Thursday, April 25, 2019

Waiting for the Plants To Pop Up

 Hidden Lily multiplies and is fun to give away.

All of my Crepe Myrtles are leafing out, except the big one. Tomorrow I will prune to wake it up faster, clipping off the remnants of seedheads. We just had two more inches of rain, so almost everything else is growing well, including a bit of lawn in the backyard and a few dandelions.

I am now removing old, dry stems - like Joe Pye. Why so late? Wild bees like hollow stems for their winter slumber. Anything above ground level is attractive to birds, too. They plant their favorite foods, a double blessing. They get more of their favorites and I have ground cover (Wild Strawberries) and green fences (Pokeweed).

About 60 birds love Poke berries, and they thoughtfully plant them with some fertilizer where they roost.


I used logs from one tree to build a rustic fence in the backyard. My aim was to have a generous allotment for birds to use when looking for food or preening their feathers. I had been trying to screen the distant backyard with purchased plants. The birds deposited Poke seeds along the log fence and a thick green fence appeared, adorned with the favorite fruit of birds and a hangout for beneficial insects when flowering.

The Wild Ginger Hidden Lily has yet to appear. It is also called turmeric, a new health fad. I like the big leaves and lush growth, without dying from the slight winter we have. The flowers are interesting enough for the altar.

 Picotee Crepe Myrtle - wide and red blossoms.