Sassy and I enjoyed our morning walk. She does not let me wait past 7 AM, when we often see her pal on the corner and his cat Puss-Puss. Sassy is now best friends with PP and today forged a non-aggression pact with Roach, our helper's cat. They touch noses now instead of Sassy barking loudly and getting hisses. Sassy finally realized that her friendly, loud barks do not work well with cats.
However, our helper's wife loves those loud barks and encourages them with a big smile. That sets off Sassy in a series of loud, happy barks.
I admired the new buds on the Crepe Myrtle bush. All the Crepe Myrtles are gone seed in our neighborhood. I still had lots of color because the flowers were so big, but they were halfway into seed and ready for pruning. If all goes well. we will have a complete set of blooms again. Neighbors notice and ask about it. Crepe Myrtles can be treated as drought-tolerant weeds, but with a little tending, they are outrageously colorful.
For the Crepe Myrtle, I do these things:
- Place red wiggler earthworms at the base from time to time, though once is enough.
- Look for extra mulch (shredded wood, grass, leaves) all summer and lots for winter.
- Water when the maple tree roses are watered.
- Prune the first bloom off completely and keep the lower part bare for that Lyle Lovett look. The constant pruning below and the annual above spurs growth.
The sunny garden turned into the weedy garden, so our helper mowed down the weeds with his weed-eater. I learned that newspapers dissolve when under water too long, so the value of Jackson Mulch as a weed barrier was reduced by having 7 inches of rain at a time.
I have a surplus of roses, so that will be a second ring around the maple tree instead of buying more. My $5 roses are really paying off with great blooms and unusual colors and shapes. The extras will be transplanted in the spring.
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| Beautyberries - new to me - thanks to our neighboring nursery - Almost Eden. |
I tried to form a green fence in our backyard, a screen to hide the view of the outbuildings and junkyard dogs west of us. Blackberries did not grow well there, but unplanted and unbidden Morning Glories climbed the fence and began blooming where I thought of growing them.
Gardening is fun because we get to enjoy our little creations, which are subordinate to the Creator, no matter how we plan. Gardening failures are an annual expectation, but the surprises make up for them. Pumpkins never matured. Many plants fed the rabbit population, but the sight of hummingbirds on the roses and Bee Balm dissolved my bad thoughts about those cute, lop-eared vege-predators.
Sometimes I begin with something and do not know what to do with it. We had logs and too many ended up hauled away. They made good toad shelters, and I learned from Sharon Lovejoy that I needed more logs for more toads. Boom, the dead tree fell and I had more logs again, a rustic fence across the yard - and free pine cones from a yard sale.
Blueberries in the grocery store made me think about blueberries in the yard, so I soon had those from 1/2 block away and pine needles from the pine cone producers - almost next door.
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| Yesterday a truck took the curve too fast and wiped out, next door to Almost Eden, easily heard from our house 1/2 block away. No blueberry bushes or beautyberries were harmed.  |
