Spring Has Sprung!!

Okay, I didn't have to dig into the archives...just download what I had on my camera from last week.  After a cool and very rainy couple of months, the sun came out and let our spring gush forth.  Everything is blooming a few weeks late but is doing very well.  I made time to go to the airshow with Brendan and took a bunch of photos of the wildflowers around our yard.  BTW, if you want to see some really awesome photos of the airshow, head over to Dave Harvey's blog.

A collage of images from the airshow.

The smoke is from action going on behind this scene, but it works for me.

Our annual poppy bloom is on in the front yard, despite the masses of weeds also encouraged by the recent rains.  My neighbor tells me those weeds are a native, and edible, wild arugala.  Hmmm, seems a bit much to deal with by grazing.  Our's is more of a live-and-let-live policy until the poppies bite the dust.  At right is a Texas mountain laurel, known locally as mescal bean; it's a slow growing tree that may reach twenty feet after thirty years.  This one is about ten years old and having its best bloom ever, creating a potent aroma not unlike lilacs.

The big carpenter bee happily forages next to a myriad of honey bees, but is aggressively defending the entire tree from other carpenter bees.

This collage includes penstamon, verbena and poppies.

Up close and personal with a golden barrel cactus.

 

Next to our driveway we share an open-space with our neighbor.  Along with the wildflowers we have both encouraged, she's done a wonderful array of plantings.  Here we have a penstamon, lupine and the flower stalk of an aloe vera.

At left is toad flax, which grows from British Columbia to Florida to southern Mexico.  Considering where it is in our neighborhood, I'm guessing it is a hardy and adaptable species.  Not sure what the little yellow belly-flower is, but is sure is purdy.

Ayiyai!!  Them be fire ants or somesuch nasty species in our driveway.  Brendan had an incident with these guys when he was two years old...not a good time!!

We've had a bush of perennial (indeed) Mexican basil in the front yard for years.  We don't use it for cooking but it smells nice.  On the back patio is this winter's crop of cilantro, one of the easiest things to grow around here.  These plants are soon-destined for a batch of pesto.  Cilantro will bloom as soon as the heat comes on; producing pretty stalks of white flowers.  Later, you can harvest and grind the small round seeds, better known as coriander.