Sad Beautiful Tree.

My neighbor has trained a wisteria plant, or plants, to create this tree -- picture taken in May 2015.

Here's what it looks like today, April 22, 2016.

It's getting very late in the wisteria season...I've seen wisteria shrubs and overgrown vines in full bloom nearby. But this guy has only a few emerging leaves. My neighbor is worried. I'm worried too, mostly for her mental health. This lady is very attached to that tree and will mourn grievously if it dies. I suspect, but really don't know, that it might need a serious pruning, now rather than later. Any opinions?

A frost we had a few weeks ago got to it for sure, although there wasn't much visible spring growth at the time. But much of the emerging greenery got fried by that frost -- it just didn't seem like enough damage to make the entire tree stop producing leaves and blooms.

I know wisteria is a wildly invasive plant, scorned by true gardeners. But with care you can prevent it from spreading.  

I can plainly see what these are -- floating flowers and plants -- but I don't know why they are.

 

These islands of plants appeared in the pond next door earlier this summer. My husband has asked park employees what their purpose is -- aesthetic? to aid some wildlife? -- and has gotten unhelpful answers. Each island has an anchor so they are not technically free-floating I guess. Although the one at the top was on the shoreline so I don't know what that means. Any ideas on their purpose? I'm happy to have them, no matter why they're around.

New York's High Line in mid-December.

Above: Doug (left) and Rebecca walking south on the High Line. We started at the north end and walked down to Sean's office at West 22nd.

 

 

Roses at the Monastery.

A few years ago my gardening friend Susan invited me along to see the gardens at this local Monastery, and I've been in love with the place ever since.  I spend a few hours each week helping out in the office -- filing, uploading pictures, just general office work. So every week for the past year I've walked through these gardens to the business office and I've been able to see all the gradual changes from season to season. Yesterday the roses were in full bloom and oh how beautiful they were. One of the guards who saw me taking pictures as I left insisted on taking mine. As usual, I'm loaded down with an armful of 'necessities,' including cans of seeds Brother Sebastian gave me. This picture reminds me to get some sun before my daughter's wedding in a few weeks. Not to mention a decent haircut. An eyelid lift would be nice too. Must remember to get a manicure. Pedicure. Lose 5 lbs. Stay calm.

Takoma Park House and Garden Tour, May 5, 2013.

Just a few random shots from the tour, plus a nice funky building in downtown Takoma Park.

I Hate Leaf Blowers.

I've complained before, mildly, about leaf blowers. Well the days of mild complaints have long ended and now I'm an obnoxious, opinionated, out-spoken enemy of these horrible devices.

I will make begrudging allowances for people who have to clear away vast expanses of lawn in public places. The Mall in DC comes to mind. They probably don't have that many leaves but I grant that it's possibly quicker to use blowers in those settings. And the young strapping men usually hired to do such work like to play with them, just as they like to play with guns and other phallic-like items, so they probably do a better job than they would with rakes.

And there are some older people who believe they are being gentler to their bodies by using leaf blowers, so go ahead if you must. Frankly I'm not convinced that it's any more gentle to lug around an electric blower than to brandish a rake but I have no evidence that I'm right.

But for most homeowners or business owners I say get rid of those evil devices and pick up a rake or broom (or hire someone to do that).

I hate leaf blowers because they are:
1. Noisy. Painfully so.
2. Messy. All the leaf mold spores and dust and bits of leaves that get tossed up into the air we breath can NOT be good for us. Not to mention the chemicals that the homeowner may have applied to their lawn. Another thing I hate. Lawn chemicals.
3. Time-consuming. I am positive that it doesn't save any time to use a leaf blower, especially if you live, as I do, some place where you have to dispose of your own leaves. Your options are bagging them up for the trash/recycling crews to pick up or composting them, which is what we do. And is of course what I think everyone should do. Because it takes absolutely no time to maintain; pile up the leaves and walk away. That's it. (Man, I've got at least three rants I could include in this one but I won't.)
4. Resource-wasting. Obvious. They use gasoline or electricity. Boo-hiss.
5. Polluting. The devices themselves must be recycled when they inevitably break down or burn up (which just happened to my neighbor and is why I sat down right now to write this pent-up rant). So what happens when they are discarded? They end up on the coast of some poor nation -- India, Brazil, Ghana -- where children sift through trash piles of hazardous materials.

