By Pauline Tom.
Texas Master Gardener Barbara Coldwell lives on Pecan. Providing free consultations in Mountain City on planting natives brings her joy and brings you good advice. Years ago, before Tami’s wedding in our backyard, she suggested white mistflower for our shady spots. It flourishes, makes it through droughts without added water, and provides a fragrance in the fall.
Barbara earns hours towards her certification with consultations. If you need advice, schedule an appointment with Barbara by emailing [email protected].
Barbara quickly provided to me the name of the 6-foot plus tall native with white flowers. It’s “frost weed”. Frost weed seems to be the place to look for “ice flowers” on frozen mornings. RonTom took some gorgeous photos with the last freeze.
The flowers of extremely thin, delicate layers of ice form exquisite curls and patterns when the ice is pushed from the frost weed stems. Some resources call the occurrence of “ice flowers” rare. I find that, with frost weed planted, it’s mostly only as rare in our yard as the rarity of frozen mornings.
The book “Old Mountain City,” on the other hand, is quite rare. Years ago, we obtained our copy from Alibris.com. Last week, I received notification that a new copy of the out-of-print “Old Mountain City” is available - for $3,272.92 Whoa, Nellie! If you see a copy at a garage sale, grab it up.
Another out-of-print book I tell folks to watch for is “The Bluebird Monitor’s Guide.” The book has beautiful bluebird photos and great information that, for the most part, applies across the continent. In many instances, bluebird reference books are written “up north” and many details are not applicable in Texas. Let me mention the Texas Bluebird Society website, www.txblues.org, as it contains a wealth of Texas-specific Eastern Bluebird information.
A new copy of “The Bluebird Monitor’s Guide”, which sold for under $18 when “in print,” costs at least $70 nowadays.
Already two Mountain City readers of “Montage” have come by to buy Texas Bluebird Society nestboxes for $15, plus tax. Now’s the time to get bluebird nestboxes installed.
Speaking of “boxes” and “deals,” OtterBox, for the iPhone, provides amazing protection and amazing customer service. I was ready to order a new OtterBox a couple months ago, when mine totally fell apart after two years of use and abuse. Many a time, I picked up my iPhone from a drop to the floor and it never suffered.
The receptionist in the chiropractor’s office said to me, “Otterbox will replace [it].” Really?! I gave it a try on their website, and attached an electronic photo, only to read the “one year warranty” detail. A phone call to cancel the requested replacement brought word that “as long as we still have it in stock, we will replace.”
Sure enough, in less than two weeks, FedEx delivered a new OtterBox. Five stars and a shout out to OtterBox.
Sure enough, I’m needing tidbits for “Montage,” and I accept electronic photos. Not always, but sometimes, the newspaper accepts photos that go with tidbits. Email [email protected] (Subject line: Tidbits) or phone 512-268-5678.
