- STEAM Garden
- Sep 7
We have a herd of about twenty deer in and around our gardens. This buck ventured close to the gardens for a cool drink. Despite the recent rain, this area is still in drought and deer frequent our wildlife water sources. We deal with deer damage in our gardens by numbers and diversity. We have ¼ acre with around two-thousand plants that consist of over 100 species of perennials and a few annuals. We focus on species deer do not consider palatable, but few plants are deer-proof. Deer explore the gardens every night. They might taste the leaves of an old plant, uproot a couple of new plants, and unexpectedly eat part of a plant they haven’t bothered in the past. They do not decimate our gardens, so we can live with them, and they appreciate the water source.
We also combat insects by numbers and diversity. (See entry for August 1st regarding deer in the garden.) We have not used any type of pesticide in the gardens in over a decade. We sometimes use a fire ant killer when the ants must be eradicated quickly for safety reasons, but otherwise we use varying mixtures of soap, vinegar, orange oil, and water. We will not bother this grasshopper. When I began gardening, I had mass groupings of the same plant since this was recommended in a pollinator garden planning guide. However, I seemed to have a lot of insect damage with this arrangement. Now, I seldom plant more than five of the same plant in a grouping. We might have fifty red salvias, but they are spread out and other plants grow in and around them.
When I tell people we have thousands of plants they are shocked until they begin to look closely and count. In our 200+ black cattle-feed pots, we have a minimum of two plants per pot, and in many we have 4-6 plants like pipevines, zinnias, marigolds, and gomphrenas. In our raised beds and four large Nectar Patches, there are hundreds of plants. We propagate over 300 new plants a year, so the numbers really add up even with the loss of some to deer, insects, fungus, and drought. We worry more about the loss of plants due to hail or unexpected freezes than deer or insects.
August 4
We try to plant small garden groupings or pots of our favorite, rare, or delicate plants. Having them in different areas of the garden makes it less likely that we will lose them all to a natural cause. Seed for this Roselle Hibiscus was given to us mid-May, and we planted them in two locations. Both plants are doing well so we will enjoy them for tea and collect seeds for next year. We use this same technique to protect other favorites like Swanflower Pipevine plants (Aristilochia erecta) and Big Red Sage (Salvia pentstemonoides). We hope to have them to enjoy and propagate for decades! This is part of our focus on numbers and diversity.
I have to share this video of Queen butterflies (Danaus gilippus) on Mist Flower (Conoclinium greggii). It is joyful to watch them. Look for this native plant in your local nursery. Early fall is a good time to plant it in an area of partial shade or full sun. Remember to choose your location wisely as Mist Flower spreads aggressively. This characteristic can be advantageous because the flowers provide a lot of nectar that attracts a lot of pollinators. Yesterday, Luis dug up and potted mist plants that had overgrown our flowerbed borders. We now have 22 one-gallon pots that will be ready to transplant in spring. We are going to nurture them in the greenhouse over the winter instead of putting them in the ground now so they will have stronger roots and flower early for our first 2026 monarch arrivals. Also, we need time to get a garden plot ready for them.
This yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) built a large orb web in the middle of one of our pollinator patches and look what it caught! In all my years of gardening, I’ve never seen this many butterflies caught in a web at the same time. I was able to release three that were alive, and I left one that was dead. Spiders add to the biodiversity of the garden. The diet of this garden spider consists of flies, mosquitos, grasshoppers, and an occasional butterfly. You can identify this non-aggressive spider by the yellow and black markings on its body and the zig-zag pattern it weaves in the middle of its web.
Queen’s wreath or coral vine (Antigonon leptopus) is an invasive plant in tropical regions, but it is very cold-temperature sensitive which keeps it in check in our Zone 8. For thirty years, our neighbors have had this vine growing on their front fence and the flowers are covered in bees every time I pass. I rooted a cutting last year, planted it in late spring this year, and finally it is blooming. Thankfully, it can tolerate temperatures over 100 F (38 C) and it has survived the current drought. The first pink flowers are beautiful against the Red Barn Cabin behind it.
Everyone gets excited when we get measurable precipitation, including this praying mantis (Stagmomantis sp.). This beneficial garden insect is a carnivore. It feeds on aphids, caterpillars, and flies. However, praying mantis will eat all insects, so don’t be surprised when you lose some of your beneficial insects like lady beetles and lacewings, too. Again, we strive for biodiversity, and we welcome a natural number of these predators, but we are not going to order cages of praying mantis eggs from a supplier to supplement our natural population.
Can you find the Gulf Coast Toad (Incilius valliceps) amid the flame acanthus seedlings? You can identify this toad by its brown color and the pale white stripe down the center of its back. They are relatively small, normally less than 3-inches long. We find them in garden areas that get extra water such as our newly potted seedlings, vegetation near the garden pond, and in and around our ground-level water receptacles. We even have a designated frog and toad area near one of our water hoses, so we remember to keep a least one moist environment for them.
When viewing a living cicada, it is hard to see their outer shell, or exoskeleton. However, it is easy to examine when they shed it. Having a few annual cicadas in the garden add to the biodiversity we are trying to create. They aerate soil by burrowing deep tunnels during their nymph stage and they are a food source for many small animals. Cicadas do NOT pollinate flowers directly. They don’t consume nectar or pollen, but their movement through the garden can disturb and move pollen-carrying insects. They don’t eat garden plants, either. Their specialized mouth allows them to suck sap from shrubs and trees when above ground and roots during their nymph stage. (Neotibicen superbus and Quesada gigas are two annual species.)
Snow-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia marginata) has attractive, white-edged leaves and tiny flowers that bloom from July to October. This is an easy-to-grow spurge that is considered a weed by ranchers since it has no nutritional value for grazing livestock, and its sap (latex) can be irritating to the skin and toxic to mammals if ingested in large quantities. It is a nectar source for bees and butterflies; however, beekeepers say the honey made from this plant’s nectar is ‘Jalapeno honey’ because it irritates the throat. Poinsettias (Euphorbia
pulcherrima) are kin.
This large female, nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) spent several nights digging under our garden mulch before she ventured across the street to my neighbor’s yard. After several nights of excavation, he captured her in a live trap. He brought her to see me before taking her to his ranch. I think she is pregnant. She is very large through her abdomen but does not have milk yet. He will make sure she has a good home by placing her near a creek and wooded area. We all know she will have quadruplets that are all the same sex. I wonder if she knows that.
August 30
It is time to think about next spring! My broadcasted pipevine seeds (Aristolochia fimbriata) sprouted a few weeks ago and they are ready to transplant before their tuber-like roots get too big. I have found that when they have four to six leaves they need more space. Notice how the seedlings are all clustered on one end of the pot. A heavy rain moved them to the lowest point and now I’ll have to separate them. This is another reason to do this while they are small. I ended up with 84 new plants. Our potted seedlings usually have about a 95% chance of surviving until spring planting. Note the red drink cups being used as pots. They are inexpensive and deeper than 4” pots. Pipevines need room for root development. I have about 200 more seedlings emerging in another pot. We would like to have about 250 - 300 new white-veined pipevine plants to plant in spring 2026. Our Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor) will be happy!