tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71917762946129838892024-03-13T07:50:09.775-07:00The Garden On The Ridgeblog about native plant gardening, ferns, rural life, art.Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.comBlogger225125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-46105990521834774402021-06-10T13:13:00.000-07:002021-06-10T13:13:47.911-07:00Life is Weird<p> In more ways than one.</p><p>This morning I noticed a fairly large dark brown blob on one of the Birch sticks that I've had leaning up against the Studio wall lately. Don't ask me why I have sticks leaning up against the wall, I just do.They're on one side of the door, there's a Welcome sign on the other side. Seems sort of right, somehow. At one point, I had sticks there that were painted blue, yellow, green... now I have Birch sticks.<br /></p><p>Looking more closely, I saw that the blob was a slime mold! <b>Chocolate Tube Slime</b>, <i>Stemonitis splendens</i>, to be precise.</p><p>Slime molds are totally weird. They are animal-like in that they move and feed. A slime mold <i>plasmodium</i>, the body of the critter, can move several metres. But they are also fungus-like in that they propagate themselves by producing spores. The spores are produced in or on fruiting bodies, which come in four types. One type is called a <i>sporangium</i> and that is what this one has. </p><p>Chocolate Tube Slime starts as a blob of pearly white spheres, then they elongate to become tubes, and turn dark chocolate brown. Each tube is held up off the substrate by a thin black foot. Here's a sketch of just a few sporangia:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KcEn8vW7Apo/YMJrkoZcwsI/AAAAAAAADTs/80PZr0dQuOQV-ajf8nWe_0TrFaDJ-j0SACLcBGAsYHQ/s300/Stemonitis%2Bsplendens%2Bsketch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KcEn8vW7Apo/YMJrkoZcwsI/AAAAAAAADTs/80PZr0dQuOQV-ajf8nWe_0TrFaDJ-j0SACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Stemonitis%2Bsplendens%2Bsketch.jpg" /></a></div><p>The growth I was looking at had thousands. Here's what they looked like overall on the stick:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1F8Qmn-0tbk/YMJr6heiTII/AAAAAAAADT0/rHb9FHpNzDs5PTjZlaF0N0UfuI0KUdMHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/Stemonitis%2Bsplendens%2Blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="464" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1F8Qmn-0tbk/YMJr6heiTII/AAAAAAAADT0/rHb9FHpNzDs5PTjZlaF0N0UfuI0KUdMHgCLcBGAsYHQ/w424-h640/Stemonitis%2Bsplendens%2Blog.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><br /><p>Getting closer you can see the individual sporangia more clearly:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EhqcVCdSpVw/YMJsGRWGXoI/AAAAAAAADT4/DBu6t-uM4tIJLZsj3mxCwZWWVwAVrpO0QCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/Stemonitis%2Bsplendens%2Bcloseup.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="464" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EhqcVCdSpVw/YMJsGRWGXoI/AAAAAAAADT4/DBu6t-uM4tIJLZsj3mxCwZWWVwAVrpO0QCLcBGAsYHQ/w424-h640/Stemonitis%2Bsplendens%2Bcloseup.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><p>Getting really close, you can see the feet and the tops of the sporangia. You can even see some remnants of the white spheres, now just tiny drops of liquid.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wkWibebxs30/YMJxINq6y9I/AAAAAAAADUE/Wkwb9x_J6JsNuHZ-F8hSrJZMpvRgn07swCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/really%2Bcloseup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="493" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wkWibebxs30/YMJxINq6y9I/AAAAAAAADUE/Wkwb9x_J6JsNuHZ-F8hSrJZMpvRgn07swCLcBGAsYHQ/w329-h400/really%2Bcloseup.jpg" width="329" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QkvIySTVDIk/YMJxWR-JoII/AAAAAAAADUI/q-otOlc8gDwKcaT0PEAAuV3Sd7oi57X9gCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/closeup%2Bof%2Bfeet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="398" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QkvIySTVDIk/YMJxWR-JoII/AAAAAAAADUI/q-otOlc8gDwKcaT0PEAAuV3Sd7oi57X9gCLcBGAsYHQ/w424-h640/closeup%2Bof%2Bfeet.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><p>None of these pictures are very good, I know, but these things are all of 2cm. long. </p><p>Weird, eh?<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-22468951757443431922021-06-06T15:11:00.001-07:002021-06-06T15:11:56.039-07:00Joy Of Mulching<p> 33 degrees Celsius today! And still hardly any rain.</p><p>But, after lunch and a morning spent on the computer, I went walkabout in the garden and the inevitable happened. I went and fetched a hoe and went after a few Sumach roots that were left when I dug over the vegetable patch this Spring and which had sprouted. It was amusing to see the sprouts in a line, with the ones nearest the parent Sumach the tallest and the rest getting smaller as they got further away. It was satisfying to pull up the largest, get hold of the root, and pull and watch the others get dragged under the surface and then out. The slope the garden is on is infested with Sumach and the roots travel great distances. </p><p>Only an idiot would plan a vegetable garden so close to a Sumach patch.</p><p>When you pull a long Sumach root, make sure you don't uproot something you planted! Luckily this one snaked through the Tomato patch and it pulled out safely.</p><p>I have 3 kinds of Tomatoes in the veg patch this year. Cherry tomatoes (my favourites), a regular Big Beef type, and what I call my '$15,000 Tomato'. Two years ago, when I had to get a new truck (brakes failed on the old one and gave me the biggest driving scare of my life) I ended up liking one at a service station in the City. Took it for a test drive, someone cut in front of me, the brakes worked. Measured the box, it was a full 6 feet so it would take the tables I need for my pottery display at shows and the Market, the price wasn't too bad... but I'm a cautious sort, especially when it comes to spending money, and I asked for a day or two to think it over. We agreed I could leave a deposit (yikes), think for 2 days, and then either cancel and get my deposit back, or commit and send them the balance. Meanwhile they would service the truck and get it ready.<br /></p><p>I decided to get it. After looking for about 2 months I knew there was nothing much available that met my criteria. It was larger then I really wanted, but there simply were no mid-size pickups available. Oh, maybe on the West Coast, or downtown Toronto, but not here. </p><p>When I went in to finish the deal and pick up the truck, I went in to meet with the guy running the office. He happened to have some odd lumpy orange and red striped 'things' on his desk. I picked one up and teased him a bit: 'What the heck is this?'.</p><p> 'Tomato', he said, in a charming Spanish accent,. 'Ah', he said, 'you take some good bread. You spread on some good fresh butter. You cut the tomato in thick slices, put on. Sprinkle some salt, pepper, a wipe of mayonnaise. Best tomato sandwich you will ever eat. Here, have one.' <br /></p><p>The balance owing was $15,000. I did the e-transfer, picked up a tomato, got into my new truck and drove home.</p><p>When I got there, I sent him and the salesman an email saying 'Truck is great, and thanks for the $15,000 tomato'.</p><p>I did what he said and indeed it was the best tomato sandwich I had ever eaten.</p><p>I kept a few seeds, and am now growing them myself. They are a long-season tomato so need to be started early, but even so I get some wonderful, odd-looking, strangely striped tomatoes in about September. They are worth the effort, although $15,000 might be a bit much.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gRA9CZg6f78/YL0-L9VeUNI/AAAAAAAADS8/erOO7akPupMY_lTRbSUEYjNSlU_cYCGWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/Tomatoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="700" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gRA9CZg6f78/YL0-L9VeUNI/AAAAAAAADS8/erOO7akPupMY_lTRbSUEYjNSlU_cYCGWwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h424/Tomatoes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>The plants are over a foot tall and look pretty good. They have survived several nights of near frost and some incredibly hot days, like today. They've been very dry, too. I do water the veg garden, but that's never enough. Keeping the ground lightly hoed up gives a slight mulch effect and keeps the surface moisture in a bit. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LCZXo-kuX1w/YL0_JtHe1YI/AAAAAAAADTE/MPzzc0yQXZwZEuNnXl1Mc0ZKYPV9WgmsgCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/peas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="464" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LCZXo-kuX1w/YL0_JtHe1YI/AAAAAAAADTE/MPzzc0yQXZwZEuNnXl1Mc0ZKYPV9WgmsgCLcBGAsYHQ/w424-h640/peas.jpg" width="424" /></a></div> <p></p><p>Having scuffled up the Tomato patch, I tied up the Peas. They were attaching to the sticks I put in, but I felt a string would encourage better climbing.</p><p> <br /></p><p>They are still pretty short, not having liked the heat we've been having, but blooming. There is a deep row of Daffodils behind them, which I planted there in a moment of madness some years ago. Soon as they go dormant, they're out of there.</p><p> The Squash, Cucumbers and Zucchini were looking a big sad. They really, really, didn't like those cold nights.</p><p>But I see signs of recovery.</p><p>Next thing I knew, I was digging in the old chicken coop, filling a pail with the old bedding. It's rotted beautifully and makes a great mulch. Wish I had more of it!</p><p> Here's a Squash, all tucked in with a thick layer of well-rotted chicken bedding.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4G9PJJRXytw/YL1Arj2fKZI/AAAAAAAADTM/Tu6WYjYmHe0ASZdZ0nx9i7HpjYx2GEOMACLcBGAsYHQ/s700/squash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="700" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4G9PJJRXytw/YL1Arj2fKZI/AAAAAAAADTM/Tu6WYjYmHe0ASZdZ0nx9i7HpjYx2GEOMACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h456/squash.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> This whole business of mulching and planting is part of my program for making more vegetable garden. Last year I put an old tarp down where the squashes are now and solarized a nice 10 by 10 feet section. The soil there is pretty rocky and sandy, so the mulch is doubly needed. I've done this before and it works wonderfully well. It may not stay a veg patch - there's already a Crabapple planted at the side - but if I can get rid of the old chicken coop itself, there will be more room for edibles there.</p><p>Did you know that Crabapples seed themselves around? It never occurred to me that they would, and here I was wanting a tree with yellow crabs and asking for it at the nurseries and being told nobody wanted that, and then last Fall didn't I find 2 small ones that both had yellow apples. A largish one that has been growing against the hydro pole in my Herb Garden turned out to have large yellow crab apples, and later I was surprised to find a 2 foot high one behind the house with those tiny apples the birds like, in yellow. As soon as I figure out where to put it, it's moving. How lucky is that?</p><p>My Sampler Garden is under a lot of Maples, Oaks and deciduous shrubs. The leaves act as a natural mulch. A few things aren't able to push through it (violets, for example), but most woodland plants do. It's the garden that needs the least work, the mulch of leaves keeps most weeds out. Plus it's usually cool in there!</p><p>This small Walking Fern likes both the moss mulch and the coolth:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r7GvOES-Aks/YL1C-H-wKVI/AAAAAAAADTU/1hr30-XGffkkg8z2iBCRchiZViYvxIwRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/Walking%2BFern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="700" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r7GvOES-Aks/YL1C-H-wKVI/AAAAAAAADTU/1hr30-XGffkkg8z2iBCRchiZViYvxIwRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Walking%2BFern.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Mulch: air conditioning for plants!<br /><p><br /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <br /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-27325776260467977232021-06-03T12:23:00.000-07:002021-06-03T12:23:01.416-07:00A Little Bit Of Rain<p> It finally rained a bit this morning. Not much, just enough to dust things off a bit, but better than nothing. I was up early and the morning light on the wet flowers was wonderful, so cool, so refreshing.