May 11, 2025
It’s Wild Kingdom in my garden right now. Watching wild creatures make their homes, hunt, and raise their young in the garden hugely motivates my gardening efforts. There’s nothing better than watching a hummingbird zoom in to sip from a salvia, or a bumblebee bob among skullcap flowers, or songbirds singing in the trees — or a screech owl staring down at you. What joy!
Our resident screech owl now sits in the doorway of the owl box for much of the day. This tells me that her owlets are growing fast — and taking up all the space in the bottom of the box. She’s grown tolerant of our activity, including rolling out rumbly trash bins, backing cars out of the garage, coming and going for mail, and showing her off to neighbors. A little girl who lives down the street came over with her sister and named her Summer. Summer the Owl.
My evening ritual now is to sit on the front patio and owl watch as she stirs from sleepy roosting to wing stretching and finally, at dusk, swooping out of the box to hunt. There are other sights to enjoy too, like this bloom spike on ‘Brakelights’ red yucca. Did my rebar barrier keep the deer from munching this one? So far!
Goldfinches are passing through Texas right now. They sing in the treetops and visit the water saucer on the deck for drinks and baths.
House finches too. Here’s a male…
…and a female.
On Friday my son snapped an anole doing push-ups on a sotol bloom spike. The next evening, my husband and I watched as the tiny male screech owl alit on it, silhouetted against the dark sky, and trilled to the female.
Speaking of…I can’t get enough of her comically grumpy face.
She can’t even be bothered to track me now, showing she’s comfortable sharing the garden with me.
But sometimes I do get an owly gaze.
Hello
Across the driveway, Wheeler’s sotol is a strappy, blue-green sphere under live oaks.
I like its glaucous, sawtooth leaves, some curled like party ribbons.
Closer at hand, a gopher plant in the dish planter has gone to seed, and I’m letting it. More please.
Native rain lilies are flowering in the island bed, thanks to recent showers. Heartleaf skullcap has joined the flower party, along with graceful Mexican feathergrass.
Texas dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) is less and less dwarfy — these slow growers will get large over time. This clump consists of three palmettos I planted as 3 or 5 gallons about 15 years ago.
I love this plant for this spot. It’s evergreen, attractive, heat and cold tolerant, and helps screen us from traffic and neighbors. I find it needs good air circulation not to get infested with scale, as I learned the hard way when I planted some along the house foundation.
‘Coppertone’ sedum is very coppery these days, contrasting with turquoise ‘Bloodspot’ mangave and blue chalk sticks.
Another goldfinch — or the same one back to regale me with his song
Sunset sky framed by the neighbor’s pecan
Time for sleepy owls to wake up…
…and get ready for the nightly hunt.
A few last garden views as the sun goes down. The Texas sotol along the driveway is sending up three tall bloom spikes. It’s been fun to see lizards and owls enjoying these new perches.
Purple skullcap is in full bloom around ‘Bright Edge’ yucca. ‘Peter’s Purple’ monarda will be flowering soon, and autumn sage is already there, attracting sphinx moths in the evening.
In the island bed, ‘Vanzie’ whale’s tongue agave (guarded from deer antlering by rubber-tipped rebar stakes) is softened by Turk’s cap, gopher plant, Leavenworth’s sedge, pine muhly, Mexican oregano, Mexican feathergrass, Jerusalem sage, white rain lilies, and ‘Vertigo’ pennisetum — all highly deer resistant. Silver Mediterranean fan palm (at left), Mexican redbud (center), and Texas dwarf palmetto (at right) add taller foliage, as do the ever-present live oaks.
The waxing Flower Moon will soon be full.
It’s time for owls to get to work.
She’s ready.
Some other hunter found bigger game in our garden and left this calling card on the patio — a severed fawn leg. I first thought coyote, but then I heard from two different neighbors that they’d seen a fox in their yards.
And lo and behold — a fox!
Last evening, while I sat on the patio and watched the owl delivering meals to her owlets, the fox materialized to my left. She sauntered across the driveway, not even glancing my way, walked to the street, and melted into the neighbor’s yard. I was thrilled to see her!
I think she has a den nearby and is feeding her kits with fawns and whatever else she can catch. Or maybe she scavenged the fawn leg from another predator (coyote?), since there was no sign of blood or other parts. My neighbor thinks she’s cleaned out his rock squirrels, and neither of us is sad about that. I’m not even sad about the fawn. All creatures must eat.
Seeing wildlife doing what they do, and making a life in the garden, makes all the work of gardening worth it.
I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!
__________________________
Digging Deeper
My new book, Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resilience from the Lone Star State, is available for pre-order at Amazon and other online book sellers. It’ll be released on October 14th, and while that’s several months away, pre-orders are tremendously helpful in getting my book noticed by readers and reviewers. Please consider pre-ordering if you’d like to read it this fall; more info here. Thank you for your support!
Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Read all about the Season 8 lineup here!
All material © 2025 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
