This series was captured around seven in the morning on Sunday, we before we went floating. My sister gave me a swamp milkweed plant she dug up on her back 40, and this year it is in its glory. It first opened a couple of days ago. Now the pollinators have discovered it.
The first was a honeybee. Notice how covered in pollen the pollen sacs on the back legs are .
A little later in the morning, after I had progressed all around the Stroll Garden documenting changes, I arrived back at the same plant to find that the honeybee had been replaced by a large bumblebee of the carpenter bee persuasion. This was not too surprising since they have colonized the wood shed and Jim and I expect the roof to fall in someday because of all the tunnels they have made in the rafters. It already needs to be repaired because of the ice storm, so why not let them use it?
It was while I was walking around the garden that I realized how wonderful sedums as a tribe really are. In addition to all our fall favorites, Autumn Joy and the rest, there are a whole group that bloom in the spring. I suddenly realized that there were all kinds of little miracles going on at my feet in the little sedum and hen-and-chick bed at the base of the rock garden. Observe:
Now. Just in case you think all is beauty and sweetness and light at The Havens, I am now going to reveal a newish section of the Stroll Garden that has been colonized by bermuda grass and plantain, to name a couple of many. The cardboard and mulch method was only about 50% effectivein killling those two denizens of the lawn that was originally under this bed. The mess underneath the spirea and viburnum section of this shrubbery is what we plan to address in the morning after coffee, bright and early before it gets too hot. Shovels, boots, trowels, the cobra head weeder will all be employed in cleaning out the big weed rhyzomes and root wads. This will leave behind innumerable tiny seeds which will germinate approximately two hours after we finish the first go round. But they will hoe out nicely and soon I will have mulch, which will help control the weed seedlings. Hopefully.
I believe I will be shedding sweat copiously, which will help make up for all the calories I put on yesterday after we floated, what with the home made venison tacos with refried black beans we grew in the garden last year, and the fresh home made strawberry ice cream. Oh, and the rum drinks. Yum.
Anyway, I’d better get to bed.