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1afWaeD0S8E/YLkpnpSGoSI/AAAAAAAADSA/WiZurWMQDCQnao8fDDnnsVow8-VOHld6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/Aquilegia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="464" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1afWaeD0S8E/YLkpnpSGoSI/AAAAAAAADSA/WiZurWMQDCQnao8fDDnnsVow8-VOHld6QCLcBGAsYHQ/w265-h400/Aquilegia.jpg" width="265" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A lovely, damp, Aquilegia canadensis flower with a small bite taken out of one petal! <br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bgk8UaVjfgs/YLkpmKedREI/AAAAAAAADR4/4NqSQ1AAB5g9NOPdhzD0No-_kOJU9BqiACLcBGAsYHQ/s700/Hesperus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="700" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bgk8UaVjfgs/YLkpmKedREI/AAAAAAAADR4/4NqSQ1AAB5g9NOPdhzD0No-_kOJU9BqiACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hesperus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Hesperis matrionalis, Dame's Rocket, white form. I love all white flowers. There is something tender and endearing about them.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o0TamogSKdE/YLkpoy7Tl3I/AAAAAAAADSE/b_H0iqkk85sSPvru1uShaFs7RQzrAUwzACLcBGAsYHQ/s700/iris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="464" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o0TamogSKdE/YLkpoy7Tl3I/AAAAAAAADSE/b_H0iqkk85sSPvru1uShaFs7RQzrAUwzACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/iris.jpg" /></a></div>A medium blue Siberian Iris. This clump has done well for me, in spite of being at the top of my very dry Hillside Garden. At least a hundred flowers this year.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4zWc8S-CLvI/YLkpqH8tbHI/AAAAAAAADSI/_InficJs7GoYYGQqO1gn0sosbuYfCOo_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/pin%2Bcherry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="700" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4zWc8S-CLvI/YLkpqH8tbHI/AAAAAAAADSI/_InficJs7GoYYGQqO1gn0sosbuYfCOo_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/pin%2Bcherry.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The Pin Cherry tree that hangs over the end of the Hillside Garden is full of tiny green pin cherries, each one with a drop of rain hanging from it. The birds love the pin cherries. They make a fine jam, but it's so much work I'm glad to let the birds have them!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xn1TXW9TggY/YLkpq-G5L4I/AAAAAAAADSM/RFfxqXBgFQspNAvLggPVQDkDhcftOZ6wQCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/poppies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="700" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xn1TXW9TggY/YLkpq-G5L4I/AAAAAAAADSM/RFfxqXBgFQspNAvLggPVQDkDhcftOZ6wQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/poppies.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Poppies bending in the rain. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cqDYpYnCbvk/YLkpmz-P_pI/AAAAAAAADR8/y6y4rQH5d-kfqKjEpLZq2kHzoHQPF2FoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/Rose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="700" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cqDYpYnCbvk/YLkpmz-P_pI/AAAAAAAADR8/y6y4rQH5d-kfqKjEpLZq2kHzoHQPF2FoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Rose.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Rosa glauca, the flower arranger's dream foliage, has small but appealing bright pink flowers.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z9HbTER1-DI/YLkpsbetOmI/AAAAAAAADSQ/A21-VAEneU84YqUcqMw6zxfzIiXGqluQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/shovel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="700" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z9HbTER1-DI/YLkpsbetOmI/AAAAAAAADSQ/A21-VAEneU84YqUcqMw6zxfzIiXGqluQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/shovel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>And my spade, which I seem to have left out last night, provided proof that we had had at least some rain!</p><p>More, please!<br /></p><p><br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-20743632078999496542021-05-26T17:00:00.000-07:002021-05-26T17:00:02.476-07:0028C Musings and A Message To Readers<p> When I came in the door from the garden the phone was ringing. The land line, you know, the one you don't carry around. I picked it up and it was an acquaintance who does sometimes phone. </p><p>"I called earlier", she said, "but I guess you were out."</p><p>"Well, I was in the garden, pulling euonymous."</p><p>There was this total silence. Now, this is not a person I know very well. We have several friends in common, so she probably knows me better than I know her. It took me a minute to realize that she probably isn't a gardener, so what I'd said might have sounded a bit strange.</p><p>I decided not to explain to her that I had gone outside with the firm intention of doing some easy, relaxing weeding. I was only going to pull the Forget-me-nots out of a small part of my rockery, and maybe reduce the nearby Ajuga patch a little. That's was all I was going to do today; after all, it was about 28C out there and the mosquitoes were hungry.</p><p>Ajugas are easiest to pull when they're blooming. For one thing, that's when you can find them. For another, that's when they are still attached to all the little baby Ajugas at the ends of their many runners. If you wait a bit the runners seems to disengage or something, forcing the little ones to take up independent living, which they do with great tenacity. At that point, instead of pulling one Ajuga plant you have to pull a dozen, and believe me, they hide and they hold on. <br /></p><p>I pulled happily, filling my bucket many times and dumping it on the Hop Vine which always comes up through that particular compost pile. I've been trying to discourage it for years but it's still going. One year it got away from me and I didn't know it. I wasn't seeing it and started to think maybe it was gone and then I looked up into the Maple nearby. My illusions fell in little shattered bits all around me.</p><p>The Forget-mes were no problem. They come out easily. If you pull them before they form seeds they don't even stick to your gloves but once the little burr-y seeds form they stick to everything. Do not pull Forget-mes in a flannel shirt. </p><p>Then I decided, in an uncharacteristic moment, that the little row of Cedars (Arborvitae really) which had grown up in the rock crevice had to go. They were only about a foot high five minutes ago but here they were, towering over my head at a good 7-8 feet. Ever cut down 3" diameter Cedars with secateurs? And then cut them up so you could put the branches on the compost pile and the trunks in the use-for-something-sometime pile? It was quicker than going to get the saw.<br /></p><p>The cedars had a lot of last year's leaves caught at their bases. I was going to leave them there but then I tripped over something. Seems an old Euonymous vine I planted there years ago was still going. It was just doing it under the leaves. I pulled. Ten feet of yellow stem, with roots along it, came up. I rummaged around in the leaves, found more yellow stems.... I pulled, clipped, wound into a bundle, pulled, clipped, wound into a bundle... that darn Euonymous had turned into over twenty feet of many many stems, all rooted (shallowly, thank goodness) in the large crevice the Cedars had been in. It had also, very sneakily, sent skinny, hardly noticeable little green stems with small green leaves into the adjacent fern and Trilliums patch. Pulling those wasn't so easy as I didn't want to damage the good guys. So I had to pull gently, clip, carefully disentangle, grope for the end of the stem, repeat. And repeat, and repeat. </p><p>In the 28C heat and no chance of rain again today. They said 'risk of thunderstorms' on the news, but I think it should be 'slight hope of thunderstorms' but anyway they didn't happen and everything is terribly dry. <br /></p><p>This Euonymous, by the way, was sold to me by an actual rock gardener. I don't remember what species it was, but it was supposed to stay small. When it first bloomed I was intrigued, it was such a strange flower. I had never seen one before. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CDhUdMFHw_U/YK7MVAlDSjI/AAAAAAAADRU/35hrwVqNIrAirpDvB33WkOEpF8iwXZpJACLcBGAsYHQ/s800/euonymous%2Bvine.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="532" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CDhUdMFHw_U/YK7MVAlDSjI/AAAAAAAADRU/35hrwVqNIrAirpDvB33WkOEpF8iwXZpJACLcBGAsYHQ/w266-h400/euonymous%2Bvine.jpg" width="266" /></a></div> <p></p><p>Then, still being completely naive on the subject of Euonymi, I bought and planted an E. fortunei. It looked great in all those English gardening books. Yep, and it looked great in my rockery. All over my rockery. All over all the other plants in the rockery, and the rocks, and my paths and for all I know, some number of small animals. It took hours of work to dig it out and for a year or two it keep sticking tentative little yellow leaves up above the soil. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CFdGrF7KKUw/YK7MDJW-BlI/AAAAAAAADRI/BigpvDGkdZka3zNMtEEMURnKz1aP2YO_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/euonymous%2Bfortunei.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="800" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CFdGrF7KKUw/YK7MDJW-BlI/AAAAAAAADRI/BigpvDGkdZka3zNMtEEMURnKz1aP2YO_wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/euonymous%2Bfortunei.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>No more Euonymi for me, thanks. </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b> Now, a Message to My Readers.</b></span></p><p> I know that I am writing this blog entirely for my own amusement. I know that and I'm good with that, but I wouldn't mind having a few more readers! It does begin to feel a bit like the sound of one hand clapping if nobody is reading. In July, <u>feedburner</u> is going to stop handling the email notices about new blog posts that you have been getting. I have to either change the format of this blog, or find another program to do the same thing, or ??? There are options, I don't understand all of them yet... it may be possible to do it completely seamlessly, or it may not. In any case, please, stay in the boat! I'll let everyone know soon.<br /></p><p>Meanwhile, one thing I do know: I would like more readers. <br /></p><p>I know there are lots of you keen gardeners out there, and you all know others, so here's a bribe! Kind of a double bribe!<br /></p><p>Anybody who shows that they would like this blog to continue, by subscribing, or leaving a comment or sending me an email or phoning on the old land line or otherwise communicating with me, will get their name put into a (virtual) hat. To keep it fair I will only put any name in a maximum of 3 times, that way someone who leaves lots of comments will still only get 3 chances. On Sept. 1, 2021, I will draw one name and that lucky person will win the <b>Tilley Hat of his or her choice</b>. Any Tilley hat, any colour, style, size, up to a value of CAD $120.00. That's a pretty good bribe, eh! </p><p>And, just for fun, I will select one name for a second prize: a <b>Japanese Hand Weeder</b> from Lee Valley Tools in Ottawa. This is a short hoe-like tool with one sharp edge and is the best weeding tool I have ever used. My criteria for selecting the winner of this prize will be... completely arbitrary. I'm going to pick what I think was the best or most amusing or most unusual communication I received all summer to win this prize! <br /></p><p>My contact info is in the box at the top to the left of the blog text. If you decide to play, do be sure I have your name and a way to get in touch with you should you be the winner! </p><p>Good Luck!<br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-6786440232883468182021-04-23T16:36:00.001-07:002021-04-23T16:36:15.306-07:00Aaaack!!!<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DVbxI-D4FAw/YINZn_D1_lI/AAAAAAAADQQ/fyblU0GIG8M2cZbSDU9wxJIMOC3RDThHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/dandelion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="700" height="576" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DVbxI-D4FAw/YINZn_D1_lI/AAAAAAAADQQ/fyblU0GIG8M2cZbSDU9wxJIMOC3RDThHgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h576/dandelion.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> It begins!<p></p><p><br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-13192135288394959912021-04-10T17:11:00.000-07:002021-04-10T17:11:51.238-07:00Twenty Degrees!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1De3lE46oeY/YHI4MUe6hMI/AAAAAAAADOs/HXF7S75RXfg5DGToI3aqmyeuIfvn9aLOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/asnowpile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="700" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1De3lE46oeY/YHI4MUe6hMI/AAAAAAAADOs/HXF7S75RXfg5DGToI3aqmyeuIfvn9aLOgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/asnowpile.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>But I still have some snow! Want some? There's a nice big pile of it where Mr. SnowBlowerMan throws the snow from three different directions so it becomes a dense icy pile and never melts until about the time farmers are taking off their first hay crop. If you want some, just come on over. Bring Scotch.</p><p> ********************************************************** </p><p>Snowdrops are out - actually, I tell a lie, they've been out for a week already. This is Galanthus morrowii, a larger-leaved species, but just as charming as the more common G. elwesii.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KeUg-CVfc0k/YHI4ouBPPYI/AAAAAAAADPA/wvhqkkArcYMmyqtwM2ayXUjcX9glTSlqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/asnowdrops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="454" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KeUg-CVfc0k/YHI4ouBPPYI/AAAAAAAADPA/wvhqkkArcYMmyqtwM2ayXUjcX9glTSlqQCLcBGAsYHQ/w303-h400/asnowdrops.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><br /> ****************************************************<p></p><p>Dirca palustris, aka Wicopy, aaka Leatherwood, aaaka quite the
