Aging well

Somewhere I read that one secret to aging well is to have something to look forward to. This past year I created Project 2025, all the things I wanted to accomplish in the yard, and those have come to fruition one way or another. A list for Project 2026 is already started, with 14 items (so far). Sometimes I wonder why I just didn't turn the whole yard into lawn - it would be much easier to take care of - but then how would I keep busy and active? Successful old age is not for couch potatoes.

I have tried several times and in several places to get some butterflyweed established, without luck. And yet here is a volunteer plant growing amongst the aromatic aster. No butterflies, though.

The ironweed on the south side of the house is starting to bloom, as well as the rudbeckia. Ironweed likes it wet, so maybe I will plant some by the rain garden next year.

This is a typical daily harvest from my food plants, just enough for me. One problem with growing yer own is it almost always tastes better than purchased, even from farmers markets.

Otherwise, not a lot going on around here. It's still hot and humid, with enough rain to keep the grass growing. I am looking forward to autumn already.

What's it good for? Queen of the prairie

The first time I saw Queen of the prairie (Filipendula rubra), I was in love. Although it tolerates clay soil, it likes to keep its feet wet, so it seemed like an unlikely candidate for my yard. Now that I have a rain garden, though, it's been added to the fringe. However, it may be a useless beauty unless you are interested in some of its medicinal uses. (I'm not.) I noticed a few pollinators on it.

I installed only one plant, but the clump it eventually forms may become quite large (4 feet across). Also, it spreads by seeds, which I hope does not become a problem. We'll see. Meanwhile, I will enjoy it - pretty in pink.

Elsewhere in the yard:

The strawberry patch looks very healthy. I've been able to pick a few berries from it every few days. Very tasty!

My granddaughter and I painted some small rocks to look like strawberries, to fool the birds. The faux berries need to be sprayed with fixative before I set them out. So far, the birds have left the harvest alone.

I keep trying to get a good pic of the "meadow". This one has the plants labeled, so if you enlarge it, you can at least tell what is there. Like many things, the meadow looks better in real life.

Up close and personal.

I don't think this Canada hemlock is going to make it. It looks peaked compared to its brethren. If it goes, a gold mop will replace it.

The latest addition to my flamingo collection. This one is supposed to glow, but it is either a dud or else just does not get enough sun. I'll move it and see if it does better elsewhere.

Another useless beauty, but I love the bright orange.

The first harvest from the green bean plants!

Cicadas! And crickets! Songs of summer

The name of the game this week is maintenance, as in weed control, watering, and gutter cleaning. It's hot (again), but I try to work one hour a day outside, usually in the early morning or evening. If I do have to be out in the noonday sun, I wear a neck gaiter that helps immensely. I bought mine at Dick's Sporting Goods; they are near the checkouts.

I stole this image (but its frequent appearance on various sites makes my thievery seem okay). Despite their aggressive behavior, carpenter bees can't hurt you, which was news to me. I have been stung by paper wasps and yes, it hurts! Yellow jackets are mostly benign until autumn, when they get cranky as their food sources disappear.

I've been dipping into How Can I Help? by Doug Tallamy. It's written in question/answer format, and the questions are based on audience response after lectures. Most of it is spot on, but I have a few quibbles with him, specifically regarding mulberry trees. They are the bane of my existance while he considers them part of nature's food network. By his logic, those awful ornamental pear trees that are taking over undeveloped land everywhere are okay because the birds eat the fruit, ditto burning bush, both invasive non-natives.

His take on goutweed is making me rethink its presence under the hydrangea.

It too is an invasive non-native; its sale is banned in several states. An alternative is wild geranium, which I have in my front yard and that I notice is spreading, so there are candidates for transplanting. But first, I would have to wipe out the goutweed. No easy task.

I abandoned my idea of planting a butterflybush, but perhaps I could squeeze in a bottlebrush buckeye behind the oak tree. They have a tendency to spread via rhizome, so I would need to install some edging around it, not an easy task in my clay soil. I'll put it on the list for possibilities for next year.

Sunflowers and cup plants are starting to bloom, along with the 'Goldsturm' rudbeckia. Yellow!

Also, what I call "ditch" daylilies. Orange!

Then there are a couple of surprises. One of my goals for this year was to let some of the amaranth reseed itself. I forgot about that idea, found myself spraying what I thought were seedlings from the long-gone smoke bush, then realized those purple things were amaranth volunteers. They are popping up all over the place, so maybe I will try dyeing yarn with it again, in hopes of better results than I got last year.

Another surprise is this flowering plant. It is safflower, a volunteer growing under the birdfeeders and another candidate for dyeing. Exciting!

While taking photos, I spent some time just standing in the "meadow". Bees, bees, bees! Also, Japanese beetles, again decimating the Virginia creeper, which is okay as long as they leave everything else alone. Still no butterflies, let alone monarchs, but one can hope.