Fall is in the Air

 We always have plenty to keep us busy at Blue Moon. It's early, but scarecrow building has begun. We normally aim to have them complete by Fall Festival, the second Saturday of October. However this year, Fright Fest is October 1 so we are rushing a bit. Our theme this year is scary. Of course we always create ballerinas and this year is no exception. Chris is working on the first of many.

You wouldn't think it was scientific but it does take a little engineering on our part to pull them off. Chris is studying her measurements.

Iris likes to be in on the action and found a nice soft spot to relax.

Our ballerina is coming along. We found if we put the umbrella up over us to create some shade, it was a lot more pleasant to work in the 106 degree heat yesterday. Today it's cloudy and we got a touch of rain. It is very pleasant.

Fun with the Pizza Oven

Kendel is lighting the oven so we can practice making pizzas for lunch today. We have a pizza class next week on Friday evening and we are getting familiar with our new oven making sure we understand how it works.

Sharon is pressing out the pizza dough. Notice not all of them came out round. Practice makes perfect, they say.

We had fun topping the pizzas with all kinds of ingredients. Everyone likes something different.

Lunch is served. They turned out really good. Our favorite had pears on it!

Armadillo roundup

We have had a plague of armadillos this year. Well, truly we have problems with them every summer, but this hot, dry summer has been particularly bad.

They dig in our irrigated gardens looking for worms and grubs to eat. They particularly like to dig up ground covers so the edges of our beds are looking ragged. In an effort to stop the damage we are trapping them and relocating them over 3 miles away, hoping they won't find their way back.

Here's one of our set-ups. We don't bait the trap, we just find a spot where they continue to dig and travel, set the trap in the middle of the path. Then we put 2x4 boards along the sides, leading into the trap. It works some of the time. We have trapped and relocated 7 so far this summer.

Look at this - one of our intended victims dug a hole right at the opening of the trap, but didn't go in. Like he was thumbing his nose at us.

This is another of our configurations. We can't figure out which direction this guy is moving, but he digs this bed up almost every night so we are hoping to corral him into the trap.

To all those people who tell us that armadillos are so cute and we should leave them alone, here is my thinking: This is the best way to enjoy armadillos if you think they are cute and cuddly.

Rudbeckia

There aren't many plants thriving in this intense heat and drought. Tragically, we have trees dying every day. But Rudbeckia is tough, and provided with adequate (not heavy) water, it will bloom like crazy, even in this awful Texas summer.

Above is the most common variety of Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia Goldsturm. It happily grows in dry or boggy soil, needs little care and makes a great cut flower. Actually, all the Rudbeckias hold up well as cut flowers.

This is Sharon's favorite member of the family: R. Herbstonne, also known as Autumn Sun. In mid-summer the flower stalks shoot up 5 or 6 feet tall and these sunny yellow flowers with green cones open to about 3 inches wide.

Sharon likes the foliage of this plant, which makes a 12-inch tall groundcover. The jagged foliage looks attractive for months, until it goes dormant in winter.

 The photo above shows a Rudbeckia variety that is not a hardy perennial like Goldsturm and Herbstonne. "Cherokee Sunset" should be grown as an annual' but like other annuals, it has a long season of bloom. The bi-tone flowers appear in late May and last through the summer and fall.

Here we have it planted in front of Bog Sage, red Monarda and Pretoria cannas. This was a great combination.

The Rudbeckia in our header now is Denver Daisy, a big award winner the last few years. It is shorter than a lot of the other Rudbeckias.