The Best Laid Plans...
I had such high hopes. But this is a good lesson that, sometimes, you just have to enjoy looking at your garden instead of working in it.
First, let me show you how my original native wildflowers were getting choked with weeds. The Wild Bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, and Dwarf Joe-Pye Weed, Eutrochium dubium 'Phantom,' stand tall above most, but the weeds will catch up if they aren't taken out.
I wanted to clear all those weeds out, but I was also busy doing things like making dinners and such. Plus, there were a couple other factors: First, I finally exhausted all my mandatory vacation days from work; and second, I had two, separate health flare-ups that required me to rest, one right after the other. As a result, I only made this much progress:
It's hard to see, but I did clear out weeds in the left weeded area around one of the returning Butterfly Weed plants, Asclepias tuberosa. So I'm glad I got some progress, but I didn't get near as much as I wanted.
The lesson, as with anything in a garden, is that -- sometimes -- you just have to wait. In this case, I wasn't waiting for rain, or germination, or what have you; I waited for my health to recover so I could get outside and grub around. Honestly, it is only today that I feel close to that; and that's eleven or so days from when my health first tanked. During that time, I've mostly looked outside and enjoyed seeing birds. Everytime I see the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, for instance, it cheers me up.
Something Lost
One thing I may have lost is my new Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata. I noticed that the stem had been not just bent, but broke, and I suspect some animal may have tried a taste.
If I had been thinking, I would have tried to treat the top as a cutting and get it to root. The remaining stem is nice and green, so it might recover; sometimes, we get surprises like that. I'll let you know.
On the plus side, the original Swamp Milkweed from last year is doing quite well, as you can see, and has flower beds ready to erupt.
Something Regained
Remember how I had to prune my grapevine in order to install a new grape arbor? I mentioned that new shoots were coming back, but look at it:
An Unexpected Guest
And lastly, I saw this fellow today, lounging in the water saucer for the Boston Fern, which moved outside when the low temperatures got high enough for it:
From what I can tell, this is a regular Minnesota amphibian called a Cope's Gray Treefrog. They actually range in color from brown, to green, to gray. The notable thing I found out is that it secretes a substance through its skin that will cause irritation on human skin, and especially mucosal membranes, so if you ever handle one like this, it likely means you should wash your hands.
What's Next?
WEEDING! I am behind, and that has to be my main goal for a while. When I do a good job, the bed is in pretty good shape.
As I mentioned before, after getting my new East bed planted, if I do nothing else this year but keep things weeded, it is a win. Especially for myself, my health can interrupt me anytime, so I have to be careful about attempting too much, and feeling bad about things half-done. Weeding, though, is perpetual; you can't feel bad about having to do more weeding, because you will always have to do more weeding!
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