Dragonfly

The session is finally over; now I'll be home before six most of the time. That, combined with the longer days, should give me a lot more time to poke around in the garden.

Yesterday evening I pulled some weeds and spotted this dragonfly, which stayed put long enough to let me run in, get my camera, and take a picture. My neighbors were outside tossing a ball around while I was taking the photos... They probably think I'm pretty weird.

Did I miss something here?

Evidently, there was quite a bit of wind during last night's storms, since I woke up this morning to find a fairly large branch in my front yard. I'm happy to report that it didn't cause much damage, and it just barely missed the nectarine tree.

Other areas haven't had it so easy:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/weather/entries/2007/05/25/rains_leave_at.html

I, however, am pleased that I've hadly hard to water at all this year.

May Bloom Day

In Bloom Today:
Purple Oxalis -- Oxalis regnellii 'Atropurpurea'
Dwarf Pomegranate - Punica granatum 'Nana' (Bloom period is ending.)
Southern Magnolia - Magnolia Gladiflora (Started this week.)
Rose: Safrano
Rose: Red Cascade
Purple Rose of Sharon/ Althea - Hibiscus syriacus (Started this week.)
Confederate Jasmine
Passion Flower vine

The temperatures are in the nineties today… Spring is over. We’ve gotten plenty of rain over the last few months, but it sure is HOT now! My spring-blooming plants are finished with their show. Next up, I think, will be the hibiscus. My native hibiscuses are forming buds in my front bed, while the Rose of Sharon in the back yard has already opened a few flowers up.(Safrano, Rose of Sharon, Magnolia)

Downtime

The early spring rush of blooms has finished, so now I'm waiting for my hot-weather plants to bloom. The magnolia seems to have buds, and my native hibiscus are leafing out. The weather we've had over the last week hasn't exactly encouraged me to get out and garden... It's either humid and hot or stormy. Since the temperatures have been higher (in the mid 80's), I probably won't do much more planting this season.

A close-up of blooms on a ball cactus. They almost look like plastic.