Christmas 2013

Christmas dinner - baked tomatoes, roast potatoes in olive oil with fresh rosemary, homemade rolls, ham and cheesecake for desert with fresh blackberries and strawberries.  Yum!

Me taking a picture of Matt taking a picture of Christmas dinner.

Fall Color

I took these images with my smartphone and obviously I need more practice.  May switch back to my camera for awhile.

The fall colors are so glorious and I waited a little too long to capture them.  My crepe myrtles are already leafless.

Ornamentl pear leaves.

Asian Pear tree

Another view of the Asian pear

Dwarf nandina

Pyracantha

Garden bloggers bloom day - December 2013

My Christmas Cactus, loaded with bloom buds.

Geraniums brought in from the cold.

Little pepper I dug up and potted.

Paperwhite bulbs peeking through.

This fabulous gold colored poinsettia.  I love this color.

Frostweed Forest

A clump of frostweed in the front.

This pic doesn't show the intricate design.  Fascinating

A clearer shot.

Fall morning

Time to cleanup the greenthread hit by frost.

New Dawn roses blooming more than they have all year.

Foggy morning on the creek.

After the Flood

There used to be a tree in that depression in the middle now filled with a stump and rocks.

The creek bank has been scoured of all debris and wood.  This is looking east toward the bridge.

This is looking west.  The missing tree was just to the left of the existing tree.  That linear depression was probably made by the tree that was uprooted.

This is all that was left of the tree.

The water came almost to the top of the bluff.

Looking west.  

Lots of rain has really helped the Lespediza bloom.

A closeup of the Lespediza.

Beautiful Esperanza blooms.

Passalong plant from Esther.  I keep forgetting the name.    I love the colors.

Belinda's Dream rose bud.

Grandpa Otts morning glory is taking over.

Crepuscule rose.

Ruby Crystals grass.  One of my favorites.

Best of all.  A Birthday Bouquet  from my daughter and son-in-law!

After the rain

I know a lot of these pictures are similar to the previous post but everything looks so lush after the rain I had to take a second look.

The horseherb is really taking off.  I'm going to transplant lots of them to put under my big oaks in front as a groundcover.  They do well in sun or shade, need very little water and the deer don't eat it.

My newest little pond.  I've got a solar fountain in it but it gets a fair amount of shade, sooooo  fountain does not work a lot.

One of the long beds.

Another look.

Salvia greggi and gomphrena 'Strawberrky fields' with a reddish lantana on the right just about ready to bloom.

Ready for fall.

The Texas Sage has been blooming since we started getting rain in September.

The box 'room' in front.  I'm going to replace the leaves with horseherb groundcover.

The butterfly vine is looking great.

Dried blossoms from the butterfly vine.  These are great in dried flower arrangements.

The bluebonnet seedlings are popping out.

My lemon crop.  Looking good.

I found this fantastic looking pumpkin at HEB.  It's a little work of art.

I was lucky to find one with a lot of stem attached.