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Picking, pruning, pulling … and miles of fire ants

Again? Seriously?

Yes, after I re-re-replanted those Agapanthus, Dakota snuck back in there and pulled them all out again yesterday.

So, as part of my prepping for the Central Texas Gardener t.v. taping here this Thursday, I had to go clean it all up again. And replant them — again.

Then I stepped outside this evening and found a found-lane highway of fire ants racing across my beds, my driveway, down the river rock bed into another flower bed.

No lie – I counted it off, they went 100 feet. And they were in a real hurry. I couldn’t figure out the source at either end and they were going both ways. One bit me before I figured out they were fire ants. It was an amazing, and frightening sight.

So, tomorrow = more pulling and pruning and picking. Most of it is done, but you know, there are always just a few more things you’d like to do … At least I have no plans to rush out to a nursery for any last-minute planting. Now THAT would be nuts!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:42:39-05:00October 6th, 2009|Agapanthus, Blog, CTG, Dakota, fire ants, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

A little devil at work in the garden…

…and it’s not even Halloween yet.

See those marginally nice-looking Agapanthus? Well, they were short-lived. As you can see below, they were mutilated, bit by bit.

And then devoured.

Leaving a trail that led staight to…
…her mouth! (And she looks so innocent here, doesn’t she?!)

She’s NOT!

I don’t know what it is, but Dakota loves to munch on the poisonous Lantana in the mornings (and puke) and she loves to dig up my bulbs. There must be something about them that she finds tasty or challenging. (Can’t decide if it’s better than Tanner. He eats you-know-what–ewww.)

Ah — as if deer, squirrels, pests and erratic weather weren’t enough!

Looking forward to the Austin Garden Bloggers get together tomorrow to swap plants, visit and meet our new local Ag Extension Agent, Daphne Richards.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:42:39-05:00September 25th, 2009|Agapanthus, Blog, Dakota, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Building a new bed…

Well, it doesn’t photograph very well yet, or maybe it’s me (!) but here are the new additions to the Greenhouse corner bed.
I’ve put in an Indigo Spires Salvia, three Lamb’s ears, a variegated Quasimodo Agave, 3 Violet Pentas, 1 Warsaw Nike Clematis vine and a packet of Bachelor’s buttons. I have about 6 more packets of cutting flower seeds to sow and a few more plants to buy for the other end, but I am well on my way.
The new plants are joining some Texas Bluebonnets, some mystery lilies and Larkspur given to me by MSS of Zanthan Gardens. On the other end, I have some orange ditch lilies given to me by Lori of The Gardener of Good and Evil, 3 Daimianita, some Stock, and an Agave passalong from Phillip of East-Side Patch.

Guess I could call this my Passalong Garden!

I wish I could say that I had help, but I didn’t! Just observers.

As much as Dakota digs, I sure wish I could train her to dig holes for me, but no such luck. Lately she’s taken to digging in the grass and unearthing earthworms! And then, yes, eating them. And then yakking them up. Nice, huh? Bet you could have gone all day without knowing that bit of information.

But I really wanted to share it with you!

This CLAIMS to be a DWARF agave…I sure hope that isn’t a lie!

My new Buddha will smile on these plants.

Garden Art along Kallie’s playscape fence.

And a very happy little girl enjoying her playscape and making her own fun in the sun.

But even in the sun, she loves writing and reading and hauled her stuff up into the fort to write in her journal. (Yes, she’s 6!)

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:47-06:00April 9th, 2009|Agave, Blog, Dakota, desert rose, garden art, greenhouse bed, Kallie, Lamb's Ears, Pentas, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Things that don’t broil…

Imagine our surprise to come home from 19 days in Europe to…ta-dah!

A watermelon!!!

My first-ever, home-grown watermelon. I’m so excited about it.

The deer thought they might like to eat the vines, so I made a makeshift lean-to with some screens and sticks and twine, and it seems the deer weren’t interested in working for it, so we now have a cute little watermelon ripening on our vine!

Since I had a friend watering for me daily, my clusters of pots all look great now, in spite of this broiling heat. I did have to group them — they were in the trees and scattered about, but that’s so hard to get watered.

And, I’m not scattering them about again, either, because it’s easier for ME to water them every single freaking day this way!

I also came home to find a nice collection of Agapanthus blooms. How exciting that they are behaving like they are supposed to for a change!

And, the best for last. This is our newly-adopted girl, Dakota Blue. She joined our family yesterday from the PawMatch shelter.

She and Tanner seem to get along ok, though truth be told, Tanner was perfectly fine being the only dog. She’s about 3, a Catahoula/hound mix, and as sweet as can be. She has some manners and knows some commands. They really didn’t know much about her, other than she kills chickens. We don’t have any chickens, so I figure that’s ok.

Frankly, I think most dogs let loose would at least chase if not kill chickens. I know Tanner would go after anything he could catch! So, now we won’t be getting any chickens.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:11-05:00August 7th, 2008|Blog, Dakota, pots, Sharing Nature's Garden, watermelon|0 Comments

Dakota

Picking, pruning, pulling … and miles of fire ants

A little devil at work in the garden…

Building a new bed…

Things that don’t broil…

Escape in the garden