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You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Butterfly Garden

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Butterfly Garden

by | 154 Comments

This post is in: 

From ace photographer and optimistic gardener Ozark Hillbilly:

Thought I’d share how the first step in the pollinators garden project has come along.

Step 2: Showing what I start with in any garden project

Step 3: With top soil

Top photo: How things were looking in mid July.

Grow it, and they will come.

***********

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
.
.

I put in one flutterby bush in each of the back corners, it has done well.

Reader Interactions

154Comments

  1. 1.

    opiejeanne

    That is a different butterfly bush from the one in my garden. Is that an asclepia (milkeed)?
    Mine’s a Buddleia davidii and is considered a problem in Western Washington because the stuff spreads. I intend to plant a lot of milkweed next year.

    I’ve noticed that honeybees love borage. Everything with wings seems to love rudbeckia.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @opiejeanne: I suspect there are a lot of different “butterfly bushes”, this is not milkweed. I don’t know what species it is. I put in some milkweed last year in several different spots and then nursed them throughout the 2 month drought. Some at least, didn’t make it. Maybe all. Sigh. We’ll see come spring.

    Next year, I’m going all wildflower. Was not able to this year as most seeds have to ‘winterize’ in order to germinate and I did not begin this project until April. This bed and at least 2 others I am planning on constructing this fall will get the wildflower treatment. I forget what all I bought, but rudbeckia was among them. And yes, more milkweed.

  7. 7.

    Cermet

    Not such a good morning; the Post reports that North Korea has detonated a bomb that was ” eight times as powerful as the Hiroshima blast “. I have laughed at their previous attempts but this is really a massive development (if true.) This means they have a low grade hydrogen bomb or have figured out how to build a real high yield atomic bomb (in which case, a hydrogen bomb would not be difficult.) Well, so much for doubting them and their program – well, this ends any chance by the fart cloud to start a war. They are in the real nuclear club with all that means. This is both ugly and dangerous (in that the fart cloud does try a strike at their nuclear facilities.) Hope the report is very wrong but not counting on it.

  8. 8.

    Van Buren

    About a week ago, I left home to bring eldest child back to college. At that time, I had about 50 tomatoes in various stages of ripeness. Came home to find about 3 tomatoes. Neighbor casually mentions that he saw a rat eating his tomatoes. Wife has decided that I will not be growing any food in garden next year. So, if the shit does hit the fan, I will be eating zinnias.

  10. 10.

    Cermet

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: The south has lived under the north’s guns and massive military might for as long as most of them can remember and are use to being under extreme threat; we have, until now, never really have worried about the north – so, for the US, this is a new threat (not that it is even remotely in the class of the Russians.) However, right wingers have always used the north and its nuclear program as a litmus test and I am sure they will one – blame ex-President Obama, then, of course, Hillary, and add in ex-President Clinton; and then 2) demand a strike against the north’s facilities and/or their reactor(s). I much preferred when I laughed at their nuclear program as hype by our side (when their best detonation was under 3 kT.) Now that they have a (most likely) enhanced atomic bomb (their very low yield atomic bomb coupled with some solid deuterium (as plastic) with some tritium enrichment in the solid core, most likely) their yield is being claimed to be around 200 kT. Damn – that is a real city killer. I still doubt they can mount the large device on a missile (and they still don’t have a ICBM that can reach us) but that, I bet, is what they will soon try to do (and likely achieve in five years or so. The missile sooner; the required war head more like five years.)

  15. 15.

    satby

    @opiejeanne: @OzarkHillbilly: Buddleia is the family of butterfly bush and that’s also what OH has pictured in that last shot. There are a lot of regional milkweeds. Butterfly bushes were originally from Asia, and they self seed as well as throw runners, so they can get really invasive in a place without hard freezes.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: I actually intend to build a bench for that seat. Something different, not sure how but it will be unique. Most important of course is that it be comfortable to sit in, which is a lot harder to do than most think. Sam Maloof started his career making chairs people wanted to sit in. Just before he died I read his rockers were going for $10K+ and he had a 3 year backlog of orders.

  24. 24.

