Blooming now: sunflower

The only one the deer didn't decapitate.




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Blooming Now: July Color

Perovskia - Russian Sage

Campanula

Ironweed

Some black-eyed susan that seeded itself about

Coreopsis

Phlox - not fading!

Clematis (Roguchi)

This clematis just keeps on going!

Stealing a Couple of Minutes Requires Focus

So I went outside carrying a couple of cardboard boxes to recycle them and was struck by the wall of heat and sun that is today's weather. "Oh my!", I thought, "I'd better water some stuff, in spite of the recent rains.  Just as soon as I carry in all the cans from the curb."  As I carried in the blue recycling tub, I thought to go get the rest of the boxes from the basement, but I steeled myself to go water instead.

A few minutes spent with the hose allowed a closer contemplation of the weed stricken mess that is my garden this year. A volunteer tomato was towering over my box of yellow flowers. I deliberately skipped the tomatoes this year, in an effort to rotate away from the persistent fungii and diseases that plague tomatoes in this climate, so that had to come out. I grabbed the yard waste can and tossed in the tomato, and then kept going in that side bed. That was full sun, and brutal even at 10 a.m. However, I had noted during my watering that most of the corner by the street was still in shade, and every day when I come up the road I wince at the weeds that have proliferated there. Weeding that corner was actually on my list of necessary tasks, so I dragged the can along out to the street.

I've planted thick daylilies along the north side, and they have successfully out-competed just about everything else; the weeds start where they peter out. The things that have really taken off there include the cardinal flower vine with its wispy foliage and hummingbird magnet scarlet flowers.  I planted it a few years ago, and it has successfully seeded itself around, and by October it could overwhelm everything else on the corner if I allowed it. It's from Mexico, and I'm surprised it's hardy enough to survive. I'm ambivalent about it - so I pull it out some places and not others, and so it will never be gone.

Other things that come out always are sweet clover and lambs quarters.  There are a few mulberry trees that are easy to get when they are this small. There are many miscellaneous grasses, and they don't belong in that section. There weren't many dandelions, but there were a couple of baby english ivies, and there are some things I'm not sure of.  I have planted only sparsely there, and it's a very harsh environment. My big box store chrysanthemums are thriving and I actually pinched them several times by the fourth of July, when it's time to stop pinching. Volunteers I leave include Verbena bonarensis, and Salvia lyrata, which I planted elsewhere and which have moved themselves there via seeds.

I moved systematically around the corner. I think of the weeds as moisture thieves, and so when I can't get the roots I think its never-the-less worthwhile to pull off the above ground vegetative mass.  When I was done, the can was nearly full and things looked only marginally tidier.  From a short distance away, before it looked like a solid if untidy mass of green. Now it looks like a sparser untidy mass of green.  But when I'm close enough to distinguish what I am looking at, as the confusion resolves itself in my brain to individual plants of known kind, it makes me much happier to see good plants and to not see bad plants.

A full hour later, with sweat pouring down my face, I decided it was long overdue to take pictures. As I watered and looked at some details earlier, I was surprised to see more blooms than the impression from a casual distant view.  I put the weed can away and went in. "Wait, maybe I should grab those boxes from the basement now...".  Danger! About to lose focus!  "No, pictures now, but I have to wash my hands before I grab the camera."  Blessed cold water! "Look at the dirt on my face, maybe I should should grab a quick shower before taking pictures?" NO. "My goodness, salty sweat is rolling into my eyes, maybe I need some serious energy drinks?" Just a quick glass of water from the tap in the kitchen, and then off to grab the camera.  Once I'm outside with the camera in my hand, lean over to pluck a weed I missed before. "Danger! I'm about to sucked back into the vortex. Focus. Literally. Get that camera up to your eye and see what you can see."  Once I've started taking pictures, I'm good for many before a distraction can drive me in a different direction.

So I got a small amount of long overdue weeding, and a little bit of documentation done. I had to fight off several different distractions, but I got it done!

Blooming Now: Ironweed

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How Dry is It?

We've just had a relatively wet week, but we've been running way behind in the rainfall department. I'm very interested in how there are clearly two distinct rainfall patterns - this year and 2007 are similar, while 2008 and 2009 were similar in the crucial month of June.

It's running up towards my bedtime now so I'm not going to analyze this further. It just means I really do need to water the trees, which need to make up the shortfall.

Dry

I woke up to the beginnings of the most lovely gentle rain. I turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows to the welcome smells and sounds.  I can just imagine all the plants and critters feeling the first drops, having the dust and pollution start to run off, the first moisture rests on top of the soil and beads up, starts to pile up, until it slowly starts to soak in to the hard surface. With this gentle build up, much more is going to soak in versus run off.

It's been dry, dry, dry, turning crispy out, so this is the best thing possible. It has also been brutally hot, though this last week of record setting triple digits was not as humid as it often is with the heat. It last rained three weeks ago, over an inch in ninety minutes, and this is so much better because more of it will be retained. According to the radar from the Weather Underground, it's likely to last a while and this is good.  I ordinarily would complain that if its only going to rain two days a month, it shouldn't be on Saturday, but the truth is we need it so badly and I have only chores planned for the weekend anyway.

With the dry, stress is apparent all over. I keep a bird bath full of water, and it draws more than just birds. The constant parade of wildlife drives the dog nuts, which she expresses loudly and continually.  The crispiness has driven the deer up out of the creek into my yard, at least three times in the last week.  The first time, coming home around ten pm, I noticed my sunflowers by the street had been chomped off at the top, and discovered the miscreant still in the woodland part of my yard, though she turned and sauntered away insouciantly as I approached. Next, a couple of days later, the big hosta had been munched off, and I checked the apples - all the high up ones were gone, but not the lower level ones. When I came home Thursday night, as I drove up the street a deer was by my copper trellis, probably aiming at the rose bush right there. I rolled the window down and pulled right up to the edge and yelled "shoo". The deer, which had been just standing there, moved back a few feet and continued to watch me. I parked, and came around from the corner so as to drive the deer back towards the creek. "Shoo" I called (trying to balance the noise to scare the deer but not make my neighbors look). The deer reluctantly moved a few steps.  Having just seen on YouTube a deer trample a dog, I was a little cautious approaching this big guy. I shook my keys to make noise, and that did the trick.  She ran to the woodland, and as I continued to approach with "Shoo" and keys jangling, she finally took off to the creek.  Charismatic mega-fauna my aunt sally!

I haven't watered the yard because I haven't been around enough.  When I was around over the fourth of July weekend, we were on water restrictions and not allowed, due to a water main break.  I was going to do it today, had the rain not come.  Hooray for the rain!

Other wildlife notes:  we saw a fox on Piney Branch road around midnight on July 1. They are still rare enough to note. This was a big guy, probably as tall or taller than my dog, but very much skinnier. I think a grey fox. I slowed to look closely and verify it was NOT a coyote. I assume all coyotes look like Charlie and this was clearly a fox - tiny chest.

Last night we had homemade blueberry pie, from the more than five cups of blueberries we picked from the one bush I'd covered with a net!

Idea: Wire Greek Columns

Saw these at the Glen Burnie house in Winchester, Virginia, today. I think they would go well chez moi- must search for source.




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