Attention Prospect Park Visitors!



I am now hearing that Prospect Park will be sprayed tonight, after 12:30am (and our neighborhoods after 8pm tonight). If you are sensitive to this sort of thing (or foraging tomorrow), you would want to know this. Despite contacting my councilman, and having received a response, I have no new information from the city on the spraying that would help me understand what the procedure is for application of pesticides (Anvil 10+10). They tell me they do not spray the house. But how could that be? What exactly are they targeting from their truck mounted sprayers? Seriously, it's not cool, New York City.

I have to now hit the internet to find information that the city should be providing. How hard is that NYC? Just a little info goes a long way. Why do you not want us to know more about what you are doing? Because we might disagree? Hmm.


"New labeling precautions for pyrethroid products, with one exception, prohibit applications to blooming crops or weeds when bees are actively visiting the treatment area. "
-suppose its bad for the garden then. You thought you were organic!

Also, pictures of a truck sprayer and hand-held sprayer from the same Mass website:



I imagine the setup is similar in NYC. Notice how they sprayer is mounted to spray up and out, in a "fogging" type of manner. The Massachusetts site says to shut your AC, while NYC tells us not to. Hello -mine is now off. The droplet size is quite small from something like this and is capable of entering your AC.

If you witness the spraying tonight in the any of these zipcodes please report what you see: 11355, 11358, 11364, 11365, 11366, 11423, 11427, 11215, 11218, 11219, 11225, 11226, 11232, 11238, 11691 or 11692.


Here is a link to testimony to a congressional hearing by a doctor on the effects of these types of pesticides. Note that the pyrethroid pesticide she discusses is similar to the pyrethroid they are spraying in our streets. Also note that the ULV designation doesn't mean less, it means lower volume of spray but higher concentration of poison.



OY.

If you are a bee keeper, read this:

Where the risk factors combine to pose a serious risk to bees, you will want to consider one of two options. Beekeepers with one or two colonies can confine their bees during and immediately after a spray. If you choose this method, you will have to confine your bees the night before the spray takes place, and leave them shut in for 24 hours. Before confining your bees, make sure they have sufficient space to prevent overheating - that may mean adding an extra super of empty combs. Remove the entrance reducer, if present, and screen off the entrance with 1/8" hardware cloth. Plug or tape all other holes in your equipment that the bees can use as entrances, and replace the inner and outer covers with a piece of 1/8" hardware cloth stapled over the top of the hive. Cover the hive with two layers of wet burlap, and keep the burlap wet while the bees are confined. Place a sheet of plastic loosely over the burlap during the spray to minimize direct contact with the pesticide, but remove it immediately after the spray. If your bees are in the sun, you must provide shade. A day of confinement is all that a colony can take without suffering damage, especially if it is hot. Beekeepers with more than a couple of colonies will want to move their bees out of the spray area. Be sure to contact the health department in the county where you plan to move your bees to be sure there is no spray program planned for that area.

If you leave your colonies unprotected in a spray zone, observe the entrances for several days after the spray takes place. If you note an unusual number of dead, crawling or dying bees in front of your hives, call your regional DEC office immediately and ask that a Pesticide Specialist sample your bees to determine if the kill is due to the pesticide that was sprayed in your area. Ask DEC for a laboratory assay to determine if the product used to control the mosquitoes is present in your bees. Also, report any confirmed pesticide damage to me, so that I can determine the statewide impact of the spray programs on honey bees.

I have contacted agencies in other states to learn about their experiences with these pesticides. The staff at the Florida Department of Agriculture Mosquito Control Program informed me that they have not had any bee-related problems with Anvil and Scourge when using nighttime, ground applications. Some minor damage to bees hanging outside their hives on hot nights has been noted, but that is all. In a similar vein, colleagues in Missouri have also informed me that they do not experience damage from pyrethroid sprays unless the spray contacts bees hanging out on hot nights. So, that is relatively good news.

You can contact the following New York State Department of Health website for more information on the West Nile Virus, control methods for mosquitoes, and the various pesticides being used as part of the control program: http://www.health.state.ny.us/. You can contact the following DEC website to locate phone numbers for your regional DEC office: http://www.dec.state.ny.us/.

