Spring in December

This "winter" to date has featured some extraordinarily warm weather. Cherry trees are blossoming around the neighborhood! And inevitably, some of my bulbs are peeking up from the ground. I have no idea what this means for spring.

Unrelatedly, I must note that I am STILL RAKING. As of today, I could be done, but there are some leaves left on the back lawn - if it doesn't get cold/snowy, I'll get 'em eventually. I had no idea fall clean-up would extend through December. We have A LOT OF TREES.

Salamander

This salamander was under my pot of mint. It was sluggish (hibernating, I suppose?). I needed to move the pot so I just moved it aside. I think it is a Northern Slimy Salamander?

Still more bulbs

I finally finished planting all the darned bulbs today. And I finished my map of where they are - they're in the red spots.

My dad was here over the last several days and he voluntarily did a lot of raking! But there are still...so...many...leaves. I keep making trips to the dump with them.

Look how gorgeous the Japanese maple is in the background!

More bulbs

Planting bulbs has been harder work than I anticipated, because I am battling rocks and roots and finding things like shards of glass in the soil.

Today I wanted to put the tulip bulbs in the front, close the the garage, where I think the deer are least likely to go. I was digging and in addition to a crazy number of rocks, there were enormous chunks of concrete down there, clearly having been used as filler by the guys who worked on the garage. Removing them took a lot of effort, but I did it, and stuck the bulbs in as deep as I could (probably about a foot), having read that planting them deep (ideally about 20") increases their chances of coming up multiple years in a row. I had always thought of tulips as perennials and was surprised to read recently that a lot of them only come up once, then die due to suffering from too much moisture or other bad conditions. And indeed, that has happened to me; but I thought it was just my bad luck.

This is where the tulips went

I still have a lot of bulbs left to plant! My arms ache at the prospect, but the weather is supposed to be lovely this week and I don't have too much work on my plate, so I'll get it done.

A bee found my plot of the property (still in progress) a nice resting spot. It was sluggish and I blew it off the paper and into the chrysanthemum.

After planting, Emma and I went in back to look for fairies.

Bird-watching

Lots of slate-colored juncos have been hanging out in the yard these last few days.

Planting bulbs

SUCH a gorgeous Indian summer day today! The temperature moseyed up to the mid-seventies. I took advantage by planting some of my bulbs along the back wall of the back yard - daffodils and Spanish bluebells. They all called for "full to part sun" so I hope there is enough light for them. I also hope squirrels and chipmunks don't dig them up.

I am making a map, based on the official survey of our property, of where I'm planting stuff, so I don't forget!

Fall

'Tis fall. I have read that this is a "mast year" for oak trees, which explains why there are MILLIONS of acorns in our yard. I really should google whether there are any practical uses for acorns.

The leaves are starting to change color in our yard, and increasingly falling, though it hasn't gotten out of hand yet. I bought 30 lawn-and-leaf bags to be ready!

As our mowing people finished their work in September, I also secretly bought a reel mower, and have now mowed two sections of the back lawn after painstakingly removing the acorns. I just kind of hate getting our lawn mowed. I hate the loud mower and I hate, hate, hate their leaf blowers. There was a heated debate on our neighborhood listserv about leaf blowers. I stayed out of it.

My trusty 1947-copyright edition of Peterson's "A Field Guide to the Birds" has two plates on "Confusing Fall Warblers," and I have come to think of that as its own species, as in "Hey look, it's a Confusing Fall Warbler!" since I guess I have been seeing some of them. But I managed to identify one from yesterday: I am pretty confident it is a Myrtle Warbler, although these pictures are pathetic:

The pine tree behind the driveway has a lot of needles turning yellow and dropping, and I looked this up and apparently it is normal in the fall. It is likely a white pine.

Catching up

Summer is for BEING outdoors, not BLOGGING about outdoors. So let us catch up (though it is still almost 80 outside!).

First, before I forget, I looked it up and I'm in gardening zone 7A.

I just ordered some bulbs today, based largely on deer resistance, except for the irresistible tulips:

This was just yesterday, at Reeves-Reed Arboretum nearby. It is small, but lovely, even this late in the year.

