Back From the Dead?

I make no pretense to be a gardener. In fact, I struggle to keep the plants in my patio plot alive. 

Last year a plant started to grow unplanted by me. I finally decided it was a sunflower that sprouted from a seed from the bird feeder. I considered it a gift from God.

This summer when a plant near where it had grown came thru the soil, I thought maybe it was another sunflower. I didn't treat it as a weed and didn't pull it up. To my amazement, it got taller and taller and branched out. It looked something like the Rose of Sharon that had been in our plot when we moved in in 2011 but died in the harsh winter of 2014. We had cut that bush down in the fall of 2014. My husband calls it the Big Weed.

 I found on the internet that Rose of Sharon usually doesn't flower the first year, but it had a late start so I was hoping maybe in August there might be a few blooms to verify its identity. Wednesday morning when I opened the blinds I found many of the tips of its branches chewed off. There will be no proof this year. If it is a Rose of Sharon, it is a miracle. A plant cut down suddenly reappearing 4 years later!

The hoof prints indicated a deer had eaten this bush. Unfortunately, it also ate all of the colorful pretty portulaca blooms as well. The landscaper had planted on Tuesday a hydrangea bush in the middle berm between the condos. It also was pretty badly chewed up. I'm thinking the deer saw that nice tasty specimen and then wandered over to my plot to see what else might feed it. I have never had my moss roses eaten. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

The rudbeckia are blooming now in the front corner of the condo. The Stella d'Oro lilies did not open when my neighbors' did in June, but are blooming in July. The front corner looks nice. 

The time a few hours before sunset when there are long shadows is my favorite time of day.

Here you can see a sidewalk in the background behind the geraniums. This sidewalk was something the residents have wanted for a long time. Lots of people walk on the easement from the condos over to independent living and health care. If the grass was wet even from dew, lawn clippings stuck to shoes. Muddy places also weren't conducive to walking nor the uneven contours of the ground.

Since we live at the end of the cul de sac, we had quite a show of the construction work. Trucks and machinery parked where my husband usually parks his pickup. It took two weeks to make this sidewalk. A middle-aged man and two teenage boys started it when we had outside temperatures in the 90's with heat index above 100. They even worked on July 4th. They used with our permission our outside faucet and sat under the shade of our front lawn pear tree. They stacked boards used as forms for the width of the concrete next to the west wall of our house and stored a wheel barrow there. 
They finished while we were in Michigan so we missed out on a few dusty and noisy days. I've only used the sidewalk once because of rain or because I had heavy loads of books to haul to and from the library necessitating the car, but I am sure it will get more use. We don't know whether Grace Village will clear it of snow; if so, that would mean being able to walk in the winter.

False Accusation?

 

You may remember that the past two years I have been putting netting around my crocus flower bed. I did this because I thought the deer were eating the plants. Now I am not so sure. I took the netting off April 3rd because it looked like there were no more blooms coming. Monday and Tuesday morning everything looked normal. Wednesday morning, 3 plants nibbled down to nubbins. Thursday morning, 3 more plants eaten. Friday morning, all of the plants chewed almost to the ground.

This morning I saw a big fat rabbit (maybe pregnant rabbit?) chewing grass near the flower bed. Aha! Though I didn’t catch it in the act, I believe I have found the culprit. I haven’t seen any deer in the neighborhood for a month maybe. Of course they may be around at night. However, I think the crocus destroyer is probably the rabbit. Naughty bunny! Looks like next year, the netting will go up again.

Desperately Seeking Spring

We had more snow Wednesday and possibly a bit more tomorrow. The good news is that we will be in the mid-thirties to forty temperature range the next 4 or 5 days. There is a very good chance we will see some melting. In the meantime, I do what I can to trick myself into thinking spring.

Bought these yesterday in the grocery store

 

Replaced the burgundy sherpa throw and blue pillow with yellow pillows with white butterflies

I have a nice little display of shells from Amelia Island (and some from last year at Hilton Head) to remind me of warmer days.

 

 

Look who followed us home from Amelia Island.

 

The government also tricks us into thinking spring has arrived by forcing us to go onto daylight savings time this weekend.

 

Winter has its perks though. It causes the deer to forage in our yards. This morning when I opened the blinds at 7:30 there were 3 deer beneath the pine trees, two sitting up, one sleeping on its side. Junior (what I call the smallest one) was here yesterday scavenging among the sunflower seed husks. He/she came right up to the glass sliding door. Not good nor safe to get that used to people. When we returned from breakfast out at a restaurant and a stop at Walmart and the bank, they had moved toward the middle of the divider plantings, except for Junior who came back to the patio. Around 10:30 a.m. they headed out single-file, and by the time I got to the west windows they were no longer in sight.

 

 

 

Maybe winter will disappear as quickly as the deer. We can hope.