Hackberry Trees, etc, #4

Hadn't thought about it, but it is an interesting theory. But if so, couldn't the same thing be said about orange? Some see it as yellow-ish and some see it as reddish.

Or perhaps green. I do know that lime green bothers some men, and others don't seen the lime look at all. Take euphorbia for example. To me it is as lime green as can be, but my hubby thought it more mint green, with not a trace of the yellow appearance that I saw.

Guess it is all in the eye of the beholder, after all, isn't it?

I agree with your thoughtful points, Sharon,
Any of this could be tested empirically, at a populational level, with easy statistics. I suspect (perhaps incorrectly) that this is an relatively uncharted
area of Perceptual Psychology.
Had better get to bed. Working to a deadline with these shrubs.
Back tomorrow,
Nite Sharon,
Charlie.

Have a good evening, Charlie...
I'm afraid I am not very scientific minded, but I'll try to keep up with you. I do however have a little bit of psychology somewhere in all my learnings, so maybe I won't be too lost!
Till tomorrow...

Hi Sharon,
Off to deal with shrubs.
Don't worry re science, I'm not very artistic.
Silly piece of info I read: until about 1919, in the U.S., blue was the color for baby girls and pink was the color for baby boys. Pink was considered to be something like more assertive and blue, I guess, prettier. They aren't quite sure why it changed. To me, after WWI (the silliest war I know), it was out with the old and in with the new.
Charlie

Guess it depends on the strength of the shade of pink.

Enjoy your day, and stay cool, Charlie.
Guess I will rid myself of some of the dust around here, worse than pulling weeds, I think. Maybe because I can't be outside while doing.

Daisy is now off the top of the fridge. I hope she has forgotten it's there. She purred me awake this morning, sounding for all the world like the start up of an outboard motor. She is loud for such a dainty little thing.

Later.

She is a cute girl. Sounds like the late Pebbles.

Had problems with a copper wire, in the clay, today. Stripped off some of the plastic insulation while digging. Seemed to be connected to the gas meter.
Assumed it was a grounding wire, but Tim pointed out to me, somebody had severed it in the past (maybe in replacing the gas meter). Will repair it (got the electrical and duct tape), but probably it was waste, as the brick rubble it was in with. This shouldn't be part of gardening!

Shouldn't be, but often is.

True!

Not the only one there.

Marigolds: cheap, tough and attractive fillers.

Just noted: haven't finished weeding there yet!

Dianthus is pretty in that circular shape, and what are the blue blooms in the first picture?

And I didn't notice the weeds till you mentioned them, it looks so much cleaner than mine.

Blue: there's some delphiniums, a salvia, but main (pale) blue is erigeron (fleabane). Erigeron is 'Azurfee' (Azure Fairy). Think perennial gardening can be a great way to learn German vocabulary!

Fleabane, yes, that's what I was seeing.
Had forgotten about it.

Needing rain here. Had to go out and water again tonight. Maybe tomorrow they say.

Hope you get the rain tomorrow, Sharon.
Been there myself. Very frustrating.
Also, a bit of a worry re customers' gardens, if I'm away.
Don't think non-gardeners realize what it takes to maintain a good garden.
We've been talking of eventually moving to a smaller house with a (much) larger garden, in the Niagara Peninsula (longer growing season).
Then wouldn't be reponsible for the gardens of others.

But would you miss the other gardens?

maybe not if you have a larger one.

Don't think so.
I'd just start another garden,
this time (finally) with no mistakes in it.
And I'd like it to be very south facing (that is both the front and the back of the house) and I wouldn't let trees (light hogs) in (or perhaps just a honey locust).

now Charlie, how in this world can you have both the front and the back facing south, unless of course, you have a revolving house.

Ha ha, I know what you are saying, but I had to tease you because of my first impression upon reading it.

Wrote a response last night, Sharon, but must have omitted to send it - Sorry.
Revolving has to be the solution:
revolving house, garden, property or town. Not sure which.
Today: our front garden: Japanese iris (Crystal Halo).

Goodness that is so pretty.

Still have Lychnis x arkrightii 'Vesuvius' blooming in back. You can certainly see maltese cross (part of the parentage) in the blooms. Have no idea why was said on Dave's that this is best treated as an annual or a biennial. Have some quite large Vesuvius at the biggest garden; around five years old and very showy.

Guess it has to do with zone/climate, don't you think?

Love Sidalcea. Have a lot of 'Party Girl' (always think of it as Pebbles's flower). This is 'Brilliant', just starting to bloom. Flower is actually more red (less pink) than the image.

Bet you're right Sharon, but the person who wrote it was a Canadian in Newfoundland.
Just off to watch Sherloch Holmes with Carol. Really like Jeremy Brett, as Holmes. Is on PBS (Buffalo). Three cheers for Buffalo.
Charlie.

