It's alive!

I have this theory. Most houseplants are tropical in nature. They may like it warm and humid, but they don't necessarily like strong sunlight. My theory is based on the behavior of my dracaena plants. One grew so tall that it pushed against my 8-foot ceilings. I eventually just whacked off the entire top and rooted it. It's in the livingroom where it gets mostly indirect light. And, surprise, surprise, it did not grow big and tall, but just sits there like a nicely behaving houseplant should.

Meanwhile, the naked stalk just sat there, too. I began to think that since it had no greenery, it had died. I moved it next to the fireplace where it appears to keep Beau the Feline Destroyer of All Things Nice from climbing onto the mantel. Today, I noticed a leaf bud! So it is not dead. Hopefully, it won't shoot up to the ceiling again.


Recently, the NYTimes published an article by Margaret Roach about Charley Eiseman and leaf miners. Of course, I had to go out and check my plants for leaf miners. I didn't find any, but I found a few other bugs.

I should get a book on insect identification. I don't know exactly what these bugs are, but I did determine that the wasp on the oak gall is not the oak gall wasp. What this one is doing is a mystery. And he wasn't alone. I'll have to pay more attention to the littlest creatures in my backyard.

While watering (hopefully for the last time) the new plants out front, I noticed this monarch crawling along the ground. It acted as though it had newly emerged from a cocoon (which I was unable to locate). I helped it over to one of the aromatic asters, but it wasn't interested. Instead, it took shelter under a wild geranium. The next day it was gone. I wondered if it was from one of the caterpillars I spotted a few weeks ago. Could be. That would be a native gardener's success story.

I have a date for my next shoulder replacement surgery: November 30. Like an ant, I am preparing for the ordeal: cooking batches of soup for the freezer, deep housecleaning, accumulating some new jigsaw puzzles, etc. The yard will basically be done for the season then, so no worries there. And I'll have an excuse to not do anything or go anywhere for a while.