Tuesday, June 23, 2020

A foggy morning on Lake Huron made the lake almost disappear. I never get bored or tired of looking at "my" lake. When I started looking for a small summer cottage on a pond about ten years ago I never thought I would end up on a very big pond left behind as the last glaciers were retreating. How lucky was I. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

These annual poppies came to me via a garden walk I went on years ago when I lived in Royal Oak. I love the swan necked buds that show up shortly before they open. They self-sow and I've been slowly selecting for less magenta and more deep pink or pink-purple, less frilly petals and more substantial ones. So far we're moving in the right direction I believe. They may be Papaver somniferum. Carlo will be aghast and tell me the correct species I hope. If you get up early as the buds are opening, you can still see the remnants of the bud covers on some flowers. The pollen is irresistible to most bees. (A special I recently saw on coffee plants/flowers in Peru suggested that caffeine increased bees ability to remember, return to, and encourage other bees to seek out coffee flowers. Perhaps that's an interesting parallel?)

This unscripted waterlily flower arrangement made me wonder how reconstruction of Notre Dame de Paris is progressing after the disastrous fire . . . was that only last year! In my country we have had so very much to perhaps purposefully distract us from life in the rest of the world.

Baptisia australis

Yesterday I traveled the short distance between Forestville and Port Huron for my semi-annual ophthalmologist visit - . That was my first foray into the "real" world during the pandemic. It's hard for me to accept how some people do not wear masks in public. Michigan is doing better than most states but there seems to be a hard core of really ignorant folks who do not listen to doctors, nurses, health professionals, and scientists. I know, I know, 50% are dumber than - - - . Seriously. Are we talking Darwin here?

Baptisia australis

The pink Weigela was a volunteer in my R. O. garden which I transplanted to my ongoing attempt at gardens "up" north. (If you ask people to use their finger to point "up", they all point to the sky. Thus it's interesting that most people ignore that obviousness and refer to compass points as "up" or down" as in up north or down south, out east or out west. The mind is interesting. eh.) The pink peony resulted from a lucky seed discovered during a garden walk at a Congregational Church in Birmingham, Michigan. It's not much but it's "mine".

Volunteer Weigela

Discovered Peony

Discovered Peony

Discovered Peony (with wild flowers)

The so called wildflowers are actually weeds. What exactly is the difference between a "weed" and a "wildflower" I wonder. I actually leave many weeds/wildflowers in my garden. While they may possibly steal some water and some nutrients from the "preferred" garden plant, I believe they help the garden plant to survive by shading the soil reducing evaporation, contribute to the overall health of the soil by establishing a healthy micro-climate, return organic material to the soil when they die back in the fall, and provide cover (protection) from the hordes of rabbits and deer that nush on my garden. Of course it's also possible that I'm rationalizing and lazy.

Siberian Iris

Siberian Iris

Years ago I bought this "picky eater" Paw Paw tree. I had discovered the Paw Paw fruit in a long ago autumn at the Royal Oak Farmers' Market and fell in love with their creamy banana custard flavor. I seriously doubt I will ever have Paw Paws of my own thus this plant serves as a reminder on my all too human folly. (There's actually a city named Paw Paw in Michigan.) I do not think my garden is the best place for this plant but we're stuck with one another. The deer and rabbits leave it alone so there's that. There is a Paw Paw plant (tree/bush) at the tip of the thumb in Port Austin, Michigan (which I suspect will also never produce fruit so I'm not alone in hopes/expectations).

Painter's Palette

Years ago when my "up" north garden was just getting started I planted some small Painter's Palettes (Persicaria virginiana) at the base of a shrub. The knotweeds, their other common (and rather bad, name- imo) did not do well (poor clayey soil at the time). They survived for a couple of years but eventually succumbed but not before they produced a few volunteer offspring that actually did much better - the soil had improved and they germinated in more appropriate locations. They seem to do fine in deep shade and dry soil like you'd find next to a building - like my house. I don't like houses without some foundation plantings nearby. While shrubs may be nice, they can encourage rodents. So Vinca, which rabbits don't like, and Painter's Palette seem like good choices. So far anyway. The rabbits even eat the leaves of violets leaving the stick like petioles behind as reminders of nocturnal visits. I like the challenge of being smarter than rabbits and deer. The jury is still out on who/what will eventually win. I'm not choosing sides yet.

Painter's Palette

Painter's Palette

This proud papa bluebird's favorite perch is at the top of one of my "fledgling" five foot tall evergreens, perhaps a Greek spruce? I don't really know and never did. This plant, now protected with some fencing, has finally survived the nibbling by the deer. I know when plants get taller than five feet or so, the deer will ignore them . . . as food. That's, of course, when the bucks in the fall use the bark and trunks of small trees as sandpaper to remove the velvet covering their developing antlers. I like deer and even rabbits but we do have too many of each. Our fault. We've removed their natural predators. Humans!