the bark tree

Family life

We had some door to door visitors stop by this spring passing out rather absurd pamphlets about family life.  Working in the garden with August, I groaned internally when I saw them, knowing they had seen us.  

Friendly August began chatting them up right away, showing them his digging area.

I finally stopped my work and talked with them a while and they were actually really sweet. They loved the garden and one said that her mother used to grow all kinds of things.   "We came to pass out this message about family life, but I think you've got it," they proclaimed.

White Rock Lake spillway

August and I went to check out the spillway at nearby White Rock Lake after a big rain.

In summer, this area was bone dry and lifeless.  

This day it was like Niagra Falls!  Many people like us came out to see the power of something larger than themselves and the whole place had a great vibe.

At a bakery/coffee shop afterward I calmed a cranky barrista by recommending that he visit after his shift was over.  

 

Some folks in our urban setting forget that this wonderful lake is right nearby.

Weedy shrub removal

With the help of my wonderful niece, Arden, some horrible weedy shrubs were removed from my garden this March!

She and I dug out this nasty invasive privet (Ligustrum sinense), which I was initially considering keeping only because it is evergreen.

After reading this article about how master naturalists are struggling to clear this problematic plant from the Trinity River Texas Buckeye Trail I knew they had to go.

Arden also helped me remove this oddly placed Nandina (N. domestica) in my back yard, last photographed in the February snow.

Knowing it's also invasive, I'll confess that I replanted the stump along a chain-link fence to it use as a screen.

August knocked over a watering can and enjoyed the muddy mess that resulted in the hole we dug.

I took this other privet out a day later.  There is still another monster-sized privet in the back yard which I am living with for the time being.

The front border looks much better without these big weeds and I now have more room for planting.

Thanks again, Arden!

Snow in TX

This was our view for days on end in early February.

When we moved back last February to Texas after 10 years in Brooklyn, I hardly expected to return to a snowy winter.  Admittedly, one week of snow days is nothing for the NYC area, but around here it's downright unusual.

On our icy porch, a pine (Pinus densiflora) stump I claimed from Wave Hill when we had to take a beautiful old tree down.

This might be the last time we see snow for a long time. Of course we had to get out in it for a little while.

With temperatures in the low 20s and teens, it wasn't comfortable for long.  The snow wasn't holding together very well so our obligatory snowman was dashed off quickly and was therefore quite small.

Inside, we entertained ourselves by building fires and watching the birds.

Chickadees and tufted titmice were frequent visitors to the feeder as well as a pair of cardinals.

A ruby crowned kinglet found a morsel on this cage I hung to hold a suet brick. We quickly realized that the squirrels were devouring most of it.

Here you can barely see the kinglet's little ruby "crown."  Roger Tory Peterson's last word in his description is: Inquistive.  We agreed.

In the warm days before the snow, this little carolina wren was singing his heart out each day on our fence, perhaps believing spring was already here.

Even when we can only hear him, we are always pleased by the presence of the lovely red-bellied woodpecker who, along with the smaller downy woodpecker, finds food in nearby dead tree limbs and occasionally visits our feeder.

An unusual vistor for this area was what we believe to be an ovenbird.  Two of them hopped around in search of food in our yard while the snow was on the ground and presumably winged it to warmer environs soon after.

All in all, we've counted thirteen different species in our yard including crows, mockingbirds, sparrows, blue jays and white winged doves.

We certainly enjoyed them all during the long days spent mostly indoors.

Summertime tree loss

A brief, but powerful July storm tore off the top of one old post oak tree (Quercus stellata) and smashed it down on top of another already weak old blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica).  This all happened in the front yard at my mother's house, where we were staying until September.

While rocking August to sleep for an afternoon nap, lightning flashed and thunder clapped so loudly and simultaneously, I was sure it must have hit right outside. 

Out the window, we saw that our neighbor's tree across the street had been sliced longways.  We stared out at this for a long while before finally wandering to look out the front door where we were shocked to see that our own trees had also been struck by lightning.

