We knew that the screech owl in our owl box was raising at least one chick and that it was getting big. Mama owl had moved out but was still roosting nearby, as was papa owl. But any chicks were being shy about showing themselves, so this week I staged a post-dusk stake-out on the deck with my camera. The first evening I got nothing, mainly because I lack patience, but also because the parent owls knew I was there and were shy about feeding with me so close. The second night, though, I finally got a good glimpse. So cute!

Only one owlet was brave enough to gaze at me through the entry hole. He was obviously impatient for mom and dad to deliver dinner because he kept looking around.

I think there are at least two owlets, though, because of a flurry of wing activity I’ve observed with the aid of binoculars, and what looked like the fuzzy, gray tops of two heads.

Mama owl has taken to roosting in a Texas persimmon along the back of the house since moving out of the owl box. I got some shots of her a few mornings ago.

Check out those talons.

She’s tolerant of the paparazzi, but if I get too close she flies to a tree in the lower garden, near papa owl.

Here she is again, two evenings ago.

As soon as darkness fell, she flew off to hunt.

And after an unusually patient stake-out (for me), I caught a single image of either mama or papa owl feeding the chicks. Although I can’t really tell which end is up — and the owls feed their young very quickly before darting into the darkness again — this is one of the parents popping into the box, to the scurrying excitement of the owlet(s) waiting inside.

The owlets will be fledging soon, I think. I hope I don’t miss seeing them make their first flights. After 4 years of watching owls raise chicks in our owl box, I’ve yet to get a good glimpse of that transition to independence. It always seems to occur over the Memorial Day weekend, when we’re busy with other activities. Do you think they plan it that way?

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Someone’s been watching me as I amble through the garden in the morning and evening. Whooo? I didn’t see him when I was dazzled by the variegated agaves and yuccas in the raised bed along the back of the house.

I didn’t see him when I stopped to admire Shoshana’s iris, a long-ago passalong from Tina at My Gardener Says…

I didn’t see him when I potted up a Euphorbia horrida from The Great Outdoors in my new Rick Van Dyke dinosaur-egg pot. Which just happens to be a perfect combo, don’t you think?

I didn’t see him when I noticed my ‘Frazzle Dazzle’ dyckia blooming…

…nor the Gulf Coast penstemon (Penstemon tenuis).

I didn’t see him when I crouched to get a photo of the wild pink oxalis in bloom…

…nor when I inspected the Acanthus mollis in the lower garden, looking for a bloom spike but finding none. (I really hope this will be the year it finally blooms.)

But when I looked up into the trees along the back fence, then I saw him—snoozing! I didn’t respect his nap, I’m afraid. It was dusk, after all, and he’d wake soon to hunt for himself and his mate, who I believe is brooding in the owl box. I trilled a screech owl whinny, and he snapped his eyes open and looked down at me. I spoke to him again, wondering whether I was challenging him to a duel or calling for a lady owl, and he just stared. As owls will do.

You’re Invited!
I’ll be at BookPeople on Saturday, May 4, at 4 pm , along with author Jenny Peterson, to talk briefly about design tips for losing the lawn or paring it back. Jenny will be sharing styling tips for houseplants. And we newbie authors will BOTH be signing copies of our books! Whether you have a green thumb or a brown one, let’s fill up BookPeople with people who care about plants and the earth!

The talk is free and open to the public, and I’d love to see a lot of friendly faces! If you do want an autographed book, BookPeople requires an in-store purchase. Just FYI.

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

April is high season for wildflowers in Texas, and if you can’t get out for a country drive to admire them in meadows and fields, an Austinite can always get a fix at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I stopped by for a wildflower stroll on Friday morning. Before I’d even pulled into the parking lot I stopped to ogle this spiky/soft combo of agave (maybe A. neomexicana?), Gulf Coast penstemon (Penstemon tenuis), and pink evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa).

Muscular agave leaves…

…make a strong backdrop to the tissuey, pink petals of the primrose.

A closer look

Even closer. Notice the pollen dust held by the veined, cupped flower.

Entering the gardens you pass a grassy meadow studded with yuccas (perhaps Y. pallida), their bloom stalks held aloft like flagpoles. Soon they’ll all be flying white flags.

The striking architecture of the Wildflower Center, with its copper-colored stone and heavy arches softened by trailing vines, is an important part of the garden.

Tucked high up in an alcove planter, nesting under a Wheeler sotol, is a great horned owl. She has two nearly full-grown chicks that I’d hoped to see. But a brisk wind seemed not to their liking. The chicks tucked themselves in too low for photos, and Mama Owl turned her face to the wall, staring at it placidly as the wind gusted around her.

Just to her left is the pretty little entry pond.

I didn’t get the ID of this flowering pond plant. Update: Hymenocallis liriosme

A clear blue pond, built to resemble a spring-fed pool in the Hill Country called Jacob’s Well, or so I’ve heard, anchors the main courtyard.

Seating at one side of the courtyard makes a pleasant spot to enjoy lunch from the cafe.

More of that marvelous architecture. This is the Wildflower Center’s signature tower. The core houses a rainwater-collection cistern, and you can walk a spiraling stair up to the very top for an overlook of the grounds.

Continuing along the back of the tower instead, I snapped a photo of another of the massive cisterns that dot the grounds, a reminder of how vital water collection is in central Texas. I love this style of cistern—all that galvanized metal and the cylindrical silo shape—and wish I had one in my own garden.

Espaliered on a section of cattle-panel fencing, a Mexican redbud (Cercis canadensis var. mexicana) sapling’s glossy leaves show to advantage.

Another smaller cistern in the children’s garden makes a rustic backdrop to a blooming Texas wisteria vine (Wisteria frutescens).

I sat here for a few minutes to soak in the beauty of the morning—a cool, sunny morning of the sort we’ll be longing for soon enough—and the wildflowers blooming all around me…

…like this swath of pink evening primrose.

But what about Texas bluebonnets, you may be wondering? Oh yes, they were blooming too. Stay tuned—I’ll have pictures of bluebonnets in part two of my Wildflower Center visit.

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.