Today in the Garden

Today in the garden, I found this monarch butterfly feeding from the orange esperanza. It fed from the bloom and the stem.

Bees in the garden

This post explains the value of bees in the garden and distinguishes the different types:

http://www.mcmga.com/00/43/native-bees-in-texas-gardens/

These are bees in my garden.  I use a Canon EOS 7D.

Hurricane Patricia

Texas has gotten lots of rain as a result of hurricane Patricia. Luckily, the damage has been less than expected. We have been under drought conditions, so the rain is a good thing. My dog Monster prefers to stay inside. He is a rescue from the animal shelter. I got him the day before he was going to be euthanized. Isn't he cute?

New venture with International Educational Learning Kits

Learn about world cultures, languages, and geography.  Follow this link:


http://www.flyingtrunks.com

to dead head or not

This is a white knock-out rose. It does not require deadheading or removal of spent blooms, but it rewards you if you do.

Benefits of gardening:

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

Plants that clean the air

This photograph was taken Oct. 20, 2015 in a restaurant. As you know, restaurants generate lots of smells: different foods, people, and smoke. The food smells when they are varied and combined, sometimes don't mix well. If you look at the top of the photo and the sides, you can see that this restaurant is using live plants to clean the air. Their height keeps them away from the food. You can do this at home as well.

Have a wonderful day!
Erlinda

Easy Photography Tips

Today in the garden, I will show you how to change your photograph, merely by changing the camera's focus point. The illustrations below show you the difference.  The first photo has several focus points. You can see that the back greenery is out of focus, but most of the flowers and everything in front seems clear.  The second photograph, the closest blooms are in focus and everything else is a blur. Without going into the complications of camera F-stops, this was done at the same settings, just choosing a different little square option as a focus point. One was multiple, the other was single. As an exercise, find something in your back yard or even inside your home and practice choosing different focus points to see which effect you prefer. The more you practice before the time you actually take a photo, the more confident you will be with your camera. Remember, this is amateur hobby photography.

Water for birds

Normally, gardeners water plants at the roots. If it is early in the day, you can water the leaves if they have time to dry during the day. Watering the leaves occasionally, rinses bugs and dust from the leaves as well. A side benefit of maintaining your plants healthy, is giving water to birds, as in this photo.

Today in the garden

Gardening Design to attract birds

Does your garden attract birds? Do you need a landscape design that is water efficient? Check out Garden Style SA for ideas by the San Antonio Water System.

Copy and paste on your browser:

http://www.gardenstylesanantonio.com/garden-landscape-design/informal-patio

Happy gardening!

Easy way to remove skin from avocado

This is an easy way.
Cut avocado in half. Using a cup or a glass, press the glass between the fruit and the skin and bring you hand downwards. It easily removes the skin from the avocado.

See how I did it:

https://www.facebook.com/linda.cortez2/videos/10206976146348664/?l=1445324725171911548

Anacacho Orchid Tree

I have two of these Mexican Orchid Trees. They are drought resistant and make a majestic spray of white flowers. They are considered deer resistant.

Copy this link to read more about this beautiful flowering tree.
http://npsot.org/wp/story/2009/366/

Family Tree Research--a starter's guide

This is a simple starter's guide for putting together your family tree. I know it can often get overwhelming and you can head down a wrong path easily, especially looking up names in Mexico where mother's name may show last. I did our DNA and came up with an exact match for my dad in Asturias, Spain. I met the match in NY and we did not look at all alike. I couldn't find a paper trail for him so I assumed it wasn't a relevant match. I continued testing and those giant blonde, blue-eyed Garcias kept popping up. Today, because of this prompt, I added my grandfather's name. Well...I found the Garcia from Asturias, Spain. I had the last names reversed. This is best if you have another relative also interested so you can double check each other. In any case, always, always cite your source reference. I believe DNA and a paper history are a gift to those that will come after us.

http://www.spanglishgirl.com/2014/03/19/a-starters-guide-to-discovering-your-mexican-ancestry/

Experiment rooting the top trim from plant with new seed

I have trimmed the top of an existing avocado plant and inserted it in a seed I have rooting in water. If it works, I will get two avocados.

Top trimming avocado plant

I am top trimming the avocado plant that I have grown from seed to allow it to bush and be less lanky.

growing avocados from seed & continued care

Gardening, grafting and growing more food from purchased food. Follow my experiences to see what works and doesn't work and see if it is something you want to do. Easy to follow steps. Snips, small cup and a few ounces of water are all that is needed.

How to grow an avocado tree from seed

Did you have a perfect avocado?  One that the taste, color, consistency left you wishing all your avocado purchases could taste like that?  Avocado trees are easy to grow.

1) puncture a couple of holes on the seed so water can penetrate
2) put in a plastic clear cup half full of water
3) set it on a window sill, changing the water regularly and making sure it is not fully immersed in the water
4) once your plant starts growing, you can pinch the tops after each growth cycle to make it grow to a fuller plant.
5) trees grown this way may take 4-5 years to give fruit.

If you get a vigorous plant, you can use it to root more avocados by grafting other fruit bearing avocado trees. More on that on the grafting segment.

For more detail, see this video:

http://www.hgtvgardens.com/guac-n-roll-grow-an-avocado-tree

Happy gardening!

Erlinda

grafting fruit trees

I am researching how to graft fruit trees. My mom had different types of oranges coming out of one tree. I have an amazing nectarine tree in a house that is for sale. I want to learn how to bring that mature variety onto my new tree. This is one video that makes it look easy. Feel free to comment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTtXmBVsolY.

Today in the garden

This is one of my resident birds. He is up high on a tree. He was making lots of different sounds. He heard my camera click and stopped moving and singing. He's a poser. Mockingbirds mimic many different bird songs.