September 2008 Archives

What I did with the latest load of wood chips:

Expanded a bed in the southeast part of the yard...

And made a big bed under these two trees at the northwest corner of the yard:

I got some plants at City People's yesterday that were all 20 to 50 percent off.

The conifer with the blue-green curly locks: chamaecyparis p. 'True Blue' (grows slowly to 18 inches)
The two conifers that are cone-shaped and yellow-green: chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Treasure Island' (grows to 16 inches). I'm going to put all three conifers in the new wood chips under the Japanese maple and crabapple, but I won't do it until spring, when the wood chips will be a better planting medium than they are now. I know from experience that they start to break down over the winter and then I can dig through them into the soil. (Chamaecyparis, according to the helpful nursery guy, is pronounced kammaSIParus.)

Then there are three salvias: one salvia guarantica 'Black and Blue' (the tall one) and two salvia c. 'Lady in Red.' One coreopsis (the pinkish flowers that look sort of like cosmos) and finally three Kaffir lilies (schizostylis c. 'Hilary Gould') (pointy foliage).

I was especially excited to find these Kaffir lilies because I see them blooming these days along the street on my commute and had a hard time identifying them. Both the Seattle Department of Transportation staff and the nursery staff helped me find out what they are.

Some pictures from this summer. We're lucky to be having such a summery September so far.

I like the yellow and white roses with the red dahlias.





Some yellow dahlias with red edges appeared in between the bright-red ones and the pinkish-yellow ones, and I think they might be a cross between the two--they pollinated each other.





Pics from May and July:









Without trying I grew some of the tallest beebalm I've ever seen.

I put together a fountain in the back yard several months ago. It looks like this picture, taken in early spring, except that now two pieces of bamboo cross the top and hold the tube in place vertically between them.

This morning I saw from the kitchen window that the bamboo and copper apparatus that holds the water tube was pushed far to one side. It could have been a raccoon climbing up to wash something that did it. But while I was eating breakfast I heard a squawk, so I went back to the window. Two starlings were perched on the edges of the pot. One at a time I saw them jump into the water and paddle across by flapping. They both did it several times. The shallowest rock is about six inches underwater so I know they were not walking on the rock.

Updated to add a video--a starling came along for another swim and I had the camera ready. I also got some ditzy young robins trying to figure out how to get a bath. They don't want to swim.

Starlings and robins taking bath in my fountain from Fran Mason on Vimeo

Starlings must be pretty bright birds. They imitate the calls of other birds and seem to have the ability to learn and copy each other's actions, too. Robins, maybe not so bright?

My fountain is doomed to cloudiness. If I can think of a way to attach a shallow dish, with the water flowing in and out, I'll turn the whole thing into a birdbath fountain. It's unlikely I'll beat them so I might as well join them. Part of the charm of a "water feature" is to attract "wildlife." I think our wildlife is not blue herons and green frogs, but crows, starlings, robins, squirrels, and definitely raccoons. (We also have chickadees, juncos, hummingbirds, dragonflies, flickers, and other civilized visitors who do not cloud the water.)

A while back the water in the fountain went down overnight to six or eight inches below the top. Mud surrounded the pot, and the bamboo/copper apparatus was five feet away on the ground. A feather floated in the water. Had a bird of prey splashed in while taking a pigeon? When I looked closer, I saw muddy claw prints up one side. The water was disgustingly cloudy. I decided a raccoon must have climbed up to use the water and fell in--the rim is really slick. I think it was his big cannonball splash that made the water go down that time.