Bogieblog

Partial Break Down

I took advantage of the cooler temps and low humidity last Tuesday evening to mow for the first time in 10-14 days (it has been dry here). I was  about 10 minutes into mowing, of my usual 1 hour 10-15 minutes, when the forward assist cable broke off the handle. It didn't just unhook itself, the connector broke as I was engaging the assist for a turn. I actually felt it bounce off my boot but it is so small I couldn't find it even with a magnetic sweeper.

Of course, I had mowed the flatter part of the yard first (from the driveway to both sides of the roadside garden and the drainage area behind the shrub garden), so it was miserable pushing the 83 pound mower up the hills and over bumpy ground. Even though I usually only use the assist to start up the hills, and get around corners/curves/turns, I was way more hot, sweaty and muscle tired than I normally would be by the time I was done. And, my fingers were sore from the assist bar bouncing up into them. Sure, I would try holding the bar, but I am so used to only holding it for certain parts of mowing that I would automatically let go, and the finger beatings would recommence like a nun at school with a ruler - LOL.

The Toro Recycler mower is into its 3rd year and has had absolutely no maintenance besides gassing up, and adding Sea Foam to the gas at the end of the season. In my defense, this is a "no oil" type - as in you just need to top off the oil, not change it. In fact the only way a committed person could change the oil is to turn the entire unit upside down and drain out of the oil fill spout. All this time it has been an absolute rock and always started up for me, which means it has been the best mower I have owned. I contacted a local guy to come pick it up and give it the works, including sharpening/replacing the blade.

He picked it up on Thursday (yes, on the 4th) and I'm waiting to hear back from him. But, I would expect it to be a couple of weeks.If my place doesn't get rain, that is fine. If I get a good rain, then the weeds will grow like crazy.

Meanwhile, I've been eyeing some Ryobi 40v battery mowers. One of those would be a great backup mower as it can sit forever and not need any maintenance at all - unlike a gas mower where the gas and oils can cause problems if the mower just sits. Batteries are something I already have for other tools, so I would not need to buy extras. And, the Ryobi can be folded up and leaned against a wall (try that with gas and oil - LOL).

But at this time I can't convince myself to commit. Not that the one I am looking at is all that expensive at about $40 more than a comparable mower of the type I already have. But the cheap, er frugal, person inside of me thinks that if I wait long enough, it may go on sale (maybe for Prime Days?), which would make commitment easier.  Part of my reluctance is also because Ryobi just blew out a bunch of its riding lawn mowers and tractors at HD last week for 1/2 price (and even less in some cases). No, I'm not sad that I missed that one since at least 1/2 of my yard doesn't lend itself to a riding mower, and one of those certainly wouldn't fit in the fence gates, but I also wouldn't want to commit garage space to something like that (takes away on pellet storage space ;) ).

Oh, and of course, I had a 10% off coupon for HD which expired on 6/30, which is another reason I rebel at buying a mower at this time. If I get another coupon soon, that could change the equation in my mind also.

Pollinators Out and About

The pollinators were very busy a couple of days ago. Actually, they are very busy most of the time, but I had my phone with me so got some (poor) pictures. Unfortunately my phone would focus on the flowers instead of the insects, so they are a bit fuzzy.

I had bumble bees and honey bees.

Not sure what this winged creature is, but it isn't a wasp. It was quite the beauty when it flew, but it was so fast I couldn't get a picture of that action

Depending on how the sunlight hit, how open the buds are, and how old the plant is, the butterfly weed can show as different shades of orange or orange-yellow. The older the plant, the darker the orange is (as in, the plant in the previous post is the original plant, and yes, that plant is a dark orange that doesn't look quite real)

This year I once again got one yellow sport. I'll have to go check to see if it has opened up

Then as I was wacking back the winterberry and other bushes that are trying take over the world, I saw this wasp of some sort on the False Spirea that leans over onto my side of the line

I've also seen a fair amount of fireflies in the early morning hours, so the insect world is doing well at my place.