    Alain the site fixer

    @OzarkHillbilly: I do have some tricks, depth being the primary one. If a koi is in shallow water, it’s a sitting duck for raccoons and cats. Deep water holes help a lot, as do submerged large rocks, etc that give them hiding spots. In smaller ponds, I like koi castles, especially in cold months where there’s no surface vegetation.

    @Baud: if ponds weren’t so much work, I’d do it professionally. Also, I’m less about the sparkling clear water and more about a healthy habitat for the fish and other critters. Once you make a pond, it’s amazing how much outside life forms take advantage!

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Alain the site fixer: How deep is deep enough? (as difficult as digging down is here, I know I have to build up at least some) I have several large flat rocks that I was thinking I could overhang the pond and give them cubbyholes to hide in. Would that actually work? My raccoons are persistent and intelligent. I have one that has learned to keep her big fat butt back and high when she goes into the live trap so she can raid the bait and still back out after tripping it.

    Also, I’m less about the sparkling clear water and more about a healthy habitat for the fish and other critters. Once you make a pond, it’s amazing how much outside life forms take advantage!

    That’s my focus.

  29. 29.

    JPL

    @OzarkHillbilly: Wonderful pictures.
    It’s Sunday morning and we’re chatting about flowers and bombs. If Trump backs out of the treaty with South Korea, I assume that Kim Jun will be pleased.

  30. 30.

    Alain the site fixer

    @OzarkHillbilly: I like a 4′ hole in the center, 2.5 feet overall. Eagles and heron are also an issue; that’s deep enough to make the herons unhappy with wading, and some stringing some fishing line with hanging shiny bits reduces likelihood of eagle swoops.

  31. 31.

    Barbara

    @JPL: When I read that I really do wonder if he has lost his mind. I can’t think of a worse wy to symbolically distance ourselves from an ally in this particular instance.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @PAM Dirac: Wow. Just wow, but no. (heh heh heh) My woodworking talents go in a slightly more traditional but still a little abstract direction. :-)

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Alain the site fixer:

    I like a 4′ hole in the center, 2.5 feet overall.

    Short of renting a track hoe, that could be difficult to accomplish. We have plenty of herons and eagles around here but I am 100′ above there natural hunting grounds (for what ever that’s worth- I know, not much) The location I have in mind is mostly shaded by 2 large oaks. At the top end of it I am going to put in a shallow area with rocks for flutterbys and song birds to drink from.

  36. 36.

    HeleninEire

    So I had a dream last night that I was sleeping with Chris Hayes, the MSNBC guy. And by “sleeping with” I don’t mean “having sex with.” I mean I would show up at his house, make sure his wife and kids weren’t there, and then we’d get into bed and take a nap.

    Holy hell.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    If I had a house, and that house had a yard, it’d be all butterfly garden.

    At some point in the late 1990s, my mother’s apartment was on the migration trail for multitudes of monarchs. I think it was a fluke year, because she never saw them again, but it was an amazing thing to witness.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    Trump’s tweet, once again attacks our ally

    South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!

  41. 41.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    Someone needs to point out to Trump that NK wouldn’t be pulling these shenanigans if he was acting like a real leader.

  43. 43.

    HeleninEire

    @satby: Yeah I’m fine. It was just so weird. Like the opposite of a sex dream. I’ve been a bit tired lately, my insomnia has kicked in for the first time since I’ve been here. Maybe it has something to do with that

  44. 44.

    Immanentize

    @satby: @HeleninEire: maybe Helen is just tired?

    OH — beautiful garden planning shots. I like how you laid out the beams first. I am sure I would have done that after I prepared the soil. But now I see it your way — of course!

  45. 45.

    bemused

    A friend admiring my hydrangea shrubs asked if one could propagate new plants from the existing shrubs. I hadn’t even thought of that so research found articles and videos showed how to grow new plants from cuttings. Now I’m really excited because I want to plant more hydrangeas around our large yard for end of summer bloomers and growing my own would be cheap. Any BJ gardeners done this?

    I have enough Annabelle Hydrangeas but I have a Twist n’ Shout and two Quick Fire Hydrangeas I would like to propagate. This is second year for Quick Fire shrubs to bloom well and I love the changing colors and lacy appearance. I’m in zone 3 to 4 so assuming I will have to do cuttings in the spring.

