Hackberry Trees, etc, #2

You too. Heading back tomorrow evening. So all is well.

Hey now!! Home again, home again, jiggedy jig!

And where are all of you? Did I come home to an empty house?
I did come home to a lovely daylily bloom, and of course I will be outside with my camera when I can get my eyes open and a drop or two of coffee in.
And weeds, seems as if they overtook, as weeds always do.

Any wonderful blooms at your house?

Hi Sharon - great to hear from you.
Just got back from doing the School garden - heavy work.
Had someone with me - very good worker: School pays for his wage (or rather part of it). Problem is distance of School from Aurora.
Talk about distance: What about your recent travel? Carol asked: Did you drive? Did you stop en route ( think you would have)? Important: Did you simply turn Jazz and Daisy out into the woods to fend for themselves (only joking)? Did a neighbour come in to 'minister to their little needs'? 'Empty house' implies Jazz and Daisy were indisposed. I remember a friend of Carol's whose answer to going away and what to do with the pets was: get rid of them and get some new ones when you come back. You wouldn't? Only joking.
What does Ethan do, during the day? Is he in preschool? When will he see his Grandma next?
Great to hear from you,
Charlie

Hey Charlie....
So good to be back. Carol's questions made me smile. Here are answers for her:

Strangely enough, I was in a suburb of Chicago called Aurora...a very nice community. My son lives there, in a leased townhouse, but his lease is up in June so he has purchased a house and I wanted to take a look at it. The trip is maybe about 450 miles north of my home, and he was here last weekend bringing his boat back from Nashville, Tennessee, and I kept Ethan while he did so. Ethan is in preschool, but was out this week, and since Alyn, my son, had to work during this past week, but was returning here to the lake and his boat for this weekend, we decided it was a good time for me to go back with them. No driving for me when my son is at the wheel. But it sure was a long trip!

I have lived in this community here since '73, and I have wonderful neighbors. We keep check on each others houses during times like this, and my favorite neighbor is just in my back yard, so she always checks on and feeds Jazz and Daisy. They were not very happy and pouted for about 5 minutes when I walked in the door, but got over it really quickly. They do have a food dispenser which I leave well stocked, same with water, but she came in and gave them a small can of moist food once a day, and they were fine.

Son and Ethan are at the lake this weekend with friends, and I was invited, but really needed to spend some time at home since the weeds took over in my absence, and I have roses running up and down my back yard, blooming like there is no tomorrow. And there are lots of events planned for this Memorial Day weekend at the lake, so they will be busy, and will stop by here off and on. I boated enough for 2 lifetimes when the children were young and Bob and i had a houseboat. We lived on it during summers. The marina is only about 5 miles from my house. And from here in mid-America, one can go most anywhere on the waterways, south to Florida and the Atlantic coast, around the gulf and on to the west coast, or north to Chicago and the Great Lakes...so it is a well traveled route. I have been by water several times to the Gulf, but only to Chicago by water once, and never on into the Great Lakes. We had planned to do that but Bob didn't live long enough. Now I rarely boat, just short day trips. I might now that Alyn has this new boat, it is live-aboard, but not sure I really have much of a desire to do that these days. We'll see.

Wayyyyy more than you wanted to know, I'm sure, but maybe Carol will know I tried to answer all her questions. You will find I can write on a subject non stop when I get started. It was a bit of an impromptu trip, the one I just returned from, but it was a lot of fun.

Here's my first daylily bloom of the year...I usually leave the date on my flower photos, but just noticed my camera date is off by a day. Oh well, I never know what day it is anyway. (One advantage of retirement.)

Thanks for all the answers. Transmitting to Carol.
Think our equivalent long weekend includes Victoria Day (last Monday).
Have small motor boat at the cottage. At weekends with the water traffic, it's a real bone shaker. I try to go by car. Loved the air boat in the Florida Everglades last winter. A bit noisy, but otherwise real comfort. Tim (son) swears by the Queen Elizabeth II. Was on the out-bound and in-bound last legs of the last voyage. Of course, Carol and I have humbler tastes. Carol's brother, in Vancouver, B.C., has rented house boats and says what fun they are.
Love your daylily. As said, I've switched to daylilies in a big way, after the lily beetles decimated the other type of lily. Daylilies really are attractive plants.
As you say, one advatage of retirement is 'not knowing what date it is'. The other is (usually) not having to care what date it is.
Going to buy the annuals for the pots for the deck this weekend. Will also cost out tuberous begonias and small dahlias for areas of two main customers.
Great the trip was fun.

