He Saw/She Saw

He Saw/She Saw was written by Annie in Austin for the Transplantable Rose


She said

I love to look across the fountain

At the green and white caladium

Under the tree

It looks so peaceful

In the shade


He said

I like to look across the fountain

Where the chair glows yellow

At the vegetable garden

Where tomatoes grow

In the sunWhat would happen if they switched chairs?


Happy Garden Bloggers Muse Day from Philo and Annie!

March Comes in Like an Iambic Pentameter

Hi Carolyn - Annie's outside in the garden -I think she mentioned something about committing crepe murder? Since she's too busy to post anything for Garden Bloggers Muse Day she handed me some photos and said, " Thalia, you're the Muse of Rustic Comedy, go be a-mus-ing."

Frankly, it sounds to me like an excuse to post flower pictures but no one can say I'm not a good sport! I hope this will do!

~Thalia~

Some daffodils had opened in the sun

The heat rose up and fried them one by one

But heat can also make the iris bloom

Until to freezing temp'ratures they zoom

It's leveled out and all is well today

But this is Austin- it won't stay that way! Happy Muse Day everyone!

Harvest Haiku

This post, "Harvest Haiku" was written for my blogspot blog "The Transplantable Rose" by Annie in Austin.

Pleasure in Autumn
Stealing nuts from the squirrel
He rages; I smile

Oval wooden box
Fallen from the pecan tree
Valued when broken

Where are the loquats?
Hidden in next year's flower
Praying for no ice

Peppers were captured
Vinegar and glass hold them
Heat awaits the tongue

It was fun playing with these sort-of Haiku for the November edition of Garden Blogger's Muse Day . Unlike our friends in colder places, we feel no slowing down this month - there's too much to do! With more moderate day temperatures and the blessing of cooler nights we're happy to be digging, planting and transplanting. I'm deciding where to plant daffodil bulbs once the ground has cooled off a few more degrees. For the Austin gardeners this month isn't NOvember ... it's NOWvember!

This post, "Harvest Haiku" was written for my blogspot blog "The Transplantable Rose" by Annie in Austin.

Two Posts with One Stone

What could be more appropriate for Labor Day weekend than a Labor-saving post which takes in both Garden Bloggers' Muse Day and the new International Rock Flipping Day? These are rhyming lyrics rather than poetry - vaguely following the tune of 'Yankee Doodle' - so hum it as you read

FLIPPIN' ROCKS

Philo and I went in the yard
With cam-er-a on Sunday;
We planned to take some photos
for another blogger fun-day.



Flipping rocks and flipping stones,
Whatcha think we found there?
It can be a big surprise
What's living in the ground there!






An earwig wasn't a surprise,
Nor were the ants and ant eggs.
My camera is not that good
Plus they climb up your pant legs.


Flipping rocks and snapping pix,
makes a gard'ner take stock
Of what's living in the garden
Under every big rock.





I was glad to see two toads in
Borders where I putter.
But this cutworm didn't live
once I had clicked the shutter.


Flipping rocks and flipping stones
Whatcha think we found there?
It can be a big surprise
What's living in the ground there!




Next we found two slimy things-
Striped and in a co-il.
Howard Garrett recommends
A dollop of orange o-il.


Flipping rocks and snapping pix
makes a gard'ner take stock
Of what's living in the garden
Under every big rock;



They were flatworms and I read
That earthworms are their pre-ey
This worm may be grate-ful
That we joined rock flipping day!




Flipping rocks and looking under
Tryin' to get a good peek.
Running in to look on google
Proves I'm just a bug geek.


Annie in Austin

September 2, 2007

Inspired, as usual, by Thalia the Muse of Comedy

NOTES on the Planaria:
Here's the Howard Garrett flatworm reference.

This site notes that the planaria flatworms are a problem in warm, damp climates, endangering earthworm populations.
But as usual, What's That Bug had the best photos for making the ID.

