TINY SATELLITE DISH ~ HAPPY MACRO MONDAY

Do you have a flower that defies all attempts at capturing it with your camera? Well, this is it for me. This little Tradescantia grows wild all over the yard and normally looks like a white triangular blur on images. I'm using a different camera today and voila`....the tiny satellite dish shows its true colors. Vhat myshterious signals fromm outter schpace doez it trachk? Rather, what tiny bug will land and have dinner. Visit http://lisaschaos.com/ to see the rest of the collection. Thanks, Lisa, for hosting! Happy MM!

                                         Here's the actual size compared to a penny!

Wildflower Wednesday on a Weekend ~ Wild Asters finally blooming!

Gail at Clay and Limestone devotes the 3rd Wednesday of each month for a worldwide view of wildflowers. My wonderful wild Asters are finally blooming! They came up on their own a few years back and now have colonized a front flowerbed. The insects love them, especially a small unidentified black wasp. This is shot with a new camera (my wife and I traded) and I'm thrilled to discover it has great  macro zooms.
Visit Gail in my sidebar favorites to see what other wildflowers are  finishing out our Autumn season.

We have at least 12 species of Asters, so it's hard to say. I'm guessing Roadside Aster (A. subulatus) or the Starved Aster (A. lateriflorus)

Click to enlarge

The delicate branching contrasts with the large, speckled foliage of a Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra x 'Milky Way' )

The buds look like tiny watermelons.

IN THE STORY BOOK PUMPKIN PATCH ~ 2010 Edition

 If you are still looking for some creative ideas for decorating your pumpkins, look no further. These are pumpkins from our school library. Each year the kids bring pumpkins dressed as a favorite storybook or movie character.  Some had already gone home early, so I missed showing you Mike from Monsters, Inc.
He was all green with one eyeball. Drat! 

94 to 44 in TWO Days!

I've lived in Texas all my life, but I'm starting to wonder about the weather. They say if you don't like the weather here, just wait an hour!  No joke this week. Yesterday we hit a new record high of 94. And by Friday morning they are predicting 44 for the low.  That's a 50 degree change. 
I'm wondering if some of my plants will find that disturbing.

My days are really filled with schoolwork, but I'm hoping to visit every garden blog on my favorites list this weekend. I'm eager to see how everyone else is doing. I know there's a really bad storm up north and even snow in places!
All for now. Happy Gardening!

Two years ago on this day we were in New Braunfels, Texas celebrating our 25th anniversary.

It's a beautiful town with a wonderful German flavor.

THREE FOR THURSDAY: 3 PECAN LEAVES IN 3 SANSEVIERIAS

I'm inspired by RBells post showing all the creative places acorns can land in his garden in Austin. Visit his great blog at the Lazy Shady Gardener in my Garden Blog Favorites sidebar. I don't have acorns, but I do have pecan leaves and they land in the craziest places. All 3 of my Sansevierias had pecan leaves nestled in the center. I don't know the varieties, but maybe someone out there is a guru and can help with an ID. Happy 3-4-Thursday.

                                                I focused on the curl. It took about 5 shots.

Thanks to garden friend Cindy at My Corner of Katy for inspiring this format. Visit her garden also located on my sidebar to see what she's up to. And don't stop there! Won't you join us? Why not post 3 plants in your garden that YOU DON'T want Trick or Treaters to step on!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ~ FIRE HYDRANT CAUGHT NAPPING

I did a doubletake this week while waiting for a car to drive by at the end of our street. I guess it's been a tiring week for this fire hydrant.  It looks exhausted! Happy WW! Thanks for stopping by.

A great collection is hosted by Alicia at A Beautiful Mess found at  http://weloveiowa.blogspot.com/.

GARDENING AT GREENLAND RANCH OR WHAT TO DO WITH 0.00" OF RAIN

The weather people just evaporated our last chance of rain for October (less than 20%). The cold front expected on Thursday will be more of a dry front rather than a rainmaker. After that, we finish the month with 0.00" of rainfall. This is drier than El Paso,Texas in far West Texas. This is even drier than Greenland Ranch. They get 0.09" of rain on average. You DO know where Greenland Ranch is.....of course! :-) Nice name for a place in DEATH VALLEY CALIFORNIA.  (image from Wikipedia)    High today 91 degrees...a new record?

Death Valley California.......Hey, I see a plant! Yipee.

MACRO MONDAY ~ PUT ON YOUR SUNGLASSES

These Crown of Thorns (Euphorb family?) grow in my front flower bed. They are the brightest shade of pink/red I have. I love this little plant since it is a gift from a dear friend who passed away from cancer a number of years ago. It always brings a smile to see that it's still blooming.  Happy Macro Monday. To see the whole collection, visit http://lisaschaos.com/. The group is always fun to join and visit.

