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Annie in Austin
Welcome! As "Annie in Austin" I blog about gardening in Austin, TX with occasional looks back at our former gardens in Illinois. My husband Philo & I also make videos - some use garden images as background for my original songs, some capture Austin events & sometimes we share videos of birds in our garden. Come talk about gardens, movies, music, genealogy and Austin at the Transplantable Rose and listen to my original songs on YouTube. For an overview read Three Gardens, Twenty Years. Unless noted, these words and photos are my copyrighted work.
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Friday, April 20, 2012

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day April 2012

Spring 2012 has brought some pleasant surprises, like blooms on the Hesperaloe/Red yucca - the first flowers in three years.
Annieinaustin, hesperaloe, Red Yucca
The mild winter allowed the unfrozen Loquat tree to give us fruit as well as flowers.
Annieinaustin, loquat has fruit
But our tree seems to be better at making flowers- the fruit is quite small with very large seeds so it took an enormous amount of loquats to yield enough pulp for one batch of loquat salsa and a few jars of loquat jam.Annieinaustin, loquat poblano salsa

It wasn't exactly a surprise when the 1940 US census records were released at the beginning of April - genealogists and family historians were counting down the days. Building the index is a huge project, requiring thousands and thousands of volunteers. I've tried to balance my desire to quickly hunt down my own family members in 1940 with my wish to help other people find their family history. Now I sometimes hunt and at other times I am a volunteer indexer, working from my home on my own computer to add to the index. If this idea intrigues you, look into becoming an indexer, too - the project is huge and should go on for many months.

One of my favorite not-quite-surprises is the Sweetheart arch. When I planted the 'Climbing Iceberg' rose and Confederate Jasmine on opposite sides it didn't seem like a gamble - those are plants that are usually pretty tough in Austin. They lived but didn't thrive in 2010 & 2011. This spring the arch is almost covered in white flowers - makes you want to walk through and sit on the bench, doesn't it?
annieinaustin,Climbing Iceberg rose on arch

If you'd like to see the complete list of everything that was in bloom on April 16, 2012, with my best efforts at the botanical names and more photos, click over to my companion blog, Annie's Addendum.

Since Carol of May Dreams Gardens started this meme in February 2007, on the 15th of each month she makes a post & a roundup of participating gardeners from all over-here is April 2012.

Happy Spring from Annie in Austin!

14 comments:

  1. Annie, good to see you here. Your arch is gorgeous. I hope my climbing roses meet over an arch some day. Happy GBBD.

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    1. Thanks, Lisa. The arch was a rescue & recycle project by DH which makes me like it even more. Hope your roses meet & bloom!

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  2. Hope springs eternal in this early spring of 2012. I hope we continue to get rain when we need it to keep the blooms blooming.

    That 1940 census must be quite the rabbit hole!

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    1. Carol - it's pretty interesting, but indexing is turning out to be addicting. No rain here in weeks - nice weather but still worrying.

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  3. I'm with Lisa... I LOVE that arch! What do loquats taste like? I'm imagining tomatillos because of the color, but is that anywhere near correct?

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    1. You would also like the recycled part, Kim!
      They're in the rose family and are also called Japanese plums. The ones from my tree taste a little like inferior-grade apricots but with big seeds rather than pits. It's from an unnamed seedling, not like the varieties grown in California.

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  4. Yes, Annie, what do loquats taste like? Inquiring minds want to know.

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    1. I've tried 3 or 4 in a row & some are better than others - something like apricots. The jam is actually pretty good but you don't get much for the amount of mess!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. I have seen loquats I have never noticed before, their pendulous branches weighed down with fruit. Your salsa looks really good and reason enough to have this tree.
    I have often thought of doing some indexing but it would be for British records. Thanks for what you do to help the family researcher.

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    1. Indexing sure makes me appreciate all the work that other people did that helped me find family. Now I hope "my" census pages will be the keys for someone else.

      I was given this loquat tree in 2000 & this is the first harvest - if winters go back to cold it may be the ONLY harvest! But there were enough to try a couple of recipes.

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  6. The arch looks pretty cool-I have one going in my front yard with two colors of bougainvilleas. High salty winds however slowing progress of plants.

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    1. Last year both the rose & the jasmine were so spindly that wondered if they'd ever meet - maybe your Bougainvilleas will connect one of these days, Nicole!

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  7. Thank you so much for getting the ID on that plant. It fits exactly and I looked and looked. I will just have to come to you for Plant IDs in the future! Do not know why I am not seeing your posts on my blog list to remind me to check!

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  8. Maybe it was luck, Tabor. I remember liking that Waterleaf when it appeared in the garden of House #2 the spring after we moved in. That was 30+ years ago & it took ages to find in wildflower books at the library.
    As to seeing posts - it's practically a miracle when I get a garden blogger bloom day post up. You are so much better at blogging!

    Annie

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A comment from you is like chocolate - maybe I could live without it, but life is more fun with it. I'll try to answer. If someone else's comment piques your interest, please feel free to talk among yourselves.