Admiral, There Be Caladiums Here!

So it turns out that the admittedly-adorable, young, female squirrel who's been digging in my front garden may not have been actually removing my Caladium bulbs.  I saw two emerge from the ground the other day, and since then, I've found three more.  Little Girl Squirrel continues to dig little, round holes in my beds - I think she might be burying food, and not performing unsolicited plant-removal services.  

OOH, AHH

I planted 18 "White Christmas"Caladiums in February.  So far I've got five above-ground, and I'm interested to see how many more of them appear.  There are a couple of large (2-3') areas of the front beds which I was hoping would be carpeted by soft, white, floppy leaves by now; but then, I've never actually grown Caladiums before.  The newly-emerged plants could be the only ones I get (the others could very well have drowned or rotted as a result of the recent rains); or they could be earlier than their neighbors - time will tell.

BABY  LEAFS!

Bless her heart, I surprised Little Girl Squirrel the other day, at work in the garden.  She bounded away, and ran face-first into the fencing around the beds, fell on the ground, and then hopped over the fence to freedom.  Silly thing. I probably scared her more by laughing out loud than by simply appearing nearby. 

Plant List: Backyard/Patio

Because I'm trying to keep up with my plants, and because I have a blog and you get to look at whatever I write, my backyard/patio now contains:

Planted in the ground: 

Rosemary, unknown variety, bought as a "Christmas Tree" topiary, January 2017,  and pruned into a "ball" (lump, wad, what have you)

Container Garden, Patio: 

Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata)
Jasmine, pink-flowered (Jasminum polyanthum) - this was moved from the front yard
Fernleaf Lavender (Lavandula pinnata)
Serrano pepper (Capsicum annuum)
"Yellow Pear" Cherry Tomatoes (2)
"Patio" tomato
Columbine, "Harlequin Mix" (Aquilegia vulgaris) - from the box that was in the front yard
Onion Chives (Allium schoenpprasum)
Lavandula dentata - a bright green variety I can't remember the name of, and there was no tag :c
Thai Basil (Ocimum basilicum)
Lime Mint (Mentha spp.) - I think.  It smells like Lime Mint, but it wasn't labeled.


* If you haven't tried Yellow Pear tomatoes, you must.  They've got a mellow, warm flavor, perfect for adding to savory things.  They're awesome in Greek salads, and on bruschetta. My favorite way to eat them, though, is right off the plant, warm from the sun, while working in the garden.

A pink columbine, part of the "Harlequin Mix" that moved from the
Earthbox planter into their own separate containers last weekend.

A Storm, and Some New Plants

It rained Sunday morning. The way the news fussed about it, you'd think it was
going to rain frogs and kill everyone in the state. It was pretty epic, but it was also
really nice to wake up and enjoy my coffee to the sounds of a thunderstorm.

My front garden is under water!  Note the big, empty spot in the center
there where a kind squirrel has been good enough to relieve me of all of
the  Caladiums that I planted there in February.

Flooded yard.  Apparently people all over the Austin area got just
pounded by this storm - there was a lot of straight-line wind damage,
and even reports of a funnel cloud in west Austin. 
All I got was a lot of water. 

Like, a LOT.  Bye-bye, mulch.

After the storm cleared, it was a GORGEOUS day, which I
used for a quick trip to It's About Thyme to shop for pretty
things to pot up for the patio. There's a blue Plumbago here, with
a Pink Jasmine, and a Fernleaf Lavender.

Veggies and herbs on this side, along with the columbines in the EarthBox
 from the front yard.  Yellow Pear tomatoes, a "Patio Tomato", Serrano pepper,
onion chives,  a dentata lavender, Lime Mint - and you can't tell in this picture,
but the  potted rosemary from the front yard is now planted in the ground,
just off  the corner of the slab.

Daisy assisted, and then we both sat on the patio and rested for a while.
She watched the birds.