Interesting problem with township/provincial spraying ban which started this year. Companies can't spray traditional herbicides/pesticides. Of course,
farmers (this is/was a corn area, though the farms are being replaced by housing developments) and golf courses (22 on the Moraine) are exempted! Home owners are allowed to do things like spot spray dandelions.

I personally don't use harmful chemicals in gardening. Carol takes what lawn we have seriously and in recent years has hand weeded it. Previously she had had it spot sprayed. She'd been having nematodes used on the grubs.

Problem now is that with the commercial spraying ban (includes spot spraying), many people are doing nothing (manual or spot spraying) to control dandelions, clover and the like. You can see the weeds continuing to advance in neighbor's lawns and in customers' lawns. Problem for me is weed seeds moving from lawns into flowerbeds. There are now companies that will hand weed lawns on an hourly basis, but I suspect many people will not be willing to pay for the service. On top of this, as you know, the longer you leave weeding the worse the problem gets.

Something is going to have to give. Am wondering whether the ultimate solution will turn out to be home astroturf!

Goodness, home astroturf? What a concept.
We don't have the ban, but I too don't use chemicals, though my surrounding neighbors freely do, and I suspect it does seep into areas of my yard. I do have a dandelion problem, as well as the creeping charlie, which I have not minded on the shady east side where nothing else will grow.

I think you have a conundrum up there but I would worry about it only if they all begin to take over your flowerbeds. Therein lies the real problem, isn't it?

Not much you can do about it. You'd make more money as a hand weeder, I think.

I feel the way you do Sharon, re the importance of the flowerbeds.

It does annoys me enormously that it's fine to spray roundup on the corn we eat. In fact, it's fine to bioengineer corn to tolerate more roundup. And it's also fine to reject the labelling of genetically engineered produces.

Feel the same about spraying on the 22 golf courses. These sit on top of the aquifers that feed the rivers to the south (Lake Ontario Basin) and north (Lake Simcoe Basin).

Since I no longer have a vegetable garden, in part because of the habits of my spray happy neighbors that I live down the hill from, and in part because I have only myself to cook for, I usually buy my vegetables from a man who has farmed organically for about 30 years. I figure if he has not sprayed a drop in 30 years, whatever chemicals that might have been in his farmland have long gone. I never buy from a grocery, or from anyone that I don't know.

It is worrisome.

I have a problem spraying those ants that somehow creep into my house through unknown openings around the doors or windows.

I would definitely be worrying about the golf courses and the aquifiers.

We feel the same as you Sharon about organic produce and chose it over non-organic.

Have also been very wary about using things like plastics, pressed wood and treated wood, especially with children, for quite a time.
Know new chemicals, or new uses for old chemicals, appear all the time and only a tiny percentage of these have been tested.

It's a Chemical World!

Better get to bed.
Nite Sharon.
Charlie

Totally agree with all of it.
Have a good evening.

Last open day of the season at Merlin's Hollow.
Through the geraniums.

Oxeye daisies, Coreopsis, etc.

Verbascum (and friends) still going strong.

Serbian bellflower, foxgloves, etc..

Own garden: Kashmiri tree mallow.

Great pictures, again. I love the verbascum...well I love them all. There is something about tall plants in the back, it all looks very natural and 'cottage-y'. I wish I had that look.

Like your tree mallow, too, not sure I am very familiar with it, not around here anyway.

We had thunderstorms off and on all day long. Scared the cats to death. Again.

Would say cats have bad nerves, but maybe that's not fair.

Find the tree mallow to be a very useful plant in a large sunny perennial bed. Not weedy as musk mallow or the like can be. It's very tall, but somewhat open.

Like large herbaceous perennials myself too. Think a gardener can have signature plants. Probably have about twenty or so perennials that I particularly rely on in July and into August.

Hoping the thunderstorms are at least watering your garden.

I think the garden is pretty well watered now, so I don't have to worry about that for awhile. It was very warm and humid after the storms, and that was not very comfortable.

Cats have pretty well calmed down too.

But this weather has made me sleepy, kept thinking about napping all day long, and I never do that. This might mean I should wander into my bedroom, but sure as I do I'll be up again in the wee hours of the morning.

I hate getting up when it is still dark outside.
It's a quandary.

Great about the garden (and the cats).
Sorry to hear about your sleep pattern tendency.
Not sure if one isn't getting enough sleep at night, whether one should be napping during the day or not.
Certainly makes sense that avoiding napping should encourage nightly sleeping. Hope you get a good sleep Sharon.
If as they say "there's no rest for the wicked", you should be getting a very good night's sleep!
Nite Sharon,
Charlie.

I don't know Charlie, it could be I am wicked!
I hope not.
Have a good evening.

Don't believe it at all Sharon,
Buddy maybe, but even he does have good moments.
Going to get an early night as number of things to get ready,
not least those two gardens.
Weather is looking convenient.
Hope your's too.
Hope it's long sleeps without waking too early.
Back tomorrow,
Charlie.