So there it is. I'm sorry if I've offended anyone. I don't really want to make anyone feel guilty. Truly. But since I can't say all of this to my neighbors -- I have said much of it, and yet they still speak to me! -- I felt the need to lay it all out there.

And I think I violated only one of the Thanksgiving rules I posted earlier today. Rule 2: Speak without accusing.

Image from here. A blog I'll have to check out later.

Deer. Love/hate relationship.

Look at those poor hollow-stomached deer in my neighbor's front bedding area. They're chewing on the last little bits of her hostas, which I wish she'd just move out of there. And another pack of three was departing my front yard. Look at those adorable little fawns. Can I really hate them? No. I just wish they could find enough food in the HUGE park next door. From time to time, jurisdictions around the DC area ponder having controlled kills in the parks just to thin the herds. I think "they" do send out sharp-shooters from time to time but "they" don't publicize it.

PS: I really hate that little stone kitty staring at my house. I don't think my neighbor knows about this blog so I'm talking behind her back but she'll never know. She's a wonderful neighbor whose taste in gardening differs from mine significantly. I'll bet she hates the ratty-looking vegetable garden she sees when she looks out her window at my house.

What is this?

It looks sort of other worldly.

Basil in mid-winter. Wish these plants were growing in my family room.

These healthy plants are growing in a friend's family room. They get southern exposure but no other special treatment. They grew outdoors in those pots all summer, but before the first frost my friend just picked up the pots and plopped them down near a sunny window. Now she has fresh basil all winter. Note: she doesn't have kitties or doggies, which might be a key to such success. I know my kitties would make a nice meal of that entire crop. And I'm not giving up kitties for basil.

The house on Cedar Lane, Bethesda.

The gardener is a retired surgical room nurse. I love her garden and try to remember to take pictures every summer. Left unchecked I may end up doing the same thing to my garden. There seems to be very little actual lawn, no plan, no order, and no desire to have a theme. Her house is next door to NIH, in particular the employee pickup area where I scoop up old work friends for lunch every so often (the friends aren't old... but I, well, I guess I am). Right across the street from the chaotic garden is a very simple, very tailored front yard with this statue smack in the middle. (I took a bad picture; next time I'm over that way I'll take a better one.) I imagine the owner of the statue looking out at the chaotic garden and thinking "what a mess!" And of course the owner of the chaotic garden doing the same but thinking "hideous! what IS that thing?"

Nice full front yard near downtown Silver Spring.

Good friend M--- says "my house needs bulbs." So we planted 120 bulbs--approx 60 on each side of the front door. Next report: March 2010.

M--- said "I hope it will be a riot of color!" Pickings were slim at the nursery when she shopped for bulbs on Nov 18. Yellow tulips, daffodils, a few red ruffly tulips, and one lone bag of white tulips (I think).

Mystery flower. Found growing in Gormania, WV, by my sister. A type of bellflower??

9/2/09: I'm pretty sure that it's American bellflower (Campanulastrum americanum).

One plant, two colors.

Mystery plant, growing next to NIH on Cedar Lane. Isn't it beautiful?

I don't know what to say about this neighborhood lawn art. The red elephant sculpture is about 1/4 mile away however. Same school of lawn art.

Here's the red elephant art.

Spotted near my back-up library in Wheaton. Odd mound. Religious symbol maybe?

Not my yard. Peonies I think. So beautiful.

More Arboretum.

Bonsai at the Arboretum.