Late Afternoon Sunlight

The days are getting shorter, and I keep forgetting about it. I spend most of the day in a basement room that has no view of outside (no windows that is), so without going upstairs it's hard to keep track of what's going on outside. For most of the summer I'd go outside around 6 PM (or later) and walk around the garden. It's a nice way to unwind after work, and a great time to start taking photos. This last week I've been getting out there about that time and it's almost too dark already -- at least darker than I'd like.

I've been trying to remind myself to get out there earlier, while there was still plenty of light. Yesterday I finally remembered, and got a taste of the late afternoon sunshine.

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Cute but not so cuddly

Yesterday I posted about the fuzzy purple Salvia leucantha flowers and how I'd like to make slippers out of them. I think I do not want to make slippers out of these:

They're the seedpods of Castor bean, Ricinus communis 'Carmencita'. I typically remove these pods because they are quite heavy and tend to bend or break the branches. The plant is quite tall (about 9') so these are too high to reach easily now, so they remain.

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Fuzzy! Fuzzy! Purple! Purple!

As you can tell by the title of this post, it's all about the fuzzy and the purple today, compliments of a single plant: Salvia leucantha, or "Mexican Bush Sage". This is one of the last plants to bloom in my garden, but it's definitely worth waiting for.

If you're not a big fan of purple, or have some aversion to fuzziness, you might not want to continue reading this post.

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Extreme tree trimming

Yesterday I posted about trimming some mulberry trees. Today I will do some extreme trimming -- in fact, I'll remove most of three more mulberries.

These are all growing very near the back corner of my yard, and I'm not sure if they're on my property. They're probably in my neighbor's yard, but since 1) he'll be moving soon  2) this is way in the back where he rarely ventures  and 3) I know he doesn't care -- I'm just going to take them down.

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Tree trimming

Our suburban St. Louis city provides a "chipping service" twice a year, when they drive a truck through the neighborhoods collecting any limbs that the residents have put out for pickup, and feeding them into the chipper. Because of this service I have one or two days each Spring and Fall where I trim trees, remove bush honeysuckle, or take down small unwanted trees.

This past Sunday I did just that: trimmed some branches and removed a couple of smallish unwanted trees. I did not remove any bush honeysuckle, even though there are a few left on the common ground behind my yard -- I'll get those in the Spring.

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Another look at grasses

This is the time of year when the ornamental grasses really become the stars of my garden. It's not that they've changed colors or done anything too dramatic, it's just that their seed heads (or "inflorescenses") have all emerged, and they add so much softness and interest.

The way they catch the light in the morning is almost magical, and the slightest breeze starts them dancing and swaying. I've got a lot of grasses in my garden, so that's a lot of dancing!

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Bamboo removal timelapse video

This past week I've posted a few times about a big bamboo removal and planting project (there's really no such thing as a small bamboo removal project). I mentioned that I would be posting a timelapse video of the entire project "someday soon".

After much experimenting, "someday" is here -- today is the day!

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Spanish Flag Vine

Each day for the past couple of weeks I've walked by one or two of my plantings of Spanish Flag vine (Ipomoea lobata) and thought "wow, this looks better than it did yesterday -- I should take some photos!". It just seems to keep getting better though.

The flowers seem more vibrant, and there are tons of them now. When the light hits them right, you just have to stop and admire the intense blooms -- there's no walking past this one!

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Bamboo removal, part 3: planting!

I'm finally reaching the end of this bamboo removal project. In part one I dismantled the raised bed and made divisions of the plant. In part two I removed the remaining rhizomes and the buried hardware cloth. That left me with a nice, clean pile of soil.

Today I'll put the new bamboo into this mound. I'm excited, so let's get started!

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