Thank you for your kind words. It was, indeed, a lovely spring. But things change.

Every year there are challenges to be met in the garden. Raccoons, possums, armadillos, squirrels, birds, and (for a long time until I fenced) the deer. The garden pests combined with lack of rain make cultivating a butterfly garden an enormous endeavor in Texas during the hot summer months. I was willing to put in the work in order to reap the rewards.

On June 1 we were put on a water restriction program which allowed me to water for 6 hours (7-10 a.m and 7-10 p.m) on Tuesday and Friday. The plants didn't thrive, but they did survive. I composted, I mulched, and I hand-watered sparingly. Our last rainfall of less than 1" was on 6/24/19. Then a couple of weeks ago, folks in this area started receiving the following message:

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM CANYON LAKE WATER SERVICE COMPANY.

Thank you for your continued understanding and patience as we work together to address with our recent zebra mussel issue at Canyon Lake. On Friday, our water treatment plant was restarted with limited production and water storage has recovered significantly over the weekend. Our crews will continue to inspect, clean and restore our water pumps to increase water production during this week. At this time, we continue to ask all customers on the north side of Canyon Lake, Spring Branch, and Bulverde areas to limit water usage to indoor usage only.

And today this one:

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM CANYON LAKE WATER SERVICE COMPANY.

As of Tuesday, July 30, 2019 at 4:00pm, we continue to see higher than expected demand and consumption impacting our water storage. We continue to request that all customers on the north side of Canyon Lake, Spring Branch, and Bulverde areas to limit water usage to indoor usage only. Our monitoring system indicates that demand is very high during all hours of the night due to landscape irrigation. Therefore, we request that all irrigation and landscape watering be suspended until further notice. We will continue to provide daily updates as conditions change.

The few plants that I had managed to keep alive despite the high 90 temperatures are now almost all dead. I know I'm not alone in dealing with this misery, but it still makes me sad. Hopefully some of the Texas natives will come back, but many others are gone for good.

I never imagined that a tiny mussel would cause the demise of my beautiful gardens.

There's no rain in sight.

Oh dear! Char, that's awful and so sad. I wasn't really sure what you were talking about with the mussels & why they have an effect on your water so I found this report for anyone else who is wondering the same thing I did.
https://news4sanantonio.com/ne...

My goodness those little suckers are invasive like a plague!!!!!!

Oh my Char that's so sad. Thanks for sharing the article Ann. I had no idea

I had no idea either. They are in lakes where our daughter boats.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwil...

Thank you for posting those links, Ann and Karen. Education and public awareness are keys to restricting this menace. Many areas of the U.S. are now experiencing problems from invasive species. The feral hogs are moving into new territory as well as snakehead fish and African bees. Thank goodness I don't have the Burmese Pythons that are plaguing Florida!

Not being able to water my gardens is a heartbreak I never expected to experience.

The feral hogs are moving into new territory as well as snakehead fish and African bees. Thank goodness I don't have the Burmese Pythons that are plaguing Florida!

And locusts in Las Vegas!

Sorry you're going through such a tough time there, Char.
Is the lake level down, too, or is it just the intakes getting clogged?

There must be a ton of seed in your pasture just waiting for a good rain.
It will bloom again!

I fear those zebra mussels will be in FL in a heartbeat. Seems like we would be a great breeding ground for them.

I agree with Cal. There are tons of seeds in your pasture just waiting for a good rain.

Here's a photo of the wild pink wood sorrel (oxalis) and wild mustard (we think) down at our cabin getaway in Gause, Central TX. I planted none of these myself. They are truly wildflowers.





Then our east pasture is a solid field of yellow bastard cabbage (we think that's what it is). The fence corner has some spotted bee balm and yellow lantana in the foreground (previous land owner may have planted that there):

For the past 2 months, we've discovered a hole being excavated underneath the cabin front steps (filled and it is always re-dug about 8-9" wide and about 18" or so deep). Last week when we went down to water trees/shrubs I've planted, we saw our new "boarder". A red fox dashed in front of our car and ran ahead of it all the way down our access lane (we're set way back off the road). We think that's why our gopher problem seems to have vanished. No more holes all over the fenced yard! Yaaaay! Either the fox got him, or one of the copperheads or many hawks we've seen there ate him. But I'll take to heart the wildflower planting on those gopher holes if he should ever come back. What an ingenious idea. And what lovely wildflower plantings resulted!

PS, there are also wild Passionflower incarnata growing wild down there on the chain-link fence:

Lovely Peggy!!!!! Doesn't it just make you smile?
Ahhhhhhhhh, the fox. I adore them!
We have a male & a female who are real regulars here. I hope the day never comes when the foxes are gone.


I'm remembering a chant from an episode of Sanford & Son. Remember the episode?

Power to the foxes, power to the foxes, power to the foxes.

Going down there in early spring when it looks like my photos, yes, indeed, it does make me smile. Even my husband, not a big gardening fan, likes the look of the oxalis clumps all over the place, and the wild mustard blooming. Only thing we're both not so fond of are all the fallen hickory nuts off the 5-6 trees that surround the cabin. I've determined they are Shagbark Hickory trees and therefore the nuts should be edible. But the thought of picking all those things up (literally thousands of them as the trees are very mature) and shelling the mini "rocks" with a hammer isn't too appealing. But the hard little buggers are just awful to step on.

Hey Peggy - could you use a gas powered leaf blower to move the nuts away from your path?

I think Kathy has an idea there with the leaf blower. Those nuts provide good eating for wildlife.

katesflowers said:Hey Peggy - could you use a gas powered leaf blower to move the nuts away from your path?

Well, currently, I just sweep them off the slightly sunken (sandy soil) brick walkway out back (the trees are only at the back and one end of the cabin). We're only talking about 15' of walkway. So it's manageable with a broom. It's out away from the walkway they are so problematic. The dang things slightly sink in our sandy soil (sometimes germinate) and are just so "lumpy" to step on. The sandy dirt all over them sort of hides them from view sometimes. I think I'll just have to live with them. I just had my 3rd round of RF Ablations done on my back nerves, so maybe that issue will improve enough soon I can actually do more bending and gardening again & actually collect them. Who knows? Maybe I'll even like the taste of them and use them in my own baking. I hear it takes a hammer on a rock to crack them open. I've seen them for sale on Craigslist for $7/lb. so maybe they're not such a bad thing to have.

The first bluebonnets are starting to bloom, so it seemed like a good time to jump-start this thread.

Last summer was a hard one due to the water issues. But, like most gardeners, I am resilient and bounce back from difficult situations. Plus I'm old, just plain stubborn, and downright determined - so I don't give in! With spring approaching, my expectations are renewed.

We've had a mild winter and some good showers, so hopefully the front pasture will soon look like this again.



Looking forward to seeing your wildflowers from other areas of the country.

Beautiful