Chuck and I saw this piece at an Exhibition at the Weatherspoon at UNC-G in February. It’s an interactive piece that offers the viewer to participate by removing a page. We each took a piece. He folded his to carry it out to the car. I did not. I wasn’t sure what I would do with it and taped it over a a framed poster in my bedroom.
My friend, Caitlyn, has had the habit of folding paper cranes for as long as I’ve known her (around 18 years). Anytime she is somewhere that there are bits of paper lying around, she folds cranes. She said it started when she read that if you fold 1,000 cranes, a wish will come true. She figures she should have gotten more than one by now. But, she lost count ages ago.
(Last night, we went out for dinner and she was making tiny ones with the chopstick wrappers on the table without even looking at her hands.)
A couple of months ago, I asked her if she would take my sheet and fold me a crane. I had to cut the edges down before I delivered it, because it needed to be square instead of rectangular.
She learned something by using this bicolored sheet that wasn’t obvious otherwise. Theres a point in the folding where you have 4 triangles that become the actual bird. No matter which way she folded it, there were always 3 and one. It was always going to be colored diagonally. Never tail/head and the wings. Always each wing a different color. She could only choose which color she wanted to be the head and which the tail,
I have removed all of the Red Hot Pokers from that side of the house. They were growing to the left of the HVAC unit and were a little stunted by the shade. I have plenty thriving on the south side. So, giving those away was no loss.
There is still a little patch of bearded irises I should probably move. But, they’re close to the fence and not in the way until I decide where I want them. I’ll deal with them later.
The muscadine I started from seeds a few years ago will stay on that piece of fence because I expect it will die if I try to move it. One day I may get fruit. Or not.
I ordered 3 bleeding heart roots from American Meadows, one each of pink, white and red. They have been planted on that left side.
I’ve also been putting wild violets over there. They are growing all over the place and I like them and I don’t mind them spreading around in that area. Some are white with purple throats and some are all purple. As I have removed them from other beds, I’ve moved them to this one.
Left side
I want to get some ferns going over here, too, and I’m dithering. The Autumn fern hasn’t come back as quickly as the other two. I took it out of its pot and planted it in 2 pieces in front of the bleeding hearts. If it actually comes up, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. If it doesn’t, it wasn’t a good choice for our yard and it’s probably just as well.
The Japanese Painted fern and the Cinnamon ferns are doing well in their pots. I would like to put part of them in the shade garden. But, I also like seeing them off the patio. I think I’ll wait until they start moving into dormancy to put pieces of them over there. That will give me the summer to be sure I’ve cleaned up that bed to my satisfaction and give them winter to get established.
Cinnamon at the bottom, Japanese Painted at the top
(I need to move the JPF to the shade. It’s getting sunburned.)
To the right of the HVAC, I have had swamp sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius). They are native and great Fall food for pollinators. They did moderately well over there, leaning out for the sun. But, only moderately and the lean proves they aren’t in the best spot for them to be happy.
Right side
I’m taking the 3 largest pieces to a friend tomorrow (She wants them. I’m not just dumping them on her.) And the rest I’m going to plant behind the lilies growing in the middle of the back yard. Because of how all those things grow, I think it will make a nice display for a longer length of time.
A wild thing has shown up there and I’m not sure what it is. I have Eastern columbines (Aquilegia canadensis) planted in the roadside bed and this looks similar. iNaturalist thinks this is a Black Snakeroot (Sanicula canadensis). Both are native and these leaves look like it could be either one. I’m going to leave them alone for the summer and see what I think later.
Snakeroot or columbine?
Another thing in that bed? A feral asparagus showed up.
They’re everywhere
After moving the sunflowers, I think I’m leaving this alone until Autumn. (Except for making sure there are no Virginia creeper, elderberries or silk trees trying to come back.) When I get through this year, I’ll make some decision about that I want to keep/have toward the front of the house.
This is peculiar. Most of our yard is melting in ways that make sense. the shady spots going more slowly than the sunny ones.
Then, there’s this.
This spot got a big pile of yard trash piled up that was, eventually, burned. When nothing filled it in quickly, I sprinkled it with (bought) garden soil and wildflower seeds. We’re waiting to see what comes back from that with great anticipation.
Is it the composting effect of what grew there this summer that is causing the ring?
I’ll be asking Taylor about that next Wednesday after our Pruning class.
Addendum:
He said it probably has to do with the amendment I made to the patch when I was planting the wildflower seeds making the soil retain heat differently.
This was posted on Reddit. I have tried to look up where it came from originally. But, all I can find are reposts over the last year. I have no idea who took the picture. I wish I could give credit for it.
When I was a regular poster at New Cafe, one of the other regulars that I chatted with frequently was also a labyrinth walker. She and her ex-husband had gotten back together after a long break and a lot of growth (probably on both parts) and she was taking care of him at the end of his life. He reached a point where he couldn’t talk, couldn’t really hold a book and was trapped in his slowly deteriorating body. She asked if anyone would be willing to send him postcards. I bought a pack of postcard stamps and got to writing. I don’t think he got a year of cards. But, I sent some I’m In NC!! cards that had touristy stuff on them. And when I went anywhere, I looked for cards for Andy. He got a couple from our trip to Wyoming.
When he finally died, she posted that his favorite flowers were daffodils amd said that if anyone felt like doing something, planting daffodils would be a nice thing. So, I got some daffodils to plant in the labyrinth and when they bloomed I posted a picture of them to her. She thought that was lovely.
They grew nicely in that patch and always reminded me of my long distance friend and a little family that had come to reconciliation after some stuggles. (Their adult son was pleased that his parents had been able to find their way back to each other, even as he completely understood why they had to be apart originally.)
When I dismantled the labyrinth, the daffodils stayed. And when the flowerbed that had there for a few years was being lifted up and moved around, they got transplanted to the bed by the road.
Well. Most of them did.
It appears I didn’t get all the bulbs. So, there’s still a ghost of the labyrinth daffodils holding on in the back yard. I’m OK with that.
The Cafe was an important part of my online social life and I made several significant relationships that have continued even as that website has changed and I have wandered off.
Andy’s daffodils are sort of Cafe Daffodils. When they bloom, I am reminded of all those people and conversations.
I am the Audience 