Driveway Garden Takes Center Stage

Friday afternoon I went around and removed all the spent peony blooms. I was thinking that there wasn't much color, but that was because I was looking at the roadside and south gardens (day lilies will be next and are setting buds, but otherwise they don't have blooms right now). Then I started looking in other areas, and there is plenty of stuff blooming - especially the driveway garden where butterfly weed and black-eyed suzies are coming into their own.

The false indigo had massive seed pods weighing down the stems so I started trimming those off. Of course it started sprinkling a few minutes into this job, so I only got about 2/3 of them cut off before it started raining in earnest and I was wet enough to call it quits.

Flowers and flower buds from what I believe is an ash that is in the neighbors yard, but hangs over onto my property (not complaining). Edit 6:30/2024 - this is a False Spirea, also called an Ash-leaved Spirea.

I've shown this foxglove in the backyard previously, but it is so impressive. The top of the spike goes to just above my eye level, so it is at least 5' tall and the spike itself is around 2.5' long

The just started blooming on Thursday and is welcome color in the shady parts of the yard.

The winterberry is getting buds and are so big I may have to trim them. I'm unsure what is going on in this area of the shrub garden. I've not had this happen before - almost looks like something big bedded down there and pushed all the stems over. Mountain laurel should be in there. It is possible that it is shady enough that everything just started leaning but I don't remember it being like that while mowing  - but that means nothing - LOL

Chokeberry are getting ready to bloom too

The next big event will be day lilies blooming. I think that will be lackluster in the roadside garden as the peony foliage is so tall and spreading that those lilies aren't getting any sun. And, some of the lilies, at the best of times, are not as tall as the peony foliage. Bad future planning on my part.

At this point it looks like I will not have the fantastic fall blooms in the south garden from the Sweet Autumn clematis. It has not put out any buds. I cut off all last summers vines in the spring, which I normally do, so I'm unsure what the deal is since I have never been able to kill them before. The winter was not harsh, nor did we have a late frost, so I'm perplexed. And the worst part is that the 5' tall pillar and other supports that I have out there look out of place and messy.

Foxglove Season

Foxgloves, as biennials, are interesting. Behind the house, along the woodsy perimeter, foxgloves reseed. I've only planted one foxglove back there, in 2018, and it was yellow. Over the years the seeds have produced white, light pink and dark pink offspring (which I am good with). Since they are biennials, foxgloves don't stay in one place, so one needs to be accommodating to its wandering ways. Hmm, when these seed out, I should scatter some in the south garden and see if they produce something (as long as I don't pull the 1st year plants :D)

Different pink foxgloves at left of shady sitting area that I was taking advantage of after doing yard maintenance yesterday. The shade and nice breeze helped cool me off

View looking straight ahead from shady sitting area (just to the right of the foxgloves in previous picture

View to right from sitting area - with the rhodie in the front yard, I can barely tell there are two streets there.

And, back to the woodsy area, there are some Red Campion blooming

Red campion (not rose campion - different thing) is mixed in with the growth back there. I don't know where it came from, but I've had red and white campion back there for a couple of years. With the different form factors of both flowers and foliage (and indeed, different growth habitats), I don't believe it can revert from the rose campion I planted in the sunny, arid rock garden beside the house.

The peonies are all but spent so I will spend some time soon cutting off the flower stalks to neaten up the roadside and south gardens.

Peonies Busted Out

I was out of town visiting Cop Car, HH and the rest of the family for 5 days. I knew the peonies and rhodie would put on their show while i was gone and figured I would miss a lot of it. However,, much to my delight, Thursday morning I walked out to check on things and saw a glorious profusion of blooms. I should get more flower stakes

In the south garden, there were plenty of peonies also, but I'll just show the close up of a white one

The willow looks like it is blooming, but that is just new growth. When in shade, the new leaves start out dappled - and with more shade the more white they are.

