Quail Valley Backyard Tour

What's blooming 2013

Starting last Wednesday the 17th, we began our annual what's blooming excursion for the 2013 gardens. With an extremely mild winter followed by more cool fronts with cool nights and warmer days, we are seeing a mix of winter, spring and plants that bloom through fall. It is one of the most interesting mixes we have seen. Here are some of the blossoms we captured--many are only seen at one garden..

 

Amaryllis: several varieties.

Abutilon with its "lantern flowers" . . . common name Chinese Lantern

 

Morning Glory: fast growing vines

 

Bauhina Orchid Tree was just starting to bloom--lavender variety.

 

Bauhinia Mexican Orchid Tree blooms spring to fall, attracts butterflies.

 

Bottlebrush (red) and Cestrum (yellow)

 

Thundbergia

 

Autumn Sage (hot pink) and Bluebonnets plus many other wildflowers

 

Several varieties of Angel Trumpet

 

 

Duranta (Shappire Showers) is popular. Many gardens have plants not seen in other gardens.

 

Dutchman's Pipe

 

Roses are often ending at our tour. 2013 has many buds about to bloom

 

Bananas growing reflect the mild winter

 

Butterflies and birds can been seen as well

Butterflies are not only growing, but several varieties are actively producing caterpillars and have various stages of metamorphosis. Many gardeners celebrate when their milkweed is chewed up because that means Monarch butterflies will soon emerge.

 

Butterflyweed (shown) and Milkweed (which is creamy white) are both host plants for larvae and caterpillars of Monarch Butterflies as well as nectar plant plants for several varieties of butterflies including Monarchs.

 Timeline: Wednesday a Chrysalis, Friday the Monarch emerges:

 

 And finally birds.

Birder and photographer Margaret Sloan has documented more than 150 bird species that have visited Quail Valley. Besides Cardinals, Bluejays, Wrens and Mockingbirds, in our last visits we've seen Bald Eagles soaring over a lake, the tiny Downy Woodpecker, Yellow Crowned Night Herons, Hummingbirds of several varieties and caught a glimpse of a Blackburnian on his way to Canada. Ironically, or perhaps as a good omen, the Blackburnian Warbler is the April Bird of the month.

 

Blackburnian Warbler photo by Margaret Sloan

 

 Come be enchanted by beauty . . . and nature you can touch Saturday, April 27th.

While what will be blooming on tour day Saturday, April 27 is very dependent on weather conditions, this tour as of today (Sunday) promises to be one of the most interesting we've seen.

 Map to Gardens        Buy Tickets       More . . . 2013 Gardens

Thanks to our community-minded sponsors!

2013 Sponsors . . .

Platinum Plus Sponsor:
Lane Pearson, Realtor® of
Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene
713 857-4416

Gold Sponsors:
Hal Elrod, Realtor®, Keller Williams Southwest, 281 798-3853
Quail Valley Proud
Janice Scanlan, Marketing, 713 301-3181
 
Silver Sponsors:
Becky Faust, Realtor®,  Re-Max Fine Properties  713 828-9007
Alamo Landscape Services, 281 686-8645
Quail Valley Fund HOA

Bronze Sponsors:
Joanne L. Gore, CPA

In-kind sponsors:
Roddy Chambless at University Copy Center, 713-741-5200

Bunny Cam

New pictures added 5/2 , 5/3, 5/5, 5/6, 5/7
You ask, have the bunnies been named? What else, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail!

Bunny cam. Well, kind of anyway . . . we have a miracle of nature going on with bunnies born at the Quail Valley Backyard Tour . . . these cute little guys were initially hard to tell from their burrow (or warren). But if you look closely . . . and we'll keep photographing . . . so revisit.

 

On Monday, May 2, it was cold and the bunnies had burrowed down.

On May 3, it was still cool, but you can visibly see that the bunnies and their ears are growing.

Thanks to Pete Thompson for the following 5/5 Bunny Cam . . . Everybody is getting big and is "showing" themselves.

We finally got a picture of Mother Rabbit (I've been calling her Penny Rabbit--the Thompsons may have another name) for Mother's Day. Like all good mothers, she's not allowing group photos yet.

5-7 Bunnies leave the nest . . . well, they ventured about 3 feet away. Click on this picture to enlarge and see the bunny's eye!

And Papa Rabbit visits . . . on 5-7 as well. Thanks to Pete for catching these!

Papa is good at camouflage . . . as are the bunnies.

You can read more about this story in the Fort Bend Independent.

Our Villa location featured a collection of bunnies . . .

Can you find our dog run?

Hershey and Fudge are two active Schnauzers who enjoy the back garden at 3318 Boca Raton . . .as you see they assisted with covering plants during our extended freeze.

They also are very territorial and Diane and Sandy Peyton have found a wonderful solution to harmonizing their need to patrol the garden.

Click here to enjoy more about the Peyton's back garden.