Date: 03/15/2015

Number: 1

The traditional last frost date saw temps in the 70Fs again and rain in the forecast. A late hard freeze this March (the 4th time here for the O.e. worriers...) slowed down Spring, except for blooming purple verbena that three Eastern Tiger Swallowtails were nectaring on today. 1st real butterfly activity!...

Emptied the greenhouse of about 75 4' Tropical plants that have re-leafed from being stripped of leaves in January, but left with the stems. The 30 Swamp plants from MW plugs in the greenhouse are almost a foot tall with many stems each. 100+ quart containers with 1' curassavica cuttings are actually blooming.... A few hundreds of stem cuttings await potting or planting somewhere...

I raked back all the mulch from the sunny southside in-ground plants and saw the multitude of Swamp and Tropical(!) putting out shoots. The northside is lagging behind and the incarnata may not have survived.

And, the A. asperula I reported a month ago is now a full inch tall!... several more in the vicinity are 1/2 inch tall... patiently awaiting them to join the game... I have viridis, swamp, and tuberosa seedlings struggling, and ordered viridis and asperula plugs from MW for this Waystation #9840.
Additionally, prepped beds for many nectaring plant seeds, led by 1000+ Tithonia rotundifolia 'Torch' to replace sun-scorched zinnias, and will shop for more of the incredibly successful mist flower.

Courtesy of Monarch Watch

Austin, TX

Latitude: 30.2 Longitude: -97.7

Observed by: Paul
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