Strangely, just before we moved back to Texas in March, another old post oak (the stump of which I showed you earlier and which you can see here in the foreground) was badly damaged by a winter storm.

The trees did hit our vehicle, but fortunately, aside from a few minor dents, only broke the windshield.

Most of the ivy that was growing under the two trees fried in the resulting sun and these recently planted elephant ears that were receiving afternoon shade now need a new home.  It's amazing how quickly everything can change.

  

Mom's house

August stays with my mother one day each week.  Here are a few of the things I planted at her house while we lived there which were still thriving until the winter frost.  Some folks might poo-poo annuals, but these little star zinnias (Zinnia linearis) looked wonderful all summer/fall and even survived a tree falling on them!

Texas Tarragon, a.k.a. Mexican Mint Marigold (Tagetes lucida) blooms prolifically in the fall. The leaves have a robust anise/licorice-like aroma.  This clump started as two little 4-inch plants in springtime.

Alongside more yellow star zinnias, coreopsis and guara they were part of what I'm now calling a "yellow border" which I began along her ligustrum hedge.  I'll add a few more this year to make it look a bit more deliberate.

 

My nephew also has a day with Grandmom each week which sometimes coincides with ours.

He and Augie had a big day pushing brooms around.

Filling the gaps

 

While we are staying with my mother in the house I grew up in, I've been working on the yard.  The first thing I did was trim up these two crepe myrtles that I planted back in the early 90s.  They were supposed to be dwarfs and stay somewhat shrubby, but they appear to be headed toward full size trees.  One was moved when they added wheelchair accessible sidewalk corners and I'm not particularly happy with the placement.  Not sure what exactly, but I'm considering adding some shrubs near them.

 

Next I planted a little oak leaf hydrangea in a bare spot near the garage where a hackberry tree once stood.  My dad laid out this brick patio himself back in the 70s. 
 

 

We used to have a wood fence behind where I planted this little fig tree — a cultivar called 'Celeste.'  When the fence got terribly old and rotten, Mom just had it taken down, which made our backyard visible from the street.  It's a surprising improvement and eventually the fig will provide a little natural screening.

 

It already has several fruits on it!

 

Next I began to work on gaps in the flower beds.

 

Mother has a weird way of expressing dislike towards her shrubs.  She decided this cherry laurel (Prunus caroliniana) was "out of bounds" and started hacking it up leaving stumps protruding from all sides.  Every time she passes she rips off another small section by hand.  Looks weird, doesn't it?

 

I cleaned it up a little and put in artemisia 'Powis Castle,'  lemon balm, golden sage, blackfoot daisies, moss rose and sedum 'Autumn Joy' below.  Later, thinking it looked too sparse and green, I added gomphrena 'Strawberry fields,' which I remember fondly from when my friend Gelene grew it from seed at Wave Hill. Along with plenty of organic fertilizer, I also dumped in a big bag of cotton burr compost to amend her cement-like clay soil.

  

There are two other cherry laurel shrubs which have also been hacked to heck.  I'm planning on removing this one here on the left.  Our friend Carlos works for a Dallas landscaping company and has plenty of experience tearing out old shrubs so he offered to assist me.  Then I'll have a whole corner to fill in next to her Ligustrum hedge.

 

Below the hedge there is a strip of lovely yellow Iris which bloomed beautifully this spring.  I decided to fill the gaps with some other perennials using a color scheme of yellow, white and a little blue.

'Stella D' Oro' daylilies and Mexican Mint Marigold (Tagetes lucida).

Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens), yellow columbine (Aquilegia hinckleyana), and Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue.'

My nephew Ray helped me plant three large elephant ear bulbs which are coming up nicely.

Near the front sidewalk corner there is a large patch of various ground covers.  I added three variegated liriope and some star zinnias to brighten up the edge.

In this shaded corner near the hose, I added some caladiums.  I probably should've gone with white and green to better match the varigated pittosporum, but I couldn't resist the cultivar called 'Carolyn Wharton.'  I have plans to place another dwarf pittosporum called 'Mojo' in the corner in front of the boxwood.