earliest shrub to flower at my place. In fact, just about the first
flower, period. The blooms are small, only about an inch long, but the
black furry buds are cute. Kind of like my cats' black furry butts, but a
lot smaller!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7s7gMxsWLx8/YHI5JWzg6CI/AAAAAAAADPI/wQ59gf_ZCpg4CHngLjD-vzv77yDFuTsFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/adirca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="545" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7s7gMxsWLx8/YHI5JWzg6CI/AAAAAAAADPI/wQ59gf_ZCpg4CHngLjD-vzv77yDFuTsFQCLcBGAsYHQ/w364-h400/adirca.jpg" width="364" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p><p> ****************************************************</p><p>I was delighted to find four separate clusters of purple Crocuses in a
small bit of open woodland behind my Rockery. I planted 100 crocus bulbs
in 2019, and had one flower. I figured the squirrels had gotten them,
but it appears they missed a few!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xkRp7HfwSA4/YHI5t86exmI/AAAAAAAADPQ/m2Yt1BOKeRIvv1rYFfZeVmJGNT6AEZ-oQCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/acrocus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="700" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xkRp7HfwSA4/YHI5t86exmI/AAAAAAAADPQ/m2Yt1BOKeRIvv1rYFfZeVmJGNT6AEZ-oQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h326/acrocus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p> **************************************************************</p><p>A miniature daffodil called Tete-a-tete. First, earliest, smallest, cutest, most invasive
daff in the garden. I rarely see a seedpod yet Tete-a-tete seeds itself
around. Adorable in a small wineglass. Wine is even better, but if you're
out, these tiny perky blossoms will make you feel better. If you have
wine, pour yourself a glass and go sit in the sun beside these little
charmers and enjoy both. When your glass is empty, pick some daffs and
put them in the glass. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kbXDT_7r7AM/YHI8SYe2J4I/AAAAAAAADPY/B7Rs0fyOTAARX9HTCWwwS12v6bxzSrJ0wCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/adaffs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="700" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kbXDT_7r7AM/YHI8SYe2J4I/AAAAAAAADPY/B7Rs0fyOTAARX9HTCWwwS12v6bxzSrJ0wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/adaffs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p> *************************************************************</p><p>A False Morel, a tiny one, but it will get bigger, and there will be
more of them. Seems too early for mushrooms, but these show up in a
certain spot every Spring. Totally inedible, but they do signal that the
True Morel might be up as well. I searched where there were some last
year, but didn't see any. True Morels are scarce, False Morels not so
much.</p><p>There's a moral there, somewhere. </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NkVt4nj79cw/YHI8nRFm0qI/AAAAAAAADPg/wr9vCmM70xcAHj_z1cpPun8VjjmkmkqPACLcBGAsYHQ/s700/amorel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="519" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NkVt4nj79cw/YHI8nRFm0qI/AAAAAAAADPg/wr9vCmM70xcAHj_z1cpPun8VjjmkmkqPACLcBGAsYHQ/w296-h400/amorel.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br /><br /><p>Happy Spring!<br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-24256737952529199492021-03-15T16:36:00.001-07:002021-03-15T16:38:29.951-07:00Hoya, Hoya, or, The Pride That Goeth<p> </p><p> I was taken to task, politely but quite firmly, by someone who asked why her Hoya plant wasn't blooming. </p><p>Her post, on Facebook, included a very nice picture of a healthy looking Hoya carnosa.</p><p>Now
I've had Hoyas, several species and several variations of the main
houseplant, H. carnosa, for over 50 years. In fact one of the plants I
have now is a distant offspring (are things grown from cuttings
'offspring'?) of a plant that covered the better part of a 20' by 20'
brick wall inside the building where I worked. It's only light, other
than the artificial office lighting, was a skylight overhead and about
10' away. One evening, after working late, I snuck over to the plant
with my scissors and nipped off a small tendril with, I think, 2 or 3
leaves.</p><p>After a fairly long time, much coddling, regular
talking-to and a certain amount of dark magic, it rooted and put out new
growth. It eventually became quite large and after a few years, maybe
not 7 like the old wives' tales, but at least 5, it bloomed profusely
and did so every year. <br /></p><p>So I felt confident that I could help
her with her question. I suggested that perhaps it wasn't getting enough
sun - it was very dark green, with few of the usual tiny silver
splotches that Hoya leaves get - or that perhaps it wasn't old enough,
or that perhaps, she had made the mistake which I've seen other people
make of cutting off the finished flowering stems. I then went on to say
that once it did bloom, she'd love the sweet scent from the flowers.</p><p>Well.</p><p>Somebody immediately leapt in and told me in no uncertain terms that they had a Hoya that lived in a window, which was firmly curtained, overhung by a giant Spruce tree right outside, and faced due North, which <i>bloomed</i> <i>all the time</i>.</p><p>OK. </p><p>Somebody
else promptly refuted my idea that Hoyas needed to reach a certain age
before they bloomed. Apparently she regularly roots small pieces and
they <i>always bloom the same year</i>. </p><p>Great. I'm happy for her.</p><p>Then
a veritable storm broke out about the scent. 'Oh, I can't be in the
same room as a blooming Hoya'. 'I always cut the flower stubs off
because the scent is over-powering'. And more, many more, of the same.</p><p>All
of which goes to show that whenever you think you know something about a
plant, the plant will quickly make a fool out of you. If you know for
a fact that a certain plant needs lots of sun, someone will be growing
it under their deck where the light never goes above deep gloom. If you
state confidently that such-and-such needs steady moisture, someone will
be growing it on a rock with no soil and full sun. Or underwater. Or in
zone 1A. Or in an old boot beside the kitchen door where the cook
empties the dishwater over it three times a day.</p>And no, I can't show you a picture of my plants. They aren't blooming.Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-11923746282481968542020-10-31T15:58:00.016-07:002020-11-01T04:30:56.863-08:00Weird Fungi - 2<p> It's Hallowe'en..... spooks are abroad and the woods are filled with scary things....</p><p>One of them starts with what looks like an egg pushing up through the ground:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uH5pu3kGEiI/X53n91dvTCI/AAAAAAAADKo/WOCQp0uZOcEjCnHbK3RXODOy85SNxqaqgCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/egg0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="600" height="319" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uH5pu3kGEiI/X53n91dvTCI/AAAAAAAADKo/WOCQp0uZOcEjCnHbK3RXODOy85SNxqaqgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h319/egg0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Barely 2" across, it seems to have a slightly crinkled surface. It's white, more or less, and dry-looking. It doesn't change for several weeks. Eventually, one day, it begins to grow:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFlh6qm-p1U/X53n7kF_dgI/AAAAAAAADKk/kyRjRqIBuew39shKbHui7yZ18c1-Y2eBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/egg1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="600" height="297" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFlh6qm-p1U/X53n7kF_dgI/AAAAAAAADKk/kyRjRqIBuew39shKbHui7yZ18c1-Y2eBQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h297/egg1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>The top splits and an odd little white process appears. The surface has darkened and split. More days go by. It's getting cold at night, but underground much is happening. Our Egg is preparing itself for a sudden burst of growth:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7nyG-p36S0s/X53n_lc-EgI/AAAAAAAADKs/I50tTuAPTXApsyfyRopeVCB3Z8Qa3wITwCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/egg2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="473" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7nyG-p36S0s/X53n_lc-EgI/AAAAAAAADKs/I50tTuAPTXApsyfyRopeVCB3Z8Qa3wITwCLcBGAsYHQ/w315-h400/egg2.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><p>The Egg splits completely open and a spongy white stalk with a slimy brownish-greenish knob on top elongates:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vvk5WaaSeQo/X53oA_RyZXI/AAAAAAAADKw/tbX1AYVOPFcU6-TjIPwM4LNAEtAOpXMrACLcBGAsYHQ/s600/egg4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vvk5WaaSeQo/X53oA_RyZXI/AAAAAAAADKw/tbX1AYVOPFcU6-TjIPwM4LNAEtAOpXMrACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/egg4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Unlike practically every other plant (or fungus) in the woods, it grows in an ominous curve. Quickly, almost overnight, it reaches it's full growth:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xBXtTf2ivG0/X53oC9iXyAI/AAAAAAAADK0/pDECYF_X5n4RZf6Q_3VC4KrsDWRzdHWLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/stinkhorn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xBXtTf2ivG0/X53oC9iXyAI/AAAAAAAADK0/pDECYF_X5n4RZf6Q_3VC4KrsDWRzdHWLgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/stinkhorn.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Growing horizontally across the ground, surrounded by fallen leaves and twigs, our weird Fungus #2 turns out to be a <b>Stinkhorn</b>.</p><p>Stinkhorns are so-called because, well, because they stink. Get your sniffer close to the 'knob' and you'll wish you hadn't! The smell, very unpleasant to us humans, attracts flies. The flies pick up spores from the slimy top and carry them to new locations, thus spreading the fungus around. The spores are produced in huge numbers and form the slimy surface of
the 'knob'. The 'Egg' was an early stage in the fruiting body's
development and, when cut open, shows the eventual structure in
embryonic form. It is fairly common, growing on rotting logs or wood
