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| Clethra is a fragrance factory - cinnamon and sweet in its aromas, not just during the blooming season. Clethra and Joe Pye get plenty of wood mulch and peat humus at their base to provide an earthworm food factory for their future growth. |
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| Clethra reminds us that tiny flowers attract the most pollinators. Sunflowers are the except. No, they are huge disks of tiny flowers, each one producing a seed, loaded with sweet and musky fragrance to draw the creatures. |
Plants must be smart, because know exactly how to survive and how to recover from various disasters, whether drought, flooding, or humans.
Our vertical garden, festooned with roses, knows how to suppress weeds - simply by reaching up to the heavens and spreading out. Grassy weeds and sharp elbow weeds (like crabgrass) cannot grow in the stygian darkness of their height and broad leaves. They exemplify the true meaning of "the lion's share" which is 100%.
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| Thousands of buds become thousands of tiny blooms. |
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| When the Rose Garden was young, this Joe Pye led the way in growth. Some have been weed-whacked by mistake, but just come back later, a bit behind, but ready to reach the sky. |
The two champions are Joe Pye (about 15) and Clethra (5), both reaching 8 feet in height - green, healthy, and triumphant. Three of the five Clethra are new, so they are knee high. Both plants have delicate flowers and fragrances that attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Yesterday, while sipping coffee on the porch, the Military Gardening Group saw a hummingbird fly toward us from across the street, stop at a plant, and fly back home.
The rabbits are not complaining. They have deep cover and fresh sunshine when they need it. The condensate from the AC drips into a regularly cleaned ceramic bowl, and overflows into the garden. The large concrete feeder, low to the ground, is cleaned and filled often, or Ranger Bob will raise the roof, even though we are outside. He takes care of his watering dish for all the creatures and reminds me to do the same. I have four altogether, and they lose water faster than evaporation allows.
Sassy enjoys the garden. She looks for rabbits and tracks them with her nose. Once we stirred up a nest while watering and she tried to make friends with the little squeakers. They hopped away and she was sad.
Yesterday she took up various guard posts because the neighborhood was busy with relatives visiting. Sassy cannot be too careful. Once it was safe again, she came over and sat down to scratch up a nest in front of us. This went on until all the grassy weeds were uprooted and she could rest on cool damp soil. She loves to hear company discussing how smart she is, and whatever we are talking about - military, gardening, social issues, practical matters.
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| First year Enchanted Peace is attracting a lot of attention. The way it develops, the colors are different each day. |