Another gap gets some hot afternoon sun so I used Salvia greggi 'Violet,' Nepeta 'Walker's Low,' mexican heather and lavender periwinkles.

 

Had to have a few containers on the porch.  Obviously I'm staying busy here and making good use of my employee discount at North Haven Gardens where I am a garden advisor. 

 

Here's my little garden helper, August who loves to be outside and eat dirt.

A big winter storm left a large tree leaning against the house so we had it taken down just after we arrived in Texas.  I'm pleased that they left this lovely stump.

Living far away in NYC, I longed for some time to do these kind of small improvements on the yards of my family. Soon I'll be working on my father's and sisters'.

Tree bargaining

One of my mothers-in-law (I have two) recently asked me about Chinese Pistache, a non-native, but well adapted shade tree for Texas.  I told her about 2 or 3 large specimens we have at North Haven Gardens, where I work, which are in the $300 range.  She said she'd think about it.

About a week later, we drove down to visit my other mother-in-law near Cedar Creek Lake.  Stopping into a grocery store for milk, but ever on horticulture alert, I quickly scanned the various plants and hanging baskets they had on sale outside the store.  I was surprised to find a Chinese Pistache tree in a little 3 gallon container for 12 bucks!  I couldn't pass it up!

But I did.  Considering that we were in a hurry ... how will we get it in the car, etc.  I left it behind.  After our visit, we started home passing by the store again without stopping. I began to regret not grabbing it. 

Minutes later my phone rang with my in-laws letting me know I had left my purse at their house in all the baby-loading confusion.  We had to turn back, so I had my chance to adopt the little tree.  I squeezed in the backseat with sleeping Augie so the tree could sit in the front floorboard.  Mother-in-law was pleased.

Poppy baby

You might remember my exuberance over these oriental poppies when they bloomed last year, but this year the clumps have really grown large and we have lots of buds!

Brandon had me take this shot of he and August with one of the first blooms, though the baby was not so impressed.

The poppy remains my favorite flower.

 

Baby gardening steps

I put my new baby in a sling the other day and did the tiniest bit of gardening!

The weather has been quite dreary this whole month so I was really craving sunshine and a few moments out of the house.

At first I thought I'd just sit a while in the sun, but after a while I decided to try a task or two. I kept my goals simple — one job at a time.  I started with cutting back this old hydrangea.  The one that is always surpassed in beauty by my neighbor's nicer one on the other side of the fence.

I got it all done with baby Augie still sleeping happily.  Yes, it contributed to my debris problem, but what's new?

 

Next, I popped this pretty ranunculus into the ground near the front fence.  Brandon brought it to me from a trip to the farmers market.  That was about all I could accomplish, but I felt wonderful to spend time outside and tend to a few things.

August Weldon Kennedy

Our baby, born naturally March 31st, 2009 at 5:10 AM, weighing 9 lbs. 1 oz. and measuring 21 inches.

Garden provides respite from waiting

A week past my estimated due date, I'm consumed by anticipation waiting for our baby to arrive.

Trying to balance restfulness with activity, the obvious solution is to spend some time in the garden to get my mind off what isn't happening.

First, I tackled some long neglected compost chores. My compost set up is an ongoing problem...

 

I have homemade bins, an Envirocycle tumbling bin, impromptu buckets filled with debris and more piles tucked in where ever I can hide them.  Still, all this never seems to contain the amount of stuff I accumulate.

I did a little sifting and spread it around the yard.  This made a little room in a few buckets for more debris.

 

Then I got started cutting things back and raking the soil to remove leaves.

 

Brandon came out to help me and together we got most of it cleaned up so you can see bits of spring emerging. 

I haven't had this much energy to expend out there in a good while.  Yes, of course I am hoping it's a final burst of nesting before I go into labor!

This work feels good on multiple levels.  It keeps my mind in the present tense.  It provides a sense of accomplishment.

 

And seeing the lovely little spring beauties is always uplifting.  I'm so grateful for my garden.

Texas Pecans

While we were in Texas for the holidays and our wedding party, my dad gave us a bunch of pecans from the trees on his property. My brother gave us a new nutcracker so we've been enjoying this winter activity.

