Mockery

In brief: No longer able to bear the mockery of our three cats, I removed our useless cat fence today. Does anyone need three dozen wrought iron plant hangers?

Also pictured below, grasses: Little Bunnies, Zebra Grass, Japanese Blood Grass, and, um, something that reseeds a lot.

Like a Virus

Like a virus, my front garden has infected the small street where I live. Or now that I’ve thrown my own garden party, everyone wants their own fete. Or choose your own terrible metaphor.

You may recall from the My Moriarity post, that my garden is greatly influenced by a neighbor on a nearby street. Via neighborhood gossip, I learned that my neighbors to the east of my house really liked my terraced garden, and had hoped to emulate it. And they did, creating a lovely cottage garden, which is a nice contrast to my own xeriscaped landscape.

Just last week, my neighbors across the street to the south removed the sod from their front yard and added plants bought on clearance or procured from one of those temporary parking lot nurseries that sell trees and shrubs at great prices. I overheard my neighbor to the west of our house ask my southerly neighbor if he was trying to create a garden like mine. Mr. South said, “I sure hope so.”

You can see the beginning of Mr. South’s garden in the photo below. His yard will look fantastic next year. Now there are three houses on my street wearing fancy pants. (Another bad metaphor.) Who will catch the bug next?

Also featured below are front yard blooms for your viewing pleasure. Note the “Big Blue” eryngium at the end. My mother-in-law, Judy, helped me pick out at the Salem Art Fair and Festival. (You may remember her as one of the artistic geniuses in my family from an earlier post.) It looks like “Big Blue” wants to hurt you, and it does, but it was too incandescently blue to pass up.

Papparazzi

A few weeks ago, for the cost of 99 pennies, I downloaded the Camera+ app on my iPad mini. This has more editing features than the normal camera app. In addition to cropping, I can add borders, lighting scenes and special effects with some odd names. Border styles include “Dark Grit,” “Old Timey,” and “Sprockets.” (Does anyone miss SNL’s Dieter?) Lighting scenes include “Fluorescent,” “Sunset,” “Beach,” “Concert” and “Food.” FX include “So Emo,” “Purple Haze,” “Hiptser,” “Tail fins” and “Ansel” (presumably after Ansel Adams).

All these options appeal to the lazy photographer in me. Yes, in addition to being a lazy gardener, I am also (quelle surprise!) a lazy flower paparazzi, and my plants are the STARZ. I typically order my husband, a professional photographer, to take pics, especially while we are abroad. No snaps I take will ever match his skill and artistry, so why try, right? Just boss the hubby, who is kind enough to oblige.

Since the CATNISS project is really my endeavor, I donned the cap of shutterbug. My iPad makes it easy for me to take very mediocre pictures. But the Camera+ gives me unprecedented power. Real photographers will wonder why my pictures are so out of whack (ahem, Chris and Chanda). Why are some photos too clear? Why are some too saturated in color? What IS she doing?

Well, as you will see at the end of “Backyard Blooms” edition, it could be worse. Poor Greywacke.

Stay tuned for front yard blooms….

One Raspberry, One Smoke Bush, and Blooming Hebes

So I planted a raspberry bush last year, and it started growing vigorously this year, becoming very bushy. In fact, it became so bushy, it was covering the nearby lithodora ground cover and killing it, which is par for the course for me. Yet no flowers ever came.

As you know, flowers precede the fruit. Raspberries typically come in July. The whole point of planting the darn thing was so it would bear fruit, which I would happily eat. What’s a woman to do?

I cut the bush back to spare the lithodora, and I found one ripe raspberry! And three more on the way. Woohoo! What a bounty.

In other plant news, my burgundy smoke bush is looking amazing. It was planted by my predecessor, and originates from the southeast United States. Our neighbors who preceded the current cottage gardeners (see the post “My Moriarity”) disliked it because its spreads a mini type of tumbleweed everywhere including their property. I couldn’t blame them for disliking the floral litter, but I really don’t mind it too much because it is my floral litter.

In what may have been a plot to eliminate the smoke bush, more like a smoke tree, my prior neighbors planted a stick of a maple ludicrously close to it. Perhaps the idea was that it would grow immense enough to overshadow the bush, which would either eventually die from lack of sun or need to be removed or block the cursed tumbleweeds. Five years later, the neighbors are gone (sadly, the husband, a very kindly man, died of cancer) and the maple remains…a stick, albeit slightly larger.

Between the two driveways, the established smoke bush, and all the other plants, it hasn’t quite taken hold yet. I wonder if it ever will.

Below are snaps of my one ripe raspberry, one blazing smoke bush, and blooming hebes. I’m sorry that one is out of focus, but it is too late to take another picture. The blooms have faded.