The view out the living room window is not too shabby (although I need to pull whatever that is in the middle - LOL)

Later on Thursday afternoon I was headed for the composter and saw one of the resident robins fly off from between the back porch and the chain link fence. I didn't think anything of it until I saw a bit of movement and looked at my garden cart.

This fledgling didn't move while I went to get my phone to take pictures. Then I went and got the handy man to take a look (he has birds himself). After a few minutes he found his wings and flew off barely above ground and slowly to the other side of the chain link fence. He landed and then walked off towards the shade garden and I'm sure the parents found it there.

Mid Spring Blooms

The Roadside garden is pretty much between blooms as the daffodils have gone by and the peony buds are still tightly closed with ants roaming amongst those buds feeding and protecting the plants from other insects.Still, there is some pretty foliage (taken 5/20/24)

However, when I took a look a couple of days ago (5/25/24), I did a double take of an iris blooming that I had absolutely forgotten about. I had bought it last year (or maybe 2 years ago - I didn't document the label so I'm unsure). Here is Gnus Flash

The lilacs finally got into full bloom (5/20/24)

As did the azalea behind the mailbox (5/20/24)

The orange azaleas in the south garden, behind the tree, are in full bloom also (5/25/24). The first is of the Yellow (Golden lights) azalea that turned orange a year or two after it was planted and the second is of the orange (Mandarin lights). BTW, ignore the titles of the picture links because as usual, Typepad has no idea what it is doing with pictures, so names everything the same if I try to upload more than 1 picture at a time. And yes, although my other issues have cleared up for the last several weeks, they found yet ANOTHER way to eff up loading pictures that I won't bore you with - LOL.

The Lily of the Valley are also in bloom, both by the house and in back, under the trees

Yesterday (5/26/24), I went to the garden center for some flowers for the back porch railing planters. I happened to run into something that either I've never seen, or have forgotten seeing previously. I had to have it, even though I had no idea where I would place it. American Goldfinch Baptisia

I realized it would look nice next to the orange azaleas in a couple of years. It doesn't really show up well because of the sun, and being smaller, but you get the idea.

And lastly, the back porch planters

The bee literally showed up about 5 minutes after I was done putting that planter in place. Then, while I was sitting out there reading, a hummingbird checked it out. First hummingbird I've seen since I didn't put up any feeders this year. I also quite putting out seed and mealworms a couple of weeks ago. No need to tempt the bear to visit my place.

Oh, and lastly, the crabapple tree did not get to put on a show this year. It was loaded with flower buds and I thought it would be really pretty. Then, between one day and the next, the buds disappeared and just a few petals lay on the ground. It was the weirdest thing - like something had munched all the buds. It had nothing to do with the weather as there were no freezes, so I'm pretty much at a loss as to what the true story is behind this phenomena.

Taken Down

Last Sunday I took down some saplings out back. They weren't very big around, but one was almost 30' tall and the others 15-20'. The first pic is of the tallest tree. Each section of the fence is 10' so it is close to 30' tall but was only about 5" diameter at the base.

These were the first two I cut, and they were the smaller at between 15' and 20'

These were longer at between 20' and 30' - the tallest one is the one on the right and was not looking healthy with that hole in the trunk. I had no idea it was in that shape as the outside of the trunk did not show any issues

I had to take two loads to the dump's brush pile. The first load contained the two smaller trees and one of the larger trees. The 30 footer went in the second load. I could have stuffed another tree in there, but still would have had to make a second trip,

I also cleared out the garlic mustard and found a patch of poison ivy that has to be taken care of. But it has been raining/drizzling, so will have to wait for better weather.

It is Still Springing Around Here

Pictures taken on Thursday

The lilac is starting to bloom but aren't fully open in this picture. It has been raining since Friday evening so I haven't gone out to see if they are fully open yet. Even so, they fill the air with their wonderful scent. I'll have to do some work on taking out some really old wood that is not healthy once it has gone by

The light lilac creeping phlox is in full swing and the white phlox isn't far behind

The azalea in the south garden (part closest to the mailbox)

Near that azalea would have been a great place for the new creeping phlox I got Friday. Alas, there is no room so I placed basically to the left of the tree trunk in that bed.