Dad writes:

My pecan trees are all native (wild) trees, which I do not spray with anything, or fertilize, or water except for what rain they get, so I guess the pecans could be called organic. The small hard nuts seem to have a lot of natural resistance to insects, and such things as fungus etc. We have a crop of nuts every year, though some years much better than others. This past year was quite good, and with eight or ten pecan trees on the place, we have more pecans than we can pick up. I hate to see them go to waste, but I just have not been up to getting them all this year.

Here you see some of my family picking pecans in the shadow of one of the big trees. On the right is a shot from last summer where a branch is propped up so that Dad could mow under it.

We got hitched!

Brandon and I tied the knot!

We married at City Hall in Brooklyn on December 14, 2007 and had a small party at The Black Rabbit in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Then on December 29, we had a big reception in Texas with all our family and friends at the oldest dance hall in Dallas, the Sons of Hermann Hall. Both events were wonderfully memorable and great fun. Many thanks to all who attended. (Photo by Kevin McDermott)

Elbow and Twaboo visit

One of my most faithful readers, my sister Ellen, and her husband Travis came to visit in early November. It was rather chilly so we didn't spend much time in the garden, but they came out and indulged me for a photo-op. We had a great time with them.

A&A visit NYC

My dear nieces, Arran, left, and Arden, came to stay with us just after we returned from Texas. We had a wonderful time running around the city and relaxing at home.

As you can see, my garden is a little wild and overgrown since I've had little time to tend it. Everything kind of sprawled while we were gone, but it could certainly be worse.

We visited Wave Hill where they especially enjoyed the aquatic garden which was full of leopard frogs.

Texas critters

Highlights from Texas

I found lots of great old postcards at various used bookstores.

This is the garden of my friends Bob and Carolyn.

And the lovely nursery across the street from them.

Below, this Blackjack oak in my mother's yard has rotted away on one whole side. It's almost completely hollow, but manages to survive.

Mother and I outside our family's favorite Tex-Mex joint, Herrera's.

My brother Rand carefully drew all these beautiful Spirograph designs on index cards years ago and they still hang in a closet in my mom's house.

***

This is one of the last little independent nurseries left in my home town. I bought plants there for my mother and for Brandon's mother. I somehow forgot to photograph my mom's plants.

Brandon taking a bite of his birthday cake and checking out his Granny's lovely fig tree.

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This is my friend Johnette's son Micah knocking over one of her plants.

My Dad at his place south of Ft.Worth. The pond is full this year due to heavy rains this year. He and I planted this pine tree together in 1993 when it was a scrawy, pathetic little throw-away that I rescued from the nursery where I worked. Now it's full and beautiful.

He restored this '73 Jaguar back in the 80s and we got to take it out for a spin.

Brandon's great aunt Bonnie lost an old tree in a recent storm. His cousin Sherrie gave us a piece of this cholla cactus.

More items unrelated to gardening... We visited the Kwik-E-Mart on the day of The Simpsons movie premier.

Mmmmmm squishy.

Brandon's mom and step-niece at the Ft. Worth Museum and my friend Natalie's beautiful twin daughters Sidney and Madeleine.

Birthday margaritas!

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The great bookstore owned by Larry McMurtry, Booked Up. We make a pilgrimage there each time we're in Texas.

I found this interesting set of small format books on South African plants.

3 generations of Kennedys. Brandon with his grandfather, Weldon and father Kent.

Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens)

Back in Brooklyn

We are back in Brooklyn after a wonderful trip to the Dallas area of Texas.

It was a whirlwind of visitations including our 4 parents (3 step-parents)... Brandon's grandmother, 2 great aunts, 1 brother, 5 cousins... my 2 sisters, 2 nieces, 1 nephew and many (but not all) of our friends!

We took lots of photos, some of which I will post as soon as I'm rested and have time to go through them.

There were good rains while we were away so we happily returned to astounding voracious growth in the garden! I was so excited to see everything that I took photos in the dark.

Good to be home.

Family visit

Off to Texas for a few days! Back soon.