chips.</p><p>And yes, the man who named it agreed with what I'm sure you are thinking! He named the genus <i>Phallus</i>, and since his name was Ravenel, it's now <i>Phallus Ravenelii,</i> that is, Ravenel's Phallus<i>. </i></p><p>His response to this bit of taxonomic teasing has not been recorded. <br /></p><p>Have a Happy, Safe, and Spooky Hallowe'en!<br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-72022301887724007772020-10-29T05:54:00.004-07:002020-10-29T05:54:45.250-07:00Snow!<p> Mind you, not a lot of it!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nwdZ17Oz724/X5q7L7xFsmI/AAAAAAAADKY/l4hfWQXVZ10eJUTEuWASdlk8PSqxJFr8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/DSC_0038e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="464" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nwdZ17Oz724/X5q7L7xFsmI/AAAAAAAADKY/l4hfWQXVZ10eJUTEuWASdlk8PSqxJFr8wCLcBGAsYHQ/w265-h400/DSC_0038e.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><p>Just a dusting so far, but it's coming! </p><p>I guess Hallowe'en is the right time to scare us with that news! Have a good weekend; stay safe!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-17742807897696551542020-10-15T16:58:00.000-07:002020-10-15T16:58:14.193-07:00Weird Fungi - 1<p> I was surprised, amazed, delighted, astonished, gob-smacked to find a fungus I had never seen before but had been wanting to see for a long time, when I was pulling out old Goldenrod stalks this afternoon.</p><p>There has been a large plant, or maybe I should say, plantation, of <i>Solidago Altissima</i> at the top of the steps from the driveway to the side door for almost as long as there's been a side door. It's fine until after it blooms, then it is just a big mess and too large for the space it's in. At that point I pull all the stalks, and the following year just as many new ones grow so the patch stays about the same. So that's what I was doing, pulling out stalk after stalk of spent Goldenrod, when I noticed small whitish bumps on the bases of some of the stems.</p><p>A quick closer look showed me that the larger bumps were Bird's Nest fungi! Here you see some<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5V2XVEz_NY4/X4jeNmmdB3I/AAAAAAAADJo/0zb5QpLZU5Q6mF6qn3zrNsVNf2iuZExNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/nest%2Bfungi%2B1%2Bss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="700" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5V2XVEz_NY4/X4jeNmmdB3I/AAAAAAAADJo/0zb5QpLZU5Q6mF6qn3zrNsVNf2iuZExNQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/nest%2Bfungi%2B1%2Bss.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>of them on one stalk. (I put it on the junipers to make them easier to see).</p><p>They are very tiny, only about 1/4" across. And very odd! </p><p>To quote <u>Mushrooms of Ontario and Eastern Canada</u>: "The fruitbody of a Bird's Nest Fungus looks like a tiny nest with eggs. The 'eggs' (<b>peridioles</b>) are packages of thousands of spores contained within a hard outer wall. ... the eggs are anchored to the side wall by a structure that contains a long, thread-like tail (<b>funiculus</b>), with a sticky base (<b>hapteron</b>). Falling raindrops cause mini-explosions in the cone-shaped cups and the splash propels the eggs out of the cup. Eggs can be shot nearly 2 m away from the cup, and they attach to a suitable substrate by means of the sticky base."</p><p>I'd read about them in my mushroom books, but had never seen them. Here are a side view and a bird's-eye (pun intended!) view:<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4mcH9N7dFuA/X4jf-ucmGuI/AAAAAAAADJ0/NIkMzm_LRfEHv3bIvw1wJJD2jy0pWoZdgCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/birds%2Bnest%2Bfungus%2Bcollage%2Bss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="800" height="440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4mcH9N7dFuA/X4jf-ucmGuI/AAAAAAAADJ0/NIkMzm_LRfEHv3bIvw1wJJD2jy0pWoZdgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h440/birds%2Bnest%2Bfungus%2Bcollage%2Bss.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> How cool is that!<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-14265153960041457822020-09-02T16:55:00.001-07:002020-09-02T16:58:27.438-07:00A Small Peach<p> Ate my Peach crop today.</p><p>At about 3:40 EST this afternoon. The sky was overcast, with high clouds crossing rapidly from the South West. About 24C. Very little wind. Don't know what the barometric pressure was. Forecast was for scattered showers later, but it was dry at the time.</p><p>Things were, of course, happening. Somewhere south of my Peach tree, a minor government official paused in his study of a long report to get a cup of tea. On his way back to his desk he wondered if he'd still have a paycheck tomorrow. With four small children and a wife to support, the question wanted to fill his mind, but he resolutely put it aside and got back to his report. Further south yet, a much younger man surreptitiously reached for a young girl's hand; his heart skipped a beat when her hand met his halfway. A thousand miles to the east of them, a woman quietly removed her hand from the wrinkled hand of her old father, studied his face for a few minutes, not sure of her own feelings, and called the nurse. Further east yet, and somewhat north, a small group of children played a skipping game, oblivious to the war clouds gathering over their elders. Not far away, desert areas were too hot to cross; goats and men stayed in the shade. Despite the heat, two babies were born. In a vast city, far removed from the need to cross deserts, cars honked, men and women scurried and heat radiated up from cracked pavements. In a small town not far away, bargains were made, not always in the bargainer's best interest. Life, everywhere, was happening.</p><p>And I ate the edible portion of the only peach to ripen on my accidental Peach tree.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xATTK7iEvQk/X1Au1iZDCAI/AAAAAAAADIk/gAIy-FQY0Z8prNvCr0P-Kx3P9ZxefswKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s314/peach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xATTK7iEvQk/X1Au1iZDCAI/AAAAAAAADIk/gAIy-FQY0Z8prNvCr0P-Kx3P9ZxefswKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/peach.jpg" /></a></div>It was delicious.<br /> <br /><p></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-45564943667381041632020-08-21T08:31:00.000-07:002020-08-21T08:31:58.291-07:00Fall Is Here<p> Well, what can I say? It's been a summer. Hot, very dry, no rain here from early May until the end of July. Tons of bugs. Never seen so many chewed up leaves, or so many butterflies. Some kind of nasty yellowish caterpiller ate an entire Mugho Pine. The weeds got ahead of me by June and it has stayed that way. </p><p>Fall arrived last Sunday, about 8:30 pm. I was at the road making my weekly donation to the Garbage Gods and watched a fog develop over the Marsh. It started as a small white cloud hovering above the cattails, and grew bigger as I watched. In the morning there was fog high in the trees while on the ground spider webs captured some of it as dewdrops.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xDyyeLtO5Qo/Xz_f4lcX0TI/AAAAAAAADGM/ZxOVONFLRAsgk8kRkOri9nDiLW8vxMQ4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1941/web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1925" data-original-width="1941" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xDyyeLtO5Qo/Xz_f4lcX0TI/AAAAAAAADGM/ZxOVONFLRAsgk8kRkOri9nDiLW8vxMQ4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/web.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>In the fields and my Hillside Garden, the Goldenrods are blooming.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ao6JeAHxHpw/Xz_hhjKVuNI/AAAAAAAADG4/dZtuYRZMulQoAS59kbtLEvb-i410SCENwCLcBGAsYHQ/s755/goldenrod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ao6JeAHxHpw/Xz_hhjKVuNI/AAAAAAAADG4/dZtuYRZMulQoAS59kbtLEvb-i410SCENwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/goldenrod.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>As are the Coneflowers.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hx3FEM6Nsh0/Xz_iJTA2GiI/AAAAAAAADHY/6NyqZEVDeZsV3BudmytCmojOa8pK4NnngCLcBGAsYHQ/s690/butterfly%2Bon%2Bconeflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hx3FEM6Nsh0/Xz_iJTA2GiI/AAAAAAAADHY/6NyqZEVDeZsV3BudmytCmojOa8pK4NnngCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/butterfly%2Bon%2Bconeflower.jpg" /></a></div><p>And the Japanese Anemones.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NK4TjDhtFX0/Xz_iV9wIcXI/AAAAAAAADHc/StMgmFEdwEQPHkjQ1b88rpdAT1RTpM1MwCLcBGAsYHQ/s500/pink-japanese-anemone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NK4TjDhtFX0/Xz_iV9wIcXI/AAAAAAAADHc/StMgmFEdwEQPHkjQ1b88rpdAT1RTpM1MwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/pink-japanese-anemone.jpg" /></a></div><p>In the Beaver Pond I found a Bur Reed I have never seen before. It took me a while to find its name, but I'm pretty sure now that it is <i>Sparganium angustifolium</i>. From a slight distance, it looked like an orchid blooming in the shallow water, but closer up it seemed to be a Sedge. Bur Reeds are similar, I guess.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r57hJJAFQyU/Xz_jaZ8y9-I/AAAAAAAADHs/16mfs-si9mMmVvgwq2XapySTmF_samzZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/sparangium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="397" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r57hJJAFQyU/Xz_jaZ8y9-I/AAAAAAAADHs/16mfs-si9mMmVvgwq2XapySTmF_samzZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/sparangium.jpg" /></a></div><p>After a rainy August, the woods are full of fungi. Mushrooms and lichens literally everywhere! I took Rosie for a walk to the back of the property yesterday and came home with 409 images on my camera's memory card! Closer to home, here are some of the fungi that have appeared on some old wooden rounds I've been using as stepping stones (stepping woods?) in the Sampler Garden. They are all quite small - the rounds are only about 12" across - and I was down on my stomach photographing them.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OAOiWSOJ5ZI/Xz_kMh_6NTI/AAAAAAAADH0/fTWd9UV84eE5G2ycthbsbER34zwtvj4rwCLcBGAsYHQ/s751/mushrooms%2Bcollage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="700" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OAOiWSOJ5ZI/Xz_kMh_6NTI/AAAAAAAADH0/fTWd9UV84eE5G2ycthbsbER34zwtvj4rwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/mushrooms%2Bcollage.jpg" /></a></div><p>Since I was back at the house, I let the kittens out and they joined me exploring the stepping stones. Yes, kittens. Since I was on the ground trying to focus on the tiny fungi, this meant they were walking on my head. What happened was, a friend called and asked me if I wanted a kitten, she had to find homes for four of them, and since my old cat Pepper passed on last year and I've been having a problem with mice in the house, I said I'd take one. When I got to her house to pick it up, somehow she managed to convince me I should take both of the last two... they'll play together, she said. They'll catch more mice, she said. They don't eat much, she said. Well, of course she's right, but I'd forgotten the 'kitten phase', which is when they basically trash everything they can get onto, into, or under. Which is everything. But they're cute and they'll grow out of it. So here, drum roll, please, are the two new members of the Team. Tiger is slightly smaller than Fred and has a few white hairs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f0HWf6Wnqsc/Xz_lTuJ2vqI/AAAAAAAADIA/jQaqZ_nlWao-GJxUx31nfQ2duhPRKi4PACLcBGAsYHQ/s600/kittens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f0HWf6Wnqsc/Xz_lTuJ2vqI/AAAAAAAADIA/jQaqZ_nlWao-GJxUx31nfQ2duhPRKi4PACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/kittens.jpg" /></a></div><p>Rosie thinks they're great, something to chase, something to lick until it's soaked, something to carry around carefully when Mom isn't watching. </p><p>She expects to get her favourite sleeping chair back when they're a little older.<br /></p>Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-68861833453703755402020-04-17T17:08:00.000-07:002020-04-18T12:48:01.164-07:00SnippetsSome observations from a late Spring over-shadowed by a world pandemic.<br />
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It's still cold and wintery here. In the woods, winter takes a bit longer to arrive, and a lot longer to leave. Other gardens, those in open areas or in the City, already have blooming daffodils; I have snow piles. I did have the idea of getting started on the Spring clearing up one day last week when the sun shone and the air was warm. Didn't last long. The ground was still frozen.<br />
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There seems to be a squirrel family setting up housekeeping in the top of the hydro pole. This miserable pole is in the corner of my Herb Garden, near the house and visible from my office. Given all the rock here, burying the hydro line was pretty well unaffordable, but if I ever win a lottery, I'm getting rid of that pole. Meanwhile, I practice not seeing it. Anyway, all day a squirrel has been running up to the top of the pole with suspiciously fat cheeks, and coming back down clearly cargo-less. Crazy place for a nest. One year a small black bird lived there. How do I get the top of a pole closed off to wildlife?<br />
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Speaking of wildlife, I've been having a dickens of a time with mice this year. I'm too soft-hearted (or maybe just too squeamish) to kill them, and every time I catch one and remove it to the far end of the driveway, another one moves in. I finally convinced myself they were coming in through the opening around the breaker panel, so I blocked them from leaving the laundry room. Worked, except there must still be one or two loose in the house because I occasionally still find <i>signs</i>. A leaf on my Hoya nibbled... a hole dug around a geranium's roots... mouse spoor in a desk drawer. I'm getting a cat. Just as soon as the humane societies are open again.<br />
