Grasses and mostly bad news

I recently learned Chinese silver grass is deemed invasive. I have not noticed it growing beyond its bounds locally - and there is a LOT of it in local landscaping - but that doesn't mean it isn't or won't be a problem.

Intellectually, I am against installing invasive plants in one's yard. BUT I can't help but wonder if my acting ethically makes much difference. This is me making excuses for keeping my silver grass. Any opinions out there?

I did remove my burning bush (or at least, I am still battling it - it's difficult to eliminate). Again, it is a very popular landscape option in theses parts AND I have not noticed it growing in undeveloped lots (unlike ornamental pear). I had an ulterior motive for removing the burning bush, though, as it was crowding the gold mop.

Now that the burning bush is (mostly) gone, the gold mop is beginning to fill out on the south side. If I at least prune back the barberry (ANOTHER INVASIVE) on the east side, the gold mop will be restored to all its glory.

And now I am wondering if dwarf fountain grass, specifically 'Hameln', is invasive. For years, my three plants behaved well. But now they are spreading all over the place. I would like to move it from its current location - it's crowding the cotoneaster - to a stone-mulched bed along one side of the driveway. Worth the effort? I don't know.

And then there are native grasses that are problematic. The northern sea oats spread very easily, and the switch grass flops. The latter problem is of my own making, as there is not enough sunshine in this location by the front porch.

In a sunnier location, the switch grass could look like this grouping at a local city park:

So far, I have not heard anything about hardy pampas grass being invasive. It also tolerates shade fairly well, although it too could probably use more light.

Meanwhile, prairie dropseed is spectacular in its un-spectacular-ness. Is this normal?

The final bad news is that my minimalist approach to dog fencing is not working out. Clio, a.k.a. Big Foot, is not about to be stopped by short ornamental fencing. I obviously need to come up with a better plan.

I'm thinking electric fencing, at least for a while.

Plans, I has 'em

All year round, I find myself thinking about what I want to do next in the yard and garden, but never more than at the end of the season. With successes and failures fresh in my mind, I contemplate what to repeat, what to do better, what to abandon, what new thing to try. These daydreams always chase away any gardener blues I may succumb to now and then.

Before fall cleanup

Something I would really like to improve is weed control in the vegetable garden, especially between beds. I've tried mulching with this, that, and the other, with minimal success. For my next method, I will try mowing. Toward that end, my SO helped me shift the raised beds to make the paths wide enough to accommodate the Toro.

After fall cleanup (more or less)

Next year's big "something new" will be the mini orchard, starting with apples and cherries. I think. I get a little overwhelmed with the choices of fruit trees available, but am narrowing my first choices to varieties that are naturally resistant to pests and diseases, the better to ensure some success.

It's not just the backyard that receives my scrutiny. The bed by the front walk is filling in nicely, but I am discovering the arrangement of the plants is not the best. Specifically, some taller things need to switch places with shorter ones, and some varieties would benefit from clustering together rather than standing in isolation.

This summer I filled in a few blanks with marigolds, simply because I started more seedlings than the vegetable garden could accommodate. Next year I would like to use its cousin calendula instead, which should self seed. I hope that does not turn out to be a mistake.

I'm done with the old fashioned (i.e. mildewed) lilac by the driveway, so whacked it down; an almond tree may grow in its place. The burning bush will get a severe pruning, to give the gold mop a chance to fill in all around.

I'm also done with most of the ornamental grasses in front of the house - just too floppy - and plan to move them to the backyard. I think a maple leaf viburnum would be a nice replacement by the front porch.

This 'Hameln', however, gets prettier every day in the autumn. I think I'll keep it.

I visited a tree nursery several years ago in search of a tulip poplar. The owner shamelessly flirted while extolling the virtues of the sugar maple over a tulip tree. Yes, sugar maples are striking this time of year, but I like the tulip poplar I eventually planted. So much so, I want to plant another, to someday shade the deck.

The observant will notice some big blue stem in the photo above. It and its neighbors, a little blue stem and two varieties of asters, are destined to move to the back corner where they can spread out to their natural size. The plants I moved to the south side of the house this past summer will probably join them. Then I get to decide what to do with the newly vacated location. I get excited just considering the possibilities!

Signs of November

The burning bush:



Under the burning bush:



The asplenifolia:



Under the asplenifolia:



The maple tree:



Under the maple tree:



And ornamental grasses:







(Don't tell the others, but the sea oats are my favorite!)

Signs of October

My SO claimed he had fall-blooming, perennial petunias in his yard. I did not believe him, so he not only showed me, he brought me some.



These must be wild petunias, which can reseed themselves. They prefer partial sun and well-drained soil, but I thought I would give them a try anyway.

My lone backyard tree survived the summer.



The tulip tree's leaves are turning a lovely shade of yellow.



Not as spectacular as my neighbor's two new red maples, but mine will have blossoms in the spring.

The burning bush is on fire.



The sedum is fading from red to copper.



The Japanese maple is also turning copper-colored...



... as are the sea oats.



We haven't had a hard frost yet, but I'm basically done with the vegetables for this year. Oh, except for the fall snow peas. And garlic should be arriving soon. And there are bulbs to plant. When does a gardener get to rest?

Who needs television?

