Update on rescued stokesia

Late last summer, I rescued a few plants from the house next door.  I'm pleased to say, they have survived and the stokesia (Stokes' aster) is just beginning to bloom.  It is a native plant to the Southeast, but I don't recall having seen it in the wild.  I noticed a piece of it is still blooming next door.  I don't know if the new owners will see it before that area is overgrown.  I guess time will tell.
Here are a few buds and blooms on the plant I rescued.

Flower bed by front porch

I've spent quite a bit of time this year trying to get the flower bed by the front porch in shape.  I remember a neighbor once commenting, "The grass is about to take that!"  If you're ever tempted to say that, please remember the person you're saying it to most likely is already acutely aware of that. 
Last year the bed took a hard hit by the hailstorm and by the old shingles that had to come off when the roof was repaired.  I noticed that last year there was ONE bud on the pinks.  I was looking forward to at least seeing that ONE bloom, but, alas, it was wrecked by the extension cord the roofers were using.  (They really did try to watch out for things, but despite their best efforts, they managed to get that one little bud.)  This year, the pinks fared much better.  These are the pinks I obtained over 15 years ago from a Mrs. Dickerson, who was a customer on my paper route.  (All the following are pics I prevailed upon my son to take.)

 

The Siberian irises did well this year, too.  I call this the "plant that went to the zoo."  Many years ago, my brother gave a division of the irises to my parents to give to me.  When my parents and I met for a day at the Asheboro, NC Zoo, they set the division of the irises on the grass in the shade of the car.  My dad wrote a note on them explaining what they were lest a maintenance worker mistake them for trash.  After our day at the zoo, I brought them home with me.  They are growing out of bounds in front of the porch.

 



When I weeded, I intentionally left the little wildflowers called Venus' looking glass.  I am enjoying watching them bloom amongst the rose and iris foliage.

 

My phlox 'Robert Poore,' which sits at the corner of this flower bed isn't in bloom yet, but the foliage is looking healthier than it ever has before.  Of the variables in caring for the plant, I'm not sure which or which combination I should attribute the improvement to:  I pulled out the competing weeds and Bermuda grass, I added a generous portion of compost, I added an application of triple super phosphate, I added a very light layer of pine park mulch, and we have gotten ample rain this spring.  I'm looking forward to seeing some nice blooms on that phlox this summer.

That's the update on the bed by the porch.

 

 

 

 



Indigo bunting pair

Today I saw the male indigo bunting.  He perched on a stob near the edge of the garden.  After he flew down into the grass to get an insect or seeds, the female used the same perch.
Such a pretty sight!

Second annual Zach Goforth Memorial River Run

Yesterday, dear husband, dear son, and I headed to Mt. Gilead, NC to participate in the river run and barbecue in memory of Zach Goforth.

This year the water level was up in the river.  I found myself hoping that a more rapid current wouldn't cause us to capsize.  Not to worry, though, dear husband had these on the table yesterday morning.

I thought he was being clever, but he claimed not to know what I was talking about.  (He says that a lot.)  So, we packed our oars, life jackets, and "Lifesavers" and got on the road.

We stopped by my parents' house to pick up our canoe where they had so graciously allowed us to store it.  Dear husband thought he would be clever (intentionally this time) and asked if it would cost him a quarter to use the bathroom.  Dad seemed to be measuring his response.  "To use the john?  No, it won't cost you a quarter to use the john, but it's a 'bisexual' bathroom, so you'll want to make sure there's not anybody else in there when you go in."  We all got a chuckle out of that.

I left darling husband in the shade at the Indian Mound then joined darling son at the river.  I put darling son in the back of the canoe this year.  I think he had only been the "rudder man" one reluctant time before so this was basically a learning experience for him (and for me, since his job in the front of the canoe had been to help us avoid the rocks).

 

We made it, but I was pretty well whipped when all was said and done.  Of course, there is always a wonderful ecosystem to observe along a river.  I didn't get too many pictures since we were concentrating on avoided as many rocks and shoals as possible, but I did manage to get a picture of the damselfly that landed on the canoe.

 

I tried to sing a few river songs appropriate to the journey.  I sang some snippets of "Down the Ohio":



The river is up and channel is deep,

The wind is steady and strong.

Oh, won't we have a jolly good time

As we go sailing along.

 

Down the river, oh, down the river

Oh, down the river we go.

Down the river, oh, down the river

Oh, down the Ohio.

 

But the song that I just could not get out of my head was "Roll Muddy River."

 

 

Till next time, roll muddy river, roll on muddy river, roll on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young bluebird

Today I saw one of the young bluebirds outside my window again.  I got a better shot this time.

It's nice to see them flying about and eating insects.

 

On the flower front, the green and gold is filling in nicely,

 

and the verbena is blooming away.

 

Incidentally the asparagus fern is emerging from the center of the pot.  I did not know it was still living.

 

 

"A bone of our forebears"

Anyone who has fought and conquered an invasive weed ought to have a medal.  Through dogged perseverance my mom has bested cockleburs, ragweed, and pigweed in her garden.  My hat is off to her.  I haven't been quite as victorious in my fight against the poison ivy, the honeysuckle, the privet, and the Bermuda grass. 
Boy, have we fought the Bermuda grass!  My son and I have dug bushels of the roots.  Once when he was quite a bit younger, we were digging up Bermuda grass in the mixed border.  (Well, "mixed border" is really a highfalutin thing to call the mess I've got.  I had one neighbor who referred to it as my "rough area."  I do have aspirations (possibly delusions), so I rarely refer to it as my "rough area."  I usually just say "mulched area.")  We came across a bone.  I surmised it could have been a bone buried by a dog or perhaps it was in the mulch we brought in (shredded yard waste from the landfill).  I asked my son if he thought it was an animal bone or a "people bone."  His response said it all.
"It's a bone of our forebears who died fighting Bermuda grass."

Inspiration and perspiration

Several weeks ago, I spent quite a bit of time digging up raspberry roots that were invading the area near the apple tree.  As I dug out the roots with the spading fork, I noticed that I was practically tilling the whole area.  Then it dawned on me that I might be able to plant something there.  The area is close enough to the apple tree to get some shade, but since it is the south side of the apple tree it gets some sun as well.  I looked for a crop that could tolerate a lower pH than the garden since I haven't adjusted the naturally acid soil under the apple tree.  I chose lima beans.  According to my Wyatt Quarles planting guide, the best pH for lima beans is 5.5 to 6.5.  (I can't eat lima beans; maybe I'm sensitive to the cyanide in them.  They burn my tongue and give me horrible heartburn.  My husband likes them, though, so if these beans produce, they will be for him.)
I mulched the area between the 2 rows with cardboard that siding came in. 
Here's a little loop of stem just emerging.

 

Here is the row of little bean sprouts.

 

The bean project was my inspiration.

My ongoing project (and this is where the perspiration comes in) is trying to get a handle on all the poison ivy.  While the house next door is vacant, I have been trying to pull up some poison ivy that is growing on the other side of the fence (which actually is still a couple of feet on my property).

You can see the large pile of honeysuckle, poison ivy, and sundry saplings that I have stacked by the fence.  That's about 3-hours' worth of work, and with long sleeves to cover my skin, pretty sweaty work.

 

I think I should remember to put lemonade on the grocery list.