A tale of 2 monarda .....
#1 - bought at Lowe's, can't find the tag, but it is blooming nicely. I will transplant in the fall to the new house, probably a large pot on the patio. Butterflies just love it.
#2 - bought from a nursery, "native" plant supposed to bloom light purple. No blooms yet & it's VERY tall (3-4 ft)! Will probably transplant in the fall to an herb bed at new house.
Tried a different ‘link’ on the postimages for the monarda pics. One regular click (not a ‘right’ click) on them & they will open in a larger format. The smaller pictures on the actual thread seem to be in better focus.
It has been GORGEOUS here the last two days - mostly blue skies, sunshine galore, low humidity, temps in the 70’s. The farmers at the mountain place are all cutting grass and making round bales. Here in the flatlands, I have gotten the entire place mowed (brother mowed 1 field & the old riding ring, which helped). No mowing to do today .... what to do, what to do?!
I have decided, since it’s still low humidity & not all that hot, to try to dig out at least one metal raised bed today. I will be saving the dirt (will have to pull the weeds out first - all the beds except the herb beds are overgrown). The other project is to see if I can get 3 huge slate slabs on the trailer and I might try getting my double wash tub planter on there, too. It’s rusty & needs painting, but I can paint it under cover at the lean-to attached to the barn. It’s ‘open air’ so paint fumes won’t be an issue. Very ambitious ‘things to do’ - I have had these on my lists for about 2 months & other things (like the new mower) have taken up trailer space. PS - I need to take the live trap this trip - the groundhog has 3 holes going in the pole shed ... just disgusting. If I don’t catch it pretty quick, I will be buying a snare, which is supposed to work pretty well.
My niece gave me a 3’ x 9’ metal raised bed. It’s in a box about 2-3 ft long & there is a bag (literally) of bolts to go with it. Initially, I thought I would use it, but I just cannot make myself put the thing together - I stress out just thinking about it & ‘stress’ is the last thing I need right now. My 3’ x 6’ metal beds only needed corners attached at initial assembly & I think I’ll stick with them for metal - the hope is I won’t have to take them apart to move them. My youngest brother gave me some tips on making reasonably cheap wooden beds (easier than what dad & I did for my original wooden beds) so if I add beds, I am going to make wooden ones, using his method.
Plant happenings other than monarda ... that Super Blue lavender plant is outstanding right now - loaded with blooms. The bumble bees have found it and I’ve counted up to 10 at one time on it ... it’s the “happening place” in our garden. The other “happening” is that the deer found mom’s hostas in the back yard and ate 7 almost down to the ground. That’s about half of her variegated hostas in that particular bed. I haven’t told her yet - it’s going to be “war” around here when she realizes the deer are once more visiting her gourmet salad bar.
Possibly Joe Pye weed? Should form a substantial "Drift". (Rabbits won't be able to reach those flowers!)