    I noticed that recently something has eaten some of my smaller Annabelles. We and dogs were gone for a week so maybe deer took advantage of on one being around but maybe something else. We have a lot of deer surrounding us but happily they leave our gardens alone.

  47. 47.

    debbie

    @HeleninEire:

    Less than two hours ago, I was listening to an interview with John O’Donohue and they were talking about Irish music, among other things:

    One of the things I’m always amazed about Irish music, for instance, is how in some way the lines of the landscape find their way into the music, the memory of the landscape almost, the memory of the people too, and that in some sense, despite the sorrow that we’ve endured, and I mean Ireland — it’s not fashionable to say it now — Ireland has hundreds of years of an awful history of suffering.

    I thought of you, not having seen your name in the threads I’ve visited, and now here you are! Hope Ireland’s still treating you well.

  48. 48.

    Immanentize

    I just planted a white dogwood in front of my house. It’s an odd story — one of my kind colleagues sent me a tree to memorialize my wife. A bit out of the ordinary…. But she picked a magnolia grandiflora that would never make it through one winter here. It was such a depressing idea — plant a tree for J. with patience and care just to see it freeze in February? Uh, no. So I shipped back the magnolia (Seeds of Life) in return for a dogwood — which we wanted to plant anyway. But what a hassle at a time when hassles are debilitating.

    If you gift a plant, know your zones!

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: We always get a few monarchs, but one Autumn day when I was a 10 or 11, we were on the main flight path. It was unbelievable. Looking up, I would see thousands flying south, refocus my eyes a little higher and there were thousands more, higher still, still more thousands, until finally my eyes were focused on little tiny specks floating southward, and I knew there were more above them that I could not see. An absolutely mesmerizing sight and I have no doubt I observed millions of them on that day.

    I fear the days of such a flight are gone.

  52. 52.

    Immanentize

    @HeleninEire: me too!

    There is a dream analysis tool my friend the psychologist has taught me — first, assume everyone in the dream is you. Then look for the basic thought behind the dream without thinking about people. Of course that is only analysis step one….

  53. 53.

    HeleninEire

    @debbie: Ireland is treating me fabulously. And to your note: Yes Ireland has suffered. And they have come out the other end better than ever. One of the many reasons I moved here is that I’ve been all around the world and the Irish are the friendliest people I’ve ever met. I think they decided to just go the opposite way. We’re unhappy, will EFF you world, we’re gonna act all happy. And it’s stuck.

    I have made sooo many friends here. I’m never going back.

  54. 54.

    Immanentize

    @debbie:
    Exactly. But I feel like I really have to work hard not to kill this one! It is the right tree for our front yard where we lost a purple thunder plum tree during Sandy.

  56. 56.

    d58826

    Totally OT but an interesting read on how to mitigate damage from floods.

    We already knew how to reduce damage from floods. We just didn’t do it. After that disaster, the Clinton administration directed an experienced federal interagency task force to report on the flood and its causes. That report, “Sharing the Challenge ,” was prepared by Army Brig. Gen. Gerry E. Galloway and released in 1994. It made more than 100 recommendations for policy and program changes to address and reduce flood risks and improve the nation’s floodplain management everywhere, not just in the area along the Mississippi River that had been underwater. The government found that many policies were encouraging — rather than discouraging — people to build homes and businesses in places with increasingly high risks of flooding by allowing new building in those areas, constructing insufficient flood-control projects that give residents a false sense of security and subsidizing redevelopment after disasters without mitigation. That often compounded the costs and problems caused by floods.

    As they say there is no cure for stupid.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/we-already-knew-how-to-reduce-damage-from-floods-we-just-didnt-do-it/2017/09/01/cc6c4174-8f2a-11e7-8df5-c2e5cf46c1e2_story.html?undefined=&utm_term=.7524bbb0ce08&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

  58. 58.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Cermet: The thing about nuclear capability is that we know from history that it’s a pretty fast ramp-up. The US got from Little Boy/Fat Man to megaton fusion devices in less than a decade; the warheads were in cruise missiles in the Fifties.

    The way I figure, we were already in the MAD deterrence realm with North Korea years ago, and their having an H-bomb doesn’t change that much. In a sense, the artillery aimed at Seoul already put us there before they had nuclear weapons, provided we care about Seoul, and I think we do (hell, I have friends-of-family there).