Black-capped chickadee, Sept. 17

Sept 17....what the heck? As if I can identify this bird based on this picture? The point is that there are occasionally brownish birds that pass quickly through, I never manage to get a good photo or even a good look, I don't know what they are (and they're not even all the same kind), and it drives me crazy. Sigh.

I don't know what this flowering shrub is - it was here when we moved in. We didn't even realize it would bloom! It was at its peak around Aug. 23, and just gorgeous. Wish I could identify it!

Look at the size of this fungus! This was Sept. 3

This just shows that there was a branch that the tree removal people broke on the live tree, and didn't notice, and now it has brown leaves, obvi. I was going to follow up and ask them to remove it and I, uh, didn't.

Sun patterns - Sep. 8

7:00am

9:00am

1:15pm

3:45pm

Landscaping envy

I just thought this was pretty. It was a house neighboring one where we were at a party. I liked the trees overhanging the path/patio area. And the ground cover was pretty. This was actually the side of the house; I didn't even look at it from the front.

Frail flowers and flourishing fawns

While the plants in front are doing well on the whole, some of our perennials in back are muddling along.

The hydrangea's blooms are pathetic.

I guess our chewed-up mystery plants were coneflowers? I think? Not exactly thriving, but at least blooming!

I really should weed. Yeah. I really should.

And if they're not all doing great, this may be one of the reasons: here comes the next generation of garden gourmands! Cute, but naughty.

Two fawns and a doe

Unrelated to struggling foliage, I have had my eye on a brown mystery bird when it has appeared very briefly in the yard a few times. It drives me mad not to be able to identify it. I am lately thinking it is a type of wren - perhaps a winter wren? It moves around so much that it's hard to get a good look, much less a photo.

Tree removal

One of the four trees clustered at the base of our hill in our front yard was dead on (our) arrival when we moved in, though of course we didn't realize it until spring.

I got quotes from 3 companies to remove it: Fred at Pyontek, who said $1250, Joe at Trusty Tree, $1200, and Julian at Frank's Tree Service, $1000. So we went with Frank's, and while it took a few weeks to schedule, today the tree is gone, along with the dead branches on the adjacent tree. It was fascinating to watch.

They took it down in pieces.

Then the branches went in the chipper.

The trunk was cut into much smaller pieces, which got hauled off in a truck.

When the stump was only about 8-9 feet high, they cut it at the bottom and toppled it.

Cutting off one branch in another of the trees meant the guy climbed very high into the tree, chainsaw and all, and eventually let himself back down with a rope! It did not look fun to me, but he seemed to be enjoying it. I wish I had a picture of that.

Sun patterns - July 20

7:00am

8:30am

10:30am

1:00pm

3:15pm

5:15pm

Garden happenings

The wormwood has spread out nicely, although it's got some yellow parts underneath. Hmmm. The thing next to it with purple flowers, brachyscome, is also doing great. Two winners.

Most of the flowers did not spread out as much as I'd hoped, so the lesson is to plant more of them, spaced closer together, next year. Still, the begonias are doing great, and the geraniums are doing well. The stock has petered out. I'm not sure whether it was being eaten, or it just didn't thrive. I'll avoid that next year.

In the back, I think these were going to be purple coneflowers - four of them. I think it is deer that have basically kept them munched low to the ground, and then I spotted this beetle on them too.

This bud was cruelly chewed off the very night after I took this picture. It was literally nipped in the bud.

The hydrangea is a little anemic, but still it's nice to see some blooms. I panicked a little when the bleeding heart turned yellow but then read that that's normal and you just cut it down.

This is the front where all the ground cover was pulled out. If I ever get my act together, it's going to be a rock garden. I plan to put the rocks and soil down this year and wait to plant until next year. Meanwhile I'm waiting for Frank's Tree Service to pull down the dead tree.

The view up the walk:

The lantana has done very nicely. Must get more for next year. The lavender bloomed and now the blooms just look dead. I thought they would keep blooming? I am not pleased.

The moss roses/portulaca have been a great success and I just wish I had more.

Not pictured, some bug has completely razed the mint that was growing wildly in a pot. My basil also came under attack (from a caterpillar, I believe) but is now looking reasonably good again - I think the caterpillar became moths or butterflies or something.

Last note: I have decided I don't like the gazanias, though they are doing well. Too spiky and garish colors.