Fall Weather

Fall is here and I couldn't be happier with the weather.  It's cooling down and the rain is still only intermittent.  Plants everywhere are loving it too.  This little guy was just growing away in this planter near one of the shopping centers nearby.

Cooler weather also means less need to water so much to keep things from dying.  Not too little though, so much still has months to grow and become hardy for the winter.  We have turmeric that I still need to figure out what to do with.  The fig tree I plan to mulch so it stays warm over the winter.  Probably also get something to go over it so it might have a good start in the spring as well.  Early to rise early to fruit.  No figs this year after its near death experience last winger.

The plumeria will have to come inside when it gets too cold.  Also have to figure out when that is going to be.  This is the first time I've gotten one of these to grow so well and not die after a week.  I can't have all of the plants people give me die immediately.  That wouldn't be very encouraging.

I have a few seeds that I want to get going too.  One is a pine seed I got from a nice tree outside a hotel.  I intend to plant it where it can really take off and not destroy my foundation or water/irrigation lines.  So much to do and no time to do it in.

Fall Tomatoes

I have to wonder what tomato I got these seeds out of.  I thought they were more round than these.  All of the ones here are kind of pointy and long.

I guess the cross pollination came into play here.  This happens a lot in producing fruit.  Apples particularly are planted in areas with varieties that you eat and varieties you plant because they give off a lot of pollen. This makes it unlikely that the seed you get out of an apple will produce a tree that will give you the same kind of apple.

At any rate they look good and are a decent size.  The one in the back should be good to eat tomorrow and the two in front there in a day or two after that. Several green tomatoes are here and there and I expect it to continue through early fall.

Another seed I got recently is a pine seed from a hotel pine tree I was near.  The tree was trimmed a lot and not too tall but it looked nice.  Thinking about planting it at the edge of the HOA lot where the drainage goes.  Pine trees usually have a pretty good root system and there near the lake will keep it in good shape through the hot summers we get here.

Hibiscus Flowers

We were recently at Beard Park in Little Elm. Apparently the area combined several smaller settlements to make a town, eventually with a dry goods store, post office, and more.

There is a replica house and post office there, unfortunately with a wasp infestation.  They left everyone alone though so I guess it isn't too bad really. Likely they were attracted to such flowers like the hibiscus shown here.

Growing up we had a lot of hibiscus plants.  This was another of my grandfather's breeding projects.  I really don't remember the colors we had, I was little and that was probably the least of my concerns.  Everyone knows that lizards and garden snakes are much more important.  Our yard really did have a lot of both of these. The anole were all over the house and green houses.  As for the snakes all you usually had to do was turn over one of the larger rocks to find one curled up resting.

This was only one of the colors they had out at the park.  Got a few seeds of course to see what cross pollination occurred out there. There may have been even more hibiscus flowers in the area. Pollination can happen over fairly large distances and with the number of pollinators in the area the likeliness is pretty good. We'll see what pops up.

Hummingbirds in the Garden

We got a hummingbird feeder for the backyard and they're already hovering around it.  The most we've seen at a time is two so far.

They were already attracted to our yard with our plumeria plant so it wasn't really a surprise to see them. One of them has a red throat.  Not this one though.  I haven't looked into it but I'm guessing it's a male thing?  Will have to look it up later.

Ok, it's later and yep it's a male thing.  The females have no red coloring.  It might be a mated pair then that we're seeing come around.  That would make sense since they aren't chasing each other off.  Hummingbirds can be territorial and aggressive to interlopers.

The cats have taken a keen interest in the hummingbirds coming around and have jumped at the window more than once trying to catch them.  We have since bought another hanger for the feeder and moved it further into the yard.  That also keeps the other birds away from it and less likely to scare each other away.