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The winter was long, but not particularly cold. I'm very surprised, though, by the amount of lichens on the trees and shrubs. Sumach branches are covered. Every fallen branch I pick up is covered. I have never seen so many lichens before.<br />
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There seems to be a resurgence of interest in vegetable gardening. 3.76M chipmunks are delighted.<br />
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On a short walk along by the marsh yesterday, I was surprised to come across a small patch of False Morels. We had just had a flurry of snow pellets and they collected on the top of the larger one. They're often in or near that spot, but I've never seen them so early.<br />
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The next image is a tiny tiny fraction of the millions and millions of Springtails we had in the snowbanks a few weeks ago.<br />
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I always figure that lots of Springtails means lots of bugs all summer. So prepare yourself, the mosquitoes and blackflies are going to be fierce this summer.<br />
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Unless they aren't.<br />
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Let's look at Snowdrops instead. Why aren't my clumps spreading? Oh well, at least they aren't shrinking.<br />
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Now if the air would just warm up a bit, maybe we could get this Spring business on the road.<br />
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<br />Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-33637636046090728492020-02-16T16:42:00.003-08:002020-02-16T16:42:45.844-08:00Bleah.... FebruaryHalf-way through February, which is good, but still 13 days left, which is not so good. February is the nastiest, dullest, most tedious month of the gardening year...so here are some tricks to get you through it.<br />
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1. Do some dreaming. Dream of daffodils moving gently in a warm breeze, dream of a tiny brook trickling among the roots of blue irises, dream of the sweet smell of roses early in the morning.... <br />
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2. Work on your excuses as to why your main perennial border is a dud in August. Write them down because you are going to need them.<br />
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3. Sow some fern spores. It's such a <i>tiny</i> job - a tiny pot, a tiny lid, a tiny bit of soil, teensy-tiny spores, but if you do it right it can take half an hour and give you a real sense of achievement. And maybe, eventually, some ferns.<br />
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4. You can order seeds. Way too many seeds.<br />
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5. You can remind yourself that you are warm, you had a nice dinner, the dog is behaving herself (more or less), and a little bit of snow isn't that much of a problem. I know, doesn't work, but you can try.<br />
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6. You can start an argument with a friend about what is a native plant. If you win the argument, start another one with another friend. Just for fun, take different positions with different friends. No two people agree, so this a great February waster, and can get your blood pressure right up.<br />
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7. Forget to water your houseplants. You're bored with them, you can't remember when you last watered them, and who wants 18 pink geraniums anyway. Then when they wilt you can feel bad, which makes a change.<br />
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8. Make impulsive decisions about the garden, such as deciding to plant carrots and beans in the suddenly-about-to-be-former herb garden. And decide to put some asparagus roots into the fence row garden because that's the only place in your whole garden that gets sun all day and the daylilies are a dead bore anyway.<br />
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9. Collect all the garden pictures on Pinterest into a new board called 'Antidote to February'. Look at them a lot. Actually, collecting all the garden pictures might take the rest of the month at that.<br />
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10. Dream some more.<br />
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Let me know if any of these work for you. <br />
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Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-34712025412167393082020-01-26T12:43:00.001-08:002020-01-26T12:43:40.059-08:00Looking Back Some MoreMind you, not everything went well in 2019. Gardening can sometimes seem like lurching from one disaster to the next: the squirrels eat all the Basil plants you put out yesterday... raccoons dig up and bite apart the 10 large Peonies you planted in a carefully colour-shaded row, leaving you a mixed-up pile of much smaller plants... the puppy romps through the clump of Ladyslippers that is finally blooming... you plant a group of rare dwarf shrubs and it doesn't rain for 8 weeks... you know, the usual stuff that happens in a garden.<br />
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Then, there are the gardening mysteries. Two of them in my garden stand out for 2019.<br />
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Early in the year I bought a beguiling little plant of<b> Leadplant</b>, <i>Amorpha canescens. </i> A prairie plant, it has lovely soft grey-green leaves composed of many tiny oval leaflets arranged in a ladder formation, sort of like one of the Jacob's-ladders or a tiny Sumach. Mid-summer it has spikes of soft blue-violet flowers. I saw it growing at Beaux Arbres, where it made small shrubs at the ends of several of the garden beds. Naturally I had to have one, in spite of the fact that I most certainly don't have a prairie.<br />
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I planted it, but in the general rush of things, didn't pay it a lot of attention. It didn't have a label, gardening disasters happening in other people's gardens as well, and I was in too much of a hurry to go and get one.<br />
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Come July I was kind of wondering where it was. I looked around for it, no longer quite sure of what it was supposed to look like, and with no clue as to where I might have planted it. I thought I'd run into when weeding, but I didn't. A few weeks later, well into August, I was dumping some weeds on a compost pile far at the back of my Sand Hill garden, and used the garden fork to tidy the pile a bit, and what did I find when I turned over a big forkful of old raspberry canes? Yes, one Leadplant, growing nicely although somewhat contorted due to having had to stick its head up through the prickly canes. What I'd like to know is, how did it get there, given that <i>I had not used that compost pile all summer?</i><br />
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I re-planted it, and this time I make a good mental note of where, and checked on it regularly. Last I saw, before the snow came, it was growing just fine and beginning to recover from its right-angled posture.<br />
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The second garden mystery hasn't had such a good ending, at least not yet. Back in September of 2018, I was given a plant of <b>New England Aster</b>, 'September Ruby'. It was incredibly root-bound, and had only one bud, which never opened, but it was a variety I didn't have and I wanted it. I would have purchased it, but the nursery owner kindly gave it to me. I took it home, carefully teased the roots free (as much as I could, anyway), and planted it near a couple of other colour forms of New England Aster. I figured I could keep an eye on it there, and also the colours might be interesting together. 'September Ruby' ought to be darker and redder than the type, if the name is anything to go by. The plant stayed green and appeared healthy into the fall.<br />
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In 2019, not a sign of a darker, redder, form anywhere. Now, did it not bloom and the plant is still there? Did it bloom but in the same colour as the other ones? Did I pull it out thinking it was a weed? Should I have checked all the other compost piles? I couldn't believe it, and for days I'd go out there and check every Aster in the garden to see if any had darker flowers than the rest.<br />
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I know my garden is rather wild and rather out of control and rather weedy.... but really? Two mysteries in one summer?<br />
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<br />Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-81101287144923068542020-01-12T17:04:00.003-08:002020-01-26T07:18:30.234-08:00Looking BackA rare pleasure, only to be indulged in occasionally, is looking back at the gardening-year-that-was. And 2019 had a few good moments...<br />
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For example, I feel a smug sense of satisfaction that I planted my bulbs at the right time. Most years I either plant them too early, which means tulips being fooled into sticking their noses above ground in the middle of the mud season, or else I'm out there planting daffodils with an axe. This year I was lucky enough to have a sunny day in November which was warm enough that the ground actually thawed and it only needed a trowel. It had been very cold for several weeks, but I said to myself, 'just wait, there will be a warm day yet' and for once there was.<br />
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<i>One thing I'll tell you right now: you don't have enough bulbs. You don't have enough tulips, you don't have enough daffodils, you certainly don't have enough crocuses, and we won't even mention the small Irises, the Pushkinia, the Muscari, the Eranthus... Don't bother arguing, it doesn't matter how many you have, or how small your garden is: you don't have enough bulbs and you know it. None of us do.</i><br />
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Not that my Hillside garden doesn't have a lot of daffodils in it. I planted many different varieties of them about 15 years ago, and they have done very well. They like the clay soil and the good drainage, and every small group of bulbs I planted has now become a substantial clump. From one or two bulbs, they have become clumps of several dozen. But it occurred to me this Spring that it was all too yellow and white! It needed some red to perk things up.<br />
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Being, as always, sadly short of shekels, I wasn't able to order all that many but I think what I got will make a fine show next April. I got two tulips: Abba, a short early double red, and Apricot Delight, a medium sized mid-season pinkish/yellowish. Not having a clue as to where the daffodil bulbs were lurking, I just spread small clumps of these two tulips all over the Hillside. It doesn't really matter anyway, because wherever they bloom there will be daffodils nearby and it will all look good.<br />
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Abba is short and early and should make a fine contrast with the many Tete-a-Tete daffodils which, by the way, have seeded themselves around most prolifically.</div>
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Apricot Delight will, I hope, be delightful a little later when the many larger, and often paler, daffodils bloom. Somehow the main season daffodils don't have the same bright glowing spectrum yellow of the earliest ones, but by then our eyes are searching for more subtle colour anyway.<br />
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And crocuses, purple ones. Lots of purple ones! These I mostly put lower down and nearer the house so I'll see them as the snow goes. The last package of them I put in the woods at the top of the Rockery. That should be nifty when I take the path to get the newspaper!<br />
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<br />Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-32382081954412526252019-10-25T06:00:00.002-07:002019-10-25T06:00:37.156-07:00African Violets, Oh, MySome very kind friends just brought me an African Violet plant. They were giving it to me to help me feel better after my first cataract surgery, which went fine, by the way, and it's a very pretty one:<br />
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Now, AVs and I have a history.<br />
