Old Retired Guy Blog
May 8, 2008
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May Days
Well, we've had plenty of April showers. The bad news is: Kathy and I have had the opportunity to spend several nights mopping up basement leaks (we always seem to get the heavy rains at night!). Lately I've been tracking down those leaks and attacking them with hydraulic cement. So far, though, it has all been an inside job. Now that the weather has been improving I hope to make some outside fixes. That's where it really matters. The good news is: We're actually getting May flowers! When we moved in last fall our "lush nature yard" was a jungle of weeds, many of them 5 feet tall and all of them scattering millions of seeds to ensure another good crop this year. Since we had no idea of what else might be in the ground, it has been very interesting to watch our yard develop this spring into something more than a weed bed. Almost every morning after breakfast Kathy wanders through the yard checking out the progress of the flowers that we know about and searching for ones that we have not yet seen. Violets are by far the most common flowers in our back yard; there are some blue and white ones in addition to the traditional violet ones. There's also quite a large patch of mertensia (cowslip), which have pink buds that change to blue as they open up.
Emerging from the violets are quite a few interesting surprises. There's a huge bleeding heart that stands about two feet tall and is heavy with dark pink/red/white flowers. There are at least three, possibly four different kinds of trillium. (I've always been very fond of trilliums.) Continuing with the woodland theme, a number of jack-in-the-pulpit (jacks-in-a-pulpit?) have recently popped up. They are fascinating flowers, indeed. We also have mayapple (not quite in bloom although it is May) and periwinkle.
Unfortunately, despite all of the work last fall, we still have weeds in our yard! In addition to the usual dandelions, burdock, and thistles, we have a new foe that we have to battle -- garlic mustard! It's another one of those great things that the Europeans brought over, most likely for food. It quickly adapted to its new home and was soon outcompeting the native species; kind of like the carp of the plant world. We recently pulled out a large volume of garlic mustard, loaded it all up in a tarp in the back of a van, and hauled it off to a yard debris disposal site. This plant is so ubiquitous that our neighborhood association organizes an annual garlic mustard pull in an attempt to control the spread in the local parks. Despite the weeds we are enjoying watching the yard unfold as the days warm and lengthen. I guess pulling out the weeds just makes the beautiful flowers all the more enjoyable. ____________________________ * You may recall from your grade school days that this old saying is often followed by the question, "What do Mayflowers bring?" The answer: "Pilgrims!" (Sorry about that.) |
The
old saying goes, "April showers bring May flowers." * 
