Continued Cacao Growth

The cacao trees are still growing and really leafing out well.  I keep telling people I'm going to repot the plants soon but still haven't gotten around to it yet.

These trees of course are still the same trees that I started from seeds late mid last year from seeds collected from a fresh cacao pod I received from Sander Wolf from the Dallas Chocolate Festival.  We had the privilege of helping out with the festival last year and hope to be able to do the same this year.  After the festival though last year Sander was giving some of us the cacao pods that were used as decoration at the festival and of course I couldn't pass that up.

This year marks 10 years of the Dallas Chocolae Festival which will be held September 7 & 8 with a VIP party on September 6.  Tickets will be on sale starting August 1.

This year, being a milestone, they are holding an anniversary dinner commemorating the original chocolate dinner where "seeds" of the Dallas Chocolate Festival were first planted.  Thinking about taking these lovely plants back to the event to show just how much they can grow in just a year.  The event has grown so much since the first time we attended.

Office Bunny

This adorable bunny has been eluding my coworker for weeks now.  Fortunately he's perfectly happy hopping around an munching grass while I soak up some rays during lunch.  Maybe I'll bring him some parsley soon and have lunch with him.

Some of our friends have pet bunnies and they're just so smart. He's not a pet of course but it's almost like having a little buddy at work.  I do however have a good idea of what bunnies want to eat though.  Parsley is one of a bunny's favorite snacks.  Forget the carrot, ok don't forget the carrot, they're good too.  Also watermelon, bananas, apples, and all sorts of herby greens.  Not too much though or they can get an upset tummy.

Note: I haven't really gotten close enough to know if he's really a him or not.  This may well be a girl.  Either way he's adorable!

Cacao Progress

The cacao trees are really growing.  The new (yellow) leaf in the middle just started growing yesterday.  And you can barely see over the rim on the left tree that it has started a new branch only a centimeter long at the moment.

When we went to Monterrey, Mexico recently I was hoping to see some more cacao trees in the wild but we were apparently a little too far north of the cacao growing region. I was told that the cacao generally came from around the Tabasco and similarly southern areas of the country and wouldn't survive too well in Monterrey.  The owner of one of the shops even said they had a cacao tree that was indoors but they put it outside one day in not so favorable conditions and it died on them.

I really need to keep that in mind that even if the tree has gotten a bit bigger that it is still a tropical plant and I'm sure Texas heat and cold are just as bad.  It did hit 115°F while we were there so I don't think I can say Texas is necessarily hotter even if all of the locals were saying that they weren't used to it getting too much over 90.

Mysterious Bugs

Found these little guys clinging to the underside of a branch of a crepe myrtle tree.  At first I thought they might be a kind of butterfly but, as I watched and came back later to check on, the never moved.  Pretty sure they're dead already.  Not sure what could have killed a small group like this but I'm suspecting the torrential rain we had a week or so ago may be the culprit. They were obviously trying to find shelter and all had the same idea but the rain was pretty hard and may well have still drowned them or at least made conditions not suitable to live.  Again still not sure what they even are.

One coworker said she found out what they were and had told someone but apparently quickly forgot and still can't remember what she said or even where she got the information.

The closest thing I can find that even resembles them is lady bugs.  Yeah, not so sure but that's my closest guess. If you know or have a guess of  your own, please feel free to leave a comment.