A Sad Loss in the Back Garden

On Friday the screaming of a chain saw was heard in the back garden. When listening closely it was also possible to hear the trees and birds screaming. Why? Because what was coming down was two more cedar trees and one of them was a tree much beloved by the birds visiting my back garden especially in the winter months.

 Here is a not so good photo of the cedar tree in late 2008. It was quite a presence then in the tree area.

Here are the birds all over it in January of this year.

But here is the poor thing on August 1 of this year. We have had a number of storms lately that have blown down trees and I did not want to risk this one falling towards the house.

 Here is the sight halfway through. I was so sad; I had to retreat to the upstairs and watch out the window.

 And here is the gap now in my landscape. See that tall silver stump on the far right? That is what is now left of the second tree that had to come down on Friday.

You can perhaps see why. To the near left was the cedar that died last year that got taken half down earlier in the spring. That was where the green man was hanging. But Friday I decided it needed to go totally and the one to the right could now host the green man.

It has been a sad season in my back garden. The grass is not doing so well and the flowers are not putting on the usual wonderful display. I can count seven stumps from cedar trees that we have lost in the last few years along this front row of trees. I wish I knew why they are no longer thriving.

The next problem will be what happens to what used to be my shade garden. It is located behind where the big cedar was but now it will take the hot mid afternoon sun. So there will be more plants to mourn I'm thinking.

Time to put my garden thinking hat on and ponder what I can do to return beauty to my back garden.

Half-Baked Posts

From time to time I think "this would make a good blog post" and I take a photo or two. But for some reason or another I never get to turning the thought into a post. Sometimes it is because the post was going to be about a meal and it seems a better idea to just eat the food while it's hot and delicious rather than spend extra time posing the plate and taking the backup shots.

Tonight was one of those nights. So I decided to gather a few of those thoughts and photos and post them anyway even if the whole story is not quite "baked" yet.



Okay, we have the jumping photos to contend with I see.

On Sundays we usually have brunch which means an egg meal. This week's brunch had started with the purchase of some smoked salmon on Friday. By Sunday we decided to turn that into a version of Eggs Benedict. This version began with slices of sour dough bread, topped with smoked salmon, poached egg and then smothered in hollandaise sauce.

Now the challenge always starts with using the dreaded egg poacher. It has these four little cups that are coated in a supposed non stick coating. But, you guessed it, the eggs always stick. So we have finally figured out we need to butter the inside of each cup first. Then once we put the eggs in it is important not to fully cover the pan as there is no vent on the lid. Now, with precise timing we can sometimes remember how long we poached the eggs for last time to get the desired setting of the yolk. So off goes the burner. Then starts the challenge of how to get the egg out of the poaching cup. Yes, we have buttered the cup so the egg will slide out with a little coaxing but first you need to pick up the cup; that would be the cup with the metal handle which has just been sitting in simmering hot water. Burning of the fingers slows things down.

To add to the fun this week I was so intent on getting the egg out (hey, I got four out perfectly) that I forgot that the salmon should have gone on the toast first, before I slid the perfectly poached egg on. Sigh. So one person was detailed to carefully lift the egg, taking care not to cut open the yolk, while the other poked the slices of salmon underneath.

The end result tasted just fine although by now we were more intent on eating than on snapping more photos.




For dinner tonight we had decided to have gumbo to use some of the okra I had bought at the Farmers Market on Saturday. Now this was a bold choice when we were choosing our menus on Sunday as gumbo is not something I have made with any regularity. With some vague idea I had bought chicken sausage, chicken thighs and shrimp and thought that would be the basis of the gumbo. This afternoon I thought perhaps I should look at a recipe. Oh. That seems like a lot of stirring, ingredients, chopping up and more. Oh well. So using a bit of this recipe and a bit of that recipe but mainly just winging it, a concoction was produced.

We all agreed it tasted just fine.

 This position behind the kitchen faucets is often taken by a vase of flowers. But in the summertime I keep an ever changing bowl of red tomatoes picked fresh from the garden. They can be snacked on during the day or turned into a side dish for dinner.

 These are my volunteer plants. I have no idea what variety they are - the fruit is larger than a cherry tomato but smaller than a regular sized one.

These ones have ripened first. We have had about four yellow cherry tomatoes from the pots on the deck but it will be a week or so before we get any more of them. In the meantime these plants are loaded.

So there you are. A bit of this and a bit of that.

There's Been a Distraction

The weather has provided a major distraction for the past week. Temperatures have been quite a lot higher than the normal for this time of year; I believe I heard that we have had nine days in a row of "high" temperatures over 95F/35C. Do not be understanding this to mean that's all it has been...

A week ago after one of the really hot days we had a sudden storm blow in just after 10pm. At first there was this very very strong wind and we had to go out to rescue the potted tomato plants from being blown over. Then we noticed the barbecue/grill had been blown across the driveway and tipped over so there was a mad dash to fix that and secure the propane gas tank. On the heels of the wind it rained for maybe thirty minutes and then we lost power. It was around 10.30pm Friday night.

