NATURE FINDS A WAY

So after the "great freeze" earlier this year, we lost several plants...or so we thought! 

This was the wonderful Aloe Vera we had (my fault entirely, I forgot to put it inside before we left before the freeze).  I saw a bit of green but wasn't sure. 

So we just left it to sit...

This past weekend I cleaned it up, pulled out the red and found GREEN!  So we have aloe growing once again.  Hopefully it will fill up over the next few months.  This is about the size we originally started with when 2nd Family gave us some.

These are some hanging baskets, ferns and underneath all that, a hanging planter with some Texas lantana.  The ferns were definitely DOA, and so was all the lantana...or was it?

There was still one piece alive and actually blooming now!  So I carefully dug it out, and put it in the ground in the flowerbed.  YAY!

And lastly, here were the avocado trees.  Dead and even the trunk and branches were dead and snapped when you broke them. I put them at the end of the porch and left them. Occasionally I watered them, "just in case" but only when I remembered.  

I was about ready to toss them when...

BOOM!  

They erupted in leaves and are growing!  I'm not sure if they will become trees again because they are sprouting up from all around the dead center "trunk", but hey, we'll take "avocado bushes" if we can get them.  As long as they someday produce avocados, we'd be more than happy, bushes or trees!

NATURE FINDS A WAY!

HELP ID THIS PLANT, UPDATE NORFOLK PINE

 Someone put this by the trash dumpster at the apartment and you know me, I snatched it up!  (2nd Man just shook his head, LOL!)

 I took it to the farm and had to snap some pictures of it because I'm not sure what it is!  Some sort of evergreen I'm guessing.  Norfolk Pine.

I tipped it on its side so you could see it in more detail.  I want to plant it in the ground but need to know what it is so I can make sure I do that correctly, i.e. soil, future size, light, water etc.

You see the glistening on it?  It's not water...it's glitter!  I think this was used as a Christmas decoration and someone just decided it was time to dispose of it.  I'm hoping I can plant it somewhere and add a new plant or tree to the farm.  And it will, for a while anyway, sparkle in the sunshine.  

Nothing wrong with that!

UPDATE:  We can always count on people from around the world to help us out with things like this.  Norfolk Pine is definitely what it is.  Yep, from what we've read, borderline possible outside.  Haven't decided yet if we'll do it outside or keep it at the farm inside as a houseplant.  I suppose maybe one season inside as a houseplant and maybe we could try next year outside.  

Decisions, decisions...

Thanks again!  Off to the farm today for more soil in the fruit tree beds.

ALOE VERA BLOOMING

I posted a couple of months ago about how well the aloe vera was doing since we got it.  Then, when we were at the farm last week, we saw this:

Aloe Vera plant

A spike shooting up with what we can only assume will be a flower!  It wasn't there from one week to the next, talk about fast!!

Aloe flower

While we've both been around aloe plants on and off throughout our lives, as people often do, seemed someone always had one growing somewhere, parents, grandparents, but we've never seen one bloom.  I honestly didn't even KNOW they bloomed.  We can't wait to see what this turns out to be.  Not sure what color it will be but I guess we'll see soon enough.  

Have you ever had an aloe bloom?  

Any advice?

FIRESPIKE CUTTINGS

I'm still on a list from our former neighborhood where people sell/give away things.  Mainly for THIS reason.  One of them posted that they had trimmed their firespike plants and had the cuttings laying out, free for the taking.  Many times I miss the timing because someone will post something for free while we're at the farm or at work.  But this time, the email came while I was driving near the neighborhood.  

I made a u-turn and drove by...

Firespike cuttings

This is what they had out, a pile of cuttings.  They said they are easy to multiply by just sticking in the ground and watering.  Why not?

Propagating firespike

They'll also root by just putting in water.  So when I got them to the farm, I sat down on the porch, got a bucket of water and started trimming the ends (fresh cuts for water absorption).  I got them all trimmed and cleaned up and put them in the bucket.  I had to leave them last week but when I went back this weekend, they were fine. 

Planting firespike cuttings

So before the rain came, I dug some holes, stuck them in, filled in with dirt and watered.  Thankfully we have more rain in our forecast later this week so they'll get some water that way too. 

Firespike plant, image courtesy of Wikimedia

This image is what they should look like when fully grown.  They are apparently very popular with hummingbirds and bees, are drought tolerant and can handle both sun and shade...WIN, WIN, WIN!  

Hey, if they are truly this easy to propagate, once they are established, we'll have an endless supply to put all around the farm and they are kinda pretty!

Anyone every grown the Firespike?

HELP IDENTIFY THIS PLANT - POKEWEED

As I was roaming around the property, just relaxing and unwinding, a plant caught my eye.  We've never seen this on the property.

It's POKEWEED!

Pokeweed Berries

Not even in this spot, which we've walked past a dozen times, have we ever seen it before.  It just sort of sprang up over the last couple of months.  I"m sure it's poisonous and/or  otherwise dangerous because we don't seem to have the luck for something naturally occurring that's also edible, LOL.

Pokeweed

It's certainly striking in appearance, quite beautiful actually.  My guess is a bird dropped a seed and the rest, of course, is nature doing what it does best.  

Any thoughts?

Update:  You all came through once again!  POKEWEED!!  

And as has been noted by other below, the stories and links and comments are wonderful.  I swear it is true, you can learn something new every day!  

Thank you all!

CHINESE MAHONIA PLANTS

Someone in our neighborhood posted that they were redoing their landscaping and were removing some bushes.  They were putting them on the curb for whoever wanted them.  

