On Thursday afternoon I drove out in the country about 15 miles to find a sweet corn stand that I had heard about. I forgot to take a photo. This farmer has a small greenhouse called The Country Petaler & also sells Mums & sweet corn. The corn was great, not too ripe, $5 / dozen. I'll go back.
On the way home, I noticed a Fresh Veg sign on the side of Hwy 8 in Barron. There was a trailer parked with shelves of fresh tomatoes. $3 / basket. The basket tomatoes were small but beautiful. I didn't really have a good supply of cash, only $5, so I picked up one basket. Then I saw that there were larger tomatoes on a shelf for $1 each. I rounded out my $5 expenditure with 2 large tomatoes. Well, after supper and lunch, the tomatoes were about gone, so today I went back to the truck. This time, I decided the better bang for my buck, was to buy the larger $1 tomatoes.
I spent $15, and I have a bounty of fresh tomatoes to eat.
Yummy.
I took a stroll around the back yard.
The Verbena is having a good year. It is such a hardy plant and blooms continuously well into the fall. It is my go-to bedding plant for my hanging baskets.
Cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) is an herbaceous perennial plant in the sunflower family that is native to the central plains of North America.
I transplanted these from friend Kim's yard about 5 years ago. It took a long time for them to reproduce, finally this year, there are several. I had expected them to spread faster, but at least they lived. The cups formed by the adjoining leaves collect water and insects make use of those watering holes.
One of the first years that I lived here, I planted Cardinal Flowers from the green house in the flower bed that I made around the septic vent. They were supposed to be perennial, but they didn't come back.
But, every since then, I see the Cardinal Plants growing here and there at the edges of the yard, random and volunteer. They are so flashy.
Last year I transplanted a bunch of plants from my bridge friend, Carol's yard. She didn't know what they were called, but these plants were growing in every crevice, the crack along the garage door and all over her flower beds. I didn't think that any of them had lived, but low & behold, there are a few in bloom in the backyard.
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Update: Obedient plant.
Thanks to Suzi's cousin for the identification! |
My backyard petunias are looking good too.
I don't always remember to haul water to them, but they are survivors.
But, my Blue Spruce is not surviving.
I checked in with my county agent and Blue Spruce is very susceptible to diseases, something I should have checked into before I had the 10 footer planted about 9 years ago.
Rhizosphaera needle cast, a fungus disease caused by Rhizosphaera kalkhoffii, is primarily a disease of blue spruce (Picea pungens) trees in New Mexico, though it can affect other conifers, such as ponderosa pine, Japanese black pine, and Douglas fir. The disease occurs statewide, but is more common in the northern part of the state. The disease is problematic in landscape settings, particularly when trees are planted too close together. It can also occur in nurseries where trees are pruned to maintain their shape and are often subject to overhead irrigation.
Symptoms
Symptoms of the disease are discoloration of the needles (Figure 1), needle drop, and eventual defoliation (Figure 2). Infected needles turn yellow in July and then reddish-purple in August. The needles eventually turn brown and fall off one or more branches. A severely affected tree will have many bare branches. Premature needle drop is the primary damage, causing the tree to become unsightly. Branches that defoliate for four or five years may die. The disease usually attacks the oldest needles on branches in the lower portion of the tree canopy first and progresses upward, giving the appearance of death from the bottom up and inside out. If left uncontrolled, the disease can eventually kill the tree.
Only the top 1/3 is without disease.
I'm relatively sure the tree is doomed. I could mess around with fungicides this fall, but the dead branches will always be dead and the tree is quite unsightly.
Likely, the tree will have to go.
Since you should not plant another pine where this disease has been a problem, I am already thinking about a bush I saw, Dwarf Lilac.
Next Spring we might make some changes.
🌲
A couple of years ago, I bought some trees from the Arbor Society, Mountain Ash.
They are doing really great, and this year, full of berries. The Cedar Waxwings love these berries. I can't see these trees from the house, I will have to be on the lookout for those beauties once migration starts going strong.
The white arrow points to Ye Olde Stoklasa Ladder. My friend Ruby sold me that ladder for $3 at her garage sale about 5 years ago. I planted a hop vine at the base and it does grow and climb the ladder, but is not as robust as I had hoped. I might have to do something different next year.
👀
I drove by the Cameron Splash Pad today and saw that it was a free day sponsored by our Senior Citizens Group. It has been a hard summer for the splash pad, with many days of closure, but I'm glad to see we are getting the recognition for our sponsorship.
Barley had a quiet day. She assumed her position on my bedroom quilt as soon as I made the bed and spent the entire day snoozing and watching out the back window.
Whatta life.
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