Grrr!

This past week, a sales rep from Greenix rang my doorbell. He rattled off the names of several neighbors who had recently procured his services. When I realized he was an exterminator, I told him that was the opposite of what I want in my yard. It's a granular application, so he claims it does not kill bees. We got stuck on the bee issue, but as it always happens, later I thought of more arguments against his product. One is, without bugs, what are the birds to feed their young? Hummingbirds may dine on nectar, but they feed their babies protein in the form of insects.

Then - and I don't know why solicitors do this - he asked for a bottle of water. I just laughed and said I don't buy bottled water. So in his mind, am I not only a crazy bug lady, I'm a crazy bug environmentalist.

And then I received an email from a fiber friend who helps maintain a colonial garden at one of the local parks. She had bedstraw to give away. The roots of this plant provide nice reds when dyeing yarn, BUT it is also a non-native invasive. No way am I going to introduce that into my yard. I could offer to dig up some roots in the fall, though.

And THEN, while mowing, I found a mousetrap in my yard with a bird leg in it. Who puts mousetraps outside where non-mouse animals and even children can find them? Grrr!

Speaking of birds, does anyone know what kind of bird this is? It looks like a streamlined mourning dove to me, but I can't find any matching photos online.

The rudbeckia and ironweed on the south side of the house was fairly upright this year, until it rained. I keep adding sections of this no-dig fencing to help keep it out of the way, as I have to drive through that area with my mower. I've been adding some fencing to the bed opposite the privacy fence as well, as the milkweed and monarda also flop.

Meanwhile, the summer blooms are starting to pop.

Daylily

Butterflyweed

Coneflower

Rudbeckia

Only a couple of butterflyweed plants survived from last year. I contacted the native plant installer for replacements. He came up with a list of quite a few MIAs. I'm not too concerned that there may be two columbine plants missing, as that plant reseeds itself abundantly. He claims a dozen sedge plants are also gone. He sounds dissatisfied with the overall design and wants to make some changes. We'll see what he comes up with... and how much it will cost.