The Irony of Good Morning

I was able to wake up today having forgotten the events of yesterday in Boston. Maybe it was because I was at the farm yesterday, completely out of range of the media, my attention close to the earth. This morning I went out to garden just a bit, before heading out to work. The irony of the upstairs tenant's first and only words to me in six months, "good morning." Afterward I went to the corner deli and as I waited for a sandwich, suffered the shock and gut sickness of the bombing via color photos on all the area newspapers. How can I eat?

The train was eerily empty today and the same for the Columbus Circle station. So is school.

Tree Down

Rex has lots of trees down, and its changing the feel of the woods. This already open area is now more so and should fill with plants that will tolerate partial sun.

The oaks have been particularly hard hit thanks to the Oak Wilt. It's like a sudden death syndrome for oak trees. In this case, a thunderstorm took out this old white oak.



The base of the tree was quite rotted and hollow.

Although the upper portion was quite solid and heavy, explaining why the wind was able to take it down so easily. On its way down, it took out a cottonwood.

Leaving Rex an unending supply of logs and limbs for his trail projects -the new stair case from above.



Gangs Of New York

And they're all family. There were three more just below the top steps of a local feeder. On Saturday morning I went to a presentation on urban wildlife by the Field Director on Urban Wildlife, Laura Simon, of the Humane Society of the U.S. The cats weren't the main topic, but what keeps them going also keeps the raccoons, possums, pigeons, squirrels, and rats a coming. 

Tips for keeping wildlife at bay:

• Don't feed the wildlife.
• If you do feed feral cats, watch them eat and then remove the tray.
• Keep your trash in a tight-lidded container. 
• If your sanitation worker dislikes your trash container, so would a raccoon.
• Keep your home well maintained, sealing up all points of entry.

Notes on wildlife diseases:

• Raccoons carry rabies. 
• Actual cases transferred to humans in urban areas is low.
• Only 3 deaths per year, nationally.
• If you are bit by a raccoon or other wild animal, get the vaccine immediately. 
• There is no blood test for rabies, and showing symptoms means it's too late for you.
• Raccoon Roundworm can be deadly -you could get it from raccoon poop.
• Raccoons poop just like cats -in a hidden spot in the garden.
• Keep your hands away from your mouth while gardening -this means no fresh beans until washed up!
• Ensure that children wash; check play areas for poop.
• Possums have a natural rabies resistance, are highly unlikely to attack or bite, and should be of little concern.

Other notes:

• Raccoons don't chew wood or wires. 
• They enter homes through obvious openings.
• A raccoon may have young in its nest, so be aware before you seal up any entry points. 
• If you see one trapped in a dumpster, leave a branch or piece of wood so it can climb out. 
• Raccoons can't jump.
• If you see a possum in a garbage pail, tip it over and leave it be -it will leave after you do.
• Possums are ugly but cause no harm.

Raccoons and Opossum are omnivores, eating many insects and mice. But not if we feed them so much. Truth be told, it's not the squirrels, raccoons, opossums, or even rats that are the problem -mostly its us feeding them inadvertently or intentionally. As it turns out, the city is as gracious to smart animals as it is to smart people.

More Pics Of Those Funky Cosmos

As I said I would, I've posted some new photos of the funky cosmos. Turns out this is happening on two plants, but just one set of stems on each.

Not so clear, but you get the picture.

Maybe some botanist or plant pathologist will happen upon this blog and clear it all up.

Or not. This one's kind of neat. It's all coming out of one cosmos flower.

Garden Labor Day

The side garden has gone through resuscitative treatment. The herbs clipped and watered. The tomatoes lifted (pulling held off, damn little green orbs!). Dead cosmos yanked. Cosmos that only produced super fat greens yanked. All flowers dead-headed. Asters staked. Weeds pulled. Still flowering phlox chopped to allow new flowering shoots. Max sunflowers tied back. Sidewalk swept. Garbage bagged. Hey, New Dawn is flowering again. The natives I planted right before we left have done well. Looking forward to October -that's when all that I learned about the side yard this year will be put into action.

By the way...

I took these photos before I left for Minnesota. One branch on one plant of cosmos is producing these elongated disc flowers. I've seen this before, maybe once or twice in a lifetime. What causes it? My immediate thought is something hormonal, something viral, or maybe just a common expression of a recessive gene.

Not all are the same length. They tend to stay green, or greenish yellow -unlike the normal cosmos disc flowers which are a strong yellow.

Once my camera batteries charge up, I'll take some new photos. The elongated disc flowers look a little different now, almost resembling yellow-green aster flowers to which family cosmos belong.

This evening we will be off to the beach farm to see how that has held up. We can expect anything.

Good Prospects

Today I had some red and some black raspberries in the park. I was caught eating only once.

These roses (swamp rose, Rosa palustris?) are blooming as well.

The bees adore them.

These roses, molded from putty, are called...?

Again, they're called...and can we eat the fruit?

I found these high bush blueberries. Today I ate just one.

