More August-like weather

The forecast is for at least ten days of 80+ degree temperatures, and no rain in sight. I've been watering plants that ordinarily are on their own, especially ones that look a bit peaked. At least the nights are (relatively) cool.

This past week I've been helping my daughter at her new house. The property had been uninhabited for a year, so while a neighbor kept the lawn mowed, not much of anything else was done. While daughter works on the inside (removing carpet, etc.), I whack weeds, then spray them. With this heat, I last about three hours before having to call it a day. I saw a couple of butterflies and a praying mantis - no pix because I am not fast enough - and spiders.

The yard contains "mature trees" which is another way of saying "call the tree service". They look like fast-growing silver maples and locusts that have been there for probably sixty years. My inclination is to get rid of all of them, but we'll have an arborist give us some advice first. I hate to cut down trees, but these are not exactly the most desirable ones to have, especially regarding sewer lines and electric service. For replacements, I'd recommend some elms in the front yard, Japanese maple and redbud in the back.

There are garden beds all around the house, just aching for something besides pachysandra. I'm pushing dwarf conifers for the front of the house proper, heuchera for a narrow bed that runs along the garage, hostas on the north side, then natives in the backyard, as we can source those from my yard.

I make it sound like this is *my* property. Right now my daugher is too busy with the house itself to give much thought to the yard. She likes to garden, though, so I know she will want to do *something* with the outside.

On my own homefront, there are still weeds to contend with, although they seem to recognize that the growing season is coming to an end. There have been some different visitors to the birdbath this week. A downy woodpecker has discovered the "wildlife" tree as well, but it is too shy to photograph.

Northern flicker

Blue jay

Something I have completely forgotten about are the wild strawberry and wild petunia seeds in the refrigerator. They never sprouted, so I think I will scatter them outside come December, and let Mother Nature have her way with them. Maybe I should put a reminder in my calendar so I don't forget about them *again*.

A bargain

I took a sample of the skeletonized leaves from my 'Perfect Purple' flowering crab to the Purdue County Extension office. To have a member of the Master Gardeners examine them cost nothing, but I coughed up $5 for an expert to take a look and provide advice. They confirmed that yes, it is the apple-and-thorn skeletonizer, a.k.a. Choreutis pariana and provided several choices for treatment. What a deal!

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".