I am contacting the state's county health departments and asking that they restrict any spraying to nighttime applications of Anvil or Scourge. Also, I am asking that they consider focusing on control of larval mosquitoes rather than the adults because larvicides are less toxic to bees. Compounds such as methoprene and Bt are effective against the immature stage of the mosquito, non-toxic to people, and relatively non-toxic to bees. Local community-based programs that focus on the elimination of breeding areas, such as old tires and cans with water, can also have a significant impact on mosquito populations.

Please share this information with all members of your organization.

Sincerely,

Nicholas W. Calderone
Assistant Professor of Apiculture
Department of Entomology
Cornell University
Comstock Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853


OYsquared.



How My Councilman Suffers



Councilman Lander,

Because you are the official voice of our neighborhood, I thought it was worth expressing my dismay at the broad spraying of pesticides in our neighborhoods. Too little info is given. How do they spray? Will they blanket the house, the sidewalk, the trees and shrubs? What of my garden, which happens to be organic until tonight? And I hardly feel, although I am not an expert, that spraying my house and sidewalk will kill mosquitoes that breed in pools of water, sometimes as small as soda caps (i.e. Asian Tiger Mosquito).

We know how mosquitoes breed, so is it really necessary to spray the front yard which may be 50% concrete? What of the backyards anyhow? How will they spray those? Will the spraying be from the air? And because this area is near Greenwood and Prospect Park, how come they are not spraying there? Or are they? And finally, what of the storm drains? I think there's more than alligators breeding down there.

Also, remind me how many people have died from West Nile Virus in NYC? (CDC -4 in 2010) Maybe we should spray motorists as I think they've killed more pedestrians (250?). Sorry, that was too easy.

Thanks,

Frank


NYC DoWTF



Adulticide. That's what they call it. I call it spraying pesticide. From the city:
Will the public be notified in advance about spraying activities?
Residents can learn about adulticiding schedules in advance through public service announcements, the media, the City's website (nyc.gov/health/wnv), or by calling 311, the City's Information Line. DOHMH will provide notification at least 24 hours prior to a spray event.

I found out about tomorrow's spraying in my neighborhood via a local blog, then went here to see for myself. Nowhere can I find exactly how they are spraying which, to me, and maybe parents, would be critical info.

Material Data Safety Sheet for Anvil -one chemical they say will be sprayed.

From the city:

How will the public be notified in advance about spraying activities?
Residents can learn about spraying schedules through public service announcements, the media, the City's website (nyc.gov/health/wnv), or by calling 311, the City's Information Line. DOHMH will provide notification at least 24 hours prior to a spray event.
What health risks are posed to my children from pesticides for adult mosquitoes?
In the amounts used, risks to people and pets are relatively low. However, some people may be more sensitive to pesticides and may want to reduce their chance of exposure by following the suggestions below.
If the City sprays pesticides in an area where I am, what should I do during the spraying?
If pesticide spraying occurs, DOHMH recommends that all individuals take the following precautions to avoid direct exposure to pesticides and to reduce the risk of any reactions to pesticides:
  • • Whenever possible, stay indoors during spraying.
  • • Some individuals are sensitive to pesticides. Persons with asthma or other respiratory conditions are especially encouraged to stay inside during spraying since there is a possibility that spraying could worsen these conditions.
  • • Air conditioners may remain on. But if you wish to reduce the possibility of indoors exposure to pesticides, set the air conditioner vent to the closed position, or choose the recirculate function.
  • • Remove children's toys, outdoor equipment and clothes from outdoor areas. If toys are left outside, wash them with soap and water before using them again.
  • • Wash skin and clothing exposed to pesticides with soap and water.
  • • Always wash your produce thoroughly with water before cooking or eating.
Anyone experiencing adverse reactions to pesticides should seek medical care or call 311 or the NYC Poison Control Center at (212) POISONS (764-7667).


Can't Focus



I managed to get my camera to work -sort of. It has trouble focusing as the lens gets stuck. In this case, it focused on the bird netting, but I intended to fix on the basket of 6 black russians amongst other produce. The black russians have been perfect, so far producing 10 from one plant.

Another tough shot from outside the bird netting. An actual pixel size crop is the best I could do. I wanted you to see the brilliant gold flecks of this tomato vine in the morning sun. 

We're having a hard time with the plums this year. So many, most, have been tossed with blossom end rot. We would have had a stellar crop if it weren't for this. Leaf curl too. Camera, again, focusing on the net.

Bug ID photos are tough without quick, accurate focusing. Our cukes have been visited mostly by these black bees. Click on the bottom shot for a closer look.

 Happens to be a good foot shot.



