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Garden journal entry |
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The golden explosion |
March 16, 2019. Back in Pennsylvania, this would be late winter, and I'd be eagerly reporting on all the re-emerging perennials, and the very first flowers (oh, those hellebores!). In Houston? There's much less anticipation: there have been flowers all through winter, and it seems like a steady progression of more plants coming into bloom week by week, without much of a splash. I miss those sudden bursts of activity, the acute change of season. But every once in a while, even here there's a big enough change to stop me in my tracks. The exuberant blossoms of the azaleas, for one. But this year, I can add the onslaught of the weesatch puffballs. Among the various native trees we purchased at Buchanan's nursery in late autumn of 2017, our huisache was the prickliest (although the Hercules club comes a close second). It also proved to be the fastest-growing of the bunch, more than doubling its size in a season of growth. And while we got to see just a handful of its yellow puff flowers in 2018, this year we're witnessing a golden explosion! Folks around here don't like these trees too much, mostly because even as saplings their spines are ferocious – but I'm glad we can count one of them among our backyard trees. Even if it means regularly pruning back branches to prevent impaling myself when I mow the lawn! |
Last modified:
September 09, 2009
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