  62. 62.

    satby

    @bemused: good info on propagating here. I’ve had mixed success, rooted some successfully but then they died after transplant. I think I would put them in pots for a year to get bigger and stronger next time. I’m going to try again in a couple of weeks.

  64. 64.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    Trees are a real responsibility, but for neighborhood walkers, they are an unmitigated joy. My neighborhood is filled with magnolias and all kinds of flowering trees. If I wasn’t afraid of getting arrested for snooping, I’d have a trillion photos on my iPad.

    My grandmother never forgave my mother for “killing” her peach tree while they were on vacation. Forty years later, she was still grumbling about it.

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @HeleninEire: I’ve been going thru another period of insomnia lately. One recent night I woke up at midnight and lay in bed for the better part of 3 hours before finally falling back asleep….. And dreamt I was having insomnia So in my dream I got up and said ‘Fuck it, I’ll just go to work.’ which I do do in real life, but IRL i go to work in my shop. In the dream I headed over to a buddy’s house and with radio blaring and sawzall and angle grinder and sledge hammer proceeded to tear out half their basement. Then I suddenly realized, ‘Oh fuck, it’s 5:30 in the morning. They don’t even get up till 7.’ and shut everything off, just as my buddy came down the stairs. And that’s when the dream got weird.

  68. 68.

    bemused

    @satby:

    Keeping in pots for a year sounds like a good idea but not sure it would be an option for me with our brutal winters.

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @HeleninEire: Dreams are just dreams to me. I have one recurring dream of trying to find my way out of a building that is a maze. This last time I found my way out of the building but couldn’t find my way thru the streets. I’m sure it speaks to some latent angst I have but that is about it.

  75. 75.

    mai naem mobile

    @OzarkHillbilly: theRe are seedballs that are sold all over (I cannot remember the name) which are put together by developmentally disabled adults in the Phoenix area. They used to sell them on QVC – I don’t know if they still do. I’ve used them in the past and it’s a good product. The company was set up by a woman of a develomentaily disabled adult.
    I love birds and butterflies but have a black thumb. We’ve planted easy flowering plants (lantana,Texas sage) and butterflies love them. And bees. We have a small fountain that birds enjoy.

  80. 80.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    flutterbys

    That’s what I call them too! I’ve planted a pollinator garden in front of my portal. The garden was knee-high with weeds when I moved in, so Ms.O and I put in quality time rooting them out and adding plenteous compost and mulch. (The high desert soil is less than hospitable for many plants – except the weeds of course.) My lavender didn’t survive the winter, but I have sage (Dark Knight), columbine, hyssop, agastache, pine-leaf penstemon, and blue mist spirea growing, along with some wonderful apache plume that was already there. The bees, flutterbys, and hummers love it! I’m going to try to add milkweek next year.

  81. 81.

    HeleninEire

    @OzarkHillbilly: We all have “stress dreams.” Mine used to be that I was awake for 2 hours. It was now 8:45. I had to be at work at nine. And the subway would take me an hour to get there. But I could not get dressed. My zippers would not zip. My buttons would not button. I just could not get dressed and out if the house.

    Don’t have that dream anymore. Cuz I can get out of the house any damn time I please!

  83. 83.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Immanentize:

    I just planted a white dogwood in front of my house.

    I’m glad for the tree and sorry about the hassle. I understand how hard it can be to manage the most ordinary tasks in times of grief, much less dealing with extra stuff. Blessings on your new tree – may it thrive and be a beautiful memorial to your love.

  84. 84.

    Waratah

    @OzarkHillbilly: Cosmos now come in some beautiful colors, and are heat tolerant. They reseed and my daughter was excited to see them take over her small flower garden without her having to work and replant.
    My first vegetable garden had rocks like you have, raised planting beds are wonderful.

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @O. Felix Culpa:Far more apt. I picked it up from an old friend of mine. One of the sweetest people I have ever known. She died 10 years ago from cancer. We had drifted apart but I’d often think of her and I still miss her.

  87. 87.

    Tazj

    @jeffreyw: My father caught one for me and my younger sister when we were small. I think he wanted me to become fascinated by insects instead of afraid of them. While I’m not afraid of them anymore, I’m still not much of a fan, especially spiders.

