Blooming Now: the composites

Asters and goldenrods against a full tapestry of white ageratum. Plus, the mums just started to open up.












- iPhone uPdate

Turtleheads

With all the recent rain, the turtleheads are having their best year ever.







- iPhone uPdate

I'll See Her in My Dreams

Irene has been and gone. Our drought is definitely over, and may have been before this latest deluge. This storm was forecast to be badder than it turned out. But of course the power is off for an indefinite period. It went off with a series of flash-bangs just after 12:30 and PEPCO isn't prepared to give any information about repair times. With 13 hours of daylight, and temperatures staying between 65 and 85, it's not that bad. Except I have an electric stove, and so that means no coffee making in the morning. I've got a thermos, and right it's full for tomorrow morning. I'll continue the pattern as long as it takes. Hauling out the propane stove is too much work for now.




Except for debris (including several silver maple branches down in my front yard) there isn't a lot of damage in the immediate block or so radius. The creek is swollen but not amazingly so.



There are big trees down everywhere and many of them took out wires. Routes through our neighborhood have to be adjusted.






Sherbert update

Break in the Drought

It rained yesterday and the day before. Both were thunderstorms, but Saturday at least was a long hard rain, not just a few minutes. The rain greened up the zoysia-- it took about 36 hours but it looks lush at the moment. It hasn't been mowed since early July, but I might have to do it this month yet.












Blooming now are black eyed susans, ironweed, verbena bonarensis, pink phlox, and a couple of brave and vivid cardinal flowers.


- iPhone uPdate

Hot and Dry

This morning it was below 90 for the first time in days and I spent an hour outside, mostly on the corner. I weeded both up and down along the curve.  The weeds mostly consisted of grasses, lamb's quarters, and dandelion/thistles.  I also decided to pull out most of the dark agastache which has spread everywhere. I started the year by cutting it back rather than pulling it out, but now it really had taken over around the copper trellis and I just yanked most of it out. I am working on percentages, so gettting it all is not required. My thought is just making room for the other stuff gives them a chance to compete for resources - especially water and sun. I watered by hand along the corner as well.

Hot

From the Washington Post:

Through Tonight: Simply stifling. Temperatures hover in the 90s through the evening hours before only slowly trickling back through the 80s after midnight in most spots. Lows range from just the low 80s in the city, to the upper 70s in the cooler suburbs. The record high minimum temperature of 81 may well be surpassed at Reagan National. Heat indices likely remain above 100 through midnight in urban areas. Evening joggers/bikers should take it easy, and take extra care in hydrating.

Tomorrow (Friday): Combining the heat and humidity, it’s perhaps the most extreme day in 15 years. High temperature surge to 99-104, with dangerous heat indices of 114-118. Add bad air quality into the equation, and consider cutting back on any planned time outside. An isolated thunderstorm can’t be ruled out but is more likely towards the Mason Dixon line.

Muggy in the morning, muggy at night. No evening relief.  I'm hoping the electricity holds out.


I've watered some, but right now its so humid I'm not inclined to pour water - somehow it seems redundant. But I am making sure there is water in the bird bath for the critters, at least.

Squirrel Highways

I read that in the Eastern Deciduous Forest in 1491, a squirrel could have traveled from Canada to Florida along the east post without ever touching the ground. According to ecosystem maps, where I live is still the Eastern Deciduous Forest, but we've lost a whole lot of our tree cover. When I bought the house, however, the squirrels could make it around half the perimeter before coming to the end.

When I bought the house, the yard and the neighborhood had plenty of mature tree cover. One of the first things I did, in one of my first week ends in the house, was get out my tree book and identify everything I had. There was a massive (three foot diameter) pin oak in the back corner yard next to the shed. Along the fence line at the back end was a string of fairly young Norway maples, interspersed with a couple of oaks and a beech, followed by young hemlocks and a young white pine, capped at the street with a magnificent white oak, and a small cluster of its babies. In the front yard, there was a stump of some hardwood tree, about two feet in diameter, and next to the front door a large silver maple. Along the street were ugly tall Norway spruces. On the inside of the yard, they were like cut-away trees, with no branches, probably because whatever tree had left the stump behind had prevented them growing branches on that side. All of this was totally squirrel connected, and the silver maple has hollows that are home to squirrel families.

The corner itself didn't have any trees, so the squirrel track came to an end. The north end along the street had Norway Spruces and a white pine, isolated from the rest of the canopy, (except by a circuitous route involving electrical wires) but nearly three times the height of the house. There was a cedar hedge along the east border along the driveway, and a mock-orange hedge at the east border along the inside corner. Both were too dense to be very useful to squirrel movements, though the fence line and power lines provided some access.




Cutting down trees is a really big deal for me. My dad was firmly of the opinion that only God can make a tree, and even then it takes decades. Fairly early on, I knew I needed the Norway maples had to go, and also the young white oak babies which were clustered around a telephone pole. Luckily I had that work supervised by a landscaper, because they left behind on the fence line a pin oak, a beech, and a black oak, which have continued to thrive.

I went through a couple of years with the ugly spruces. They were probably 50 years old, same as the house, and were Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tall. And they made a hedge totally blocking the view of my neighbors and my street, really creating an isolated feel in this tiny yard that appealed to me. But finally I bit the bullet and down they came.

I knew from the start I would immediately plant new trees, and not "small yard-sized trees" but big tall Eastern Deciduous Forest trees. Of course, I couldn't actually plant tall trees, but I could select the kind that could live and grow for a century or more. Focused on diversity, I selected a white ash, a red oak, and a redbud (which could live under the huge white oak). I dug the holes and my landscaper and I planted them. They were about ten feet tall when they went in, separated by about fifteen feet. The landscaper recommended against planting so densely, "because the crowns will interlock". This was precisely my goal! Now they are tall and I just observed a whole train of squirrels making the trip between them and the remaining Norway spruce. Some of the connecting branches are still quite thin and so two squirrel's worth of weight makes them droop alarmingly, but it works and I'm back into the squirrel highway business!




I've planted a dense set of very small trees along the north street where the spruces used to be, and am encouraging some red oak volunteers. I moved some white oak babies from under their parent to the north end as well and they seem to be thriving. I think I will also do that to the eastern fence line, where a volunteer tulip tree has shot up and taken hold. I'm doing my best to re-create the forest and the highway, and I've actually been here in this spot long enough to have an impact. How about that!

Sherbert update