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Many years ago, back when houseplants were the newest and 'in-est' thing, I got one or two at the grocery store and I liked them. They actually grew, which was more than you could say for other houseplants such as, for example, the Diefenbachia which had a new leaf every three years, or the Snakeplant which sat there, month after month, needing dusting but never doing anything that anyone ever noticed.<br />
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So I got another African Violet.<br />
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And another one.<br />
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And <i>another</i> one... <br />
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Then I discovered you could make more plants by nipping off a leaf and putting it in water. To my delight, in a few weeks there were baby plants at the bottom of the stem. I separated them and planted them and pretty soon I had several dozen African Violets.<br />
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This was fun!<br />
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Found out there were white ones.... pink ones! Dark reddish ones, doubles, semi-doubles, ruffly ones, miniatures, giants... I went wild. I joined the <a href="https://avsc.ca/" target="_blank">African Violet Society</a> and entered AVs into local plant shows (and, yes, won some ribbons).<br />
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Soon I needed lights to grow more AVs. We had a house we'd bought partly because it had a large finished 'rec room' in the basement and we thought it would be perfect for our daughter and her friends to play in. Ixnay on that, though, they refused totally to play 'in the basement, yuck'. Apparently there was a rumour of spiders. We allowed tricycles. No good. We installed a ping pong table. Nope. We bought a terrific doll house and dolls. Nope again. Finally it just sat empty. So I took it over and built long shelves and hung lights and before you could say 'African Violet, miniature, dark red, variegated foliage', I had several thousand plants and a serious watering habit.<br />
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A few years later we decided to move (for other reasons) and to my surprise and relief the people who bought the house wanted the plants too!<br />
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Since then I have not allowed African Violets across the door step.<br />
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Until today.<br />
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Thank you, Lynda and Gord!<br />
Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-87781770305674622782019-10-07T17:21:00.002-07:002019-10-07T17:21:39.165-07:00A Walk In The WoodsAh, a fine Fall morning! What better than an early walk in the woods?<br />
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Rosie and I head out into the woods behind the house. It is still a bit foggy, but occasionally the sun comes out. It's not exactly cold, but the air leaves no question in our minds: it is Fall. Leaves fluttering down around us gently underscore that we may not have many more such days before the cold comes, and we should enjoy this one.<br />
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Going past the garden I'm amused to see the individual flowers on the New England Asters curled up tight. They do this at night. They bloomed in my garden for years before I realized that they close up at night; sometimes you even see a bee asleep inside. The foggy morning has left drops of dew on the petals.<br />
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Something else amusing is the way falling pine needles don't make it down to the ground, instead getting hung up on various twigs such as this Maple twig. White Pines lose one-seventh of their needles every year, and do so mostly in October. So every October the small trees below the Pines are festooned with needles like tiny hats. The ground is covered too, walking is a bit slippery!<br />
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The mosses have rebounded since we've had some rain. It's been very very dry again this summer, in fact the trees, especially the Maples, have all shown serious signs of stress. Looking up at a large Maple, you expect to see the leaves held horizontally over your head, but when the tree is really stressed they hang vertically. I'm glad to see them being umbrellas again today. Many of the leaves are very red this year, including this one that landed right in front of me on the moss covering a large boulder.<br />
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There are a number of large boulders at the back of my place, like this one. I believe they are glacial erratics, that is, rocks that were dragged (pushed?) along by a glacier until they either ran aground or dropped out when the glacier melted. There is one on my neighbour's property which is right in the middle of an open flat area, so it must have been a 'dropper', but here at my place there are a row of about 6 of these huge rocks all right at the edge of the rocky ridge. This one, like the others, is about 7-8 feet high. I tried to get a picture of Rosie on top, but she leapt off before I could catch her.<br />
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I think this jawbone must be from one of Rosie's cousins. Either wolf or coyote? It's about 4 inches long, so too small for bear, or am I wrong? There was only one piece, I couldn't find any more although I searched for a while. Also couldn't find any of the other teeth. The bone was still hard, so it probably isn't all that old. One thing for sure: I wouldn't want this jawbone's former owner thinking of me as lunch!<br />
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There were quite a few mushrooms. Not nearly as many as last year, but still quite a few. The brown and white one here which I believe is called Honey Fungus, is all along the edge of the Beaver Pond. One book says it kills trees, I certainly hope that's not the case! They grow in clusters and there were hundreds if not thousands.<br />
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This one Puffball (no idea which Puffball, there are many) was small and perfect. In spite of the many tiny bumps on its surface, it was incredibly smooth, and as delicately coloured as a baby's cheek.<br />
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The Phollotia, on the other hand, looks like it really should shower and put on some new clothes! A bit sticky, a bit ragged, a bit scruffy. <br />
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We got back to the house too soon, as Rosie's expression makes clear!<br />
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<br />Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-37552087820148065902019-08-04T17:08:00.000-07:002019-08-04T17:08:04.228-07:00A Day OffI've just come in from a major weeding session. My clothes are soaked with sweat, my hair is stuck to my neck like seaweed on a boot, the knuckles on my right hand are stinging with cactus prickles, several other fingers are suffering from ripped nails, I have deer fly bites everywhere, and my left elbow hurts.<br />
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I've been working quite hard the last six weeks or so, first getting ready for a craft show at a slightly distant location, and then getting ready for a Garlic Festival at my local Farmers' Market where I have a permanent booth. Making pottery is time-consuming, so when I need a lot of new stock in a hurry it means all day in the Studio. No time to garden! Today my kiln is cooling and I decided it was a good time to take a day off. I had to ignore the fact that the Studio is a mess (entirely Rosie the dog's fault for ripping up her cushion and spreading stuffing all over the floor), and to convince myself that there was no point in starting any of the overdue orders... but I needed a break.<br />
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I decided to spend the day weeding. <br />
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It's been very dry, too, so choosing to work on the Hillside Garden was maybe a strange choice for a Day Off, but there were a few things that badly needed dead-heading if I wasn't going to have about a million seedlings next year, and the Goldenrods that I somehow missed in the Spring were blocking the Phlox and other things that the Hillside is supposed to be about. It was lovely and cool when I started, only about 18C and breezy. Great weeding weather.<br />
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The Lady's Mantle was pretty much finished blooming so I cut it to the ground. They'll look bare and shabby for a week or two, then the new growth will appear and they'll look fine again for the rest of the year. My technique is to grab a large handful of stems, and take a big chop with my secateurs. Unfortunately one of the chops took out part of the nail on my middle finger, but it wasn't deep and the bleeding soon stopped.<br />
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Lamb's-Ears were due for a cut as well. The leaves are soft and furry, but the flowering stems sure aren't. Three wheelbarrow loads of flower stalks! Had to put gloves on, my hands were both burning from the prickly stalks. Yes, I know, shutting the barn door...<br />
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Talking about prickly, the small Cactus patch near the side path really needed attention. Lots of Yellow Oxalis, most of it nestled right in among the cactus pads. Being a particularly intelligent but sneaky weed, it made sure it wasn't taller than the pads, so I couldn't grab the tops and yank. I've heard of people using forceps to weed cacti. Wish I'd had some. The knuckles on my right hand really wish I'd had some.<br />
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By this time it was getting hot. I went in for a quick lunch and the only thing I found in the fridge that required zero prep time was a pair of wieners left over from an attempt to use wieners to get Rosie to take a pill (didn't work, and now she's suspicious of anything wiener-like). Maybe I shouldn't have bought garlic-flavoured wieners... good thing I was home alone.<br />
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Back outside I attacked the Goldenrod next. The plants were a good <i>six</i> feet tall, and were in front of other things only <i>four</i> feet tall. This is one of my gardening specialties - putting tall things in front of short things. Another one is putting cute little conifers in the rock garden and then finding out that they get to be 30' tall, but that's another story. Anyway, Goldenrods. Very hard to pull out when they're growing in dry clay on a hillside! Small stems came out easily enough, but the thicker ones needed a heavy pull and would then pop out unexpectedly, sending me wind-milling wildly to stay upright, without stepping on too many nearby plants. I know perfectly well that the Goldies will be right back (I didn't dig out the roots, just pulled the stalks) but I am very good at fooling myself and anyway it did look better.<br />
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A Peony bush was so heavy with seedpods the stems were bowed right down to the ground. I clipped the pods off and the bushes sprang up again! That was fun!<br />
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Yellow Foxglove is making a bid for Hillside Domination. We were mano-a-mano for a while, but I think I''m winning. And this year I got to them before the seeds were ripe! If you don't, then when you so much as touch the plant, it explodes it's tiny black seeds all over about a six-foot circle and you're in for it next year. Also, don't put the ripe stalks in the compost as they won't die there and when you use the compost they will all germinate. I know this for a fact. Nice flower, great soft yellow colour, but bad personality.<br />
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After that I had to call it a day and go in, hot, sweaty, thirsty, garlic-y, deer-fly bitten and with various minor discomforts as mentioned.<br />
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It was a wonderful day.<br />
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<br />Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-57810303085572179152019-06-26T18:06:00.001-07:002019-06-26T18:06:39.426-07:00Joy of WeedingOddly enough, I love to weed.<br />
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First of all, I find it relaxing. That sounds odd in itself, given that when I come in after a couple of hours of weeding, I'm hot, bug-bitten, dirty and aching in more places than a younger me knew I had. But somehow yanking 'nasties' such as Bugleweed, or Dandelions gives me great satisfaction. It's a real pleasure to see a section cleared; it looks tidier and more organized. I guess weeding is a bit like tidying up your desk, it feels good to improve things.<br />
