Let it go

I'm tired of complaining about the lack of bugs in my yard. Instead, I'm adjusting my attitude. If the native plants are not going to attract pollinators, I might as well allow myself to plant some (pretty) non-natives.

A handful of bees have been visiting the milkweed

This is a photo of a redbud leaf. Google Lens was not helpful in identifying whatever this black stuff is. I hope it does not spread to the other trees.

More plants are blooming, like this monarda, a.k.a. bee balm. It is planted amongst the northern sea oats on the south side of the house, but the sea oats appear to be overtaking it. I'll leave it be for now, but may add bee balm to the backyard for some summer color.

Many (MANY) years ago I planted (and transplanted) some tiger lilies in the yard. Most of them have died out, but occasionally one or two pop up in unexpected places. Go figure.

This coming week promises to be a scorcher. That means rolling out of bed and right into dog walking mode, sans coffee, before the day gets too hot. Keep cool!

Pinks!

My love affair with redbud trees started with our first house. A family friend gifted us with several redbud starts from her yard. Having grown up in a Chicago suburb with elm-lined streets and during a time people spent little effort on their yards beyond some foundation shrubs and the lawn, I had never heard of redbuds. But now, if I ruled the world, every yard would sport a redbud tree.

Another pink I look forward to each spring is bleeding heart.

And close on the heels of the redbud is the flowering crab.

I would like to add some pink hyacinth to the front yard as well, because one can never have too many pinks in the spring.

It keeps raining and I keep mowing, grateful for my zero-turn riding mower. My next door neighbor has been using a battery-powered mower this year, but runs out of power several times before finishing. That would annoy me.

Yesterday, while handweeding the beds in the front yard, I wondered just how long I can keep up with the yard upkeep. Today I am a bit sore from bending and stretching and my hands ache, but so far, so good.

But first...

Digging out the compost pile was on my to-do list for this spring. Sifting the existing compost from the rest of the detritis required the use of my yellow Vigoro garden cart... which had four flat tires, one of which was also shredding. I purchased a new tire, but could not figure out how to get the old one off (despite viewing several YT videos). No matter - I just filled all four with air (using my scary air compressor). The compost sifter also needed some repair. Finally, I completed the original to-do item, followed by spreading a shovelful of compost around each shrub.

Black (or brown) gold

I decided to take a look at my goals for this year, to see how I'm doing. Not bad so far. Ten coneflowers ('Sombrero Hot Coral') went into the bed by the sidewalk, and while I have planted the strawberries ('Evie-2') and garlic ('Early Italian'), the temperatures need to be a bit better before starting the green beans (there is a lined milk crate planter ready to receive them). The number of garlic cloves were more than the raised bed could handle, so the extras went into some containers; we'll see how that works out.

Fencing is to discourage Finn from treating this bed like a litter box

While not on the list, some dill seed ('Mammoth') was strewn around the spicebush, hopefully to attract swallowtail butterflies. And there is a pot ready for a tomato plant ('Sun Sugar') I purchased on impulse at Menards. The citrus plants at Tractor Supply tempted me, but I've been complaining about having too many houseplants, so I refrained.

This is the spring for flowering trees. I can't get enough of them (except for the Bradford pears).

'Perfect Purple' flowering crab, neighbor's flowering pear in the background

Redbud

'Prairie Fire' flower crab blossoms

One advantage of aging is one stops worrying so much about what other people think. An exception is my serviceberry specimens. They bloom at the same time as Bradford pear trees, but I hope no one thinks I actually planted the latter.

Around the yard:

Oak gall on witch hazel?

Milkweed!

We had some gale-force winds this past week. One day, a particularly athletic and daring squirrel took advantage of the wind to leap from the privacy fence to the sunflower feeder. Rather bodacious of him, if I do say so myself.

Not so hot

I'm hoping last week was our last hot spell for the season. The forecast looks promising in an early-fall kind of way. This wonky weather has left me feeling off balance, like I can't count on things moving forward in a logical meteorological way. A single outfit doesn't last the day.