    I haven’t had much luck with flowering trees in my yard. I have two flowering pears that seem hardy and sometimes attract monarchs in the spring. However, I’ve lost both a crabapple(disease) and cherry(voles and moles) over the years. Every spring I want to try again, maybe I will next year.

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Waratah: I love cosmos, planted several in the garden but dem wascally wabbits got most of them. Sent a pic of one with this batch, Anne may be saving it for a later garden post when nobody steps up. She has done that before.

  89. 89.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @OzarkHillbilly: What a lovely memory. There are an increasing number of people I miss. I wrote several days ago about a friend who was killed in a car accident a week ago today. She was an incredible gardener and had drifts and drifts of irises. She gave us some for our garden this past spring. They looked brown and unlikely to survive through the summer but now! – they are shooting up bright green blades all over the place. I expect a fall bloom. A blessed way to remember Susan, although I’d still rather have her here with us.

  90. 90.

    Laura

    I have a friend who gave me a milkweed seed balls several years ago and after three years I got bloom’s so fragrant that it was crawling with bees and butterflies. Then it grew these bizarre bulbous spikey pods and last week one split and revealed seeds with silky parachutes.
    So I tied a brown paper bag around it, and will do so for the rest as they rip open and I’ll be making some seed balls and pass them along.

  91. 91.

    Laura

    @rikyrah: Good morning Rikyrah! I hope your sister’s getting on with the getting better. How did the peanut’s school enrollment/orientation go? Does she start Tuesday or already in class?

  92. 92.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @O. Felix Culpa: I met Karen when she was engaged to a very good friend of mine who was killed in an accident. That death marked the beginning of a very difficult time in my life and Karen was there for me when many others weren’t (for reasons, many of them good reasons). Life is like that. She eventually found a much better man to marry, one who was truly deserving of her, and they had one daughter who was 12 when K got cancer and 14 when she died. Sad, but she was gift of love to so many.

  95. 95.

    HeleninEire

    @james parente: Fair warning. I am from NYC so everything seems cheap here. I am renting a modern furnished 1 bedroom in the city center. It costs me €1400 a month. That’s about $1500. This apartment in NYC would be $4,000 easy. So, everything is relative.

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    This is about as O/T as can be, but I just saw that CNN has obtained a copy of the letter President Obama left for Trump in an Inauguration Day tradition. Here it is in full:

    Dear Mr. President,-

    Congratulations on a remarkable run. Millions have placed their hopes in you, and all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure.

    This is a unique office, without a clear blueprint for success, so I don’t know that any advice from me will be particularly helpful. Still, let me offer a few reflections from the past 8 years.

    First, we’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune. Not everyone is so lucky. It’s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that’s willing to work hard.

    Second, American leadership in this world really is indispensable. It’s up to us, through action and example, to sustain the international order that’s expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend.

    Third, we are just temporary occupants of this office. That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions — like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties — that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it’s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.

    And finally, take time, in the rush of events and responsibilities, for friends and family. They’ll get you through the inevitable rough patches.

    Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best as you embark on this great adventure, and know that we stand ready to help in any ways which we can.

    Good luck and Godspeed,
    BO

    Needless to say, there’s not one word of Obama’s advice which Trump has followed — as we all know, for the most part he has actively worked to do the exact opposite. Still, it’s an interesting thing to have leaked, even from this sieve-like White House — I can’t remember ever seeing such a handover letter before, at least not during the tenure of the recipient.

  98. 98.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    I occasionally lurk on this thread since I rent only and don’t garden. But this has been a LOVELY place to be today. I learned about Sam Maloof, a bit about ponds, heard some sweet reminiscing, a little about Ireland… just delightful. Thanks for the lurking experience!

  99. 99.

    rikyrah

    The Month From Hell Has Arrived
    by Martin Longman
    September 1, 2017

    It’s happened. The Republicans’ month-from-hell has arrived. It’s the month I coined a meat-grinder.
    And it’s going to get off to the slowest of starts owing to the long
    Labor Day weekend holiday. There will much work for responsible
    government officials to do, and very little time for them to get it
    done.

