Daily Musings / page 15

It's time again ti turn the page. We are coming from http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/732768/
Here we post the little thoughts that come through our head ~ musings.
I gave my Sarah a dose of Valium today. She freaks out with thunder storms and they predicted strong ones. I watched the radar for at least a 1 hour warning.
She is a better forecaster than anything. Right after giving her the grease laced pill I gave her a kibble laced ice cube (kibble cube) to wash it down.She has to eat it outside (slobber) so out she went. Immediately after scarfing it down, she turned west and sniffed the air, looked at me and came over to sit on my foot. I could feel her shaking and we didn't even hear thunder yet! (Maybe she did.)
She is such a wuss, lol.
Andy P

We had some real intense storms here today. About an inch of rain. Lots of wind. Saw lots of downed limbs around.

Kassia - you mentioned a book in regards to growing food year around on Sunday. I thought it was Food for All. But that doesn't make sense - what is the name of the book?

Anyone else have a Dawn Redwood tree? If you are looking for a real attention - getter, look no further. It eventually gets pretty big so you need some room. Or just forget about it and let the next owner of your house worry about it!! I have the gold one - Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Ogon'. It maintains its gold color throughout the entire season. It is a deciduous conifer - kind of unusual. The needles turn a wheat color, then brown and drop off. It develops a rich cinnamon colored exfoliating bark. The needles are very soft and feathery to the touch. It grow pretty fast early on. Mine was planted about six or seven years ago and has grown at least two feet per year. I will get a full shot soon and post it. here's a close-up of the needles.

Those storms were amazing. I can't remember the last time I saw lightening like that...so cool!!!

I love thunderstorms. No one has them like Fl though. But in Fl, there is no break in the heat afterward! At least here it usually is a front coming through with a nice refreshing change.

We had them going south of us, north of us and a little corner caught us for a bit with a quarter of an inch.
I spent time weeding and fertilizing to beat the rain and all we got was a quarter inch, boooo. But I got closer to getting those Round Up plants in.
Victor, keep us updated on the golden Redwood.
I built a small green house out of Redwood once, I hope it wasn't 'Old Growth' wood. That was a long time ago, before we were so environmentally conscious.

Victor - I've seen Dawn Redwoods around, they do look very nice.

I have a question for all you ace grardeners.
My wife (Marilyn) has a very nice herb garden growing. She doesn't want to use any chemical type of spray or other non-natural insect control and wants to keep the herb organic.
I use Savin in the other beds and on the trees to control the little munchers. What would you guys suggest for the herb garden for insect control?
Chuck

What kind of bugs?? In general, herbs are not bothered a lot.

Here's a full shot of the Golden Dawn Redwood.

The bark.

Victor, I'm not sure, were seeing holes in some of the leaves but nothing obvious.

Chuck, Savin is brutal. It kills everything, knocks the balance of Nature off. Find something else.
Victor, that's a beautiful tree.

Chuck - the organic gardening forum probably has a lot of "safe" bug ridding solutions. I think that last one I read was made with Fels Naptha soap. Also Gardens Alive has good, organic bug ridding agents. Just remember that you can kill off the good guys along with the bad guys - so go gently into the garden.

Chuck - good mantra in the garden is 'If in doubt, leave it out'. The doubt refers to safety, toxicity, effect on the good guys, etc.

Lots of baby birds around, getting feed and life lessons from the parents. I saw the first Hummingbird of the season today, for 8 seconds, lol. It flew straight to my brand new dark red Day Lily, hovered and zoomed off.
It's kinda cool today, refreshing after the heat wave. High temps in the 60s.
Andy P

I went to dump some coffee grounds in the bucket tonight and someone was trying to get a second hand buzz.

Took the camera out for a walk - I think my town must be one of those 'green' cities.

Didn't realize coffee was beetle juice!

I guess so, he had a hard time waking up in the day that's for sure.

Chuck, Pyola is made from plants works on a bunch of bugs. Sold at Garden's Alive and other places.
Dave
"HEY! Just 'cause I'm a ladybug you think I'm a girl, eh?!"

Sarahskeeper:

Your first hummingbird? You aren't that far away from where I am. We've entertained the little darlings since the Wednesday before Mother's Day.