FREE PLANTS?  I'm in!

They are called Chinese Mahonia.  I don't know much about them but I'll do my Googling.  They have grown here in the neighborhood just fine, apparently OK with heat and are fairly drought tolerant.  

They are evergreen and produce these small yellow flowers that are loved by bees, that's a good thing.  From what I've read so far, they eventually make small edible fruit, though I'm going to have to really research that.  

Though there are three in the picture above, I ended up getting seven of them.  I have put them, temporarily, in clay pots at the farm.  2nd Family will water them during the week if they look like they need it.  Then as soon as the weather cooperates, I'll get them in the ground.

Free is a good thing!

PLANT ID FOR A BLOG FRIEND

We got an email tonight from a blog friend who needed help with some plant ID.  I asked if we could post the pics that were sent and ask all of you.

So up first is this bush they found...it has a small pink bloom.  

And then there is this.  Was told it's a vine type plant with thorns...

...and these berries or small fruits. I"m guessing they are most likely poisonous (aren't they always?  Ha).

I told them to come back later and read the comments so fire away with info if anyone knows about either one!  More updates tomorrow, busy day today.  Sunday will be Zen Machine time, finally, yay!!!

A FEW MORE PLANTS

We stayed in town this weekend which turned out to be good.  We got some errands run, and I made it to the garden center.  Bought two more Texas Lilac/Vitex bushes...for a grand total of seven...then I bought three more Texas sage...for a grand total of six of those.

Then I added these two varieties (forgot to take photos):

Blue plumbago photo from Southernliving.com

Two Blue Plumbago bushes.  We love the pale blue flowers on them.  We may end up with a few more of these as they are supposed to do well in our heat. 

Esperanza, photo courtesy of davesgarden.com

The other variety I got was Gold Star Esperanza, another Texas plant winner that is drought and heat tolerant.  Three of them.  Now if only we could be be more drought and heat tolerant...LOL!

Speaking of, it was a hot weekend.  The rains stopped and the heat came back. Hard to believe tomorrow is the first day of Fall.  It might be where you are but it certainly isn't here yet.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

PLANT CRAZY AT THE GARDEN CENTERS

Image courtesy of Houstongardencenters.com

This past week was a great one for shopping...plant shopping to be more specific.  I went plant crazy at a local nursery chain we have, Houston Garden Center, as evidenced by the image above.

I stopped in Home Depot for something else and decided to roam through their garden department.  I found a whole table of perennials, $2.00 each.  I got 4 Blue Plumbagos, 4 Black Eyed Susans, and 4 Lantanas.  Then I went to Houston Garden Center (ad above), where they have a 70% off all plants sale!
I bought 2 Mexican Firebush, 2 Purple Rubellia, 2 Balloon Flowers, 2 Firecracker Plants, 2 Durantas and 3 pots of Cannas (2 bulbs in each of several varieties).

Perennials

Then I went to another location a few days later and bought even more!

More perennials

I bought 2 Oleanders, 3 more Lantanas in different colors, 3 Mexican Heather plants, 2 Pentas in different colors, and 2 Esperanza Yellow Bells.  I still need to find some Texas Sage, but that's on the plan for this weekend and/or this week during my lunch break.

I purchased almost 40 plants and spent less than $70 total.  Even though each was priced differently that still averages out to less than $2 per plant.  Now I just need to care for them (watering them daily, keeping them in town) and once Fall arrives, along with its cooler weather, I can start planting them.

Hoping next Spring will be colorful and beautiful, like so many of the inspiration pictures I find every Thursday.

A GIFT OF JADE

My job anniversary was the other day and we usually don't get gifts. This time, a few of my coworkers got me a very thoughtful gift.  They bought me this little Jade plant.  They chose it because it doesn't require a lot of care and water and they thought it would be perfect for the farm since we wouldn't be there daily to water it.  Plus they can be pinched off and started in other pots so it's an easy way to get 'more plants' later on.

 

So I brought it home, looked through our milk glass collection and found just the right one for it.  It fit just perfectly in this one!  The green of the plant looks great against the white of the planter.

Here it is in its new home at the farm. I put it on the back of the desk that's in the foyer, against the wood wall.  It fits perfectly as a contrast to the dark wood.  When I left, I made sure it was watered and it should be good for another week.  A very neat little surprise that got me to thinking, what are some other indoor plants that can maybe be watered once a week or if pushed, once every couple of weeks?  I might just have to fill the house with them.

OLD MESQUITE TREE CLOSEUP

Last time I was at the farm, I was out by the "Party Tree"
(for those wondering what that is, see the entry HERE)
and I decided to take a close up picture of it:
(be sure and click on the photo to enlarge it)

Old Mesquite Tree Closeup

I never realized how detailed the bark was.  It's very cool and definitely gives the tree a lot of character.
It's obviously a very old resident of our property.
Now, we just need to come up with a "name" for the tree...

CAN YOU HELP ME IDENTIFY THIS TREE?

I wasn't sure that I had a picture of this and last night I was looking through some pictures and found it.
This is a tree that is on the property and it's not like any of the 

other trees around the acreage.

Anyone know what this tree might be?  Click on the above picture and you can make it larger, but I will get a better, close up picture next time I'm out there, and a picture of the leaves.

I just know that it's different than any of the others and I'm just curious as to what it might be.  Again, in this far away pic, it might be hard to ID, but just in case, I thought I'd throw it out there.