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.

Evening Walk About

At this time of year the scent of summer sweet fills the garden.  Gentle breezes carry the understated aroma for great distances.  One never knows when they will walk into an unexpected cloud of sweet aroma.  Diluted by the wind, the smell is unmistakable and pleasant.  It might be overpowering if brought into the house as a cut flower.  We prefer to enjoy it where it grows.  Even this close to sunset the bees were furiously working the flowers. These two were so intent that they did not respond as I brought the camera close.  Despite their calm demeanor, we look twice before bringing our noses close to the flowers.
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The eye sees the dill as different in color than the grass.  The camera does not record this difference.  The dill marks the location of our new asparagus bed.  Self seeded, the dill was simply too splendid to weed out.  We will watch to see if these two plants will grow together without harm to the other.  Dill is usually scattered around the garden.  We have long wanted a dill patch but we also want an asparagus bed.  The smart thing would be to prepare soil for a dill bed now and cut the seed heads moving them to the new ground.

Late Morning is new to us this year.  Despite the challenges of covering lilies to protect them from late frosts, I cannot stop myself from buying more bulbs.  Spring planted, this variety should bloom earlier next year.  We also hope it grows taller.  We would like to sample its fragrance, but cannot get our noses this close to the ground.

Princeton Silky has been with us for several years.  Many other varieties of day lilies present tattered flowers this late in the day but this one is presently perfect.  Slow to open, this flower will still look good tomorrow morning.  We need to have more days when the tools are put away early and we take the time to savor the beauty that is all around us.

August Beauty, Photos By Amy

When Amy walks through the garden with the camera you can always count on having many fantastic pictures to choose from. It is not easy.  The Mammoth Pink chrysanthemums are beginning their stunning display.

I could not decide if I prefer the bold close-up, or this picture where the beauty of the mums is demurely concealed  by neighboring plants.  Of course we are always pleased to have one of Ed's walls in the background.  The remaining lily stalks, fine perennial flax foliage and speckled Gloriosa Daisies add a lot of interest to this picture.

There are few bee balm flowers left.  The hummingbird, butterflies and hummingbird moths usually seen on these flowers seem to have been replaced with ants.

The brilliant red of this cardinal flower would capture any photographer.  I can tell right away where this flower is growing.  It stands in front of the only wall I ever built here.  It lacks the perfect horizontal lines of Ed's work and has diagonal lines that make it mine. Just the same, it still stands together with his  in the garden square after all these years.

The red color and fuzzy texture of these sumac berries make me want to reach out and touch them.  This winter they will get the bird's attention.

Summer Sweet, Clethra, is a favorite plant of Amy and Ed.  It's sweet aroma is a reminder of hiking trips taken together.  We have both white and pink growing here.  The flowers open from the bottom to the top and all of the stages are here to see.  I have to wonder what is eating the leaves.

I love sunflowers.  They are so cheery near or far.  I do believe that is a real honey bee working the spiral of tiny flowers.  This sunflower has just begun to bloom. Its flowers will spiral in  until the last ones open in the center.  We get to enjoy its sunny face  all that time.

I saved my favorite for last.  A beautiful purple, prickly thistle and the garden wearing an asparagus fern veil is a study in texture and color.  It takes an artist's eye to turn my unweeded asparagus bed into such beauty.  Thanks Amy, I'm so glad to be able to see it that way!

Recycling Creates a Buzz

This is an interesting time of year at the compost pile.  There are enough freshly pulled weeds from the garden to cover the kitchen scraps but we leave them uncovered for the honey bees.  Fresh food is scarce now for the foraging bees.  Few flowers are open now but the temperatures are warm enough for the bees to fly.  They spend a great deal of time on the fruit peels.  We do not know if they actually find food on the compost but the bees are here in numbers every warm day.  We had an old jar of honey that was put out for the bees.  Few found it the first day but now it is popular.

Several years ago a former student placed five of his hives here.  Ed found the bees fascinating and bought a bee suit so that he could join in the work on the hives.  The next year the former student left his wife and bees and moved out of the area.  We did not learn fast enough how to care for the bees.  We lost every hive after three years with the original queens.  Winter survival for the hive was no problem but after three years the queens egg supply was exhausted.  No new eggs meant that the hive died.   This jar of our own honey remained in the back of the cupboard for years.  A diabetic has little use for honey.

Ed was never stung while he worked the hives.  Once when he had to right a hive that had been knocked over by a passing deer, his foot had to be placed very near a huge puddle of bees on the ground.  When he opened his bee suit after the job was done  several bees flew out.  The leg cuffs of a bee suit are open and several bees went inside of the suit with Ed.  Still no sting.  Ed believes that his calm confident manner is the reason that no bees sting him.  That same manner kept his students relatively subdued.  Today he approached the feeding bees with no protection.  He quietly took several pictures with the bees buzzing around him.  The camera was held close to the honey jar.  Feeding bees pose little danger.  None stung him or the wasp that was sharing the bounty.