MACRO MONDAY ~ VIOLETS ARE BLUE

This is probably Viola missouriensis and it grows as a delightful ground cover in my backyard. It is always one of the early signs of Spring. To visit other macros visit our wonderful host, Lisa at http://lisaschaos.com/
 . David :0)

On a personal note, I just wanted to thank everyone who left a comment last week. I have been doing double duty at my job lately and was really down and almost didn't post. I imagined noone was interested in the tiny flower. I was delighted to find so many comments. It made my day a lot better!

 :0) David/ Tropical Texana

TINIEST FLOWER IN MY GARDEN ~ HAPPY MACRO MONDAY

This tiny blue flower is about 1mm to 1.5 mm across....about the same size as the "o" in God on our U.S. penny!  Suffice it to say, it's not in any of the wildflower guide books. LOL The entire plant grows to about 2 inches tall in between stones in my rock pathways.
To see even bigger macros (was that an .....oxymoron?), visit Lisa at http://lisaschaos.com/. Thanks, Lisa, for hosting and getting that Linky back and running.

 Even my macro settings had a difficult time getting this to show up. It's REALLY tiny.

the entire plant

Take this FUN GARDEN BLOG QUIZ THAT I MADE UP!

Before I get too far into blogging and while I still feel NEW at it, I wanted to record my misconceptions on blogging. I've been observing Garden Blogs for about a year now and writing one for about 7 months.  I love statistics since I'm a former Math Teacher, so after crunching some numbers I've come up with this UN-scientific survey.

By the way, I failed my own test...that's why I made it. READY? Oh, and your findings might be quite different from mine which makes it all the more interesting. Tell me in a comment. Thanks.

QUESTION #1: TRUE or FALSE     During the winter when everything is dormant and the garden is BROWN, garden bloggers take a break and don't post.

Answer:  False!  This still amazes me and there are many reasons for it. I was thinking it would be TRUE.

QUESTION #2: TRUE or FALSE     Garden bloggers never post anything about their failures since this would not be very interesting to other gardeners.

Answer: False again!  In fact, most garden bloggers are very honest about both the good and bad happening in their garden. We all learn from one another in this regard.

QUESTION #3: TRUE or FALSE    Northern garden bloggers have no interest in sourthern gardens and vice versa.

Answer: FALSE!  I wasn't sure about this one when I started, but I have found that the love of gardening is universal and goes way beyond geographical boundaries and climates. Plus, most of us are just plain curious.
 I follow many northern blogs and love to see what's going on.

QUESTION #4: TRUE or FALSE.   Austin is the Garden Blog Capital of Texas.

Answer: TRUE!  I thought most of the cities in Texas would be about equal in this area, but according to my count, Austin has more garden blogs than just about anywhere.  I'd love to see more from San Antonio, Brownsville, McAllen, Corpus Christi, and Galveston Island since I'm a tropical gardener.

QUESTION #5: TRUE or FALSE.  Out of the first 500 comments left at Tropical Texana, I have only had to delete one for improper content.

Answer: TRUE.  And this one wasn't even bad. It was just a nursery trying to advertise their plants via a comment.
I have found that gardeners are very nice to each other and want to be helpful. Hey, life's hard enough without one more worry, right?

QUESTON #6: TRUE or FALSE. After seeing all the wonderful garden blogs out there, I should probably not start a new garden blog since everything has already been said and shown.

Answer: FALSE. Every garden and gardener is so unique and this is such a wonderful community of support and encouragement, it would always be nice to have additions.  Plus, many towns and areas don't have a single garden blog and you would be the first! My boyhood town and its county here in Texas has a population of 50,000 and I'm still hoping someone will start a garden blog from that region soon. I've not found a single one so far. Boo hoo.
Plus,  it is a fun way to keep a record of your garden.

LAST ONE....QUESTION #7:  Labels in the label box are not important.

FALSE. In fact, it is vital you put some type of label so that search engines can find the topic.  And not all sets of words generate the same number of searches. If you'd like other gardeners to find out about the information you've posted, always put a couple of labels. If you know the scientific name for a plant, put that as well since this helps people worldwide in their search for information. If you have a certain plant that you collect, add the word 'collection' and this will help. :0)


So, how did you do?  I missed all of them.  LOL
Thanks for visiting and Happy Gardening. David/

FOLIAGE FOLLOW-UP FOR FEBRUARY ~ SURVIVOR: LANDSCAPE EDITION

Pam over at Digging invites gardeners to post foliage from their gardens the 16th of each month and The Lazy Shady Gardener over in Austin gave us view of his winter warriors that are down but not out.

I'm doing the same. Here are some of the ugliest photos you'll ever see on this blog. Will they survive? Or is this the end of the trail?  As the famous singer Enya tells us, "Only Time Will Tell."
Visit Pam over on my sidebar favorites to see other foliage with perhaps less carnage from winter winds.
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#1 Good News: The Chinese Fan Palms can stand 24 degrees, but not 21.

 The Giant Bird of Paradise will come back, but it MUST have a mild winter or it will fade away. The pygmy palms are gone and I'm not trying them a 3rd time. They can't stand much below 28 degrees.

 This confederate rose agave was covered by 3 layers of towels. It will survive and regrow quickly.

 This Agave desmettiana is probably gone for good. The others are in the greenhouse. 32 degrees will damage this plant.

 This bed of agaves looks untouched from the hard freezes. I like these plants a lot. All were left uncovered!

 Ironically, these Bromeliads go by the name "Happy Thoughts". Not so Happy, are they? They'll recover slowly.

 My precious Monstera deliciosa. Oh well, the books say that it's root hardy in zone 9. We shall see.

