The Years To Remember

The baby bunnies are setting out on exploring the yard. I see them on their own, like this one in the lavender. Sisters weekend was a success and over way too soon. We mostly caught up, reminisced, and did some walking and playing games.  From Friday morning until Sunday afternoon we did a lot of laughing too. I wish they lived closer to me. We played “washers” which is a more compact form of the cornhole game.  Theresa and I worked on my dented bumper and were able to pop out the dent with the use of a hair dryer. By the time we finished you could hardly notice where it had been dented. A green eyed jumping spider made an appearance during the  washers game. Monument Square at the Troy Farmer’s Market. We found lots of garlic scapes to purchase. I thought I had deterred the robins from building a nest on my deck weeks ago. They got this far in one night/morning before I knocked it down. It had no bottom yet, and no eggs, or I would have left it alone. It rained all day a...

 Monday A cutworm chopped off my new salvia flower stalk the day I planted it out. Then something - I'm thinking chipmunk or squirrel - just uprooted two of my bean seedlings. Didn't eat them, just pulled them up, out of spite I guess. They were growing in the EarthBoxes which are usually safe from marauding creatures since they are not visible from the ground. Then there are the mice and voles lurking near the hot tub for nefarious reasons. The battle with the critters begins ... There are a few rabbits in the yard that do not bother me. They nibble some of the flowers, but not too badly. Last evening I went out to put something in the shed and saw this adorable scene: I counted at least 4 babies, but it was getting dark and I didn't want to get too close and scare them. I'm guessing a few more of my plants will be nibbled soon. Tuesday  More mayhem in the garden. I just planted a phlox and wild geranium in a new bed yesterday, only to find them dug up and strewn about...

  Peaceful view on my walk. It is very hot and humid these past few days and the scattered thunderstorms are missing my area. We had one very short one last night, but it barely quenched the ground. I'm getting tired of watering my garden every day. Amyjean came over the other day to mow my lawn, for which I am so grateful. I fed her dinner, and promised her a baptisia and iris from my garden.  I repurposed two window screens and some garden fencing into this kale cover to keep the cabbage moth larva from making lace out of the leaves. My still working friend Janice wanted some help with starting a garden. Her husband had bulldozed this side of her house and laid down a thick layer of wood chips as mulch. On Sunday I went up the plateau to her house in the woods to begin. I brought lots of plants from my garden to add to the ones Dale brought and we began with a stone path through the bed. Janice moved most of the stones because I am still under activity restrictions. She is t...

 Like this baby robin, I have been watching the garden grow at an amazing pace, while my efforts to control it have been minimal up to now. I have another week to go before diving in, but I don't know if I can contain my gardening enthusiasm. An early morning visitor on the deck railing. I learned something new! I thought I saw loads of bumblebees visiting my flowers, but they seemed different. They hovered in a way I hadn't noticed before, and they were very skittish. Turns out, they are not bumble bees, but carpenter bees. They look similar, but do not have a furry abdomen like bumble bees. They are very territorial, and good pollinators so they are welcome in my garden.  A carpenter bee with its shiny, fuzz free abdomen.  They are harder to photograph than the gentle bumbles. A fuzzy bumble bee sipping on baptisia. I'm attempting much more observation than action in the garden and I've started a priority list for when I get the OK to resume strenuous activities. I...