The power did not come back on again until 5.25pm Tuesday late afternoon. I did the math - that was 91 hours without power. During that time the temperatures were peaking above 95F/35C and the humidity was super high. This was not a pleasant place to live.

 Before the storm I had a pair of orangey red hibiscus plants in ceramic pots on the front steps. The plants were very pretty and each day new blossoms appeared and although each blossom lasts only one day there was always a show of color.

 But the wind toppled over one of the plants and pots. I no longer have a pair of pots.

 I was able to rescue the plant however and it continues to bloom. Meanwhile the hunt to locate a new pot to match the first (existing) one continues unsuccessfully.

 This holly tree had been pecked all around the main trunk by woodpeckers some many months ago. But it was still holding on until the strong wind. Now I'll need to get the step ladder out and cut out the broken main trunk.

 But in the garden, a week after the big storm, nature continues on. The swallowtails have found the butterfly bush. And, for the first time this season, just before dinnertime tonight, I saw three hummingbirds chasing each other around the feeder. There has been a single hummer for the past several weeks but tonight was the first opportunity to see that competition has shown up.

 I see there is a first tomato starting to turn color.

 The kitchen was a sorry sight. We had to totally empty out the fridge and the freezer and dump practically everything after being without power for that long.

Daily I went out on scavenging trips. I needed to first find a friend who had electricity so we could recharge various devices. Then I had to find a store that had ice for sale. If the store had ice for sale I would buy three bags and then I could also buy enough fresh food to make lunch and dinner for that day. The ice chests began to take over the kitchen. On the plus side the fridge and freezer have not been this clean since they were new twelve years ago! In fact we were engaged in washing out the inside of the fridge when we heard the happy sound of timeclocks resetting and the fans starting up at 5.25pm Tuesday when the electricity came back on.

This is where our power must come from. All day on Tuesday I saw the power company employees working on this pole. To begin with they had to remove all the trees/tree limbs that had crashed down on it and then they had to make repairs to the equipment. And then, hooray, we had power once more.

Some areas of our village still have no power. And some of those are homes where they rely on electricity to pump water from wells and to dispose of sewage into the septic tank. At least we did not have that added problem.

But for the first time that I can recall, along with losing the electricity we also lost the landline telephone and the cellphone reception. The phones began to work again in a sporadic fashion on Sunday afternoon.

These have been days to build character...despite the fact that I thought I already had more than enough character.

Saturday (tomorrow) and Sunday are predicted to be the two hottest days. And then finally, on Monday, we may return to more reasonable summer temperatures. I sure hope so.

Crazy or Drunk?

For the past couple of weeks I have been engaged in trying to stay one step ahead of a pesky cardinal (bird). These birds are known for being territorial and chasing off any others who trespass in their space. But often what they are chasing off is their own reflection.

A few years ago we had a bird who spent most of the year attacking windows in the back of the house. What finally stopped that was the tree it used to launch it's attacks from had to be cut down.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I stepped out the front door one morning to find this red mess all over the front step. I had heard a tapping at the door and when I looked out the side window I saw a cardinal fly off. Well, I went out and washed the mess away but thirty minutes later it started up again.

I tried lurking in the bushes to photograph the culprit but this was the best I could do. After visiting the front door to chase away the enemy it would retreat to the cherry tree in the front yard and eat the berries. Then, loaded with ammunition, back it would come to scare away the "other" cardinal.

Here's the tree that looked so pretty with blossoms a few weeks back but now has the berries that are attracting the cardinal.

A friend was visiting and commiserating with me. We decided that it might be an idea to either remove or cover the shiny brass kick plates that were proving so irresistible to the bird. Removing them was not an option after I discovered that they had been put back in place before the paint was totally dry and they were now stuck to the door. So in despair I got newspaper, folded it to size and stuck it to the kick plate with blue painters tape. Not an attractive look but it worked. (I forgot to take a photo).

By the next day the bird had discovered the enemy was now to be found on the side of the house hiding on the garage door which is conveniently next to a handy viburnum shrub from which attacks could be launched. Every day or so I would hose off the mess but this was getting tedious.

After a week I decided the bird had forgotten all about the front door so I removed the paper because it really looked very tacky from the road view. And within the hour, that darn cardinal was back at the front door. Back up went the newspaper.

But this might be a long and drawn out battle so I had to come up with something better looking than the newspaper. A trip to the fabric store to see what they had was called for. And I found this green vinyl that, cut to size and screwed to the kick plate, is much more inconspicuous from the road.

I'm wondering if the berries are fermenting on the tree and making the bird drunk? Or is this just one very crazy cardinal we have?

So that is the current chapter in my "issues" with wildlife in the garden. More stories will doubtless turn up as I was out staking tomato plants that are growing in the garden and for sure something will find them sooner or later. Parsley planted right next to the tomato plants were chewed to the ground within the first 24 hours but the tomato plants are so far untouched. The bunny has found and pruned the annual flower plants that were still sitting in the sixpacks waiting to be planted out. No photos of that skirmish available just yet.