GARDEN BLOGGERS MONTHLY BOUQUET ~ A CHEERY MORNING

 Orange zinnia, purple angelonia, white tradescantia, lavender leaves, violet lantanta, blue daze round out this bouquet  photographed in my agave beds.  Thanks for visiting Tropical Texana in Houston, Texas.

Keeping a positive outlook during a prolonged drought is not the easiest thing to do. I added up the days and we are now on day 32 without a good rain. This is our second time to reach these numbers (I was up to day 40 just a month or so ago).  So what's there to do whilst waiting for rain? Beside praying for rain, I'll PICK FLOWERS and give them to my wife. Thanks to Noelle at http://www.azplantlady.com/ for hostin' this wonderful collection on her garden blog. You will need to scroll down one post to see this month's collection of 9 bouquets.   BTW: A month sure flies by....it just seems like yesterday that I posted a bouquet. Wow! :-) Happy Gardening and may you get R-A-I-N if you're dry as bone in your garden home.

FROM THE BOTANY BOOKSHELF: 3 MEXICO STYLE GARDEN BOOKS

What kind of garden style fits your region and your vision?  Mine is a Fusion Garden Style (some would say ConFusion Garden style!).   Here are three books from my garden library that beautifully illustrate Mexican Garden Styles. My tropical garden most closely fits the gardens in the Vera Cruz and Tampico areas. My favorite is Las Pozas in Xilitla...a jungle garden par excellence.

                   "In a Mexican Garden"  photos by Melba Levick  2005   200photographs/ 176pages

                     "Paraiso Mexicano" by Marie Pierre Colle  2002    280photographs/240pages

                         "Gardens of Mexico" by Antonio Haas 1993  216photographs/223 pages

Thanks for stopping by Tropical Texana.  Visit Cindy at My Corner of Katy for another 3 for Thursday. And please feel free to make up your own. It's a fun way to add to your garden blog.
And.....if you have any other books on this topic, please leave a comment. I'm always on the lookout for gardening books.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ~ NOW THAT'S LIVING GREEN!

OR...."HONEY, IT'S TIME TO MOW THE LAWN  HOUSE AGAIN"
I found this house on the way to work this week. Now if we could only cut our A/C bills by inventing a vine roof! Visit Alicia at http://weloveiowa.blogspot.com/ see more WW entries.

                                   "Greenhouse" view from down the street.

MACRO MONDAY ~ CATALPA LEAF LANDSCAPE

I found these 2 dead leaves on one of the desks up at school. My friend was getting ready to toss them out, so I took them home. They looked just like a relief map I had at school....even down to the same colors! They are from a southern catalpa tree which is native to this part of Texas. They have some of the largest leaves of any tree here in the South. Happy Marcro Monday! Visit http://www.lisaschaos.com/ to see the rest of the entries.

click on the photo for the macro

FOLIAGE FOLLOW-UP FOR OCTOBER

Cooler weather has really made gardening enjoyable. Too bad it is as dry as a bone. My water bill will probably arrive on Halloween and you'll hear a SCREAM when I open it! Boo! Hoo! So why bother to water?  My 'guest speakers' will tell you at  the end of this photojournal.
Thanks to PAM at DIGGING for hosting our group! Visit her fine garden by 'digging' through my sidebar favorites or just click here: http://www.penick.net/digging

Variegated leaves on Erythrina indica

                                                          Agave lophantha closeup

                                                                Mexican Firespike

                                                  Windmill Palm with pine needle cluster.

                                                    Rubber plant with  new resident spider.

                                                              Crepe myrtle colors

                                                        Ladypalm fronds & pecan leaf

                                                     Redbud leaf after a visit by leaf cutter bees.

                                    These are purple porter weed leaves. The picture doesn't do it justice.

                                                                           Yucca leaves

So...why does he water? ...Because we live here! That's why!

signed,  The Assassin Bug   and  Skipper Butterfly

GBBD: OCTOBER BLOOMS AT TROPICAL TEXANA

Long hours at school are making it hard to get out in the garden...even with near perfect weather here in Houston. Here's what's blooming now even though I'm mostly a shade garden. To see the whole collection, visit our host Carol at MayDreamsGarden. She's over on my sidebar favorites. Viva la Flora!

                     Pinecone Shrimp Plant                                           

The blackfoot daisy wins the prize for longevity of bloom. Solid all summer!

This one is unusual. It is an aluminum plant in bloom. I've used aluminum plant for a number of years as a landscape foliage plant in zone 9.  It's drought tolerant to a degree and root hardy.

I'll be back for Foliage Followup on the 16th. Here's a little window into that post.

Pecan leaves on our Norfolk Island Pine.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Gardening!