Every year I pass by this forsythia shrub, on a path south of the lake. Invariably, it has this yellow venation on the same branches each year.

Are all leaf variegations the result of endemic viruses that do not kill the host plant?

Tangle, Sorrow, and Decay

There are those who might feel disquieted by the blight of vegetables that now look like overgrown and dying weeds, by the free-ranging max sunflowers looking straggly and unfamiliar. But you can't please everyone. No, no matter what. Even amongst gardeners what has come of your work may not be good enough. There'll be differing tastes and ideas about what's best. Take stock in those who offer appreciative and kind words, those you see through the window stopping, pointing, smiling at the garden below. Learn to live with oneself, flaws and all, and judge as little as humanly possible. As bad as it can be, it's not that bad. After all, "...behind it's tangle, sorrow, and decay is intelligence and goodness."

The late blight makes the 'Orange Pixie' look like it's seen a ghost.

It's tough out there for the vegetables, even these new broccoli sprouts suffer from little sun now that it is late September; a sun like March. In a field, the plants would still be getting enough for growth, but with trees and buildings, even the tomatoes are lucky to see four hours a day.

The 'Bella Rosa' and 'Black Russian' have a few green fruits, and will slowly begin to ripen at any size.

The 'Milano Plum' and 'Orange Pixie' plucked from their blighted vines. Ever hopeful, these vines continue to put out new suckers and new flowers.

A plate of side yard basil and tomatoes. Orange Pixie, Black Russian, and Bella Rosa.

Changing of the Season

Its time for the Autumn flower show. Matched only by the late spring show. Its dominated by blue-purple-pink- and yellows with a smattering of scarlet and fuschia.

I pruned my Russian Sage a bit late. So its now just starting to bloom. Bees love it. Beneath the sage is Sedum having its second flush of flowers. Behind the sage its Pink Phlox and Black-eyed Susan.

This is last year's Pineapple Sage, Salvia Elegans. Not only did it survive our cold winter, it's quite healthy, although growing much slower than in warm-winter areas. Its leaves are so wonderfully fragrant, I'm tempted to snip them and use them in tea. I won't though, the soil is not for such things. I'm looking forward to scarlet flowers in a few weeks.

Behind the salvia is Boltonia. It has survived this year's Aster blight (my name) and is flowering nicely. This one always needs support. It's grown through and tyed to a metal chair frame we found on the street.

Behind the Boltonia are Maximilian Sunflowers, grown behind the metal chair frame for support. These guys got the Aster blight early and they are now seeming to overcome it with new green growth. My hypothesis is that the Aster blight is somehow exacerbated by pruning back. I prune them back one or two times to keep their height in check. I do this for all the Asters, including the sunflowers, boltonia, and goldenrod.

This is Aster 'Monch' and it's having its worst year. Weak, blighted, and spindly, it seems like it just won't emerge again next year. Always a reliable show from late July through October, I want to do what I can to bring it back to health. I'm wondering about plants that host diseases and therefore make bad neighbors. I'm also wondering about plants that actively disrupt the growth of neighboring plants. My garden is notoriously crowded.

The solid day of rain we had has helped everything out. Remember, I do not water. Hardy, natives like the Eupatorium were even beginning to look poor. Even the Aconitum (not shown) was wilting. Not anymore -the Aconitum has popped up and the Eupatorium has begun to bloom its cool blue-purple haze.

I pruned out the dwarf spirea's spent June flowers a few weeks ago and it's now in a full re-bloom.

The Orange Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa, I purchased a few weeks back is now parting with its last flowers.

However, as a milkweed, it's sporting these cool pods.

Grandma's rose is blooming once again, maybe its fifth this season.

The white Phlox, my God, blooming since last year I think!

Two Garden Problems

My front yard garden has a combination of two problems this year.

One is that neighborhood kids often toss their football or baseball into the plants. If that doesn't break stems, the whacking around with a bat in the dark does. I planted a new aster last autumn, bottom center, that has only one stem left. The fern also took a beating. Its hard to see the damage in the photo below, but same problem. Football lands on delicate Boltonia stems and breaks or bends them. Fortunately Boltonia, and asters in general, are resilient to this type of damage. I straighten them out by running twine horizontally and the plant rests on the twine.

Problem two has been the general health of all the asters this year. They are blighted and fungal. All the asters including the pink-purple, fall-flowering types and the yellow-flowered goldenrod and maximilian sunflower have been affected, although this one below is the worst. I don't remember the variety, but the leaves are usually a bigger, healthier blue-green.

The asters are tough, they can survive this unhealthy year. But they don't look so good in the garden. The main reason may have been all the rain of June. Yet part of the reason, really only part, is that my plants are a bit crowded. Another reason is the stress of the heat reflected off the apartment house and sidewalk. Its tough in that 24-inch slice of earth!

Aster 'Monch' has begun to bloom. Its a much smaller plant this year, with speckled, ratty leaves. I wouldn't do without it, though.