May 24, 2009

Weekly, through the window

When all was brown, I longed for green. Now that mosquitoes are out, I'm dreaming of white.

The Black Locusts along the road have exploded.

Bumblebees pollinate the sweet scented flowers.

At just the right time of year, O happened upon the Black Cherry chapter of John Eastman's The Book of Forest & Thicket, which explains these odd growths. I'd always wondered about them. They're Wild Cherry Pouch Galls created by the mite, Eriophyes padi.

The unique structure of a Green Dragon leaf

and the Green Dragon flower.

It's rare that a light breeze isn't blowing these flowers to and fro so I ran outside in my pajamas yesterday morning to snap the Fringe Tree flowers. It's a native tree and seems to be tolerant of varied conditions but is slow growing so isn't particularly popular in landscaping.

The Paw Paw didn't flower as heavily as last year but a half dozen or so survived last week's final frost.

Throw away your lawn mower and the most incredible things appear:

Solomon's Seal

Fleabane

These are all over the yard. I don't remember them being so abundant in years past.

Virginia Waterleaf

I didn't know how delicate, lacy, and crazily complex the flower was till I uploaded the photo. It reminds me a bit of northern Bogbean with its floral filaments, really pretty. (Click to enlarge.)

We planted a few Jacob's Ladders; they're doing well and spreading.

In the garden, lettuces are healthy.

We moved the chives outside the garden fence to a place where they can spread. I let them flower.

And now, for my dirt-y little gardening secret. I don't have a clue what I'm doing. My method is to throw things in the ground and deal with them when I have to. These peas, for example. The instructions say to plant 2" apart in double rows spaced 6" apart with 24" between each set of rows. I can't grasp that geometry. They're early dwarfs so I'm not too worried about the details.

Tomatoes are planted along the house; I hope they have enough air circulation. A couple plots remain vacant for cukes and whatever I may stumble across at a garden center.

I started some basil from seed that's doing okay but not exactly gangbusters. I'd love to have enough to make heaps of pesto. If the seedlings don't take off soon, I may fill the empty spots with plants from a nursery.