Before And After

I get quick little planting jobs on a fairly regular basis. A new spec house was in need of some front entry appeal for putting it on the market.

A full landscape will be left for the buyers.

The seller just doesn't want the first impression to be of a construction zone.

I was asked to plant the two front beds.

I suggested there was a fair amount of bare dirt on the lot that should at least be seeded with grass. Green is better than dirt and grass is an easy enough thing for a new home owner to convert to whatever they wish.

The garbage was removed. A very questionable drainage situation was improved and the plants were laid out.

I am incapable of the builder's special kind landscape. One specimen Japanese Maple for the front entry is more to my liking.

The shrubbery is Spreading Japanese Plum Yew. The groundcover is Juniperus procumbens 'Nana'.

Hosta is a filler.

Slender Hinoki Cypress frame the window.

I like my conifers and evergreens. This landscape will give front entry appeal all winter long and for however long it takes to sell. This is a low maintenance landscape meant to last that will serve any buyer quite well.

I plant gardens like this by day.

And come home to the wilds at night.

Roadside Weed Flowers

The character of the roadside flower bed has changed significantly over the last ten years as the grasses began to dominate the whole space. The ironweed moved in on its own.

I reclaimed the little bit of space left from the chaos that took over and simplified it with two species of aster. They are off to a good start. Next year I hope they are bigger. How long and if it will stay simple is another matter.

The passersby would never know there is a vegetable garden in there. It looks more like a colorful weed patch.

Walking along the byway I noticed an open window on the Angelica. Most people would be moving too fast to see it.

There is a whacked hillside in a neighborhood I frequent that has the best collection of native weed flowers all season long. Most of them are less common in these parts. I have gathered seed on a number of occasions.

I toss seeds. The competition, climate and elevation decides who can germinate and thrive. It can take years before I know something got added to the wild cultivated gardens.

Some weed flowers live in the shade. Doll's Eyes, Actaea pachypoda, is more about the seeds. I found another one last week living in a danger zone that needs to be relocated. It's on the list.

My list has been too long of late. Too many things need doing for my comfort level. I much prefer doing when it isn't needed. For now I come home and amble for a bit and pretend I don't have a list.

A Tripod Through A New Door

I've been pedaling down my own road for a long time. Ku'ulei 'Aina is my final destination.

When that happens, stuff piles up.

By error and trial, a functioning shed door got hung. It was a surprise to see how much the siding had already bleached out. I like that blond wood color. I sure wish this siding was stainable.

It will also get some OCD trim to shrink the gaps and of beautification of some sort at some point.

It opens.

Then I wandered off to the meadows to trim the path blocking floppage.

First I picked more beans and okra in the Roadside Vegetable Garden.

The pictures that follow were done with a tripod. My eyes are not so much Monet as is my natural vibration. It shows up in the low light that is best for landscape picture taking.

I wandered the paths cutting floppage.

A tripod in the lower light of the forest was most helpful.

The paths could be mowed. I might if company was coming. Cutting the path blocking floppage makes a big difference too. The maintenance gardener was satisfied.

Monet Returns

I really need to use a tripod to do the garden justice. In the right light the colors do get this real. You get the picture, in the eyes of Monet.

A Short Walk To Angelica

It is becoming normal for my entire walking apparatus to be slightly achy and wore out when I get home at the end of the day. Sitting still is getting easier for me.

But I do know regular human interruption during prime dining hours helps keep the varmints away. So I get up and walk anyway.

And many things need to be seen during that perfect window of opportunity when they are at full display.

Now is the time for Angelica and it is having a very good year.

The permanent scenery is always changing with the seasons.

I stopped to pick some beans and okra. I have achieved a small side dish of okra and have a big mess of beans. I lost my chef. That makes things more complicated.

We finally got some needed rain after a short, two week or so, dry spell. It came in a big bang of lightning and thunder over several rounds.

So far, end of season Tall Flower Meadow floppage is minimal. So far. Normal and minimal floppage can still close off the paths. To keep them open they must be walked, clipped and mowed.

It is becoming normal for my entire walking apparatus to be slightly achy and wore out when I get home at the end of the day. Sitting still is getting easier for me.

Shoot The Bunny

Last Friday when I came home and turned on the hot water, the tankless gas hot water heater made a horrible noise and died. No hot water for you. The computer brain error code said the combustion fan was on the fritz and would not spin.

I made an urgent call and was told it was either the ball bearings or bugs. See you Monday.

Monday morning the gas repair man came and scraped the mud daubers nest out that was blocking the fan blades and emptied all the dead wasps out from inside the combustion fan housing inside the tankless water heater that is inside my house. One hundred and five dollars thank you very much.

That was just one of many varmint troubles this week.

Something is living in the roof. There has been what I take to be the chewed up paper backing from insulation and sawdust of sorts falling from the ceiling on to the dining table for days. Mice, bats, carpenter bees or carpenter ants? Who knows. I bought a can of poison spray with a tiny straw for cracks and crevices. It has stopped for now.

I might get to making the shed door this weekend. I have a feeling I am just building a very nice bug house.

The time of Goldenrod has begun.

I amble through a Tall Flower Meadow coming into peak late summer bloom

With Ironweed well over my head.

There it is again, that damn bunny chewing and staring at me, unafraid and unmoving, so close that if I was hiking and not ambling, the bunny would likely get a good kick.

I see one bunny at a time, but there could certainly be more than one.

It's not much better at the Posh Estate or the Inn. I hate groundhogs with a passion. I have one at home now too. And I do believe that is a water moccasin living with the koi in the Almighty Falls. That makes the pond scum technician a wee bit nervous.

Deer Haven? I think not. I have to literally shout and charge the damn thing mornings and evenings before it will even consider moving on from my smorgasbord. Damn varmint.

For a good ten years their random snacking was no big deal. The last two years the deer seem to pick a dining space, park and try to lick the bowl clean. At least they have a limited list of preferred menu items. Still, the damage is much more noticeable.

Yes, there are days when I want to shoot the damn bunny.