The Haul Returns



One way to look at it -with basket. Yes, we bought a basket. We looked at them in a Target in Minnesota, but they were not worth taking home and often smelled funny. Then, on a lone road in the driftless of Iowa, an Amish family was selling produce and baskets. Ours, made by Fannie, a 9 year old girl. Yup, it's signed on the bottom in blue ball point  "Fannie, Age 8, 11-12-10." And the construction -flawless, a very good basket.

Another view, exploded. Sungold cherry and orange pixie salad. Smaller cukes pickled. Everything else, just waitin' for a mouth.


Summer 2012




I will be offering limited quantities of Italian artichoke (softneck), Italian turban (hardneck), an American and German rocambole , an Asiatic artichoke (hardneck), a Georgian and American purple stripe, an American artichoke (softneck), and quite possibly, French grey shallots.

These will be grown and sold for eating, but do with them as you wish. Pricing is yet to be determined, but will be competitive with other well-grown and cured (hang-dried, one month) specialty allium available in NYC.


No News Is News



Very little to report, although many hot evenings have been spent at the beach farm. Tomatoes are now bird-netted. A handful of gardeners still don't believe it's birds, yet I haven't lost any since the netting. Not only that, but on Friday, at dusk, there were nearly 20 birds trying to figure out what has changed in our plot that made those ripe orange cherries and pixies unavailable. 

Yesterday evening, we arrived to find our garden plot neighbor watering our plants (overhead, ack). There was a starling on the net exactly where he was watering. The bird did not move. I said it was caught in the net. He said no. The bird then jumps down to the ground. My neighbor sprays it with the hose -not hard pressure, just the arcing glops of watering you expect from typical hose watering. The bird doesn't move. It just takes it. Never seen such a thing.

We had about 25 blossom end rot cases on our young plum tomatoes. I picked them all off. The same plants have leaf curl -environmental stress.  These plums were planted two weeks after all the others and may have taken longer to settle in.

The cukes are producing now so that we have three or four every other day. The beans are finally up and running. Chard cut hard. Carrots going for the final thinning, with edible results. Transplanted carrots look not so good. Bare spot waiting for fall broccoli probably could have been planted with carrots or beans. Peppers look mature. Same for eggplants -harvesting one or two every visit.

I am eyeballing two plots that the Fed gives me the runaround on. I may just work them this fall, or sooner, and see what happens. Meanwhile, my other neighbor's plot looks like a bunch of weedy burial mounds.

I met one of the chain link gardeners yesterday. He needed advice about his tomatoes -blossom end rot. Grapes definitely eaten by the birds, but he resists on the tomatoes. The space in that cage!

Late-leaving hipster asked where the nearest bathroom was. After a joke about the beach (see here), I sent her to the porta-potty about 150 yards away. Boy, she was disappointed. By the way, have you ever noticed the name of the porta-potty Royal Flush? Yeah, I think that's funny, so I came up with a new name for their competitor: Queen of Hearts. Say it fast and you'll get it.

At home, the yellow iris is blooming again with several buds. It smells wonderful and has been surprisingly resistant to wilting in the heat. Little else is going on, except that I wish it would rain. And isn't it lovely today after all that heat?


Addendum: Wish granted.

Yeah, It's Hot, But It's A Dry Heat


We were working at the studio, the not-a-cooling-station studio, until 2:30. It may have been in the high 90s in there. Afterward, we headed down to the beach farm, somewhere around the time that my thermometer said 104 degrees F. We could catch some sea breeze and I needed to wrap those tomatoes with bird netting. And that's just what I did. Fortunately the wind wasn't blowing. Wait. What? The wind wasn't blowing, no onshore flow? Why not, it always blows when it's hot? Guess we must of equalized, but somewhere around 9 pm the wind did pick up, just slightly, and cooler, from the water. I drank cold beer, bbqed, and then watched distant fireworks. You should've seen the look on those birds' faces.


The Usual Suspects



It was quite a scene, it really was. Gasps. Acks. Arrghs. All at once gardeners were cursing at the sky. 

Why, why! My tomatoes! Every ripe one. Every single one! Who, what, could have done this? Soon the voices of prejudice were calling out over garden boundaries, down weedy alleys, pitchforks were raised.


Rabbits. It was the rabbits. I know it was, my strawberries were nibbled in June. I see them here all the time.


At first I thought it was bugs, but could it have been the opossum? 