A little catch-up: a better photo of the goldenrod and a pic of the lavender colored aster that I think is smooth aster, a.k.a. aster laevis.

I had the landscape guys cut down a volunteer redbud that grew too close to the house, but it's ba-a-a-ack. I plan to try to prune it to a (mostly) single leader, to see if that helps keep it from becoming a nuisance.

Art fairs seem to be the hot thing right now. Some of them are meh, but my SO and I attended a couple of small ones yesterday. I could not resist purchasing this little fellow.

The seller couldn't tell me its name, but I think it is a Crassula 'Buddha Temple' succulent. Apparently, they require very little care, which is my kind of houseplant.

Have a carefree week.

Baby birds

The fledglings are everywhere. I've seen baby sparrows, starlings (which are VERY noisy), mourning doves, and bluebirds. Even though the young 'uns are almost as big as their parents, usually their coloring is a bit different and flying takes a lot more effort, as does sticking the landing. Fun to watch.

As promised last time, I transplanted the basil, tomato, and sweet potato vine plants to containers. I also transplanted some penstemon from a large container to the ground, as it had become too crowded to bloom. It's been hot and dry, so everything gets watered every day; the ninebark shrubs get a big drink when they start looking droopy.

I'm SO GLAD I had the landscaping redone last year. Maintaining it is now relatively easy. Every couple of weeks, I do some hand weeding, then treat the pernicious ones with herbicide. It's amazing what keeps trying to come back every year: burdock, trumpet vine, spearmint, forsithia, poison ivy, tree of heaven (should be called tree from hell - read about it here), etc. Very persistant.

One of the redbud trees is not looking its best. From one angle, it seems fine, but from another, not so much. I have some arborists coming to look at the tulip tree, so I'll ask about the redbud as well.

I discovered some calico scale on one of the witchhazel shrubs. Not sure if I should be worried about that.

On a positive note, here is a bee in the penstemon planted last year. It crawls all the way into the blossom in its pursuit of pollen.

Other current bloomers include the climbing rose that I periodically threaten to eliminate.

And columbine.

Flamingos are my thing, so I could not resist this patriotic trio from Menards. I'm sure some of my neighbors don't approve, but that's the point.

Otherwise, I have been busy with my summer job: chauffeuring my granddaughter hither and yon (this week, it was basketball camp). The heat has kept me mostly inside. Next week promises to be milder, although still no rain in the forecast.

No Mow Maybe Not

I don't know who started the No-Mow May meme, but in general, it is not a good idea. My lawn is treated, mostly organically, so if I didn't mow, I would have foot-tall grass by now, as I have mowed four times already this season. And the non-grass spring plants that grew there before were mostly dandelions, which as you can read below, are not a good thing. (These quotes came to me via the Riverview Native Nursery newsletter that I receive by email.)

Rewilding Magazine: "...here’s what the little research done to date on dandelions tells us. Dandelion has allelopathic pollen, a scientific term that basically means the pollen of dandelions can reduce reproductive success in native wildflowers, disrupting the native plant communities it invades. Another study showed that queen bumblebees (some of the early emerging wild bees that pro-dandelion campaigns say dandelions help) resorted to eating their own eggs when fed a diet of protein-deficient dandelion pollen."
Benjamin Vogt of Monarch Gardens: "What you WILL get are a host of plants with marginal to little benefit to wildlife, and several that will be terribly aggressive: crabgrass, creeping charlie, barnyard grass. And of course invasive species placed on most city’s noxious weed list, like musk thistle or garlic mustard."
The Garden Professors: " Even better yet, you can reduce the amount of space in your landscape that is dedicated to a traditional turfgrass lawn and incorporate a flowering groundcover and/or a pollinator garden that hosts an abundant array of diverse floral resources that provide food for bees all season long!"
Iowa State: "Consider eliminating the lawn altogether and replacing it with plants or garden spaces that don’t require frequent maintenance and support native insects and wildlife. Replacing turf with perennials, groundcovers, shrubs, and trees can reduce water consumption, pesticides, and fertilizers while increasing soil organic matter, building soil quality, and helping to retain and infiltrate stormwater"

While I have a nice bit of lawn front and back, I also try to provide natives for the pollinators. The only problem is I don't see very many pollinators these days, which I presume is due to neighbors treating their lawns with insecticide. I'm hoping my yard becomes a pollinator oasis.

