Cranesbill

This is some variety of cranes bill, or possibly a hardy geranium. I didn't spot a label near it.

5th Avenue New York City

Just a nice reflection I spotted on 5th Ave in New York this weekend. I was visiting family and remembered to drag at least my point-and-shoot everywhere.

Columbine Sawfly

Sadly these guys were not too hard to identify. I noticed them on one columbine, and then had to go around to all of them clearing them off. They had already stripped one of my smaller Canadian columbines. Columbine Sawfly or skipper larvae ore often known for eating columbine, but these were sawfly.

Green Caterpillar

The time of identifiable bugs is upon us. I find tons of caterpillars that until they get larger are unidentifiable. This one was maybe 1" long, bright green, and crawling quite energetically about the yard.

Lupine Seedling

I have a few of these and they seem to be prospering. They free seeded from my one large plant. Apparently I can grow lupine up from seed but if I try to buy it there will be losses. No idea why. The mother plant is setting up to have 6 or 7 flower spikes this year. Too bad the lifespan leaves a bit to be desired. I should get at least 2 more years out of the largest plant.

Bearded Iris

This one is probably supposed to be 'Color Tart', but since I got it in a bag a few years ago it isn't exactly quality. I do like the colors however. I have 6 different bearded irises and none of them are the varieties they were advertised as being. Since I paid about $5 for each of them I shouldn't complain so much.

Tilling

After a solid week of rain the sky finally cleared. Sunday I managed to get a tiller for a 4 hour rental. I considered the 24 hour rental, but after 3 hours of tilling I knew 4 hours was my limit. I still ache all over from controlling the heavy tiller.

This is what the inside of the garden looked like when I finished. I also dug out some areas, especially a berm caused by a removed planting bed. I'm trying to fix the drainage issue on the bottom level of the yard by removing the berm and regrading the area. I only finished part of it before I was too tired to continue.

I also still have to pick a grass seed and do all that prep work.

Plant Notes

Just for me to remember what I did today

Got rid of old seeds on craigslist, and got my first Thank You note from someone picking something up for free. Moved Ginko Craig hosta, dug up and gave away dozens of baby hosta plants. Weeded back door planting bed. Moved ornamental onions to back yard and planted. Cleared some of the leaves from the back door planting bed area. Needs to dry out before I finish. Trimmed dead blooms from lilac bush.

Dug up tulips, extra daffodils, ferns, phlox and crocus from front of shed, ferns and phlox replanted, bulbs waiting under cover for thunderstorm to end (which probably won't be until Sunday:P).

To Do: Move and trim ugly spirea near shed. Decide about mint next to shed and flatten out bed. Evict Chipmunks from shed, and under shed if possible. After a full day of no rain, till yard. Figure out what to do with salvage windows.

Tangerine Beauty Tulip

I'm going to have to try some of these this fall as well. They really are that bright red with odd crimped leaves. I've seen them in the same location at Tower Hill for several years now so I think they may be a little better at coming back then my single tulip has been. They're full listing was Tulipa vvedenskyi 'Tangerine Beauty' Species Tulip.

Purple Flower

I expect this was unlabeled, though maybe I just missed it. A nice purple flower from the new courtyard garden at Tower Hill. I did spot the sun today, but it was only partially visible for about an hour then it started to pour again. At least the canker worms are starting to drop from the trees, finally, and the rain seems to be causing plenty of drownings.

Magnolia Bloom

No idea on variety, also from Tower Hill. I'm greatly missing the sun after the last two weeks. Days and days of rain with one pitiful sunny day in between. I actually had to wash one of the dogs yesterday due to the amount of mud she tracked in the house. She was due, but it was still the first time they have been dirty enough for me to wash them right away. It also would have been excellent if I had set up the grass say Saturday, then the rain would at least be doing something useful.

Fixing Up My Kitchen

Since I'm between temp jobs I started partially gutting my kitchen. Eventually my kitchen is getting ceramic tile, which when it finally goes in will be awesome (right now I have cheap stick on vinyl that keeps peeling up from the sub floor, and grows mold under it wherever it gets wet). Since I rent I can't do huge changes to my house, but I can improve on what is there. I spent the weekend ripping out the fake wood paneling and painting the very old paint behind it with kilz to seal in whatever might be lurking in it. I ripped out two small sections of drywall that were crumbling and a bit moldy and patched the wall (found out my kitchen anyway is built with 2x3 studs rather then 2x4, which seems weird). I also scraped the calcimine ceiling and coated that with two coats of oil based kilz (should last a number of years without peeling). I though about putting a layer of latex on it, but it looks fine and I know from previous experience the kilz will stay white enough for my needs (a coat of latex will also just make it heavier which may cause more peeling).