It's friggin raccoons, man. Raccoons are all over the place. They got little hands.


It's those people going to the beach, comin in here. All those hipsters from Brooklyn!
But they ate only part of the tomatoes, it wasn't people! -one gardener rebuked. I don't know -said another.


No one, this time, uttered rats, but I was waiting for it.


Everyone, please, try to calm down -today we lost a lot of tomatoes, and it hurts, we're in pain.

But we can't go throwing accusations around, can we? We need to think about what happened here. As upsetting as it is, we need to look at those tomatoes. What four-legger would do this? 

Rabbit teeth! No, I don't think so, look how the holes are uneven. Don't they look like ovals or diamond shapes? Like a bird beak pecking at a tomato? Birds, why would birds do this, why would they eat half a tomato? I don't know, but its hard for me to imagine an animal getting to every tomato, yet not plucking any from the vine. Birds have an eye for color and they can fly in, any height. 

It's true, I put up a fence after I noticed the damage on Sunday, and the fence wasn't touched at all. Let's observe the birds now that it's dusk. They're everywhere -Mockingbirds, Redwing Blackbirds, Starlings, Robins all about, appearing so innocent. We think they're here for the bugs and seeds, we don't even see them.

I stood utterly still, watching them watch me. They're smart -they would just sit there as long as I was watching. But, within a few minutes I found myself on the trail of a couple of Mockingbirds, hopping through my neighbor's tomatoes, looking for the ripe, the untouched. They noticed me, hopped, then flew around to my tomato plants. They spotted my pile of pecked tomatoes and attacked. Then, off to another plot, to reek more havoc where little survived the last two days of onslaught. Birds. Never given them much thought. And now, I'll need to buy bird netting, or pick every tomato at first blush.

They're pickin my zucchini I tell you! All those lousy people, from the ferry! One lady, she was in here, goin plot to plot, pickin whatever she felt. Sose I axed her, hey lady whatcha doin? And she says she's havin a dinner pardy, and needs some fresh vegetables. Getataheeuh!



Cool As A Cucumber



The beach farm, hitting its stride now, but with garlic pulled and chard starting to bolt. Green beans are late, thanks to me, and same with the basil, and peppers, because of my fixation on cool season vegetables. Don't look at the corn, which belongs to my neighbor, although it feels like it's part of our little allotment. Corn has a lot of presence.

Last weekend I built the cucumber trellis, with limited means and limited space. Its a V shape, with 6-inch netting stapled to it. Hard to believe the cukes are only four weeks old.

We have two varieties, which I can hardly remember now. Maybe Wisconsin pickling and Salad Bush slicer. So far, I think only the Wisconsins are fruiting, like the one above.


Garlic Daddy



It was time, maybe even a week late.

The bulbs, between 1-3/4 to 2-1/2 inch in diameter, were healthy, and a bit dirty.

Lined up for portrait.

Cleaned, mostly, and strung up for curing in the apartment.

The garlic did quite well. The bulbs are beautiful to look at, sculptural even, blushed mauve. I'm thinking of growing many more next year, with a selection for sale. Where or how, I do not yet know. What is the going rate for ordinary garlic bulbs in your neck of the woods? What is the going rate for fresh, naturally grown specialty garlic in your neck of the woods? If you don't have any idea, head out to a farmer's market or farm stand this month, where you should find them for sale.  What would someone pay, in these here NYC parts, for naturally grown, soil-tested, locally grown specialty garlic?

And finally, thanks to Meems, at Gardening in the Boroughs of NYC for selling me some of her families garlic late, late last season.


Queens Of Compost



This is my kitchen compost. It lives in the corner of the side yard garden, is turned maybe once a month, and is full of detritus eaters. I use it around the flower garden. My neighbor hates it, she says it stinks up the air underneath her window. But that happens to be where she keeps her three trash pails. Sometimes we drop anaerobic stink in the pile, but I always bury it, so that it dissipates rather rapidly. Otherwise, the stuff smells like sweet earth. 

Three weeks ago I was at the beach farm and an old Bronco, 80's vintage, pulls up. Inside are three young ladies, clipboards in hands, sunglasses, hats, casual earthy wear. They exit the over sized vehicle, and beeline for the "compost" bins. They take notes. Afterward, they mosey over to me, ask if I am someone I am not, and then I ask what they are, I mean, as a group, what is this group? They inform me that they work for the Department of Sanitation as inspectors of community garden composting and intend to teach proper composting skills.

