Bonsai

One of my coworkers had a bonsai tree for a few years.  He dutifully watered it once a week and gave it monthly fertilizer, but he also kept it on the windowsill at work.  The windowsill is a perfectly fine place during the winter, but during the summer it is brutal.  Really, the only plants that should be on the windowsill are those of the cacti - succulent variety.  So it shouldn't be any surprise that the tree finally got too hot and died.  I took the planter home and promised to plant it with plants that would be able to handle the windowsill.  This is what I came up with:

 

The fawn figurine is from Toys R Us (Schleich), and it was probably about $4.  I had actually bought it a long time ago for the bonsai tree, so I kept it with the planter (though I did think about switching it out for the Condor figurine that Schleich makes).  I'm not exactly sure which cacti and succulents are in this planter - except for the ghost plant which is in front of the deer, maybe the one behind it is some type of haworthia...but I don't know what type of cactus that is.  It's actually because of this fawn figurine (along with a baby hippo one I bought for a different coworker's succulent planter he made) that I've decided I should add some little extras to some of my planters.  I've already started with a little garden gnome, a swan, and a turtle I bought at the Zilker Botanical Gardens when I was there for Monarch Appreciation Day.

Critters

Some pictures of the critters who have been making their home in my yard...

Green Anole

Another green anole

Agriope Spider (aka Charlotte)

Praying Mantis

And a few that you have a search for -

A Mediterranean Gecko - He's hidden by the compost - but you can see his head, body and a leg - he's located just a little above and to the right of the largish stick thingy on the lower left portion.

A green anole - you can make out his head and eye hanging on the main stem - just under a leaf.

September wide angles

As per usual, I'm a day late and a dollar short.  Who knew that fostering kittens would take up so much time?  Okay, that's a lie - I'm currently not fostering.  It has more to do with the fact that my husband commandeers the computer when we get home, and I keep feeling like I have nothing to blog about (which is totally not true).

Anhow, we'll get started with September wide angles and then I'll move into mass writing blog entries and having them post every week.

So.  September Wide Angles.  As you all know the drill by now, Heather at XericStyle (which, by the way, I saw that she was on CTG a few months back) invites us to share wide angle photos of our yards so we can see how they change through the seasons.

This year, it's been pretty dry with maybe one good rain a month.  Unfortunately, we did not have a good rain in August; and the yard is showing it.  

From across the street:

Closer:

Those trellises are by Bob at Draco - they're pretty nifty.  :)  And you can see Shawn having just come back from a road ride.

A closer view of the hell strip:

 

And of the far part of the hell strip with the Rose Bed in the back:

And a view of walking up the front door:

A closer look at Bob's Trellises.  I need to do a post on just them...

Around the side yard:

Featuring the sprinkler which I use to water the plants so they will bloom, thus feeding the hummingbirds and bees.

A panoramic from by the rain barrel

A panoramic from the back door

A picture looking toward the garden

Looking at the garden from the rainbarrel on this side

Sadly, the world photos are causing my computer to crash so I can't post either of them.

August Wide Angles

Okay, so a very late "beginning of the month wide angle photo shots" - I swear I take the photos early in the month (August 10, even!)

From the neighbor's drive way:

Hell Strip Part 1:

Hell Strip Part 2:

Leading up to the front door:

Looking at berm:

Backyard from the deck:

Panorama of the back side yard:

Panorama from the back door:

View of the garden - cleaned up for now:

August World Photo