The new Wayside Gardens catalog came yesterday. Oooooo. Ahhhhhh. The yellow lady slipper plant I covet is ONLY $99! LOL It is $119 at WFF. Yeah - like I'm going to get one of those any time soon. Anyone want to trade a yellow lady slipper for a really smart cat that bites?

Nice shots, Al.
Candyce, I don't do anything to attract the Hummingbirds. No feeders or favored flowers except for Phlox that bloom later. I'm lucky to see 5 or 6 in a season as they pass through.

I have never had a hummingbird in my yard - I've tried everything - oh well...

Try this honeysuckle - Lonicera 'Serotina'. They love it and it's not invasive. You can see pics on PlantFiles.

Once again the heat [104 - no clouds] has driven me indoors. I've been reading the weather related articles on line. My area looks to be about to experience 90 more years of drought. I'm not quite sure what that is based on but it sure looks like it could be true. OUCH.

I may just have to move. uggh. where would I go? and where could I possibly think the weather wasn't going to go downhill? We have no hurricanes, no tornados, and darn little [if any] snow. Not much in the way of flooding here in the last 30 yrs - oh, the occasional gully washers.

~~just musing~~Blooms

How high is the water table, Blooms? Is a well feasible? Do you collect the occasional rainwater?

what rain? None for the month of June - I do remember a coupla sprinkles in May, oh not fair, I think we had just over an inch for the month of May. I forget where to go look it up.

And yes there is a chance for a well. So far anyway... at the rate they are putting in housing here that won't last either. How foolish can humans be? We've had ten years of drought already [the state itself claims ony 7] and yet they continue to allow more and more housing to be put in.

The weird thing is they keep building quarter million dollar housing and the only income in this town is from tourists. So the only jobs are in the service industry and there is NO housing for the servers. I'm not at all sure WHO is buying or supposed to buy these expensive places. The cheapest rental in town at the moment is about $800s per month. Mickey D's doesn't pay that well. LOL

Wow - and here I was ready to move out there after seeing some of your photos!!

Apparantly you are not the only one drawn here by our natural wonders. But I still can't figure out what all these people are doing to make a living.

I mean builders are building and that gives those folks an income, but we have NO industry here at all. It's an amazing situation. Kinda like a pyramid scheme gone nuts.

Oops didn't mean to send that yet. The folks that were serving our small one strip airport ceased their service as of July 1st - and we are 115 miles from the nearest city - it does have an airport. And is also the nearest home depot and walmart and malls.

Doesn't sound like it can continue much longer - what a shame.

Yankee the name of the site is http://www.foodforeveryone.org/ you will find links for the book at the site!
Thanks so much for your card... I love it!!!

I'm only a few days behind :))

There were so many little feet, that I'm pretty sure Mama Bat had a baby tucked under her, and yes they are small. DH gloves aren't too large. Usually we have the dark brown bats that fly at night. I've seen the golden both times in the daylight. I always hope they're eating every last mosquito out there :))

Poor Sarah. There isn't much you can do for a dog that freaks out.
Victorgardener, love the redwood! How tall will it get?

Beetlejuice.... ROTFL!! I love that movie!!

Candyce, these pictures are fun! This is Petey and the Tweetybird :))

Hummingbirds, start with the columbines and then any red tubular flower. I don't use any feeders.

Blooms, I couldn't live without rain. We just had 7'' overnight last Friday, and I'm hoping for that 4th of July rain!

Hey Billy - whas Petey making that funny noise my cats used to make when they watched a bird from the window??

Hi Billy - that Redwood will eventually get over 75 feet tall and about 2 - 25 feet wide. My cat Crash loves watching all the animals outside too.

Victor, it's a beautiful tree. wish I had the space for it.

the hummers love the hosta flowers here, too. I also buy a pot of annual fuschia. they like petunias. one picked out a pot of them at the nursery for me LOL. how could I not buy them when the little hummer liked them so much?

I know that sound you mean. The one the cats make when they sit in a window to watch the birds. It's like they are chattering their teeth. Funny though, they don't do that noise for the hummers, just the other birds that come to the feeders.