This is the saddest case. I had one towel left over and it was already dark. I could not recall which plant needed covering and I had covered about 15. It was this agave...Agave geminiflora. I think it will grow back, but isn't it a slow grower? I'm a bit depressed right now just looking at the thing.

 And finally, a lit bit of art.  This cardboard palm will recover. The Giant Monkey Grass knows no fear of cold.

 My wife looked out the back window last weekend and announced that the circus was in town. I told her no, it was a gypsy caravan passing through.   Will I need the towels again? Only Time Will Tell!

At least the cat's happy. Thanks for stopping by unTropical Texana. I'll be Tropical again once we hit 80 degrees. Today it was 74 and it's been mild all week.

David/ Houston Texas :0)

CHICKWEED NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD ~ HAPPY MACRO MONDAY!

I found my first little bloom today and it's an old friend.  Really, you say?  Well, it is because it's such an easy little guy to control. It's fancy name is Stellaria media and it's scary name is CHICKWEED!  Chickweed looks like it has 10 petals when in fact it has 5 deeply lobed petals.  There's more at the bottom of the post and yes, chicks like to eat it...hence the name.  To see more macros, visit Lisa at http://lisaschaos.com/ . :0)

Do you see the green star?

Actual size compared to a pencil.

Other facts: native to Europe, very fragile root system so it's easy to pull up, cannot take heat or drought, edible (I'll try some tomorrow!) and filled with Vitamin C, a late Winter groundcover here in South Texas, seeds can stay dormant for 25 to 40 years, can be fed to chicks, described by Linneaus long ago.

Thanks for visiting! Happy Macro Monday.

BOTTLE TREE for VALENTINE'S DAY

I made a bottle tree for my wife's Valentine's Day present. When I pulled open the window shades, she was a bit surprised to say the least. I like to keep her off guard.
Happy Valentine's Day. Hope your day is special. :-)

Right now the bottle tree is tied to a stump until it takes root. LOL

Just kidding. This is its temporary home next to the windows. It will be moved to the garden later.

There are many stories about bottle trees. It is a garden tradition in the Deep South. I still don't know why the bottles need to be blue but I'm sure there's a good reason. I'll replace the green ones with blue as soon as I can find more.

BOTTLE TREE IN THE WORKS ~ THIS TIME I FEEL CONFIDENT!

(image from: r3tta's free use photos. Thanks ;-)

We had a beautiful day here in Houston, so I was outdoors working on chores.  Our large waxleaf ligustrum died this past summer so I cut it down today. As I was snipping off the array of twigs and leaving just the secondary stubs I thought"'What a beautiful twisted form this old shrub has. It's such a shame to throw it on the compost heap."  Then it dawned on me...could this be the bottle tree I had tried so hard this past summer to create?

I found a few left over bottles from the former disaster and put them on. Wow! This is going to be good. So...maybe by tomorrow I'll have found enough old bottles to take a photo. 

I have no idea why I want a bottle tree so badly.  It just seems like the thing to do.  Plus, they don't need watering....and they can take a hard freeze. Maybe I should JUST have bottle trees. Maybe not. :-0

unTROPICAL TEXANA ~ AGAIN! THIS IS A TOUGH WINTER

Here's a picture of my frozen rain barrel. If it's this cold here, I can only imagine my poor gardening friends up north and the cold they are experiencing. Still, Metro Houston has stayed above 20, so we are still a zone 9 region for this season. Small consolation when all the plants seem brown and dead. My TWO favorite words on Earth right now....ROOT HARDY.  LOL

Today  Hi 53 Low 23!!!! Ugh!
Tomorrow Hi 43  Low 23!!! Bam!
Weekend Hi 53 Low 29!!! How long will this go on?
Let me check the map ONE MORE TIME. 
I'm in a southern state? Yes
 I'm in the southern part of that southern state? Yes.
I'm along the milder coastal region? Yes.
I'm in a large metro area known as a heat island? Yes.
Hmmmm...something's wrong...it was still COLD as the ARCTIC when I stepped outside just now.
This is the worst winter since the terrible twosome of 1983 and 1989.  1996 was also one for the record books. 
David/ :0)

Rain barrel with 1 inch layer of ice. February 2011

YOUR FIRST 10,000 PHOTOGRAPHS ARE YOUR WORST ~ HAPPY MACRO MONDAY!

That famous quote by photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson seems to be haunting me right now. Have I taken 10,000 yet?
It feels like it!  These shots are from a single sycamore seed floating in my rain barrel this weekend.
To me, it looks like a space craft silently floating through time and space. To imagine it contains new life makes it even more surreal. And...real or surreal, you can see a whole set of macros over at Lisa's blog by clicking http://lisaschaos.com/   It's such a fun group and our host, Lisa, is terrific! Thanks Lisa.
Happy Macro Monday. David/ :-)

                                               sycamore seed in my rain barrel

                                   with the camera facing towards the reflected tree branches

with the camera facing towards the dark rain barrel interior

MOVING ON ~ BUT FIRST A NEW MILESTONE FOR TROPICAL TEXANA

Outside the temperature is a very untropical 28 with ice covering all the plants. It's been down to 21 this week which means.....take a deep breath....we start all over again from scratch. I'll get to watch all the palm fronds turn brown, all the gingers transform to brittle tan canes, and watch the banana trees turn to mush.

So what's the new milestone?  Well, this little garden blog got its 10,000th page view this morning. So, to celebrate I'll try to find a very tropical pictures to post. Thanks for all who have come to visit from all over Texas, the US, and the world. It means a lot to me to see others enjoy the pictures and the dialogue.

Now it's time to go take some ice photos before it all melts away into memory. David/ :0)

The back garden in summer 2006

Hedychium coccineum (Butterfly Ginger)

Front garden with bromeliads

One of my Peacock Ginger hybrids ( I developed a number of  hybrids in the past)

Shady garden in 2006.