I got these Friday for placing in planters. For some reason I was thinking they were both Lantana, but upon looking at the tags, one is a verbena - but they are related, so I was close.

I got these from Stonefalls Garden Center, which normally raises its own flowers/plants. But she said she special ordered the Vepita Amethyst Kiss and got them as starters. I can't even find a website that has general info on it. If it ever quits raining/drizzling, I'll get both of them potted up.

 

New Plants for the Gardens

As usual, I lost a couple of roses over the winter. This is not surprising since I leave them in the buckets they are sold in. Of course I do that because even when planted I don't have teh best of luck with the so I don't waste the energy.

Yesterday, I had an eye appointment, so took the opportunity on my way back home to stop at a couple of garden centers in the area.I decided to pick up a Scarlet Flame creeping phlox for the south side garden. The picture shows it above ground, but I did get it planted - actually a few feet to the right of where it is pictured (you will probalby never see the difference in future pics)

At another place, a rose caught my eye. Upon taking a nice deep whiff, it had to come home with me. This is Ring of Fire - which is really an orangish red, which is not what the name suggests to me, but hey, what do I know?

If anyone has any interest, here is the background on the Ring of Fire rose. Looking at some other websites, the bare root plant is only hardy down to zone 6. I bought a grafted plant which is supposed to be hardy down to zone 5, but of course that hardiness is thrown out the window if it i isn't planted down past the graft union.

At the place I got the phlox, I also got some lantana (annuals) for planters. I didn't think to take photos, but I will do so and share at a future time.

No Mow May - LOL

I mowed for the first time yesterday. Yes, it is "No Mow May", but that doesn't work for my yard, which is mostly different "weeds", although there is some sort of grass interspersed. I don't sow grass seed or fertilize/weed kill, and I keep the mower blade at a high setting, so there are plenty of flowers besides the dandelions that everyone screams to not mow "for the bees". I don't usually have any trouble keeping bees and other pollinators in the yard. For yards that aren't overly maintained, there are plenty of flowers that don't stick out like the bright yellow, and relatively large dandelions. All pictures taken yesterday afternoon after mowing.

Okay, for the record, no, I didn't mow this area. But it has nothing to do with the dandelions and everything to do with this area being in shade and a fairly dry part of the yard. I didn't mow because the ground cover is still thin there so I'm waiting for it to fill in some to aid in soil retention. There are a couple of other areas in the yard that are even sparser, so I didn't mow those either.

The small wild strawberry flowers don't stick out, so you have to look close to see them. They are abundant in my yard

Wild violets are interspersed with the strawberries. In the yard itself, not many are blooming yest, but you'll see a good crop in a later picture

A creeping phlox has wandered out of a flower garden (where they are blooming well also). This one has decided to live on the wild side

In the driveway garden there are plenty of wild violets (the whitish variety). And another small patch of creeping phlox. Out of the picture, and to the right is the large patch of creeping phlox (which you have seen in previous posts)

This isn't wild, but the flowering almond buds have opened up

Forget-me-nots grow wild in the shade garden

Not wild again - but the forsythia is still in bloom, although I expect it to go by soon as flowers are starting to drop

I thought this was some sort of mint growing at the edge between the yard and the tree line out back. But someone on a forum pointed out it is garlic mustard (an invasive). after looking at the pdf on how to control it, I've found I've been pulling first year plants without even knowing it.

Everything white is wild violet (except those way in back by the trees - those are daffs)

Mow fail - LOL. This is a drainage area where the grass grows really well (as opposed to the yard where it gets sun - go figure). You can see I tried to mow but the grass is so high (8" or more) and it grows thickly. It was still wet and bogged down the mower so I left it. I'll have to use the weed eater on it when it dries out some