Happy Halloween

Meet Patches the neighbor's cat.  She's a hairless cat which gives her an awesome Halloween costume. Oh, those eyes!

Wildlife Wednesday July 2014

Over the nearly three years I've been blogging I've enjoyed sharing some of the wildlife visitors to my garden under the heading "Garden Visitors" and now I have even more reason to post these photos.  Tina at "My Gardener Says.." has started a new meme as a way of sharing the wildlife we encounter in the garden and she's invited garden bloggers to participate on the first Wednesday of each month.  I'll join in as often as I can starting off with a few of our wildlife visitors this year.

We have to watch our step in the gardens lately since these little toads, barely an inch long, are running rampant for the first time in years.  I think that's due to several weeks of regular rainfall which has left small pools of water in the creek.  They are probably Texas Toads and will provide a natural pest control service the rest of the summer by eating the mosquitoes which are resulting from all this rain.  With the local bat population decimated, this is a positive development.

Garden Visitors: Hummingbird Moth

Watching creatures of all types visit the garden is just one of the pleasures we gardeners enjoy.  Late last week I discovered a hummingbird moth visiting the front yard and paused to watch its fascinating movements while enjoying the blooms of the Texas Mountain Laurel on a very windy day.

Garden Visitors: Megaphasma denticrus

"Everything is bigger in Texas" applies to insects as well.

This native Texas Giant Walkingstick (Megaphasma denticrus) is quite appropriately the longest insect in the US.  These walkingsticks can grow to 7" (177 mm)  though the body on this one is just over 4" (101 mm).  This one is most likely a young male according to my research, and just one in 1,000 is male.

What a Weekend! New Plants and Creepy Bugs

After a fun day of plant swapping on Saturday, I was busily getting the newbies settled into their nests (who's this "I"?, DH would ask).  The action was frenzied, and that's when this guy appeared from under my bag of potting soil.

That's a six inch long Giant Redheaded Centipede - Scolopendra heros

Just for the guys, here is another gratuitous icky bug photo

Sometimes I am into the potting soil with both hands.  I understand that a bite from this creepy crawler won't kill you but is very painful.  This encounter was close enough to remind me to be safe in the garden, always.

The centipede wasn't the only giant bug visitor to the garden that day.  When we were digging a hole for a new plant by the shed, the shovel turned up this Texas Brown Tarantula. 

Tarantulas are not at all dangerous and are very gentle creatures -- they just get a bad rap from the movies.  And they are not nearly as creepy as the centipede, but I still wouldn't want to be surprised by it crawling across my hand unexpectedly.  This is only the second Tarantula we've seen here.  We found this guy a new home under the shed.

So where did I get all these new plants that are keeping me busy?  From the plant swap I attended on Saturday.

Plenty of plant sharing and lots of good plant talk

I brought home plenty of new plants for all those beds we've been building. DH was pleased to see all my new plants (hahaha).

Thanks to all you generous and fun-loving San Antonio gardeners!

Oh, and stay safe out there in the garden!

Garden Visitors - American Redstart

Last spring a flash of orange and unfamiliar song in the trees sent me along the creek in pursuit.  Was it a Baltimore Oriole?  Maybe, but the white underside didn't quite match up to the photos I found.

It took a while, but I found that this was an American Redstart migrating through and confirmed it on a birdwatching forum.

We're busy transplanting and dividing this weekend.  Since it's a bit slow in the garden these days, I've been going through the archives and plan on posting more photos taken before I started blogging.