My yard does seem to be an avian oasis. A pair of robins has built a nest in the same spot as last year: under the eave on top of a bend in the downspout behind the Japanese maple by the dining room window. I'm tempted to place a ladder there and take a weekly photograph.

And here is a photo of the mallards that stopped by last week. I'm surprised they don't pop in when the standing water is at its worst. It's hard to see, but the female is behind the fence in the photo below. They took off shortly after this pic was taken.

The 'Perfect Purple' flowering crab seems particularly laden with blossoms this year. The low branch on the right will have to be pruned, as it threatens my eyesight every time I mow.

Up close and personal.

The redbud trees seem to be underperforming this year, but it is early. They hit their peak in early May. And despite my wishing, it is not yet May. (The chair is an experiment, to see if I like sitting there, for a different view of the yard.)

Up close.

I've seen exhortations here and there that it is time to set up hummingbird feeders. Not so around here, as I rarely see them before June. The oriole feeder has not been visited yet, but from last year's blog, I see they did not show up until May.

Meanwhile, I've attended to a few spring chores, like cleaning the deck, some of the siding (until I ran out of cleaning solution), and renewing the stone mulch. What I love about this photo is the lack of crapola. There used to be a stack of cedar planks on the deck, plus some stray ones on the table. Things look a lot tidier now.

The installation of the rain garden is supposed to happen tomorrow, BUT one underground utility has yet to be marked: Frontier and their fiber optic cable. Ordinarily, I would not be too worried about this, BUT the cable is just a few inches below the surface and easy to damage. Will they show up today, a Sunday? Somehow, I doubt it.

It rained and rained and rained some more

I must have jinxed the area by saying the D word (drought) in my last post. Too bad I had taken in my rain gauge in anticipation of the landscape work, but I do know areas north of me received 9" while farther south it was more like 4". That is a lot of rain, but since it has been dry, little flooding. Instead, the near hurricane force winds (60 mph) caused tree damage. My yard was relatively unscathed except for one of the redbud trees, which lost the limb holding the wren house. Fortunately, no one had chosen it for a second brood. Unfortunately, some baby bluejays met their demise from a nest in the elm tree. Oh, and the basketball hoop in the driveway fell over.

The landscapers removed the limb. From what I read online, it is best to let the tree heal itself rather than cover the wound with tar or some other substance. Hopefully, it will recover.

As you may have gathered from the previous paragraph, YES, the landscapers are here. So far, they have been removing what amounts to a jungle of growth. I didn't realize how much grapevine had invaded the arborvitae, leaving a big gap of bare branches. They are not dead, though, so I am hoping with some exposure to light and air, the shrubs will fill in, much like the gold mop did when I cut out the burning bush that was crowding it.


Something I had not counted on was how unobtrusive the workers are. Most of the work is being done by hand - shovels, picks, rakes - and what power tools they do have - chain saws, weeders - are electric. No Bobcats, no dump trucks, no lawn getting torn up. The root balls on some of the trees are large enough that they will use an auger to dig the holes, but otherwise, very quiet and peaceful, not like my usual experience with contractors.

Between storms, I cleaned out gutters. The last time I did that, my SO wrangled the ladders and spotted me. He was out of town this past week, though, and I could tell several downspouts were plugged. I had to put on my big girl panties and do it by myself, wondering how much longer I can keep that up. I'll be 70 this fall.

I have been taking pictures as the landscaping progresses; I'll post those once everything is done.

I fret about trees

Maybe because trees take so long to get established and grow large enough to cast some shade, I tend to worry about mine. So far, none have succumbed to disease or pests or weather, but still I fret.

This pic is the trunk of the pagoda dogwood. I'm not finding any help online about this issue. So far, the tree looks fine, but this is a worrisome sight.

