This is just a quick confessional update, in which I lay bare the truth about my gardening habits. In the middle of the summer, no matter what the weather (since I can’t blame the heat this year, there isn’t any), I just don’t get out to do any serious gardening very often. I do my walkabouts, which are mostly for my own benefit- I don’t think the tranquility of the garden is affected in any way-and I pull out a few weeds, but digging holes etc, seems like far too much work at this point. My roses are still in their somewhat shady beds, awaiting a lift in my energy level or a more auspicious time.
One thing I did on my walkabout today was to chop off the bleeding hearts near the ground, since they were looking yellow and faded. To my surprise there was a bonus plant underneath I had totally forgotten about. It’s a mini variegated grass plant that took my fancy a couple of years ago. I planted it in one of the sunnier spots of my shade bed. Now that I’ve gotten rid of its main competition (the bleeding heart), perhaps it will hit its stride. It looks very healthy, just a little small.
Another observation I made in my recent walkabouts is that my Japanese Willow tree seems to be suffering some sort of infestation. There are dry leaves indicating that there are branches dying back, plus there are some small holes along one of the trunks. I’m alarmed, since this tree is quite precious to me, although it takes up a lot of space and gets in the way of my clothesline. I’m going to do some research to find out what could be eating it.
I know what’s eating my sunflowers: the squirrels.
So that’s all I have to report. The garden still manages to look pretty sweet, despite my neglect. I promise to mow it in the next couple of days, which will make things look much better with very little effort on my part.
Here’s the tragic and legendary Frank Rosolino with “Pennies from Heaven”.
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