Ah, the life of a gardener!

Dog Daisy Days

I'm going to show you why I am too soft hearted to be a great gardener. If something is growing I hate to yank it out and do so only very reluctantly.

 We had an early and mild spring this year. The mulch has not yet been put on my garden but I am beginning to think there will not be much room left to apply it. Looking down from my upstairs window you can see my garden is in the midst of what I call the dog daisy days. Yes, those white flowers are popping up all over. Some might call them wild flowers. Others might call them weeds (my Dad used to call them dog daisies). But I like the billowy quality they give to my landscape at this point in the season.

Here is another good patch of the daisies. I better investigate closer as there is meant to be a white lavender on this front corner. For nostalgia's sake I like to have lavender in my gardens as it was a favorite of my grandmother and, although she seemed to move house quite often in her latter years, she always made sure to plant lavender. The weather conditions here make it difficult to grow lavender successfully but I keep persevering.

 Down in this narrow planter I had some tomato plants pop up the first year after I used compost from my bin to amend the clay soil that the planted had been filled with. This will now be the fourth year that I do not need to plant a tomato plant - indeed what I do need to do is be strong and pull out almost all of these seedlings that are growing. This is a clear example of "despite the odds, nature prevails" as this garden is on the regular route of the deer who pass through but yet seem to leave it alone and the amount of sunlight this spot gets is marginal for vegetable growing.

 And here, there is a terrific number of basil seedlings, despite the fact that it is across the other side of the driveway from the herb garden and the pots where I had basil growing last year.  There's also a few of my blue larkspur that pop up wherever they please.

 Oh, this mint looks so healthy. But it will have to be dealt with severely. It has smothered out the tarragon and the oregano. Additionally I usually can find some seedlings of dill and cilantro popping up but they will have had no chance this season.

 Out front I spent an hour hacking away at a very large budleia (butterfly bush). One stalk still remains as it was too thick for my heavy secateurs and I really need to get in there with the shovel and dig out the last vestiges. Now we can see the iris although their bloom season will soon be over. Then it will be time for me to feel guilty about all the black eyed susan's that have self seeded all over the place. And yes, the dog daisies show their face here as well.

Finally, just to record how it looked, the deck re-staining happened last Thursday. It always appears a rich deep color to begin with but soon weathers down. In the front left (behind the mint!) is the bottle tree, a charming little piece of southern nonsense. Bad spirits are meant to fly up into the bottles and get trapped within thus saving the residents from bad happenings.

If the weather will co-operate tomorrow I really must get out and be ruthless in pulling out all the extraneous seedlings. So sad. But it is what is needed.

Happy Birthday Doggo

Today we celebrated the eleventh birthday of our dog Rolo.

 I wanted to give him a new bandana. This one was found at Michaels; it has doggie motifs along with the words "woof woof" all over it. Rolo could be persuaded to pose for his photograph.

 But this present came from a doggie store so it smelled very exciting to Rolo.

 We decided to take it outside. The point of the toy is that it is a "tree trunk" with three squirrels hiding inside. The dog is meant to figure out how to get the squirrels out.

 Oops. Rolo has figured this out way too quickly. The first squirrel out loses an ear in the process.

After a very short time we figure out we might as well come back inside.  To the victor go the spoils!

Happy birthday Rolo!

Easter Day blooms

I'm taking a walk through my garden today to record what is blooming on this Easter Day. Of course the first bloom, above, is not actually in my garden but is the potted Easter Lily to perfume the house on this day.

This is one of my favorite trees in my garden, a native dogwood. This view is from ground level but when I'm sitting at the computer or at my sewing machine and I look out the window I get a glorious view from above of the blossoms. In a week or so it will look as though there has been a wedding with confetti all over the ground as the blooms fade and fall.

I have had several tries at growing a bleeding heart and they usually fail. This time I seem to have planted one in the right spot for it to flourish. On the down side it is in a portion of the garden that I infrequently see. But now I have this photo to enjoy it a little longer.

The lilac tree out the front is no longer producing the spectacular large blooms it did some years ago. Probably some pruning is called for and some fertilizer to perk it up.

The creeping phlox is in full bloom. The color is called emerald blue but it is a very pastel version I'm thinking.

The bridal veil spirea is cascading down onto the New England asters which won't bloom until the mid fall season.

Here's the pink dogwood as seen from the upstairs window. There's lots of weeding waiting to be done underneath this tree.

Oh my, this periwinkle is becoming too aggressive. I cut it back severely last fall but I think some more serious pulling out is needed. In the meantime it does have a pretty blue flower and this corner gets so little sun that I should be happy that something grows there.

The Korean spice viburnum in the foreground is producing lovely fragrance right now and the flowers on the different viburnum behind it are already coming out. They do not usually bloom at the same time.

This spirea will have a pink flower in upcoming weeks. But for the present the brilliant lime green is just as glorious a sight as any bloom. The garden benches have reappeared for the outdoor season.

Did you enjoy the walk through my garden?