Wednesday, July 08, 2020

Buttonbush, nodding onion, rattlesnake master

The buttonbush plants are going wild this week. I read today in the NC Wildlife Federation’s Butterfly Highway newsletter that this plant supports 24 insect species, 8 waterfowl species, 3 mammalian species, and several pollinators. No wonder it’s so busy!




The rattlesnake master are also very busy and looking very nice (though they have spread so much in two years I’m seriously going to have to transplant this fall - the one I transplanted in late spring wilted and I thought it had died, but it has revived and grown to over a foot tall in its new place along the walkway!).



Here you can see the goldenrod I transplanted in late spring - they were a few inches tall and they too wilted, but have revived as well, and zoomed up. I’ll be interested to see how they look when they start to bloom!


The nodding onion are blooming and while delicate and still not fully mature in their bed, they are lovely.


Last week we got so dry I watered every pollinator bed for the first time this season. Of course, two days later we got a huge rain and we’ve had rain every day since! Thankfully we’re also getting sunshine mixed in with the rain so that nothing is staying soggy. Yesterday it poured rain while the sun was shining - something my grandma used to say when this happened is that the devil is having a fight with his wife. 

We had a one day break in the number of cucumbers - I got two - but today we’re back to five. I can’t believe how quickly they grow from one day to the next.

I formally proclaimed to myself this week that I have officially lost control of the weeding. The garden beds themselves are fairly weed-free, but the stone walkway, the empty areas in some of the beds, and the drainage trench areas are completely overgrown. I don’t want to weed-eat and it’s too much to pull, even with my weeding hoe, so I’ve resorted to large pieces of cardboard to smother them. It isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing method, but it works!

2 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

Everything looks very healthy and pretty. Cardboard works for weeds and black plastic too. If you don’t like the look throw some mulch on top to hide the cardboard. Easier than weeding which I hate doing.

I like what your Grandmother said. We had that same scenario last week.

billie said...

Still do not have my mulch! Feed store ran out and didn’t get more in yet, and the guy with the dump truck that easily fits in our driveway is backed up as well due to his truck being in the shop. At this point it may be the winter mulching I’ll do instead of spring! The cardboard is at least a neutral/natural color - LOL. :)