What will July bring? No fire please, and less work please.

 We received 1/2" of rain on June 20th.  It always amazes me how much better the plants look after a rainfall, even a small one, compared to being watered by me!

The garden is doing a bit better, but I'm definitely going to be adding more shade to the yard.  Right now I'm considering a smaller honey locust.  I like the ferny look, plus we get a lot of wind through the back yard, so less possible tree damage.  It will give more shade to the back of the house, it does well in dry conditions, no messy seeds, or disease, or pests- so "they" say. Plus it grows fast!

This is the Sunburst honeylocust.  

Today I saw a monarch butterfly!

Greenie

Losing one's mojo

 I wasn't too surprised that I had only one post last year, but disappointed, since the yard looked beautiful.  We had lots of steady rain!  I just lost my mojo last Spring, I couldn't do any drawing for about three months, and the garden was a good place to be, but sometimes a bit redundant.

A new Spring/Summer of 2021!  The current Pandemic is winding down here in the states, it is raging still in other parts of the world.  I'm cautiously optimistic.  Thankfully, we have a new president, Joe Biden with VP Kamala Harris, people who actually care about the country.  Time for a deep breath.  Covid has taught me to be more aware of my breathing!

So it seems we are headed towards the depths of climate change.  We have had extreme high temperatures and no rain for several weeks.  Before that we dropped to new lows in temperatures.  Minnesota has always been prone to flip flops in weather, so maybe our new normal will be just more of the same, keeping us on our toes!

Fortunately, other than all the vegetable garden plantings, and a new cherry tree, Sweet Cherry Pie, I haven't planted too many new perennials.  Well, a few hosta, an astilbe, and a ligularia.  I've got a lot of bare areas, some near the new cherry tree, some at the back of the southwest garden.  It will all have to wait until late summer, or near Fall.  I need a break from watering!  Even with all the perennials, and natives, the garden looks so sad.

The absence of Monarchs is also very sad.  I have seen one in the yard, and a total of three in the neighborhood.  I've looked for eggs several times with no luck, but I have seen some evidence of milkweed getting eaten. 

I had a funny aha moment when looking at the photo that was my inspiration for path gardening.  I realized it was made up entirely of shrubs and small trees!   No perennial plants!  That observation and our heat and drought got me to thinking that adding more shrubs and trees may be a good idea!

wild geranium

massive amounts of maple seeds

allium-when things were still green!

red squirrel, love him.

 

 

 

 

we have gotten lots of asparagus this year, so not all bad!

 

Finding Humor, Keeping Hope, A Covid Sort of Spring, A Purposeful Pandemic...

Wow, what a difference a month makes.  A world turned sideways for us humans, but nature has had to deal with us turning it sideways for some time now.  If we think of the world as one giant living organism, it makes sense that it is starting to see us humans as a threat, and is trying to get us to work as part of a united organism, not as a separate and more important entity.  Unfortunately, we humans have short memories, we haven't been too good at passing on the lessons we have learned about our affect on our world when we treat it like a dispensary and a toilet. 

onion area

chives!

Glory of the Snow

After a mild winter, especially compared to 2018/2019 our Spring is arriving in a calm tempered manner, our flooding fears are diminishing throughout the state, and Spring perennials are gradually showing themselves.  Fred and Ethel have returned, but are not frequenting the pond as much as usual.  I have already planted onion sets, and the garlic planted last Fall is already up a few inches.  I'm waiting for a warm up before planting the snow peas.  Even though they are a cool weather plant, they always do better sprouting with a bit of warmth.

Fred and Ethel

hens and chicks

Conk in yard!

 

 

Greenie

Free Water and Bumper Crops!

We are in the middle of continual rains and the jungle is emerging!  The snow peas are doing great, the beans, basil, onions, dostal squash, tomatoes and radishes- a new one this year- are growing great!
I did lose some perennials from a tough winter, but most have been replaced, and a good sprinkling of crimson clover to fill in spots.  I'm in the progress of finishing up the landscape behind the house with wild petunia, a few more salvia and mulch.  

I had 30 Monarch chrysalis' with half out and gone.  It always makes me smile to see them fly away.  I usually have them crawl onto my finger and hold them up to survey their surroundings.  I've noticed a couple of things; they usually do a little shiver of their wings and turn their heads to look around before taking off.
The bee population is looking better, but the majority of bees are still the tiny bees, not the mason or honey bee size, I'm hoping to get more visuals on bees once it dries out a bit.

butterfly video, cardinal singing in background, crazy person speaking to butterfly

ponds

wine cups(native), prairie phlox(native)coreopsis(native), rose sensation salvia, butterfly weed(native), gaillardia (native)

behind house weed removal, keep the milkweed, now mulch!

Greenie

The Spring of My Discontent, and Not Just Mine! 4-19

 Should I exalt on the positive instead of focusing on the negative?  Yes, of course, it is the more Minnesotan thing to do!

Sadly, our Rejoice crab tree didn't make it.

The Prairie Smoke was fabulous this Spring

All the wild tulips were phenomenal and the rabbits don't touch them!

Greenie

Too Old, too cold, but it is Sunny!

It has been a true Minnesota winter, and it doesn't want to give up!  It is April 7th and our entire front north facing yard is under a foot or more of snow, and half of our backyard is the same.  Our ducks Fred and Ethel showed up like clockwork the end of March to be faced with a frozen snow covered pond, I haven't seen them since.  I'm hopeful they will return.  All the usual critters of the yard seem fat and healthy, and the cardinals have started their spring songs. Next week is supposed to bring 50 degrees...

Greenie

Dig It!

Dig it! The theme for every Spring, and this one is no different, well, maybe a little less digging.  My body insists!
It has been an early Spring is some regards because March was mild, April a little chilly, and May is on a roll.  I got in the garden a little earlier to do a bit of cleanup, and get some beets and peas planted, then shared an abundance of lilies, phlox, monarda, lungwort, obedient plant and daisies with a friend.  Now I'm just filling in the spaces!  
Fred and Ethel showed up the end of March and return to the ponds frequently, and Larry rewards them with corn, but once the pumps are in the pond they may not return, but no hurry.  Right now the trees in the back are all in full bloom, even our sad little Red bud.  Another large branch appears to be dead, so every year the Red bud gets smaller.  We are just starting to see more bees on the tree blossoms, which is a good thing! 

Pasque

white throated sparrow

Fred and Ethel

We had to rescue a little white throated sparrow from bird netting, after an overnight stay at shoebox hotel he flew off the next morning!
Greenie