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Not that weeding feels all that good, especially not after a few hours. I don't weed, or indeed do any work in my garden, wafting around wearing a pretty dress and a sweet hat... I tend to do it the way the old English gardeners did, bending in the middle like a hinge and reaching down to pull the weeds up. That way I can place my feet in safe spots and reach a reasonably large area to work in. If I kneel, I can only reach a very small area, besides which, kneeling in a garden as densely planted, or as rocky, as mine is pretty well impossible anyway.<br />
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Now if I had every plant separated from its neighbours by bare ground, I could weed with a hoe, but I don't seem to be able to have that kind of a garden. I let things self-seed, and spread, and mix together, too much.<br />
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Secondly, weeding is a great way to really 'see' your garden. You get up close and personal with each and every inhabitant of your demesne. You observe them as you never do when you just stand back and admire the view. There's much to be said for views, of course, but if you're a plant collector as I am, you love to inspect each and every one of them, and hand-weeding is the best way to do it. I learn about my plants when I weed them.<br />
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And then, of course, there are the surprises!<br />
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I was delighted to discover a plant of<i> Iris setosa</i>, <b>Arctic Iris</b>, in a neglected corner of my rock garden. I thought I had lost it as it had disappeared from where I had planted it, an exuberant white-flowered Geranium having appropriated its space, but here was a nice sized clump about 20' away.<br />
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It must have grown from a seed because I sure hadn't planted it there! In fact I haven't planted much of anything there yet, it being one of those 'what can I do with this little corner' kind of a spot. Well, now it has an iris in it.<br />
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Iris setosa, by the way, is only about a foot high. It blooms at the same time as the large bearded Irises, but it is fibrous-rooted, more like the Siberian Irises, in fact.<br />
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Another lovely surprise was a white <b> Blue-eyed Grass</b>, <i>Sisyrinchium albidum</i>. This I had planted, at least, I had put some seeds near where I found the plant, some years ago, but I never noticed any plants. That happened because I had gotten a whole lot of seeds from a seed exchange and couldn't manage them all, so in the end I just planted some of them in what seemed like likely spots. I guess in at least one case, it worked!<br />
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If I hadn't been weeding in that spot, I'd never have seen it.<br />
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And I'd never have seen this tiny <b>Orchid</b>, either. <i>Liparis Loeselii</i> is only about 6" high and green!<br />
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It was growing in a mat of Thyme and I was patiently pulling seedling Forget-me-nots out of the mat when I found it. Then I looked around a bit and found three more!<br />
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Be sure to admire the tiny leaf-hopper near the top of the plant, he's a bit blurry, but you can see the gleam in his eye!<br />
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Nearby, in a spot shady enough to encourage a nice crop of moss among the rocks, a tiny mushroom sparkled up at me. Only a couple of inches high, it was shiny and seemed to have a powdery coating. There were a few, so a small colony. Seems early for mushrooms, but I guess they grow all summer.<br />
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I had quite a project going last summer, trying to photograph and document all the fungi I saw around the place. It ran to hundreds of different species, and I eventually had to put the project away until I had more time. Taking the photos was easy enough, sorting, cataloguing and labeling them was another matter. Maybe I'll get to it this winter.<br />
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After a good weeding session, you're allowed to wander and just admire your lovely plants, both where you were working and elsewhere. For example, I wondered if the Showy Ladyslippers near the marsh were blooming yet. They were!<br />
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You see why I love weeding!<br />
<br />Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-70121305938505691342019-06-07T10:10:00.000-07:002019-06-07T10:10:37.231-07:00Of Violets, and Ferns<br />
The last few days in the garden have been so beautiful you just want to walk around and stare at everything. The ferns, especially, are at their most beguiling. They always start a bit later than the rest of the plants, coming into beauty after the Trilliums and the spring bulbs. We've had it very wet and cool this spring, so the early flowers have all been, while late, quite spectacular. The ferns around my little pond are outdoing themselves:<br />
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Looking back from the same spot:<br />
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This is particularly gratifying because when I started this garden, I dreamed of a woodsy place with an understory of ferns. I'm thrilled to think it's working!<br />
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In among the ferns, and liking the same damp conditions, Swamp Violet, <i>Viola cucullata</i> (what a name!), raises it's perky flowers.<br />
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It has a number of colour forms, at least here it does. Many plants have the plainer mauve/purple blooms, but some are white with a blue eye while others are pale purple or even almost a pinkish mauve. All have the characteristic blue 'eye', as you see here. A very similar violet, Le Comte's Violet, <i>V. affinis</i>, differs by being slightly taller and more slender, and having flowers of a softer mauve, with no 'eye' and a tuft of small hairs on the lowest petal. <br />
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Both are good garden plants, maintaining healthy foliage but quietly 'disappearing' once their day in the sun is over.<br />
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Here's a Fragile Fern just starting to grow again. This clump is in my Sampler Garden and is a clone of a clump in my woods, which is much larger and lives entirely on top of a large flat boulder. It's been there for many years, and seems to be thriving. So I winkled a tiny piece off and brought it home and planted it on top of a similar chunk of rock in the garden. This is it's third year, and it seems quite happy.<br />
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No soil to speak of, a puddle when it rains and then drought when the puddle dries up.<br />
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And they call it 'fragile'.<br />
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The Interrupted Ferns near the marsh are showing their fertile leaflets. This fern, instead of having its sori on the undersides if the fronds, has them as specialized leaflets partway up the stipes, that is, interrupting the sterile pinnae. This is one of my largest ferns, reaching 6' at maturity.<br />
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<i>Viola pubescens </i>has charming yellow flowers. It self-seeds all around my garden and I just leave it alone. Yellow Violet goes dormant in the summer so it doesn't take much real estate!<br />
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There are two forms of this violet: one is fairly 'furry' all over, and the other, <i>V. pubescens scabriuscula</i>, is smooth all over. It's particularly obvious on the seed pods. I only have one plant of the smooth form and it's not spreading.<br />
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Back in the rock garden, the Marginal Wood Ferns are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. A robust fern, it likes rocks, survives drought, tolerates a lot of sun, and stays healthy looking all summer. What's not to like?<br />
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Now, feel like a challenge (or two)? Can you identify the three fiddleheads below?<br />
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Or these violets?<br />
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Both of these little quizzes are quite challenging! Give yourself one point for each one you know, and if you send me a comment with the answers, I'll select one person to win a framed photo of one of my violets!<br />
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Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back out to sit and gaze at my ferns some more.Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-23499304618070013772019-04-28T10:40:00.000-07:002019-04-28T15:56:22.569-07:00Mixed FeelingsAh, Spring! The wind blows warm, the wind blows sharp, the sun shines, the sun hides, and my mood goes up and down with the weather.<br />
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I'm excited to see the Snowdrops, so pristine, so white, blooming with snow still piled up only a few feet away.<br />
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I wish they would spread. Years ago, I saw a yard not very far from here that had thousands of Snowdrops under a large stand of Maple trees. They must have self-seeded; why don't mine? I did try splitting a clump last year, but they don't seem to have made it through the winter. Do I try again?<br />
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My tiny pool is still a giant ice cube. I can see, though, that it will be a job to remove all the leaves that have fallen in. It is every year, but it seems worse this year. And of course I haven't a clue as to where my spring rake is hiding.<br />
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A small Muscari, I think the variety 'Valerie Finis', is in bloom. It has self-seeded! The blooms are very small, only about 3" high, but a lovely clear soft blue. It does seem to like it dry as it has spread into a spot where there is barely an inch of soil over a rock ledge. It blooms well before the regular dark blue Grape Hyacinth.<br />
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Right beside where the Muscari are blooming there was, once upon a time, a nice cluster of Trembling Aspen. They were very small 10 years ago, but had developed into 20' high, graceful white-stemmed trees that turned a wonderful yellow in the Fall. I was looking forward to enjoying their rustling sounds for many Falls to come, but it was not to be. The beavers, having eaten or otherwise destroyed every edible tree near their pond, discovered them and embarked on a Major Project. They made a 300' long 'dragway', chomped down every Aspen, large or small, and dragged them down to their pond. All that is left now is just one last section of trunk, balanced somewhat precariously across the large Pine that fell in last year's windstorm. I wonder if they'll get it cut up too and moved, or if they'll leave it. If I were a lot bigger and stronger, I'd pick it up and throw it at them - a temper tantrum is very tempting right now!<br />
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We're talking trees a bare 30' from my Studio.<br />
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Several patches of Chionodoxa are blooming. A nice pink in the Sampler Garden:<br />
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And the more usual blue in the Crabapple bed. Only one bloom open here, but there will be a cluster. It seeds around a bit, and is always a nice surprise wherever it pops up.<br />
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There is a white form as well, but I haven't found it yet. I do have a white form of Scilla, <i>Scilla bifolia alba</i>. It's very small and delicate but charming:<br />
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That picture was actually taken last year. You can see lots of fallen Red Maple flowers. This Scilla is a bit later than the other small bulbs, although this year several clumps are already opening.<br />