Both Bill at Prairie Point in Texas and Salix Tree in Ireland posted for Rock Flipping day, along with lots of other bloggers.
Here's a link to Via Negativa with other Rock Flipping blogs.

EDIT Sept 5, '07
You've overwhelmed me with the great comments!
Below is a cut-and-pasted list from Via Negativa:

OTHER ROCK-FLIPPERS

(last updated Sept 5, 8:30 a.m. EDT - newer additions at bottom)

Flickr photo pool

Bev’s Pbase gallery

Windywillow (Ireland)

Heraclitean Fire (London, England)

Sheep Days (Illinois, USA)

Earth, Wind & Water (somewhere in the Caribbean)

Pocahontas County Fare (West Virginia, USA)

chatoyance (Austin, Texas)

Fragments from Floyd (Virginia, USA) - GRAND PRIZE WINNER

Watermark (Montana, USA)

pohanginapete (Aotearoa/New Zealand)

Fate, Felicity, or Fluke (Oregon, USA)

Thomasburg Walks (Ontario, Canada)

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Woman (Queensland, Australia)

The Transplantable Rose (Austin, Texas)

Nature Woman (New York state, USA)

Marja-Leena Rathje (British Columbia, Canada)

A Blog Around the Clock (North Carolina, USA)

Busy Dingbat’s Sphere (West Virginia, USA)

Hoarded Ordinaries (New Hampshire, USA)

Congo Days (Kinshasa, Congo)

this too (London, England)

Roundrock Journal (Missouri, USA)

Wanderin’ Weeta (British Columbia, Canada)

Blaugustine (London, England)

A Honey of an Anklet (Virginia, USA)

Looking Up (Ohio, USA)

Ontario Wanderer (Ontario, Canada)

Bug Safari (California, USA)

Riverside Rambles (Missouri, USA)

Pure Florida (Florida, USA)

Burning Silo (Ontario, Canada)

Musings from Myopia (Texas, USA)

Cicero Sings (British Columbia, Canada)

Joan (Missouri, USA)

Nature Remains (Kentucky, USA)

prairie point (north Texas)

Cephalopodcast.com (Florida, USA) - VIDEO

The above post is Part 2 of a four-part series on IRFD festivities in Plummer’s Hollow, Pennsylvania (USA). See Part 1, Part 3, and Part 4.

The Multi-tasking Garden Blogger

Here's the dilemma:

I met with the Divas of the Dirt on Saturday and wanted to write about it.

I’ve been immersed in a genealogy project and wrote a report.

We had 4 inches of rain last week and I have a push mower.

Philo and I are looking at paint chips. Why do the colors I like always have food names? Like butter, cream or Belgian Waffle?

Hank wrote a wonderful 15,000-word essay centered around Hydrangeas and I read a lot of it. Here's a link to the 15,000 word essay but be aware that downloading his blog entry will take some time.

My book report for the Garden Blogger’s book club is due today.

Sweet Home Chicago Carolyn’s Poetry day is planned for tomorrow.

I decided to knock two things off my list with a rhyme about the book. Here goes:


My Summer in A Garden by Charles Dudley Warner
Is a public, domain-free download from Google.
But a paper book is nicer for relaxing in a corner -
Wish I’d made that choice instead of being frugal.

I viewed the screen and scrolled along as Charlie spun his stories,
Connecticut’s the setting; Eighteen-seventy the time.
For nineteen weeks he hopes for horticultural-type glories,
But deals instead with critters, weeds and clime.

His manner is quite jocular, avuncular and dense.
While making fun of nation, gender, sect.
When sticking to his garden Warner’s words are full of sense
But some parts are not Politic’lly correct.

If you like hoes and vegetables these tales will make you smile
I chuckled at his Devil Grass and produce-swiping folks.
Though Warner’s gone from this world for a very long, long while,
Just search the web – his name lives on in snappy quotes and jokes.

