Today was forecast to be unseasonably dry and a bit cooler than average so it seemed like a good opportunity to work in an area that's pretty much unbearably hot all summer. Of the three million weeds roughly 1.57 million were Koelreuteria, 1.42 Vitex, and the balance a random assortment of the usual suspects. The bad part was we had to extract the weeds from the clutches of one of Stefan's roses; it was about 18 feet in diameter and most of the weeds were taking full advantage of their thorny protector. We painstakingly removed the prostrate canes from the rose at a cost of some blood and then things went pretty well. We were rewarded for our efforts by the sight of this nice mantis on the daylily flowers.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Betty and I pulled about 3 million weeds today from the lower half of China Valley
Today was forecast to be unseasonably dry and a bit cooler than average so it seemed like a good opportunity to work in an area that's pretty much unbearably hot all summer. Of the three million weeds roughly 1.57 million were Koelreuteria, 1.42 Vitex, and the balance a random assortment of the usual suspects. The bad part was we had to extract the weeds from the clutches of one of Stefan's roses; it was about 18 feet in diameter and most of the weeds were taking full advantage of their thorny protector. We painstakingly removed the prostrate canes from the rose at a cost of some blood and then things went pretty well. We were rewarded for our efforts by the sight of this nice mantis on the daylily flowers.
Liatris oligocephala close-up of the flower
You have to love the common name, Cahaba torch. We, Joan, Amy, and I, collected this from dolomite barrens in Bibb County Alabama a few years back. Earlier this summer I happened upon the Valerie the Fern Valley intern and Shannon, the boxwood intern planting some along the road at the bottom of Fern Valley.