Since I created a new tag called Projects for the bridge and canoe projects, I had to share some of my projects. No, not the apron. It's still uncut, but not forgotten. My great niece has an apron in a similar style which I plan to use to resize the Grandma's pattern.
One project was arranging the planting of over 100 trees at The Third Place this spring. It was an intergenerational event. They posted pictures on the church website and I especially like the one of the girls right in the hole they dug. These same girls, not 30 minutes earlier, said they didn't want to get dirty. We've had lots of rain this summer, which is a good thing since there is no way we can water the trees on the far end of 30 acres.
With Steve teaching and not "studenting," we've added another dimension to our wardrobe, necessitating giving up part of our bedroom for a larger closet. Steve's portion of this project is almost complete and now I need to start painting. We are painting the bedroom four different colors. I hope it works. I have also been hunting for new curtains, without any luck.
Of course, there are always numerous garden projects in various stages. Ron dug out some overgrown shrubs by the back deck and now I need to decide what to plant there. I've planted an even bigger veggie garden and this is the first year I've grown corn. I created a new bed in my front yard and planted it. But these are all normal garden activities for me. My project involves my growing interest in native plants.
We have always let our pond edges grow naturally, resulting in volunteers of cattails, sedges, Queen Anne's Lace, milkweed, black-eyed susans, and even Joe Pye Weed. We did plant blue flags many years ago and they have claimed a large portion of the north end of the pond. Last year I planted three starts of yellow flags. However, the shallow end of the pond is sawgrass and cattails. It is also the first thing you see after crossing the stone bridge. Last fall I collected seeds from swamp hibiscus, pink turtlehead and cardinal flowers, all plants that love their feed wet. At the encouragement of Kylee, I winter sowed the seeds and they grew! So I've been hacking away at the growth to plant them on the shallow end of the pond. Let me tell you, removing turf and amending clay soil is easy compared to sinking in muck and getting scratched by the grasses to battle swamp weeds. In addition to the plants I started from seed, I planted Queen of the Prairie. If this works out, it will be breathtakingly beautiful.
3 comments:
Hi I really enjoyed your article as I too have a passion for native plants and am always looking for information. I wonder if you have looked into these pond floating islands? I was just looking at their website and thought they were pretty neat. Made from recycled products and they clean the water and are a wildlife habitat. The site is http://www.biofloatingislands.com if you are interested.
Kay
Yay!! They grew! Isn't it amazing? While weeding today, I noticed Cleome seedlings growing where they'd grown two summers ago. I didn't grow them last year, so those seeds laid in the ground for two years before producing seedlings. I dont' think they will grow large enough to bloom, but still...
And then there are the petunias that mysteriously showed up in the veggie garden. I'd dumped the soil from my hanging pots from last year at the end of the season, after the frost killed them. Those teeny petunia seeds, which need light to germinate, germinated and grew! They're blooming fabulously - white, purple and lavender ones. And they came up in ideal locations, too! You'd swear someone planted them there, but no.
Kylee, when you visit GSP, make sure to look at the bed near the parking lot next to the pavilion. All but three of the petunias were volunteers. I did not plant petunias there the last three years, so the seeds were dormant that long!
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