Then I think: just cause you're all excited about compost, doesn't make it something brand new. Realizing that my ego is too big to allow a bunch of youngins to teach me how to do anything I didn't ask to learn, I inform them that we don't compost properly at this site for several reasons, but maybe they would like to talk to another gentleman, over there, who's worked this acre for many more years than I. I cannot imagine what was said between them, however they departed shortly after, but not before I asked if they found what they were looking for. To which they replied that they would be back, maybe this fall, to teach us how to compost properly.

Can't wait.




Seed Savers



On our return trip from Minnesota, we had a side excursion to the university in Iowa where I am mounting an exhibit this winter. Not far from the home base of Seed Savers Exchange, we decided to make a visit, although it took us longer to get there on the side roads than we had hoped, and arrived after closing. Their place was wide open, enough so that we felt comfortable taking a look around the gardens. 

Trial hollyhocks at the entrance.

Nearly an acre of trial/display gardens near the entrance and store. In extreme northeastern Iowa, a bit of high country, often well above 1000 feet in elevation, is known as the Driftless Area. It's a fascinating landscape, outside of the monotony of plateau farming, and worth exploring more thoroughly. I suspect it is somewhat cooler in certain locales, as the woods were emitting cool air as we drove by that afternoon, and many plants seemed younger than expected in these gardens. The region is listed as USDA Zone 4b.

Many, many individually potted tomatoes and peppers for sale -one dollar each. I, and the beach farm, were lucky to be too late to rack up a collection.

I was attracted to this tomato -Velvet Red. With its grayed pubescence, I thought it might increase drought tolerance, useful at the beach farm, or anywhere. Indeterminate, 80 days.

A potted, mature specimen of Velvet Red.

A very dark red lettuce and cut-leaf kale.

Major asparagus hedge.

More trial beds.

The odd and entrancing Nigella, or Love in a Mist.

Lamb's ears, digitalis.

This was our campground, or the backdrop to it, at the Volga River State Recreation Area. We stayed here one night. Brand-spanking new facility, smartly designed hot water showers, clear night skies, tent canopy removed. Next morning, wild black raspberries. 

Say It



Don't Spray It.

One day during our visit to Minnesota, Betsy mentioned that a government official had stopped by to inform the residents that mosquito spraying would take place as soon as the weather dried out. They were concerned about a massive mosquito bloom after all the wet weather. Reasonable concern, but then I was concerned about aerial spraying of an unspecified substance at an unspecified time in an unspecified manner. Maybe I was overreacting? 

Two days later, when an extremely low flying helicopter was making neck-twisting passes over our woods and wetlands, I had to wonder what it was they were doing. I couldn't see any spray coming out and there was a good breeze blowing too. Why spray in a breeze and wouldn't we smell the chemical? I thought maybe they were dropping BT pellets, then, which would drop without much affect by the winds. Yet, I couldn't see anything coming out of the helicopter, which was just above the tree line, about 80 feet up. The whole episode left me with more questions than answers, and a certain degree of discomfort.

When I was a child, in the late seventies, we had massive outbreaks of gypsy moths and caterpillars. There was no government control that I was aware of at the time. Spraying, if you chose to do so, was the responsibility of landowners. We lived within oak forests that were highly infested with the moths and caterpillars. We got used to the sound of dropping turds hitting leaves and other surfaces, touching tree trunks moving with highways of caterpillars, seeing certain trees completely defoliated, the egg masses laid on every vertical surface. 

But, none of that excuses what also happened. Overnight, new gypsy moth eradication companies sprouted. Their business model was a tank truck, high pressure pump, and thousands of gallons of chemical pesticide. On summer weekdays, when the neighbors were at work, but school-aged kids were at home and outside, the trucks would show up, unannounced, and begin spraying high pressure jets up into the canopy of oaks. 

We stood there, watching, until the acrid chemical overwhelmed us and we ran inside. When they were done spraying, we went back outside to see what became of it. Amongst the dripping, sticky residue, so unusual on a sunny summer day, what we found were dead squirrels, birds, all kinds of insects, and, of course, dropping gypsy moth caterpillars. I can remember the pungent smell in the spraying's aftermath till this day, partly because it wasn't an isolated occurrence. It happened again and again over the course of three or four years, until neighbors began to realize that the Gypsy Moths weren't exterminating the trees and their spraying was costing them for naught.

