Garden Life, Houston

The smell of the earth, the warmth of the sun, the soft breeze on the skin, the joy of seeing new growth, creating order and beauty. This is the joy of gardening. And yesterday all of these sensations came flooding back as we worked in the garden. It had gotten out of hand with many plants hogging more than their share of space.

This shrimp plant had overtaken a trellis that was beside it. I don't know if it had smothered out the climbing bahinia that was suppose to live on the trellis or if the cold weather had snuffed it back. But the shrimp plant has become a bully wanting to take over the whole bed. I will have to deal with it. But this bed had always been troublesome and I've changed it several times trying to find a solution that fits.
Just one week ago this Mexican Sycamore didn't have a leaf on it. So far the crepe myrtles are leafless but once you see one leaf, they seem to turn green in just a couple of days. We don't rape and mutilated our crepe myrtles cutting off the branches to nubs so they spring to life very quickly.

This Mexican sun face has been living in our garden for several years and I love the little greenies that he sprouts when we have rain.

This is a Martha Gonzales Rose bush. The Rose Rustlers found this rose bush growing beside the door of Martha Gonzales house in Central Texas. The Rustlers are always looking for roses that have survived in cemeteries or old farm houses. Roses that have adapted to Texas and grow without pampering. Well Martha is a hardy soul. I had her planted in one place and dug her up and put her somewhere else. Before too long I looked at the old spot and there was a new Martha so I must have left a bit of the root there. Although Martha is suppose to be a three foot high rose bush, she grows to five feet in my garden and she blooms most of the year. I have never pampered her in any way other than fertilizing when I have fertilized the whole garden. The foliage is beautiful and while the flowers are not the most gorgeous of all the roses, they are there for color most of the time.
It is nest building time. A pair of mockingbirds are building this nest just outside my kitchen window. Can you see the nest, tucked in just behind the left wing of this violin playing angel? Once they lay the eggs, I'm sure everytime we walk by the one standing guard will screech at us to distract our attention from their little family. But it will be fun to watch from the safety of the kitchen window.

Yes, it was good to work in the garden yesterday and catch up with what the plants had to tell.