What a great time you have had. I am always ready to hear more of your adventures. Not a good day for Mike or I today....too many memories. Wish this would pass sooner. Glad you are home and safe. Go with Ethan every single chance you get. You'll never have any regrets.

I love you very much.

Christi

I hit a brick wall today, too, Christi, without even knowing it was there. My son came to pick up Ethan at noon, and there are many Memorial Day events scheduled for the lake all weekend. One is a lighted boat parade in memory or in honor of someone special. Son asked me if I wanted to go with him, of course he'll have friends for the boat parade. I told him No...just couldn't go.

Sometimes life overwhelms us, and we don't need excuses for falling down when we hit that brick wall. We just have to know that our skinned hearts will with time feel a little better.

I hate that you are going through such a rough time. I hate the reason for it.

My roses have taken over my world. Along with the weeds, but the roses are much more fun.
Here's Sophy's Rose running rampant all over my side garden, and this is only about a fourth of it. It has even overtaken 3 yuccas!!! Yes!

Somehow I missed the photo above, Charlie.....love those delphiniums.
Where's JoAnn??

And this is New Dawn.
I am trying to teach it to do the impossible, and it is so thorny it fights back viciously. I want it to grow up and above a wisteria. Only planted it last fall, and it does have canes, but its blooms started before the canes, so now I guess I wait another year.

Love your roses, Sharon.
They raise the spirits. But kind folks mean even more.

Ahhh, Sunny, if I have learned nothing else over all these years, I have learned to take the hand I am dealt. Don't we all.

I hope you have all had a good day. I only had about 3 hours of sleep last night, so this is it for me.

I hope your tomorrow is really filled with sunshine.

Hi
its Jo Ann
sorry Ive been absent, gardening you know.
Plus people stop by and family need tending ,DD#3 is in the middle of the bid "D" doesnt talk about it much but now and then she needs a good cry, those who have been there know.
I'm down to about five posts on 2 threads and I cheat and dont read everylast word while catching up.
Your roses are beautifu. Sharran, wish we had more but thats DD's relm and she doesnt make a full time job of gardening, just weekends
I spent som at the Bluestone 1/2 price sale.
Astilbe,columbine,sedum,replacements for asters that didnt make it.
The boat parade sounds great.
Chuck ! your gardens continue to look great.Keep posting pix.

Great to hear from you, Jo Ann, and glad you have been in the garden. Thought I might have to come looking for you.

"D" is not a fun thing, but often the only choice left for a marriage. I wish her well.
Don't forget to send us pictures of your gardens. Been painting lately, or is that a winter project as it is for me?

I have a huge amount of writing to catch up on today, but I'll check in occasionally. Y'all have a great sunshiny day.

Hi Friends,
Sounds like you got some good plants at good prices JoAnn. Particularly love asters.
Back garden rising.
Beechfield iris, chinese globeflower, virginia bluebells, false lupin (light yellow), small lilac and lots of forget-me-nots.
Think forget-me-nots are an invasive plant, in a garden, which are not invasive. So easy to pull up when finished flowering and seeds left for next year. Lovely, cheerful little plants.

I am down to 2 forums and not many threads at that.
Just dont have time.
Chuck your rising garden is wonderful

Very lovely, Charlie.
Great yellows, like drops of sunshine.

Your truly visits Mecca - Gehardt's Black Forest Nursery - always have geraniums on deck.

I bought a companion for my TreePeony mothersday gift

Lovely JoAnn

Ahhhh Charlie, how did I know already how you looked? A handsome man surrounded by glorious plants. Thank you! How many of them did you walk away with?

Great choice, Jo Ann!

its the wrong pix
here's what I bought

Even more beautiful.

Handsome - no.
Falling to bits - yes.
Carol spent most of the money - couple of hundred bucks (quite a few annuals). Probably cheaper in the U.S.. Canadians always like to pay more!

Been trying to send picture of Carol, using new dandelion gadget, but she seems to be lying down. Is it possible to send a picture, taken with long axis of the picture vertical (hope this clear) and have it come out at Dave's as you took it? Rotating the picture from the card doesn't seem to have any effect on what comes up on Dave's. Never claimed to be very technically orientated.

I second Sharon, JoAnn.

Charlie, we could all be falling to bits most days, but we all know how to pick ourselves up and move right on. You are falling to bits with no cracks showing. A really excellent picture.

I think posting a photo on DG, will not change the vertical position to horizontal, or vice versa. It must be changed before you send it.

But then, I know virtually nothing about technology....

