Re: [gardeners] Knock, knock

Penny Nielsen (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 9 Nov 1998 07:48:05 -0400 

Hi Cynthia and all 

Woke to a heavy frost on the car this morning.  Spent yesterday afternoon removing all the soil and a few plants from window boxes and planters.  What a relief to have that done.  Now I just have to find the space the store all these clay planters as they are quite large.   Also did more cleanup in the garden.  Purple wave petunias, sweet allysum, boltonia, asters, sedum and some yarrow (which I had cut down in August) are still blooming.  A couple of my climbing roses are too.  DH spent the afternoon mulching leaves again.  Garden and lawn look so, so neat.  The neatest ever as I'm not a real tidy gardener - also a lazy one.

Still have leeks, beets, swiss chard and mesclun growing.  Lots of birds are back - we have 6 feeders filled for them so they shouldn't go hungry.

Cynthia, love the idea of your Cub Scouts hanging bird houses on the trails.

People here stuff little white and orange bags and hang them from trees for Halloween too.  I still see several around.




Penny Nielsen
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Zone 5/6a
nielsenp@gov.ns.ca


>>> Cynthia Mayeaux <cmayeaux@traverse.com> 11/07 9:16 AM >>>
At 02:59 PM 11/5/98 -0800, you wrote:
<snip>>

The torrential storm of sleet and rain from last night has melted the inch
of snow that was in my garden.  Yesterday, as I drove off to work, I
couldn't help notice how pretty things are when covered with snow.
Something inside me enjoys the illusion that all is clean and fresh
washed... the dead weeds I call a lawn takes on a glamour that it never has
in the summertime.  My knot garden is not mulched so the snow did not
stick, I had this greeen-silver-brown area surrounded by white, a very eye
pleasing site.

My birdhouse gourds are still on the vine, Lillian leaves hers out, so I
thought I'd try it (any excuse to be lazy <grin>).  They all look a bit
silly hanging there out in the open with no foliage to hide amongst.  I've
got a few of them wrapped in green mesh onion bags for support, but didn't
have enough of those so had to use pantyhose on a few, and I think they
look ridiculous.

I have ghost and pumpkin trees in the front.  My son and the neighbors went
and dug up some dead sumac bushes and 'planted' them in an area that was
freshly tilled.  Stuffed little white and orange bags with newspaper and
hung 'em up, instant ghoul forest.  Actually looks pretty cool at night,
like they are really floating around.

The sweet allysum and a couple of lonely little petunias are the only thing
that has not succumbed to the frosts and snows.  Still smells like summer
if you walk out the back door (and ignore the icy blast that hits your face).

Today, I'm taking my Cub Scouts out along the ski trails and we will be
hanging bird houses.  They have to draw location maps and pass them on to
another den for Spring cleaning... I'm just glad we are the ones making the
maps... and not following them <vbg>.

That's all the news from Lake Michigan, everyone have a good weekend... 

Cynthia (very glad to hear the Shirley's are on the mend)
**Womyn Who Moves Mountains-Little Finger Of Michigan**
**cmayeaux@traverse.com **USDA zone 4b-Sunset zone 41**
** http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/2659/garden/cynthia.html **