Milestones and Progress

Progress, Meeting Milestones, Encouraging Tomorrows

These are exciting and rewarding times. 

Planting Potted Plants — Done

We've finally planted ALL the seedlings and cuttings we moved here. 

Big, big sigh. Starting with an original 800 pots a couple of months before we moved, losing a quarter to shock before they were planted, and giving away several dozen fragile susceptibles once we recognized their survival odds, we're so relieved to move beyond the yet-to-plant stage. No more guilt that anyone is left suffering in a pot in the corner, and we can all focus on doing our part to make lives successful.

A Tree Planted — Done

Take for example one of our recent plantees, currently our largest, a tree. (Let's not talk about the 8' duranta tree we planned as a focal of the back yard.) This is a plumeria from my master gardener friend, Jessica, who gave this to us in early spring 2014.  It's hung in there in a relatively smallish, temporary pot that wanted to be watered daily. And now it's blooming happily. Jessica will be happy. Hopefully, its few brown, burnt leaf edges are just the familiar shock stage it's going through, and new leaves will arrive and stay simply green. 

 To Baby Them or Not to Baby Them

We've now officially abandoned the philosophy of our native-purist friends who preach No Soil Additives, who claim plants will eventually stop growing once their roots venture beyond the additive, and should learn the reality of their environment from the start. They claim plants should either take what nature provides or die. Too many of ours choose door number two, so now we're doing a series of additives that include compost, peat, and expensive flower-saver dust that's supposed to prevent the shock of going into our quick(death)sand. Our results vary. The toxic composition to some extent affects essentially everything that wasn't born here.

These are a few that were NOT babied with anything other than water and toxic sand, and yet still are willing to reward us with their color.

Finally, one of the Pride of  Barbados blooms (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) accompanied by two Yellow sohora (Sophora tomentosa)   One of the stronger lantanas in pink and orange Native volunteers who joined the palm somewhere in the past More volunteers Pentas and sweet potato vine continue to expand their friendship I'm so pleased my that two of the three red lantanas my mom gave me are blooming, even if leaves are sparse

I didn't remembering having a native Turk's Cap! (Malvaviscus drummondii) One of two lone survivors out of more than a dozen, a Rock Rose (Pavonia lasiopetala) Numerous Mexican ruellias who self-seeded into pots of supposedly more desirable plants that died bring us gorgeous purple Another one at a different time of day The plumbago had a hard adjustment but won't give up, putting out a flower every now and again My white curse strikes again... this crepe myrtle was a volunteer in Austin five years ago, though there were no white ones visible in the neighborhood

Big Progress in Path and Circle Bed Definition

This is a very exciting topic because it involves the actual form and configuration of the yard. You recall one of our first pre-move yard tasks was designing a circle bed in a back corner, and after using little flags to mark the form and shape, then using marking spray paint, we've now had the time to move on to adding sand berms and river rocks to define all the outlines. 

In a mailing in my inbox today, I saw this affirming line: 

Psychological studies on design find that curves and rounded shapes elicit stronger positive emotions than do straight lines and hard corners. Rounder forms are linked to feelings of relaxation and areas of the brain associated with reward. 

Said outlines now also define most of the pathways. Odd looking so far? Perhaps to you. 

Glorious to us. Watching structure be born and evolve is spectacularly satisfying.