A "free" day can hang on some like a burden, but not me. On the one hand, it's an opportunity to do nothing, and I'm always up for that. On the other, why waste it? My free day included a project, a chore, and an emergency.

First the project.

The original plans for the new room included a spot for the litter box, but I did not want it out in the open. Enter the "cat washroom" from Plow and Hearth. It arrived the other day, but some (all) assembly was required.



It was well packaged and the instructions seemed straightforward. Step 1 was easy.



Step 2 could have used a bit more exposition or a better illustration, because at Step 3 I realized I had already goofed. Then it was smooth sailing until Step 7.



Notice something missing? The door was supposed to be attached in Step 6.



In situ. Not sure why a cat needs a towel rack - shoot, they don't even need toilet paper because what else is a tongue for? - but what the hey.



None of the litter boxes from my current collection will fit inside, so I have not introduced Fern to her new potty spot. But I was hoping to feed her on top of the thing. Currently, she will eat only out of the dog's bowl, which creates some logistical problems. So far, she is not thrilled with my idea, plus is cranky from being hungry. In a battle of wills with a cat, the cat usually wins, but I'm going to give it a few more days.

Now, the chore.

One of our addition's residents clears our streets, so when I saw him go by, a wave of slush curling up from his plow, I realized the time to shovel the driveway was now. Fortunately, the aforementioned neighbor opened up the end of my driveway for me, after expressing amazement (for the third year in a row) that I don't yet have a snow blower. My next door neighbor wandered over, shovel in hand, to ask me if I could catsit for them. Then he felt obligated to help me. (This neighbor owes me about 99 favors already.) Still, I made me some muscles by the time I was done.



That picture makes my driveway look longer than the 50 feet it actually is.

Yesterday's post included a photo of my ornamental grasses encased in ice. I was amazed that the one near the porch was still upright. Well, I bumped its supporting structure while shoveling yesterday and it fell into a heap.



Last, the emergency.

Around 8:30 last night, I let the dog out. She has a habit of peeing on the patio, so I followed her out to chase her into the yard proper. While waiting for her to do her business, I heard this small beep...beep...beep. It was coming from the gas meter. Huh.

My first inclination was to ignore it. After all, if I had not gone outside, I would not have heard it at all. (Am I the Queen of Denial or what?) Then I Googled "gas meter beeping" but that was not very helpful. So I went back out and listened. Yep, still there. I stuck my head down closer to the meter and SMELLED GAS!

Even I know this is an emergency, so I went back in and called the gas company. Help was on the way.

Thirty minutes later, help was still on the way. This is when having a hobby comes in very handy, as I was knitting furiously and nervously while watching out the window. Maybe I wouldn't have been so nervous if I hadn't seen the following photo in Friday morning's Journal Gazette.



Yep, broken gas line. Knowing that not only does a gas line run to my house, but gas mains also run along the utility easements on both the west and north sides of my property did not help.

Finally a very nice, personable, good humored (and good looking!) fellow showed up, the kind of guy that generates confidence in his abilities and his expertise. He too heard the beep (I'm not crazy!) and determined that there was a leak (still not crazy!) and it was before the gas meter, so I was not paying to pollute the atmosphere (what good luck!) He tightened down a joint, which helped, but said the meter and its external plumbing would need replacing. My case was a "grade 2" emergency; in other words, not a must-fix-now emergency but a should-fix-soon emergency. He assured me I was safe, I could use my gas appliances, etc. and they would try to fix it Saturday.

Which brings me to issuing a blanket THANK YOU to all the people who cannot spend the day making couch dents while the weather goes to hell. Initially, I was grateful not to be a paper deliverer or a truck driver, completely forgetting about the medical professionals and public safety personnel and utility workers who keep us safe in not very safe conditions. Time to stop whining about my job, where I work in a nice, clean, warm, friendly environment.

P.S. In between all this fun, I did view some wildlife in my own backyard. Mr. Squirrel had to abandon the Telephone Wire Highway and snaked through the back roads of the privat hedge instead. It was still rough going. And while I was idly watching the usual juncos, sparrows, house finches, etc. a huge HAWK flew into the the yard and perched in a shrub. His prospective meals flew off as soon as he showed up, and soon he left as well. Wish I had been less stunned and more reflexive in a photography sort of way. He was a beauty.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

For once, Chicken Little was right: the sky is falling. Or something is falling out of the sky. Rain? Snow? Freezing rain? Slush? Hard to tell when you can't see out the windows.



Power at home (despite the flickering of the lights) but no power at the office - the perfect storm! I planned to glue my butt to the couch all day, but the poor birds had a problem: icicle bars on the feeders prevented access.



Even goodies from the wild were locked away.



So I ventured out, thinking maybe the crap in the driveway was movable. Not yet, so I checked out the damage around mi casa.

The Japanese maple is not liking its first winter in situ.



Obligatory artsy fartsy shot of ice encased asplenifolia branches against a gray sky.



Ornamental grasses sagging. Notice neighbors vehicles in the background. My garage may be full of crap, but at least I can park my car in it, thank god.



My temperature-indicating rhododendron will not be unfurling their leaves until it warms up enough to melt their icy coat.



Even the chicken wire is a thing of beauty.



The lights keep dimming, so I am going to post this while I can. Besides, there is a butt dent in the couch with my name on it.