More than me Sharon - thanks.
Was at the physiotherapist's this year. She's an older person and very nice and good at her job. Her sense of humor is so quiet that it sometimes seems missing. On that occasion, my knees creaked so much that she just couldn't avoid a broad smile. Think she didn't feel too bad, however, because she was able to tell me that the knees at least had good muscle support.

Yes, my neurosurgeon tells me I have great muscle tone, too, as they dwindle away to nothing more than wrinkles......

They must be paid to say things like that.

Guess who has just eaten?
'No exchanges' - you had your chance JoAnn.
Look what you're missing.
Currently wondering if the Guiness Book of Records has a 'Dirtiest Cat in the World' category.
Could Sharon's cat food dispenser work with Buddy? If it's help yourself when you're hungry, it wouldn't. He's always desperately hungry. You could probably guess why, after seeing where he had been eating.
The problem with the dried food is, he eats it so fast, he makes himself sick.
Better stop complaining and go and help Carol with the annuals.

You just haven't seen my cat's eating area yet. And you won't!! I have to clean it at least twice a day. But they are good about not eating it all at one time, so it probably lasts a little longer than Buddy's.

Sharon - I'm relieved and I'm not relieved.
Relieved that there's other cat owners like us.
Not relieved to hear that you have the same problem.
Guess people normally don't talk about things like this in polite company!
Got to get back to reading the Tallamy book this evening (Bringing Nature Home). I've recently read a number of extracts and comments by Tallamy and others. I don't feel comfortable with perhaps simple solutions to complex problems and I believe that there is a huge shortage of relevant knowledge. At the same time, am certainly on the same wavelength as the book in numbers of gardening issues. But, need to know more about what's known, what's unknown and even what's unknowable, at least in practical terms.

Charlie, you will find that in one way or another most things do get mentioned on these threads.

Enjoy your reading.

What's the purpose of the book, it's raison d'etre?

The instance of me reading the book: the reaction I got, from several people, on an invasive species thread (purple loosestrife cultivars). Am reading the book at the suggestion (I think well intended) from one person and will respond with a separate thread on aspects of the book. Don't want distraction from what I think are the salient points in the purple loosestrife cultivar thread.

The book is really very interesting. It strongly indicts the use of 'alien' species, by gardeners, for decreasing biodiversity. The writer is an entymologist-ecologist. There certainly appears to be clear evidence that as alien plant species replace native species, the number of different types of insect herbivore species decreases. The problem then could be that as these insects are at the bottom of many food chains, a reduction in their numbers means less food for species that eat them (e.g. perhaps birds). Tallamy gives very little direct evidence (at least as read so far) for the bird connection.

My kind of problem: Apparently, native trees support a lot more insect herbivore diversity than do native herbaceous plants. I've already read Tallamy say, elsewhere, that if you have a small garden in a city, you should plant a native canopy tree in it (= increase herbivore insect diversity). I've already seen problems associated with large native silver maples in small gardens. Also (so far) the cultivars, including hybrids, of native plants are not mentioned.

Ahh yes, that subject. I try to not tread there. There are too many opinions and not enough verifications of thought diversity.

One of my unanswered questions concerned the evolution and adaptation of insect herbivore species. Does Tallamy answer that one?

Might take years and years before there is any verification.

Sharon,
Also meant to say, with your recent sleep deprivation, hope you've already gone to bed and only see the above in the morning.
Charlie.

Got to stop keeping you up - wise one!

Charlie, you don't keep me up.
I do have trouble sleeping, but manage to sleep most mornings till about 8, so it's all good.

My problem is I have about 5 or more screens going all at the same time. If I ever forget and post to the wrong one, then you'll know I am really sleep deprived. Actually there are only 3 open now, all different articles I'm working on. They'll be edited anyway, so I don't worry.

It's when I start giving you a recipe for making a salve for your aching joints from Monarda leaves that you should start being concerned.

Oh, was my question above valid, or was it profoundly dumb?

Maybe I was way off base.

Amazing!
There's Homo sapiens (most of us still here),
Homo economicus (our friend Kathy)
Now have to add:
Homo electronicus (our friend Sharon)

Absolutely valid and anyway,
friends are never off base.

Ha!
I don't think I am very often on base.

But very glad to be a friend, on or off.

Speaking of sleep, you keep late hours also.

Sometimes Sharon - depends on the kind of day.
Five hour to and from the School on Friday, with three hours of non-stop gardening (time-is-money: Ben with me) --- earlier night.
Have a three hour job in King City (but only about eight miles away) tomorrow.
Without Ben, it would be six hours - just too much. But not picking him up until 10 O'clock.
Still better get to bed myself now.
Happy editing,
Back tomorrow.