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These early Spring bulbs are hard to tell apart and often sold under the wrong names. I'm not sure I have mine all correct! The Chionodoxa were sold as Scilla; and the white Scilla was sold as <i> S. sibirica</i> which is quite different, blooming later, with the flowers a strong medium blue (although I expect there is a white form), and the flowers shaped like tiny half-opened umbrellas. There are Pushkinia and bulbous Iris as well. All are worth having.<br />
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Lichens seem to have liked the past winter. Everywhere they seem more extensive than they were last year. This one is quite large, maybe about 8" across, and very vigorous. It's mixed in with another one that looks like the tongues on leather shoes. I must try to get a picture to show you, but here is the round one:<br />
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Crocus here, however, are now mostly historical. The chipmunks seem to have gotten all but the one called Ruby Giant (which is neither ruby coloured nor giant). It's spreading a bit. A glorious colour, and a perky flower.<br />
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Maybe I need a Spring nap!Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-56608509749560258982019-03-20T13:30:00.000-07:002019-03-20T13:30:03.187-07:00Snips and SnippetsThe first day of Spring seems an appropriate one for getting this blog back on the rails! It's been a while - no big reason not to write, but no big reason to write, either, so I've let it go for almost three months. Now I'm thinking Spring and it has revived me enormously.<br />
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I'm getting a chuckle out of some<b> Lupine </b>seeds I planted. I've had about 50 seeds of <i>Lupinus perennis</i> kicking around the Studio for two or three years. I'd find them, move them out of the way, lose them, find them again, move them again, etc. and never got around to doing anything with them. Lupine seeds are hard-shelled and not always easy to germinate. I meant to plant them in a pot and put the pot outside over winter, but it just didn't happen. So when I found them again a week or so ago, at first I thought I'd throw them out ('they're too old, they'll never germinate'), then I thought 'what the heck, might as well plant them, maybe a few will grow' and dumped the lot into a 4" pot.<br />
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Two days later they all germinated.<br />
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I quickly moved 25 of them into small pots and put them in the Studio window. Now they're starting their first true leaves, and they make me smile.<br />
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Rosie is really anxious for Spring to get here. The snow has been so deep since mid-January that she couldn't go anywhere. She'd leap into it, disappear, snort her way to the top and leap again... the only place she could walk, other than the path to the Studio, was the driveway. She was more or less confined to a long narrow yard, a yard a quarter of a mile long, but only ten feet wide. Often we walked out to get the paper, which only took us about 5 minutes, and then walked back and forth a few more times just to get some exercise, but it wasn't much fun for an energetic young dog. I've promised her that the woods will be back soon. <br />
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Pepper, the feline component of the pet population at Pine Ridge is happy too. She hasn't been very well this winter (she's an old lady), and she likes the warmth in the Spring sunshine. She's enjoying it while lying in it on my desk, which makes a change from walking on my keyboard.<br />
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Several squirrels have popped out of their winter hiding places and are chasing each other across the snow and up and down trees. We know what they have in mind.<br />
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Bluejays swept in and inspected my crabapple trees and then made their opinions of their lack of edible fruits known, loudly. I said 'same to you, but, sorry, guys'. I've had to stop feeding the birds. The availability of bird seed led to far too many squirrels and chipmunks and ended up attracting a black bear. This was fine until one day I was walking from the Studio to the house, at dusk, and he growled at me. So no more bird feeding. I miss it and I feel a bit guilty, but some people say it upsets the balance of nature to feed birds, so maybe that is right. <br />
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Tomorrow I'll buy some new plant trays and get my seed collection out of the vegetable drawer in the fridge... it's Spring!<br />
<br />Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-57887131338618644122018-12-30T16:14:00.001-08:002019-01-01T07:50:25.499-08:00A Quick Look Back at 2018I'm sitting in my office, staring out the window at fat white flakes drifting down and musing about the Year That Was.<br />
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In many ways, not a good year. Without even touching on all the awful world news, things have been a bit difficult at Pine Ridge as well. I know this does not compare with the various situations in the wider world, but I live in my own small corner, it is my refuge, and it's what I talk about here.<br />
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We started the summer with a major wind storm at the end of April, and ended it with tornados in September. While nearby, the tornadoes didn't actually affect Pine Ridge, but the storm in April was bad. It took down many many trees, mostly larger ones, and even more particularly many of the large old White Pines. I used to have trails in the woods, now I have acres where I simply cannot walk. Fallen trunks lie criss-crossed, many of them not fully down on the ground, thrown down at all angles and in every direction. Trying to walk at the back of the property is a matter of climbing, ducking and twisting your way through. Nearer the house we lost several large Pines, a number of Cedars, and a huge Spruce. One of the smaller Pines which has long been the corner of the Hillside garden is now an ugly exposed root ball:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w_E26Yw8mHU/XClhaPoUDvI/AAAAAAAAC04/DVSRa5U9ksUXbH3SHPrylMroP72hutm6QCLcBGAs/s1600/double%2Bbloodroot%2Bmay1117%2Bss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="double white sanguinarea canadensis flower" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="462" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w_E26Yw8mHU/XClhaPoUDvI/AAAAAAAAC04/DVSRa5U9ksUXbH3SHPrylMroP72hutm6QCLcBGAs/s320/double%2Bbloodroot%2Bmay1117%2Bss.jpg" title="double white bloodroot flower" width="246" /></a>It doesn't look all that bad in the image, but that is deceptive. That root ball is all of 7' high, and the tree (you can see the start of the trunk at the extreme right) must be close to 100' long. It used to be 100' tall, now it's 100' long. It would take my tree-cutter-man several hours to cut it up with his biggest chainsaw and I have no idea how I could get rid of the roots. So I left it and I'll hopefully have a bright idea this spring.<br />
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On the up-side, the spring ephemerals were amazing. Late, due to the cold spring, but amazing. My double <b>Bloodroot</b>, <i>Sanguinaria canadensis</i>, plants finally bloomed well. The flowers lasted so much longer than the singles, too. <br />
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The White Trilliums outdid themselves! All along the driveway, on the slope of the Rockery, and in the Sampler Garden, masses of sparkling white blooms bloomed for a good two weeks. This patch was part of the Rockery.<br />
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Most of May was very cool and the spring flowers lasted longer than usual. Daffodils and Tulips were a good three weeks. Not that that helped with my Garden Tour, though, because everything was finished a week before the Tour, and the Roses and Lavender that I usually count on in June were late and bloomed a week <i>after</i> the Tour. Bad planning on somebody's fault!<br />
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After that, things got nasty. We didn't have a drop of rain from the beginning of May until the end of June. It was impossible to garden; just watering a few things in the ground as well as the numerous pots took all my available time and energy. Just as I was deciding to definitely set up some kind of pumping system to move water from the marsh (which never got seriously low), it rained. Then of course it rained some more, and rained some more, and rained some more...<br />
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The ones I think of the September Flowers, the Goldenrods, Asters, late Roses, Autumn Clematis, all the tribe of summer-is-almost-over flowers, did very well. They started a bit early, and bloomed on and on. The damp suited them surprisingly well. Bees, wasps and butterflies were very happy.<br />
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There was about a week later on that it didn't rain... I ran around like a mad fiend and hastily planted all kinds of stuff, without making notes or taking photographs or even thinking much about where I put things. It might be interesting here in the spring!<br />
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Snow arrived mid-November and hasn't left. That is, what arrived promptly melted and then it snowed again, and melted again and snowed again... We've had Winter Wonderland so many times this fall I've gotten bored with it! It's quite beautiful outside right now, the first day of 2019, but I just can't go out there and photograph another small tree, lovely or not, covered with new snow!<br />
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I'll let Rosie-goof have the last word:<br />
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<br />Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191776294612983889.post-89145137893645722492018-10-28T13:51:00.000-07:002018-10-28T15:27:43.214-07:00First SnowWe woke up this morning to a white, or at least white-ish world. There wasn't quite enough snow to really give that 'winter wonderland' feeling, but there was enough to make the woods and garden look new and interesting.<br />
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Rosie and I went for a short ramble through the woods. Everything was dripping and wet. She loved it, racing back and forth up and down the trail. Me, I put my hood up and looked for things to photograph. The snow made it all look exciting again, such as these fronds of Common Polypody Fern. They stay green all winter, but of course we won't see them once the snow covers them. They really stand out against the browns and oranges of the fallen Maple and Hornbeam leaves.<br />
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The trail took us into the 'cedar hell', along the upper end of the Beaver Pond. The trees looked a bit grim...<br />
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Two rather surprising red Maple leaves cheered things up again, though; how often do two red leaves fall together like that?<br />
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After the rather chilly Cedar bush, we came out to near the road where some old logs were dumped years ago which have developed beautiful patches of lichens and mosses. One of the lichens is the one I've always call Red Soldiers. There's not a lot of it on this log, but I love the contrast with the Reindeer and other mosses.<br />
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On the way home I admired the leaves on a Glossy Buckthorn. It never loses its leaves until after all the other leaves are down. The Oaks don't either.<br />
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The Crabapples in the garden back at the house are spectacular right now. They are very small crabbies which the birds love. Usually they strip the trees pretty quickly but this year they have so far only eaten one tree's worth. Some Robins a week or so ago swooped in, ate all the apples on one of the trees and then left. I was reminded of the old joke about the Jewish Mother who gave her son two shirts for his birthday. He was very pleased and went upstairs and came back down wearing the blue shirt. His Mother took one look at him and said, "And what's wrong with the red one?" <br />
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Something wrong with the crabapples on the other three trees?<br />
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After all that, there was only one thing to do: go in and put on dry socks and make some hot chocolate. Lishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16816600563832631710noreply@blogger.com0