The Divas of the Dirt had a great morning at the Austin Smith & Hawken, enjoying a talk by manager Zach on outdoor entertaining. We later went to brunch and there was shopping involved. That blue cactus mosaic at the top of the page was seen at the new Domain shopping center. Go read about our day, see more new photos and find links at the

Divas of the Dirt blog.

[A bit of clarification, added August 1st:

I'm happy to be a member of two separate groups of Austin gardeners - the Divas of the Dirt, who do garden projects together, and the Austin Garden Bloggers, who write about gardening. I write about them both, but the groups are not connected in any other way.]

Ponds and Poetry

Uncontrolled water in the home garden can be a disaster - water confined and channeled through a water feature can be wonderful. If you're in the mood to see wonderful water features, you're in luck - it's almost time for the annual Austin Pond Society Tour, that special weekend when some of the members invite you into their gardens, demonstrating how Nature and Technology can work together to bring water, sound, plant life and animal life into your own back yard. That's our birdbath full of bluejays in the photo - if just a simple birdbath can get this much action, imagine what a pond could do!

For 2007, the event spans two days and features 30 locations - including a couple that will be open on Saturday night. Mark your calendars for Saturday and Sunday, July 14th and 15th, 2007. Wristbands are available at the Wildflower Center, Emerald Gardens and Hill Country Water Gardens, and can also be purchased online. You can also get them the day of the tour, but buying ahead can save you a couple of bucks.

Pond Tour Information on the APS website

The Pond Society kindly linked to my posts about last year's tour. We made it to almost all of the Saturday locations - mainly in-town ponds, loaded with ideas for urban and suburban gardeners - but I didn't have the camera with me that day. On Sunday I took photos at some unusual ponds in more rural settings out to the NW of Austin. If you're interested, here are links:

Liberty Hill 2006 One , Liberty Hill 2006 Two, Liberty Hill 2006 Three,

Leander 2006 and the Night Tour

The Pond Society site also has links to photo galleries from several previous tours.

Carolyn at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago is trying to get a garden muse day going on the first of each month, much as Carol of May Dreams has encouraged us to post flower photos for Garden Blogger Bloom Day on the 15th.

There's also a 'Green Thumb Sunday', a monthly 'Festival of the Trees', and even a 'Wordless Wednesday' going around. My first reaction was that things are getting awfully organized and scheduled in the garden blogging world. I'm starting to feel like an Austin Slacker version of Huckleberry Finn, suspicious that the Widow Douglas is trying to 'sivilize' me and think I'll slope off for the river.

But the idea kind of grew on me, so what the heck - here's a poem for Garden Muse Day. When one of the Muses whispers in my ear, it's seldom Calliope guiding me to epic poetry, or Melpomene leading me to write tragedy. No - the Muse that usually shows up is Thalia, inspiring comedy. Maybe she also inspired me to plant 'Thalia' narcissus, seen in this March photo.

The following rhyme is a few years old. A lot of my garden verse has been set to music with more than a dozen of the songs comprising an in-progress musical comedy copyrighted as Roots in Austin. I've made some of the songs into videos for YouTube - they're linked at left in the sidebar. More videos are in the works, but this little snippet of doggerel doesn't seem to have a musical future - it's slight, and cute, and nerdy in a horticultural way:

CALLA
A long time ago from a silvered movie screen
Came words made immortal by a cinematic queen:
“The calla lilies are in bloom,” said Hepburn in a trance;
At seventeen I knew that I must own these lovely plants.

In Northern lands I nurtured them, rejoicing at one flower.
My rhizomes cellar-dwellers were through winter’s chilling hours.
To Texans they’re less precious - here they’ll live with no protection,
Yet still are waxy, delicate, a chlorophyll confection.

The spathe emerges from the soil; the spadix is concealed.
Soon luminous white, or pearly pink, or yellow is revealed.
Some ask for Zantedeschia, preferring Latin words,

Too many calla flowers? Never! The concept is absurd.

Written by Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Garden Muse Day