of the agave) which remain green all winter and cycle their blooms from spring to fall.

Damianita also braves summer heat next to a south-facing driveway and only needs water once a month even in July and August.

Damianita also replaced lantana in the island bed.  Deep green foliage adds color in winter.

Damianita brightly blooming this week with Yucca Rostrata in the background.  I've been impressed with the quick growth of the yucca since I purchased it two years ago as a small one-gallon plant at the big blue home improvement store.

While we're at it we'll tour the rest of the garden since it's been a while.  I was surprised to see red barrel cactus blooming.  It's younger than my golden barrels which have not bloomed yet.  The orange flowers don't open wide, this is about the most they open even on a sunny day.  Each flower opens in succession around the ring.



Four-nerve Daisy sporadically blooms atop long stems.



Golden Barrel and Agave Cornelius picks up golden color echoes.  Agave Cornelius added just last fall produced a pup which will eventually be transplanted to replace Color Guard Yucca which looked great along the driveway but are short-lived.  Pups don't range far from the parent plant making this compact (3'-4' wide) variety of Agave Americana a good choice for landscapes.

Then there are those cute ruffly edges I carefully chose by looking through every plant the nursery had in stock.  Agave Cornelius has made it through with just a few spots due to a rainy winter.  I mounded it up slightly which worked out well for drainage which all agaves need and drainage has been a problem in this spot.  Native twist-spine barrel cactus in the background.

Dotty African Hosta foliage invites close inspection in the shady garden

Into the back yard where dormant Buffalo Grass is waking up.

Texas Bluebonnets are in full bloom along with Prairie Verbena.

I just love having wildflowers in the garden.



Bored yet?

Some are going to seed already.

Checking out the circle garden where native Muhly grasses stay green and soften rocky edges.

Tazetta 'Golden Dawn' narcissus planted in fall of 2015 have multiplied and returned much to my surprise, well not exactly a surprise since they are marketed for this climate where most bulbs tend not to make it through our summers.  Blackfoot Daisy on the left.

Another view from the tank garden.

Behind the deer fence Belinda's Dream Rose has been covered with blooms this spring.

Belinda's Dream in full bloom

Grandma's Yellow because every Texas garden should have a yellow rose, especially in San Antonio.

What's a yellow rose without a cactus near?  I planted spineless Opuntia around the base.

Painted Petals, shared by my friend Melody and blooming here for the first time.

Abutilon unknown variety.  One stem has variegated leaves and the other is solid.

Yucca Rigida planted just a year ago is blooming.

Bloom just emerging earlier in the week.

Just a few days later it's moving quickly to produce its stalk of bell-shaped flowers.

We're just getting over leaf drop season and the back yard remains buried in live oak leaves.  Eventually we'll get them all raked and moved behind the shed to compost.

That view of squiggly live oaks over the fence shows where I still have the most work to do sprucing up the container plants and moving them around to their summer spots.

That's the tour for late winter as we head into spring.  I'm happy with the changes made to brighten up the winter landscape and how the garden is shaping up all around.

Big Yucca Quest

Did you ever really want a certain big ticket plant?   I did, but I realized it's important to wait for the right moment.  It takes extensive preparation to ensure a feature plant is located in the proper spot (since you only get one chance to get it right) so timing is important.   I have wanted a tall yucca for years and have pictured it somewhere in my front yard.  But getting it done took a combination of creating the basic landscape first and also the right circumstances.  

This spring we knew the Vitex tree on the front corner by the garage was past its prime.  Planted 20 years ago by the original owners, it had served its time well as a visual anchor at the corner.  But it was never a favorite plant, just a useful one.  Nothing wrong with that and I had so many other landscaping issues to deal with.

Pruned into treeform it held its own with stunning spring blooms until a few years ago, as shown in this 2010 photo.
 

Last spring it was clearly signalling decline by barely blooming at all and summer leaves were sparse and small.  Time to take it out.  Could the circumstances be coming together for my tall yucca?

First things first which meant removing the old plant.  We discovered the trunk was hollow.  No wonder it wasn't doing well.

Neal cut it into slices like an Angel food cake and hauled off the remains.

At this point a nest of scorpions ran out of the hole!  But they did not get far.  Are scorpions good fertilizer?  We'll find out.

Massive roots too!

Now what to do with the blank spot?  Of course, I already knew.  With the old Vitex gone it was easy to see my first choice would work well.

It's the perfect spot and I've been visualizing a tall yucca there for a while so the "Big Yucca Quest" was on.  At first thought, a Yucca rostrata was just the plant.  Except I wanted presence from the start which called for one about six feet tall.  Trying to find a large one available at retail proved to be a challenge and hiring a landscaper to acquire one wholesale would come at a steep price.  Yucca rostrata is a native Texas plant so I searched and made lots of calls.  I found specimens in the 3' to 4' range at a reasonable price from several Rio Grande Valley growers but the shipping made the prices essentially the same as those same sizes available locally.

Finally I found Yucca Rigida or Blue Yucca advertised on Craigslist at wholesale prices.  Calling the number revealed the seller was highly reputable grower Barton Springs Nursery in Austin.  For a while I was still on the fence about giving up on Yucca rostrata.  After more consideration and spotting a few striking silvery Yucca rigida around town, I decided its longer, thicker leaves would look more sculptural.  Still, we were limited to the 7' overall length we could fit inside our mid-sized SUV and that included about 2' of root ball leaving me with just 5' or less of yucca.  Then I just happened to mention my predicament to my friend Linda and she offered to take her truck.  Yay!  Linda and I were off on a roadtrip to Austin for the pickup.  Oh, and we decided to purchase two!  The BSN crew had already dug, wrapped and cleaned two six foot specimens by the time we arrived.

Barton Springs Nursery is apparently selling off Yucca rigida plants in favor of growing space for more popular Yucca rostrata shown in the background field.  BSN helpful staff loading Linda's truck.  The entire experience with them was great.

Here we are unloading back at home with help from our awesome neighbor Mike.  The hole was already prepared in advance with a combination of sandy soil and small gravel.

That's Linda in the background by the truck.  These weighed about 250 pounds each, so they were not exactly an easy install.

Here's the first six-foot beauty in place by the garage.  The yucca leaves will relax over time to show off their silvery side and pick up the agave color.

A longer view from the driveway.  Those spiky leaves work well with the house style.

Yucca number two went into the back corner where a significant focal presence has been needed for some time.

A before and after look.  Before: April 2015 with declining Vitex in place.

After: A clean, sculptural look works in well with the rest of our landscape.  Just as I visualized.

My "Big Yucca Quest" was quite an adventure and I'm so excited to have a great structural plant in place and it was a bonus to also get one for the back yard.