The Garden Timeline

• Winter 1998
  • Found and bought house. Landscraping had been done months before.
  • Had builders install buffalo grass sod in back yard.
• Spring 1999
  • Many native plants added to back yard.
  • Bird feeder and water source added to back yard.
  • Hummingbird feeders added to garden.
  • Sharp-pod Morning Glory takes over manhole cover.
  • Cardinal pair starts showing up at feeder, continues currently.
  • Titmouse starts visiting feeders, continues currently.
  • Chickadees start visiting feeders, continues currently.
  • Bewick's Wrens start visiting garden, continues currently.
  • Toad spotted in garden, continues currently.
  • Anoles spotted in garden, continues currently.
  • Mustang Grape vines appear.
  • Virginia Creeper appears.
  • Dewberry appears.
• Summer 1999
• Let St. Augustine grass in front yard mostly die by not watering it.
• Fall 1999
  • Two more feeders added to back yard.
  • Many native plants added to back and front yard.
  • Golden Orb spider takes up residence in corner of fence for a few weeks.
  • Odd colored Cardinal (lighter than female but practically full-size) visits yard with Cardinal pair (guessing it is their child with abnormal color).
  • Frogfruit and Death Camas transplanted into garden from nearby lots scheduled for construction.
• Winter 1999
  • Six bird houses added to garden.
  • St. Augustine grass removed from front yard, replaced with mulch.
  • Many native plants added to front yard.
  • Bell's Vireo visits yard.
• Spring 2000
  • Water source added to front yard.
  • Bat house added to garden, no inhabitants yet.
  • Sharp-pod Morning Glory returns and takes over manhole cover.
  • Many native plants from plant rescues around Austin added to the garden.
  • 3 Bewick's Wren pairs and 1 Chickadee pair nest in the nest boxes.
  • Two more toads spotted in garden.
  • Widow's Tears appear.
  • Golden Dalea appears (from seed).
  • Mockingbird claims Texas Lantana and Agarita berries for itself.
  • Blue Jays visit the peanut feeder regularly.
  • Adult Blue Jay observed taking an ant bath in back yard.
  • Baby Blue Jay hangs out in yard for a week or so before flying.
• Summer 2000
  • Nasty drought!
  • Spotted large anole eating a spider.
  • Yellow-jackets refuse to stop building nests on front porch, give up discouraging them.
  • A large toad is discovered to be living in the front circle of rocks.
  • Male and female Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds use feeders in back yard.
  • Former baby Blue Jay visits peanut feeder often.
  • Small snake (approx. 6 inches long) spotted in garden.
  • Baby cardinals check out yard from fence.
  • Snailseed vine appears from under mulch pile.
  • 7 Blue Jays seen in back yard at once.
  • A nursery-grown Yaupon Holly dies.
  • A nursery-grown Escarpment Black Cherry dies back to the ground but resprouts.
• Fall 2000
  • The rains return, most plants double in size!
  • Many Confusing Fall Warblers (Connecticut, Nashville).
  • Many Monarchs stop during migration!
  • A Monarch catapillar hitchhiked in on some swamp milkweed from the Wildflower Center plant sale. It made a chysalis on our kidneywood and pupated.
  • Bewicks and Carolina Wrens.
  • Cowitch Vine appears.
  • Goldeneye grows huge and blooms like mad.
  • White Boneset blooms for the first time.
  • Two passionflower vines appear (just as I propogate some via cuttings, silly plants).
  • Lots of hummingbirds until the middle of October. Last one seen November 2nd.
  • False Dayflower seedlings appear.
  • Lots of wildflower and grass seed and seedballs added.
• Winter 2000
• Freeze kills Passionflower and False Dayflower seedlings. :-(
• Icestorm damages many trees in the neighborhood, only 1 live oak in out garden looses a small limb.
• A lack of wildlife, except for late winter:
• Chickadees
• Bewicks and Carolina Wrens
• Titmice
• Cardinals
• Blue Jays
• Chipping Sparrows
• House Finches
• Lots of Goldfinches once we replaced the old Finch feeder
• Morning, Inca, and White-winged Doves
• House Sparrows
• Squirrels
• Lots more plants added from rescue sites around the area.
• Spring 2001
• A decent amount of transplanted Windflowers survive and bloom.
• (Missing some seasons, will add later)
• Summer 2002
• Liatris getting ready to fill the front garden with purple
• Hedgehog Cacti bloom again
• Two-Leaved Senna blooms
• Velvet-leaf Mallow and Frostweed bloom in back garden
• Mockingbirds can't resist the Lantana berries in front and back
• Our favorite Prairie Sumac leaks sap from base, appears to be dying
• Habitat signs moved to front
• Plant id labels added to plants near sidewalk in front
• Limestone and granite sand path installed in front
• Copper birdbath added in front
• Arbor added over passage to back garden
• Trellises added for Alamo Vine and Lindheimer Morning Glory

Jason M. Spangler,
jasons@wumple.com