July 1st. Deep into summer now and it feels like it outside. It is very humid today and is supposed to be scorching next week. And we're on the northern end of it. The southern parts of the country are really baking. I read Paul Douglas' weather blog, but he goes on about global warming every day and it becomes depressing. I don't want to constantly read about it - guess I prefer sticking my head in the sand. The planet may be warming, but is it completely man's fault? I'm sure we've contributed a lot, but the planet has gone through massive climate change in the past before man existed. It bothers me to think too much about it because I don't know what I can do to change it. I saw a bumper sticker today, "Stay Human", and that made me laugh. Because humans have perpetuated many atrocities on each other and on the earth. Imploring us to stay that way doesn't necessarily seem like a wise idea. There are times when I am embarassed to be a human. Most people don't seem to feel or believe as I do.
But anyway..... Spent a couple of hours watering this morning. The yard is really looking beautiful. I even saw a couple of monarch butterflies this afternoon. As I said yesterday, I really went for buying flowers that would attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds this year. I have about 20 trees in my yard, and 40 or so shrubs, and 40 or so flower/perennial plants. That doesn't include the annuals. You would think the yard would be crammed to overflowing, right? It still has huge expanses of grass. The lot is nearly 1 acre. I would love to make it native prairie and flower beds, but since I may only be here another couple of years, it doesn't seem worth the expense. Plus the sprinkler system gets in the way of a lot of digging.
When I moved in, the yard was almost bare. The backyard had a large birch tree and a smaller tree that is reddish and has droopy leaves. It had 4 potentillas in the front, along with two junipers, an ash tree, 2 spirea and another tree that I don't know its name. On the sides - one side - 3 spirea. On the other side, 3 nishiki willow and a coppertina nine-bark. All put in by the builder, I'm sure. And a lonely apple tree in the back.
I added two russian olives, a maple with bi-colored leaves, a burr oak, a larch, a blue spruce, and two flowering plums, two siberian evergreen somethings, an austrian pine or spruce, rose bushes (started out with grandifloras and teas, and went to shrub roses after they did not survive the winters. Sage, perennial salvia, catmint. Several colors of yarrow. Two colors of butterfly weed. Wildflower patch that has been a source of amusement and confusion. First year it had beautiful red poppies. This year it had a lot of wild phlox that were beautiful. It also has stuff that I have no idea what it is. I planted astilbe, monarda, day lilies including prairie blue eyes and a beautiful dark red one. Creeping phlox. Liatris. Coneflower. High bush cranberry, service berry, sand cherry, barberry. Shrub maple and more service berry. Lots of lilacs. The back part that leads to the little lake was predominantly goldenrod and milkweed when I moved in. This year it has been overtaken by something vile that I have not been able to identify, as well as an obnoxious vine that is strangling things. Need to do a lot of clean up in the fall! Want to plant more milkweed to encourage the monarchs. Also there are some trees - unknown - and I think - elderberry bushes, although they bloom but do not fruit. I do love my yard.
This year I planted impatiens under the deck stairs and some coleus too. I bought some 1/2 whiskey barrels at Home Depot and planted annuals in them. Coleus, geranium, alyssum, petunias, lantana, verbena, marigold, zinnia, salvia. They are doing great !! Maybe next year I will spend less on buying made up baskets and keep making my own. They really have come out beautifully, and except for the metal one that had no drain holes and almost everything drowned in the heavy rains - are doing well. I had never designed my own before and it has gone pretty well. I thought to put the taller ones at back and the creeping ones at the front. The petunias are going so great guns that they are covering up some of the others, but all in all it's been a great experiment.
I do love all the birds; bluejays, cardinals, goldfinches, house finches, swallows, doves, robins, chipping sparrows, downy and hairy woodpeckers, red-winged blackbirds, crows, mallard ducks, wood ducks, starlings, grackles; as well as the occasional visitors- flicker, red-bellied woodpecker, owls, baltimore orioles, cedar wax wings, hawks. out on the lake there are geese, egrets, and the occasional heron. The wood ducks call sounds somewhat like a loon; I thought it was loons at first, but it's not.
High summer, but already the days are getting shorter. You can't really tell yet. It is still light in the sky at 9:45 pm, but we are 10 days past the solstice and heading towards late summer and fall.
But anyway..... Spent a couple of hours watering this morning. The yard is really looking beautiful. I even saw a couple of monarch butterflies this afternoon. As I said yesterday, I really went for buying flowers that would attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds this year. I have about 20 trees in my yard, and 40 or so shrubs, and 40 or so flower/perennial plants. That doesn't include the annuals. You would think the yard would be crammed to overflowing, right? It still has huge expanses of grass. The lot is nearly 1 acre. I would love to make it native prairie and flower beds, but since I may only be here another couple of years, it doesn't seem worth the expense. Plus the sprinkler system gets in the way of a lot of digging.
When I moved in, the yard was almost bare. The backyard had a large birch tree and a smaller tree that is reddish and has droopy leaves. It had 4 potentillas in the front, along with two junipers, an ash tree, 2 spirea and another tree that I don't know its name. On the sides - one side - 3 spirea. On the other side, 3 nishiki willow and a coppertina nine-bark. All put in by the builder, I'm sure. And a lonely apple tree in the back.
I added two russian olives, a maple with bi-colored leaves, a burr oak, a larch, a blue spruce, and two flowering plums, two siberian evergreen somethings, an austrian pine or spruce, rose bushes (started out with grandifloras and teas, and went to shrub roses after they did not survive the winters. Sage, perennial salvia, catmint. Several colors of yarrow. Two colors of butterfly weed. Wildflower patch that has been a source of amusement and confusion. First year it had beautiful red poppies. This year it had a lot of wild phlox that were beautiful. It also has stuff that I have no idea what it is. I planted astilbe, monarda, day lilies including prairie blue eyes and a beautiful dark red one. Creeping phlox. Liatris. Coneflower. High bush cranberry, service berry, sand cherry, barberry. Shrub maple and more service berry. Lots of lilacs. The back part that leads to the little lake was predominantly goldenrod and milkweed when I moved in. This year it has been overtaken by something vile that I have not been able to identify, as well as an obnoxious vine that is strangling things. Need to do a lot of clean up in the fall! Want to plant more milkweed to encourage the monarchs. Also there are some trees - unknown - and I think - elderberry bushes, although they bloom but do not fruit. I do love my yard.
This year I planted impatiens under the deck stairs and some coleus too. I bought some 1/2 whiskey barrels at Home Depot and planted annuals in them. Coleus, geranium, alyssum, petunias, lantana, verbena, marigold, zinnia, salvia. They are doing great !! Maybe next year I will spend less on buying made up baskets and keep making my own. They really have come out beautifully, and except for the metal one that had no drain holes and almost everything drowned in the heavy rains - are doing well. I had never designed my own before and it has gone pretty well. I thought to put the taller ones at back and the creeping ones at the front. The petunias are going so great guns that they are covering up some of the others, but all in all it's been a great experiment.
I do love all the birds; bluejays, cardinals, goldfinches, house finches, swallows, doves, robins, chipping sparrows, downy and hairy woodpeckers, red-winged blackbirds, crows, mallard ducks, wood ducks, starlings, grackles; as well as the occasional visitors- flicker, red-bellied woodpecker, owls, baltimore orioles, cedar wax wings, hawks. out on the lake there are geese, egrets, and the occasional heron. The wood ducks call sounds somewhat like a loon; I thought it was loons at first, but it's not.
High summer, but already the days are getting shorter. You can't really tell yet. It is still light in the sky at 9:45 pm, but we are 10 days past the solstice and heading towards late summer and fall.
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