What a difference a couple days makes

Now you see them/it

Now you don't
In the past 48 hours I've learned alot about honeybees - in fact, I've learned more than I really wanted to know. Monday late in the afternoon I heard the intensity of buzzing in my yard increase substantially. I looked up and saw quite a few bees circling above my backyard. I went in the house and watched as they seemed to settle in my sweet gum tree at the back of my backyard. A little later I went out and discovered a huge hive/swarm of what appeared to be yellow jacket hornets!!!!! Yesterday I called around and finally found an exterminator who would be here this morning at 8:00 to look at my problem.

Well, he arrived right on time and took a look at the hive/swarm. He thought they were honeybees as yellow jackets don't form a nest like what I had. He had forgotten to put his binoculars in his truck, so made arrangements to come back this afternoon to look at them more closely. I went on-line and found that honeybees frequently swarm and form a temporary home like what was in my tree while they look for a more suitable permanent home.

When I got home about 4:00 the hive/swarm was GONE, and the exterminator was just coming out of the back yard. He said it's common this time of year for honeybees to stay in one place for 36 to 48 hours and then leave. There can only be one queen per hive so if there is more than one, the queen leaves and takes some of the workers and drones with her to find a new home.

So, my backyard is again mine and I can work/relax out there without the fear of being stung. Whew!

A Good Day in the Garden

Another warm day here - 90 degrees. And my roses are blooming. I think they are blooming earlier than usual because of the sudden warm spell. The first one to bloom was one called Happy Child - it's a beautiful sunny yellow. The next is one of my favorites - Secret - that was given to me after Willie's death, so it brings sweet thoughts of him. And the most recent one is Portlandia (named after Portland, OR) and was a gift from the Japanese visitors I hosted last summer. This is the first year it has bloomed and it's a beautiful orange-pink with lots of gold at the base of each petal. Here's a photo of the Secret and the Portlandia. You can see how small the Portlandia's blooms are, but it's a climber so you would expect that.



Recently I noticed that the majority of flowers in my front yard are pink, blue and lavendar with a little white thrown in. So, I decided that I would use that pallette in the window boxes that sit below the two kitchen windows in the front. They get only a little morning and very late afternoon sun. Got them planted today - a hot pink tuberous begonia in the center with some coleus on either side and a millions of bells in a bright pink/lavendar on one end with white bacopa on the other. They are mirror images of each other. It was too hot to put them out this afternoon so I'll probably do that either tonight or in the morning. I'll have to rephoto them later in the summer when they are full size.

Here's a close-up of the hot pink begonia. I think it's a real stunner.

Happy gardening.

A New Front Entry

I've been wanting to do something different in my front yard for a long time. Finally, this spring my friend who is an interior designer suggested that I hire a couple young men she knows and get my project done. We drew up the plans, and I hired the two who work in the housing industry and who are only sporatically employed right now. In just two weeks, my yard has gone from total 'ho-hum' to 'WOW' with planting still to be done.

The old front walk to my house was a narrow (28") concrete walk right next to the house. It was not very inviting and impossible for more than one person at a time to walk along it. Here's the view of the front yard from the little porch by the front door.

You will notice that there is no grass - I covered it with cardboard and shredded leaves last fall in an attempt to kill it. I had originally planned to put in raised beds with bare gounds between them. Instead, this is how it now looks. I still have planting to do on the berm.

The following photos show the yard where the new walk is planned and the final result.

On the left side of my house - looking at it from the street - is the gas meter, so I have to retain access to that side with the new design. So, the following photos show the before and after of that.

The final two photos are taken from the street looking toward the front of my house. Keep in mind that that pile of soil will be double dug and amended with fertilizer and compost and will then be planted with an upright Japanese maple, grasses and euphorbias. Will probably plant some spring blooming bulbs and some flowering perennials. Whatever goes in there has to be somewhat drought tolerant as I don't want to be watering all the time. That's why I got rid of the lawn in the first place.

So, there you have it. My new front yard. I can't believe it's done after wanting to do it for so long. I've owned the house since 1993 and have dreamed of this since then.

Portland's Chinese Garden

I visited my daughter and her husband this weekend in Portland. My one request for this visit was to make a trip to the Chinese Garden in the Chinese district right off Burnside. It's in the heart of the city for those of you who are unfamiliar with Portland. It was a superbly beautiful day for our visit - 60-70 degrees and sunny. One of the kind of days that makes Portland such a showplace.

It wasn't particularly crowded, although there were quite a few visitors there. We were priviledged to see a Tai Chi demonstration in celebration of national Tai Chi Day. The teacher was an older woman with beautiful form - graceful and powerful at the same time. How I wish sometimes that I lived in the city to be able to take advantage of lessons with such gifted teachers.

The gardens are beyond description. Everywhere you look there is beauty and small vignettes of stone, plants, water and structures. Windows or openings in the walls provide a glimse of subtle beauty. Within the city block that the garden occupies is the feeling of such peace and solitude, even tho the city activity is right outside the walls.

Water and structure portray a sense of restfulness. And the sound of the waterfall drowns out the noises of the city. I could have stayed there all afternoon, but we had several other stops in the downtown area and had to move on.