My middle nephew gave me a log he innoculated with Chicken-of-the-Woods spores when I saw him at Xmas in ’23. It has been sitting in the mulch since we got it home. I have thrown a little water on it when there were long periods of no-rain. But, other than that, just waiting.
Lookit!!
I’m so excited!!!!!!!!!
And wish for a taste for venison
Above is a ‘Merlot’ redbud that I bought in June, 2021. It’s supposed to have purple, heart-shaped leaves. Deer have nibbled the new growth so often that it is no taller now than it was when I planted it. I’m not sure it isn’t dead. There are no flowers on it and the growth tips are all gone.
My lilies have barely started out of the ground and they’ve already been cropped down.
And they’ve decided to use the ginkgo in the front yard as a scratching post. I guess. Or they’re eating the bark.
Chuck ordered some deer spray that says it doesn’t wash off. So, we shouldn’t have to reapply every time it rains. I hope it works.
I took a little tour of the wildflowers that come up in our so-called lawn the other day. They are small and cheerful and make pollinators happy.
The flowers on the dead nettles look a lot like henbit. But the leaves are different. Deadnettles are more compact. Henbit’s kind of blowsy.
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 love that I grew 2 trees from especially tasty seeds and that we (some years when April freezes don’t wipe them out) get fruit from them.
I am the Audience 