Myrtle Remembered

Years ago Becky was part of a Fiber Arts Guild.  There she came into contact with skilled women some of who were many years her senior.  Their skills were eagerly shared with Becky benefiting greatly from her time with the group.  Myrtle was part of the Guild.  Well into her eighties she had moved from the farm to a third floor apartment.  That she climbed all of those stairs was impressive.  During the winter season heat from the lower floors found its way up to Myrtles apartment.  She always had a pot of basil growing in her warm kitchen.

Today was the day to remove our basil plants since frost is forecast for the next several nights.  Destroying plants is beyond unpleasant and as I arrived with my digging tools I remembered Myrtle.  Twelve plants were removed with their roots intact and placed in two plastic dishpans.  We have no intention of carrying these plants over but they will be used over the next several weeks.  Why this method has never been tried in the past cannot be explained but we are doing it now.

I was not the only one interested in the basil's last day outside.  Many bees were feeding on the flowers.  Usually bees are focused on the flowers and we work together in peace.  Today they seemed to have a sense of urgency and stung me twice.  My work continued.

Expecting to be moving these plants to the compost pile, I was obviously delighted to be placing them in the basement.  A generous amount of water was added after the dishpans were on the basement floor.  If it is possible to carry the now much heavier containers, these plants will spend more days in the sun.

 The planting bed was clear weeded early last spring.  After the basil plants were set out, a mulch of chopped tree leaves was worked among the plants.  Weeds were kept at bay while the leaf mulch also retained moisture.  Once again this area has been clear weeded.  This bare soil will winter over enjoying purifying sunlight on clear warm days.  The Clara Curtis chrysanthemums should be divided next spring.  Potted divisions placed in this beautiful soil could receive needed watering while they settle in prior to being planted out.  This before the frost day was expected to be horrible but now we are filled with the hope of fresh fragrant basil for days to come and the promise of well tended mum divisions come spring. Lucky for me I didn't weed out Becky's tiny Italian parsley plants from seed.  Tomorrow will be soon enough to pot those up for winter use.

The Garden Treasure, Part II

This morning I prepared myself and headed into the garden to search again for lost treasure.  This time I was not alone.  Although Ed and I could only occasionally get a glimpse of each other because of the lush growth, we could hear each other working and it was nice to be out there together!   I found weeding the stone path tough going, but when I got working on the bed with the sunflowers everything was great.  I moved to the west side of the bed and was working in partial shade until I pulled the tall grass complete with  its nasty seed heads. When it was gone I was back in the bright sun.   I spent some time watching the bees on the sunflowers. There was a lot of activity and the bee's knees were fat and yellow with sunflower pollen. The air was filled with the pleasant scent of the spearmint that got crushed when my garden cart ran over it in the path.  I had to cut off some milkweed that already had seed pods and yellowing leaves to free a wire cage in the garden bed.    Suddenly another garden treasure was within my sight. I could see my parsley plants just a few feet away.   Having found my parsley, I was sure I could rescue it from the weeds, but something far more rare and wonderful than parsley caught my eye!

There right next to my Italian and  curly-leaf parsley was a nice new milkweed plant.  Something had been eating the leaves.  I was filled with the excitement of discovery and when I checked under the leaves, I found the treasure I was hoping for.  It was a yellow, black and white striped caterpillar, a Monarch!

Our first Monarch caterpillar of 2016 was happily munching away.  I left the red milkweed beetle there even though he also eats the milkweed leaf.  This caterpillar has already been through several molts and is big enough to take care of himself.   Needless to say all weeding disturbance in this area will stop for now.  The parsley will just have to deal with it!

Nearby under my butterfly bush I discovered what remained of a well traveled Monarch butterfly.  What you see is the under side of an upper wing.  The colored scales are on the other side.  Many scales were missing or damaged.  From the thinner black  markings it appears that this butterfly was a male.  We are so glad he made it!  Ed mows the meadow to make sure that there are are lots of nice green  milkweed plants here.  We hope this caterpillar is just the first of many!