Now that the smell of the kilz is finally going down (I've been camping in my bedroom with the bird, dogs and cat waiting for the air to clear) I'm considering my latex paint for the walls. I already have it (leftovers from other parts of the house), but I know it will not dry quickly in the next week of wet weather, so I may put the actual painting on hold. I'm going to be setting it up much like it was with a chair rail made of cheap molding going around the room, there just won't be any nasty paneling underneath it. The chair rail will hide the messy spot there the paints meet. I also still have a section of drywall behind the fridge to patch, but I might skip it for now. It has an outlet in it and it isn't perfectly attached. I really would want to completely rip out a large section of drywall to get the outlet better attached to the wall, and leveled at the same point as the other outlet on that wall.

I have some fake molding to make for above my kitchen cabinets. Right now there is a 4" or so gap above them to the ceiling that just fills with nasty dust and some peeling ceiling paint. I'm going to box them up with some pine boards and cheap quarter rounds just to make it less nasty. Of course I'm going to get to paint all that too. I need the rain to stop so I can at least prime outside.

I'm also trying to work out how to turn our aging shed into a half greenhouse half shed. I want it to be at least warm enough mostly from the sun for seed starting in the spring. I also want to permanently evict the squirrels and chipmunks from inside and stop the roof leak once and for all. I also have to till most of the yard and try to get a lawn in, but it would have been better for me to have managed that Saturday before the rains came.

pictures may or may not come later. I didn't take any really good before ones.

Columbine Red Origami

I don't remember the exact name of this variety, Origami something. I got the original plant several years ago, and the seeds come up periodically. Right next to it is Canadian Columbine, but those flowers are more like lanterns, whereas this variety opens the flowers up.

Paint Spots

Ugh. Yesterday I finally painted my peeling kitchen ceiling with an oil based primer. I am now covered in white spots like a reverse dalmatian. I've gotten plenty of them off, but I keep finding more. I had to scrape them off my glasses, and was quite happy I wore a mask. I'll need to find my safety goggles before I do any second coat.

Pink Pine Cones

While I could guide you (below the main field, across from the pond at the bottom, near the forget-me-nots) to the tree these were on I neglected to read the id tag so have no idea other then pine type tree to go with as a description. I just thought they looked neat,and yes they really were that color, no photoshopping.

Butterfly

I spent all day ripping up my kitchen walls. It had fake wood paneling and a pretend chair rail around the room. I removed the paneling and rail, and intend to paint it all. If I have to I'll install a new rail to hide the paint lines where the old and new meet. At the same time I am removing the awful stick on vinyl floor and trying to figure out if there are enough layers underneath to put down tile. Here's a butterfly, since my main computer is off due to my overzealous flicking of the electrical main so I could move an outlet in my kitchen. I keep forgetting to turn it back on.

Mary Jane Tulip

I visited Tower Hill Botanical Garden on Sunday, so should have plenty of images for the near future. This is a tulip from their new garden. It was labeled 'Mary Jane', and the centers are actually all white. I'm thinking about ordering some and seeing if I get anything. Tulips do not like me most of the time, so I get few returns.

Viola

I need to stay away from landscaping places. I picked up this viola Friday. I have a few species I'm a sucker for. Clematis, bearded iris, violas, and phlox come to mind.

White Bleeding Heart

This is from my one old-fashioned bleeding heart plant. It gets to a god side every year, but my fringed bleeding heart blooms from May to September so I kind of like it better.

I'm Alive

So yeah, I've been missing for about 2 months now, okay I waited a few days so I could get it to exactly two months.

About 6 weeks ago I picked up a full-time temp job that has been keeping me quite busy on weekdays. It starts early enough I wasn't able to hike, and I really dislike hiking on weekends (everyone else is). So I've been working, and since it is all computer based I've been coming home with very little interest in playing on a computer.

I took a tiny hike on Monday, and saw just about nothing barring the irritating insects that didn't seem to be biting, but really liked circling my head. It is making me really miss having a job that I didn't have to be at until 10:30 AM that was located less then ten minutes from a very nice Audubon sanctuary. You never realize how good something is until it's gone. Let's not forget the dress code, clothes, just about any kind.

I spent all last Sunday gardening, as since I've got a chunk of rent to pay off to my mother, I have a yard to seed with grass. Since I'll be seeding in and around the garden (this is the prelim part of the yard, eventually I get to do the whole thing and hopefully get it thick enough it can survive the dogs), everything has to be in the ground. A few of these plants have been hanging around in pots for more than two years. Last year I was a very lazy gardener.

Some stuff is finally blooming and I'm going to get back into posting garden pics.

Dewey Phlox

This is from a three or four year old plant. For some reason only the purple ones survive. We tried pink and white plants yet they always died.

Muscari

It's hard to get these bulbs in numbers less than 20, so you end up with lots of extras.

Red Backed Salamander

salamander Plethodon cinereus

Every spring when I clean out my planting beds or pots I find at least one of these guys. This years was minus most of its tail. Plethodon cinereus from Saturday. I spent all day Sunday doing yard work.