That little cool front is just a memory now but I did get out there Saturday and hauled the full garden cart over to the burn pile and dumped it and then got distracted from my intended chore of hacking off the top part of the three banana trees with the machete that toppled over. The distraction was pulling the cowpea out of and off the pink desert willow trumpet flower shrubby thing that I thought was supposed to be a vine when I bought it but isn't very viney. Instead it sends out long woody branches that arch up and over.
Anyway I got the cowpea out which filled up the garden cart again and put it on the burn pile and then I tackled the banana trees. Don't get overheated, Marc tells me as I'm pulling the once again full cart to the barn. No worries, I'm done outside for today.
the 'after' picture
However, I spent about 3 hours over at the shop yard today cutting down tall weedy trash and virginia creeper and native passion flower vine that rarely blooms but covers everything like kudzu so Marc could get to those areas while he was mowing and I managed to excavate two of my tomato cages that have been there since spring of 2019 (there's 10 more under that mound) but it is heavily overcast today and a nice breeze would come up now and then.
my old garden site with the raised beds, this is why I'm abandoning it for a new location
I spent the rest of Saturday finishing up the 'recent work' page on my website and getting it all uploaded. Then I have to refresh the page to see if I have any broken links and how many and then trying to figure out where the problem lies. Usually it's because the tags don't match, for instance...an image might be named 'picture.jpeg' but on the coded page it's 'picture.jpg' so either I have to change the tag on the image or on the coded page and then upload the new version. The whole thing was complicated by the fact that my desktop wouldn't refresh to the new version, just wanted to load the cached version over and over. Fine! I'll look at it on my phone which refreshed to the new version so I could see where the broken parts were but wouldn't refresh again. Fine! Be that way. Got my iPad which refreshed and I saw what was fixed and what was still broken and then it wouldn't do it again. I double checked everything one more time, desktop still wouldn't give me the new page even though I closed the window and waited a while. Finally I went and got Marc's phone and lo and behold, it refreshed and all the broken links were fixed. Sunday I added three more items. Now I just have two more pages to update...the archive gallery page and the news and events page.
I've been better about my home yoga routine lately and I've weaned myself off the news and all things Trump over the weekend and intend to be Trump and all other bad news free all week. Hopefully I'll get some creative stuff done this week like finish putting the new studio room together over at the shop or working on another drawing or watercolor or maybe even starting on a new model. It hasn't been as hot lately, low 90s as opposed to high 90s but still too hot to work outside for long.
Garden report - my night blooming cereus has/had 13 buds on it. I say 'had' because 3 of them opened last night. I knew they would and still I missed them. I remembered about midnight but I was already in bed.
five more buds in this picture
This bromeliad is sending up it's late summer blooms
and the periwinkles I planted around the birdbath have not done well. All the pink ones died and all but two of the red and white ones are struggling. It's been a pretty brutal summer. I'll dig up any survivors and plant them elsewhere when I'm ready to put pansies in there for the winter.
I have some more garden pictures but I'll save those for the next post.
Our forecast is for highs in the low eighties for almost all of this week. I can't even believe how great that'll feel. Today was quite overcast and I was able to stay out in the garden and work for a few hours. Got a lot done and I'm happy about that.
ReplyDeleteDo not envy your tech troubles but I sure do admire you for your persistence.
You have hot and humid but also so many exotic flowers and plants. Bless your energy. You put me to shame!! Big time! My nurse friend sent me article written by medical people who said that Trump can give you PTSD, so not listening to any news reports with him in them.
ReplyDeleteIs that ivy in your raised beds? It looks ivy-ish. The PNW has declared English ivy an invasive species, along with purple splurge. The real villains are morning glories and blackberries. Hope you get to see the night bloomer. They are really stunning.
ReplyDeletenot english ivy. it's covered in ironweed, virginia creeper, cowpea, and passion flower vine and I'm surprised there isn't any grapevine in there as well.
DeleteI have vowed to not post anymore trump crap. It's giving my heart such a bad time so no more posting, watching news or reading any more of that. I'm just taking it easy and focusing on the gardening.
ReplyDeleteI just spent a delightful half hour or more going through your web page.
ReplyDeleteThere really is little more to say about Cpt. Mustard. It's up to the papers now. I doubt we can influence one more person. Though in Ohio, a liquor license was yanked over a bar not following the guidelines. Poor Gov. DeWine, toes Mustard's line with downcast eyes, yet has the gones to permit the health dept to pull a liquor license. That will blow up the local papers. Maybe already did, today. Just realized it's Monday.
I’ve been trying to read just the headlines really fast with one eye closed & then not thinking about them. Much.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, we’re at the beach this week, but apparently back home they are getting a LOT of rain. Ms. Pinky will be most annoyed. She thought The Watering Man being gone would give her a break from all the water.
That "trumpet flower shrubby thing" is really pretty. You DO have some serious vines going on there! I can't believe how thoroughly they've engulfed your tomato cages and your raised beds. I wonder if the updates to your web page just take a while to "publish"? It sounds like time solves the problem.
ReplyDeletewell, it has been a year and a half but that's how fast shit grows around here.
DeleteYou must get quite a bit of rain as everything is very lush and green. We're all flat and brown here, but come the winter and the snow, we'll begin to green up again. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletewe average 47" of rainfall a year. and with that and the lushness, lots of mosquitoes.
DeleteA friend in Kerrville has a desert willow tree that's about thirty feet tall. It's flowers look a lot like yours. I wonder if they're related, or if hers was a shrubby thing that turned into a tree. The flowers are pretty, whichever. I laughed at you finding those tomato cages. Better be careful -- there could be a body under all that growth. (Well, maybe a squirrel body, anyway.)
ReplyDeletealso called pink trumpet vine, Podranea ricasoliana. the desert willow tree is is Chilopsis linearis and has different foliage so not related. there is a really nice desert willow tree outside our library here.
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