While we were at the extension office, we took a stroll through their gardens, which consist of the usual suspects. A bonus is many are labeled, so if we were stumped over the identification of a plant, we just had to find its tag. Very helpful.
This planter design was new to me.
The past few days have brought morning fog, which highlights spider webs. At least I think they are spider webs. They could be a fungus. If I see them tomorrow, I will take a closer look.
The photo above highlights one of the things I don't like about the Packera aurea (Golden ragwort): the stems that remain after pruning the flowering stalks. I'm at the age where I don't like to do a lot of bending over, so I cut these back the best I could. Pulling on the stems, even when they look done, frequently results in uprooting the whole plant. In the sunnier areas, I plan to interplant one bed with a short variety of coneflower, another bed with a short variety of rudbeckia. That should at least disguise the stems.
We were lucky to receive almost two inches of rain this past week, which of course brought out the mushrooms. Perhaps these are a variety of Gymnopus?
I noticed that one cell in the mason bee nest is occupied, hopefully with mason bees. To read about their life cycle, visit this site.
The dead tulip tree is now a "wildlife tree" or snag. The other day, I observed a pair of sparrows stripping bark from one if the limbs, presumably to expose insects for the two youngsters that were with them.
The nextdoor neighbors have been making good use of their above-ground pool this summer. I'm almost tempted to get one of my own. Almost. It would have to come with a "pool boy".
