I'm just trying to jump on the band wagon with the rest of the press agencies and increase my readership. It's not really even a hurricane, just a tropical storm. Above are the outer bands looking from Houston to the northeast and this next picture is facing the southeast looking into the storm. Everyone who grew up in Houston is throwing hurricane parties or just trying to go to work. I, however, am stuck in a hotel room with most of my morning appointments canceled. Time to catch up on computer work.

Response was low to my "how to" write up on constructing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that will last all day. "...What strikes the capricious mind of the poet (blogger) is not always what affects the mass of readers."

So, I will move on to the real reason readers come here and that is the subject of bulbs. Yesterday was a successful bulb hunt, and soon those bulbs will be available for sale! Be on the look out for a limited release of Crinum 'Mrs. James Hendry,' a crinum considered by some to be the finest of all selections.

If you have been following, you will know I was traveling to areas around Brenham yesterday. Before digging the crinums, my companion and I stopped at a nice little cottage where I managed to take a picture of some of his Zephyranthes 'Grandjax.'














They were just past their peak but still had some show in their nicely placed location on one side of the obelisk.Building a web nearby was this beautiful garden spider.The Crinum 'Mrs. James Hendry' bulbs came from a restored Victorian farm house in the middle of Washington County. The clumps were thick and healthy, and they were continuing to send up blooms stalks in the over 100 degree weather. The bulbs were much bigger than my boots!
They are excellent as cut flowers. Here they are in a pewter vase with a painting of a home in the back ground. The house is actually the Foster house of Calvert, Texas (once the third largest city in Texas and the first temporary home of The Southern Bulb Company). It was originally constructed in more of a Federalist style (1860-1870's)...but a storm in 1900 damaged it severely and the Greek Revival porch was added after that. The home is also my first ever site where I collected Oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida).


I do not want to spoil all of the fun about what I plan to write about, so stay tuned and as soon as I am back home I will upload the videos and give you a full tour of this site!

After digging in Washington County I made a quick stop at Moosefeather's Nursery in Brenham to see my old friend Missy (the owner) and her husband Dusty Robinson. The nursery was closed on Mondays for August hours but we ran into Dusty and were able to get the update of Reid, Blake, Missy, and the whole family. I will back by Wednesday and will take pictures of this wonderful little garden center on Blue Bell Road, just a mile up from the Blue Bell Creameries.

Made it back into College Station where I went by for my haircut with Melissa and the faithful staff at Northgate Barber Shop. What a delight it is to see the old familiar and friendly places. Being so close to the nationally famous Dixie Chicken, Ben Arcuni and I of course had to meet up for a quick beverage (for the new readers Ben once ran the farm and served in many, many other capacities for the Southern Bulb Company).


As we were leaving, I was a little sad that I no longer ran into as many people as I used to know in the Chicken. I asked a girl if she would take a picture of Ben and I. She said, "I'm Carolyn. You're the bulb guy, aren't you?" Ben and I laughed. She said she had heard me in Athens, TX give a talk, and then all three of us had a picture together that her husband took for us. Small world, or maybe just a small state. Made it to Houston last night. More bulb adventures today!