Oak trees, Gypsy Moths' favorite, can survive the defoliation. We never lost one tree (all our trees were red oaks), and the oak forest that stood then, stands now, minus the ones cut down for neighbors' house extensions and pools.

So, what's with all the memory lane? I was reminded of all this the day after we arrived home. I sat in the van for a moment and noticed this trap hung from a street tree across the street from our apartment. It's a pheromone trap used to collect moths, which the USDA uses to infer gaining or lowering numbers of Gypsy Moths in an area, year over year. 

I have not noticed an up-tick in gypsy moth caterpillars in our area. Although, a few years ago, on our trip to Minnesota, I noticed a massive regrowth of young, bright green leaves off Highway 80 in Pennsylvania. On our return trip I noticed dead caterpillars everywhere at a rest stop and the attendant there told me they had sprayed. We didn't sit on any benches under the trees.

I googled quite a number of combinations of traps, Gypsy Moths, USDA, and New York City. The best I got was a recent article from a Washington state, local newspaper describing a similar trap and process in use there.







Flight To The Beach Farm



What has changed in our two weeks away? The leeks have grown to need soil hilled around them, and the cucumbers, just sprouts three weeks ago, are now three feet long. They must be thinned and trellised. Some chard is bolting, as you see here shooting into the picture frame. The newly planted peppers, three weeks ago, yes, they must be weeded, seriously weeded.

But look at those tomatoes, how they've grown. Even the paste tomato starts, planted only three weeks ago, are up to the second row of netting. The netting is performing well, despite our vacationing hands. Only, without our active training, the prevailing winds have nudged the vines northward.

Tomatoes have been splendidly productive. So far, no blossom end rot either -the bane of the potted tomatoes. These are Bella Rosa, which were very late when I planted them in pots in our side yard. Here, they are earlier than most, and more productive.

These are, I believe, Black Russian, and are exceptionally productive. Two years ago I planted these in a planter and I think I got four or five tomatoes. There's more than that in just this one cluster -maybe nine all together.

Under the tomatoes tell another story: weeds and disease. This view under the partially-weeded German Stripe shows that the lower leaves have been yellowing, browning, shriveling.

And evidence of late summer's diseases are already apparent at the base of a Pink Bandywine. Also, skins of aphids are everywhere on the tomatoes (mine and my neighbors'). The aphids are not a major threat themselves, but the disease they spread is a concern.

Which leads me to remember these eggs on fine hairs? I was picking chard leaves and noticed them, sporadically, on the undersides. Then I noticed them on the grass blade, above, that I had just pulled. Then again on the picket fence. What gives, why so many? Is it not an insect egg at all, is it some kind of fungus? I don't think so, I'm confident it's an insect's doing. Turns out they are the eggs of the Common Lacewing -whose larva eat aphids. So, I shall accept eggs on hairs on chard so that Lacewing larva should devour the aphids. I think we call this balance.

I expected to find these, the Black Swallowtail caterpillar, and have more than one munching away on our parsley. No surprise to find them in our weedy paradise by the sea -plenty of Queen Anne's Lace if no one is growing parsley or carrots, and the nectar of milkweed and thistle for the butterflies is also abundant. Just stay off my carrots and we'll have harmony.

I've planted enough parsley for us all. Why not share? In fact, I had to cut the parsley back just to spare the young basil growing to its side. Parsley anyone?

Not all my green beans sprouted while I was away. I think old seed stock was to blame. I will reseed. Carrots have been thinned, and I've tried replanting the thinnings. I've harvested one garlic, and expect to harvest them all by next week. Fall broccoli has been seeded in trays (hard to believe I'm talking fall already). Any remaining greens will be pulled in favor of more herbs, beans, carrots. Looking forward to tomatoes, maybe by mid July.



Yellow, White & July



Early July seems to be the season of orange, yellow, white, cream. I've seen worse returns, as the garden held its own weight this time with simple tie-ups and dead-heading to do. Worst bit were all the yanked stems and cut lilies. Not present is its own dilemma.



Immobile, getting ready for the night's rest.

The side yard tangle, shifting every year, unrealized.

Lilies in the dark.

Have not figured out what happened here. Dicentra eximia, ferns, and forget-me-not obliterated while we were away. It wasn't the heat because it was not that hot and they did well in last year's record June heat. Was it feet or sleeping cats? I'm going with people feet, then sleeping cats. I'm watering, hope precipitate.

That was a horrible ending; encore presentation front yard.