The 'Perfect Purple' flowering crab in the front yard has a similar problem. Again, the tree looks fine otherwise (except for losing the leader which broke off in a storm). I hope it continues to do well.

At least the redbud in the backyard that lost a leader-type branch in the same storm has several applicants vying for that position. We'll see who comes out on top (so to speak).

I don't worry about the bishop's weed - it's indestructible - but it does seem to suffer from leaf spot, or something like it. I *could* try to do something about it, but like I said, indestructible.

One plant I had completely forgotten about is this Japanese painted fern I received as a gift when I retired. It must like its location at the end of the hosta bed, and I admire its tenacity, but it is too well hidden. Perhaps it would make a good houseplant?

After a week of hot, humid, rainy weather, almost everything that blooms in the yard is leaning if not outright prone. Even the Russian Giant sunflowers are falling over, despite not having seed heads yet. The natives along the fence are particularly bad. And because of the weather, I have not been able to be out there helping everything get upright again. There are several dry, temperate days ahead, so I'd better stop writing and start staking.

Last mow, first snow

I had almost talked myself into waiting until today to pick up dog poop and mow leaves. The winter weather advisory changed my mind. Yesterday was a nice fall day, today a winter wonderland.

After yesterday's chores, I did hobble about a bit, camera in hand. I'm glad I captured this silver grass in its upright position; today it is severely slumped over.

This is the trunk of one of my redbud trees. I assume the damage was caused by the extremely wet spring we had and hope that the tree will recover. This one is next to the deck and quite useful shadewise.

The common milkweed pods are exploding. I'm contemplating just letting it take over one corner of the yard. I didn't notice very many monarchs this summer, but then I wasn't out and about in the yard much.

I am very impressed with how rubust my Triumph elm is. Once the leaves dropped, a nest appeared. I hope this tree continues to thrive.

The still tiny Prairie Fire crabapple insists on fruiting. First year sleep, second year creep, third (next) year leap - I hope. The Perfect Purple crab in the front yard isn't looking very robust, so I'm hoping it takes off soon, too.

Some shrubs still have fruit on them while others have been stripped bare already. The hawthorn tree in the front yard is loaded with orange berries; the robins will find them in late winter. Last year they did not eat all of them, so I plan to harvest some for dyeing yarn.

My SO came over Saturday and cleaned out the poison ivy patch under the gold mop. I've sprayed the poison ivy several times and it looks like it is finally finished off. May it never return!

So THAT'S what smells so good

Recently, when I stepped out the patio door, I smelled something wonderful but could not place. Today I realized it is the common milkweed. I'm surprised there isn't a perfume called Eau de Asclepias syriaca.

I have seen a few butterflies this summer, including a random monarch or two. I wish I knew what this guy is. I initially mistook it for a leaf. The legs and body are fuzzy, like a moth, but it has its wings folded like a butterfly. Anyone know?

The Betty Corning clematis experiment is half fail, half successful. I didn't get the tuteur moved early enough for one, plus I did not provide it with stable support, so now it looks like it is crawling toward the redbud. Another problem is some critter hides underneath it, so the dogs are always nosing around there.

The other BC is doing what I hoped, except this particular variety of clematis does not get tall enough to twine through the tree branches. I will have to rethink this experiment. (Sorry for the poor pic - it was a bit too sunny for quality photography.)

I have tried repeatedly to get some butterflyweed established, even purchasing a variety that is supposed to do well in clay soil. One problem is it is easily overwhelmed by its neighbors, which is my fault. It needs a little elbow room. (In the background are the black hollyhocks.)

I could try to convince you that these hollyhocks are a new variety known as "Lacy Leaf". I plant hollyhocks for two reasons: the blossoms yield a lovely natural dye and the plants act as a trap crop for Japanese beetles. Success on both counts.

As if my bum hip weren't enough, I caught a summer cold (THANKS, JANINE!) and now it is unbearably hot out. A few minutes standing in the sun chatting with my neighbor just about gave me heat stroke. It's a bit too dry (didn't think I'd be saying that after our wet, wet, wet spring) but not so dry I am watering anything... yet.