#zone9

[exteriortexas]

Camelia, the “Queen of Winter Flowers”, blooms from late fall to mid-spring (depending on variety). . We suggest planting different varieties so you can have flowers from November through April/May. . #camelia #camelias #flowers #flower #winterflowers #winterflower #queenofwinter #houstonlandscaper #houston #houstontx #houstontexsd #htx #zone9 #landscaping #landscapedesign #exteriordesign #exteriortexas https://www.instagram.com/p/CncWfZbJqSQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[sageinthegarden]

A new snapshot from https://sagesacre.com/2021/04/05/the-bee-hotel-has-occupants/

The Bee Hotel Has Occupants

The bee hotel I built last year

Last year I built a bee hotel in the hope of providing housing for some of our native bees. It looks like it worked because I can now see at least four little mud covered holes in the logs I placed in the hotel, which tells me I’ve got some mason bees in residence.

Closeup of a mason bee’s nest in the bee hotel

I’m not sure how to tell whether I have carpenter bees (the big black ones) hanging out because, other than knowing they nest by burrowing into rotting wood, I have no idea what I’m looking for. I did see a few buzzing about the hotel last fall, so I’m hoping that at least one or two found Le Hotel de Sage suitable.

Outside of the few solitary bees, the hotel is also home to plenty of spiders, a mud wasp, and various other wood and hole dwelling insects.

For info on how I built my hotel and the bees native to California, check out my post from last August.

[coridallasmultipass]

Cleaned up the side grass that was hanging down into the pond! There were a ton of bricks and stones buried around the edge of the pond, which would find better use elsewhere in the yard, since this area is too overgrown to walk around. (I bet the bricks have been buried since I was a kid, this area has always been so overgrown by grass - there used to be a fence where those bushes are.) Nothing particularly important came from doing this, but I just really wanted to clean up all the dead grass. Got a bunch of worms and fresh wormy dirt out of this half of the pond, too. And I also saw a wild cockroach egg case and a wild cockroach... 😬 I haven't seen one since the exact day I left NYC last and saw a huge one barfing black ooze upside down on my rug... 🤢 Stay outside, buddy. (They're very uncommon to find in a house in this area, and obviously hard to find in the wild because they hide under dead leaves.) #garden #gardening #plants #california #zone9b #zone9 #zone9garden #pandemicgardening #spring #springcleaning https://www.instagram.com/p/CM8jzEjsMrO/?igshid=4txxgmbcbwyc

[houstontropical]

Pink Okra, Abelmoschus moschatus.  Not tasty, very pretty.

This little hibiscus only grows to about a foot tall and puts out these huge pink blooms, followed by an okra-like seed pod.  It is listed as edible, but not really it’s strong suit.

[fatgirlgetsfitatlast]

Aloe plants in bloom.

[coridallasmultipass]

(Before and After) Topped off the tree because it was blocking sun for the island garden! 🌳🌳🌳🌳 It's still nice and hot out, but you can tell fall is coming the way the sunlight is moving to a different angle. This was a lot of fucking work and I'm in a lot of pain lmao. (I wish I took a Before pic of the tree before I cut it!!) Just as I scooped up the last of the leaves, literally the last scoop, I got a muscle spasm right near my ovary/surgery area and hoo boy it's A Lot... I really over did it, but I can't put the work off on another family member, and I can't wait to do it because the vegetables in the island garden (right behind all the pots) are suffering, and I JUST got turnips to sprout down there, my watermelon is still happily growing, there's a pumpkin, etc. I can't let all those die yet. Saved some of the long shoot branches to use as stakes for the goji berry bushes that are going wild rn and outgrew the small stakes I put. 🤕🤕🤕🤕 #yardwork #garden #gardening #california #pandemicgardening #zone9b #zone9 #zone9garden #fall https://www.instagram.com/p/CGbC-FMA31k/?igshid=iiy0ufqpn37e

[coridallasmultipass]

Jelly-Smellies in full bloom! 🌸🏵🌸🏵 I don't know what the green plant growing next to my taro is? And the taro is about to get another leaf!! 🌱 I can't really bend rn to get a better pic of all these, but they still look pretty good!

[coridallasmultipass]

More pie pumpkin flowers!! 🧡🎃🌼 I didn't realize how many there were! #garden #gardening #plants #piepumpkin #pumpkins #flowers #blooms #orange #zone9b #zone9 #zone9garden #pandemicgardening #summer #california https://www.instagram.com/p/CC9NkoxgTBU/?igshid=pcd22msfybfk