The Valley of the Jolly (H0-Ho-Ho) Green Giant

The past month I have been watching the progress of these three century plant blooms. They are in the yard of friends- Rusty and Caroline. It just so happens their yard is just across the street from the parking lot I drive from each afternoon and these "giant asparagus" have been silhouetted against the sky.

Last week I finally stopped to visit with Rusty about how large these three plants have become. He said they are about 6 years old. He has no idea why they are growing so large. Several others around the community are also putting on large blooms.

Another teacher ( and friend), Elizabeth, also came over to talk about the plants. This week's addition to the blooming were all of the smaller blooms coming off of the "pups". Rusty estimated the blooms on the large plants to be about 30 feet high. Supposedly, the century plant dies after it has bloomed. If that is true, there will be a big bald spot in the middle of all of that cluster of plants.

The Gardening Bug

Like so many postings I have read recently, we too have been bitten by the "gardening bug". Now, this isn't anything new to us. I remember when we first moved to this place, we used to garden a huge vegetable garden, probably 15 X 30 feet, maybe more. RA would take the tractor and plow to the flat part of the pasture (off of the hill, east of the house) and plow it first so it wouldn't be so hard to work the soil. Then we would run water lines from the pump. It was quite an operation. It has been years since we gardened on that scale, but we have always had a small garden outside the yard fence- with mostly tomatoes and squash. This year the tomatoes are growing like crazy- lots of small green tomatoes forming. I also have two kinds of bell peppers, oregano, basil, and a beautiful grapevine starting.


I'm also adding flowering plants this year- in hopes of enticing more butterflies and hummingbirds. My additions include Esperanza, agapanthus and firebush. I had never seen agapanthus before yesterday when I stopped at a nursery near Bulverde. Then I stopped at another outstandng nursery on I-10 just outside Boerne. Here are examples of what I bought:

AGAPANTHUS

MEXICAN FIREBUSH

Not knowing the name of this plant, I used it as an illustration when I was talking about the "burning bush" with my pre-school Sunday school class. In the summer the yellow butterflies are attracted to it. With the red blooms and yellow butterflies it looks like the bush is on fire!!

YELLOW ESPERANZA

These are just about the brightest yellow flower in this part of the country. And with a name like "Hope", I just had to have one. Once again, it will attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Variegated White African violet

The nursery I visited in Boerne bills itself as an African violet nursery, something you don't see very often around here. Well, let me tell you, it's a whole lot more than just African violets. They had at least 10 long green houses open to the public as well as an acre, if not two, of plants outside on the grounds. I have always loved raising African violets and had been looking for a white one. Grandmother Smylie had a beautiful white violet on her kitchen table for years. I had never seen the variegated leaves before, so I am excited to try to grow this one. It is a small starter plant, only 5 leaves with two blooms. It may be a challenge.

Some time this week I will go outside and take pictures of Ray's beautiful tomato plants. He's very proud of them this year.