Fall In Texas

Yellow Bells (Esperanza), Fall Asters, Pyracantha

"Pinky" Roses, Pyracantha and Juniper, Field Willow

Accidental Plants

When I first moved into my house, I had a lot of landscaping to do and not much to work with. My daughter Bonnie and I planted the front flower bed with packets of flower seeds and covered them with my homemade compost. Nothing came up for a long time, so I was excited when I saw little green plants all over the flower bed, but there were no flowers and the leaves didn't look right. It eventually became apparent that there were seeds in my compost and that I was growing cantaloupes in my front flower bed. Nonetheless, the plants filled the space nicely and we even ate a couple of the melons. Then there are Avocados. I can't stand to throw the seeds away, so I always plant them. Occasionally I get lucky, but for the most part after sticking toothpicks in them and suspending them in a jar of water, or planting them carefully in a pot of dirt (right side up mind you), the seed just sits there and dries up. On the other hand, if I am pressed for time and just toss the seed into another potted plant (most recently a pot of succulents) and forget about it, in a month or so I have a surprise Avocado tree. What is up with that? As a child, my daughter used to stick the seeds out of her morning grapefruit into my Mother's African Violets. You guessed it. Tiny grapefruit seedlings. Last summer, I couldn't get any tomato plants to grow. We were in a severe draught so it is not surprising. The Geraniums in the pots outside my kitchen window, loved the hot summer and were still blooming before the first freeze, so I brought them in and placed them in a sunny window. Walking by them yesterday, I noticed some stalks and leaves growing out of one of the pots, that were definitely not Geraniums. Reaching down to pull out the invader, I saw that it was a Cherry tomato plant ccomplete with small green tomatoes. Now where did they come from?