    Yet, the president is the farthest thing from focused. The Russia investigation is terrifying him. He wants to fire his Secretary of State and it looks like Rex Tillerson would welcome that outcome. He’s fuming at his National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn because Cohn essentially called him a racist in public, but he doesn’t feel like he can afford to fire him because he’s trying to pivot to a doomed tax reform effort. He’s chomping at the bit his chief of staff put on him to limit his access to fake news and crazy supporters and advisers.
    He’s still obsessed with his media coverage and the camera angles and attendance he gets at his political rallies. He’s more energized by his efforts to settle scores with Republican senators who have crossed him than he is with attracting the support of Democratic senators he will soon need. He’s recently made open war on the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House, both of whom have been increasingly critical of his behavior and performance. Most of all, he misses the brief period
    during which the job of president was kind of fun:

  101. 101.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Wow. Just… wow. He had remarkably wise and pithy words, and obvious concern they might be ignored.

    Donald J. Trump is a staggeringly small-hearted man, greedy, ungenerous, incapable of mirth. He is vile. Those who tether their ships to his are in some measure likely the same.

  103. 103.

    Mel

    @opiejeanne: Be ready for milkweed bugs. They will find milkweed and multiply like crazy. They are black bugs with orsnge stripes, and they get everywhere: in the house, in the car, on your clothes.

    We used to see them on the farm when I was a kid, but they would be out in the unused fields where the milkweed snd coreopsis were growing wild.

    When your garden is ten feet from your back door, rhey get up close and personal! They’re worth it because of the monarchs that the milkweed feeds, but they are a bit annoying.

  104. 104.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: interesting… Like a demented mirror image of the Cheeryble Bros. My recollection is Dickens’ rich villains tend to be cold and taciturn and, at least in my imagination, cadaverously thin. Trump is the body of Mr Bumble, the ethic of the gross moneylender in Bleak House (the “shake me up” guy) and the soul of Ralph Nickleby.

  105. 105.

    opiejeanne

    @OzarkHillbilly: Sam Maloof! Our friend (and realtor when we lived in Riverside) married him in 2001. They had 8 years together. She was a wonderful person and from what I’ve read so was he.

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    OT: our own Cheryl Rofer encounters a troll on twitter

    Jerod Harris @ jerodharris
    If the pools lose the ability to keep the spent fuel rods cool, the rods explode. U write about nukes and don’t know how nuke plants work?

    Cheryl Rofer‏ @ CherylRofer 8m8 minutes ago
    I worked at Los Alamos for 35 years. You?

    Jerod Harris describes himself as professional photographer and vagabond.

  111. 111.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    Yet, the president is the farthest thing from focused

    Fortunately (for him, not us), Trump may be able to start a war. This is often good for rallying support and distracting the dopes.

  113. 113.

    debbie

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Actually, I believe leaving a letter is a tradition, but I don’t know for how long. I know Bush left one for Obama. I believe Ike left one for JFK, too.

  115. 115.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: I can’t remember ever seeing such a handover letter before, at least not during the tenure of the recipient.

    that’s my recollection too, that they’re usually released after the recipient leaves office, but that’s a vague idea I have no evidence for. I know I’ve seen Poppy’s letter to Bubba. I don’t remember any others. I imagine copies go to both presidents’ libraries.

  116. 116.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @debbie:

    Oh, yes, it’s a longstanding tradition. I just wasn’t aware of any other President making the letter public while he was in office.

  121. 121.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @germy:

    What will Trump’s letter to his successor say?

    Well damn. I wrote a long and, if I do say it myself, funny letter, but I made the fatal error of composing it in the text box and of course as soon as I hit “Submit” it went poof! and disappeared into the vast cloud of unborn comments. If it’s languishing in a junk drawer somewhere, maybe some kind FP will see and retrieve it, but I suspect it’s gone.

  122. 122.

    Elizabelle

    Ozark: I love your garden. Glad to see the butterflies do, too.

    And enjoyed hearing about defensive koi ponding. Raccoons heartily endorse koi ponds as a hobby. Good to learn there are strategies to give the fish a chance.

    Am near Indiana Dunes park. Love Lake Michigan, and how it looks different every single day.

  123. 123.

    Elizabelle

    @SiubhanDuinne: I hope they can get it back. Somehow, it’s always hard to recreate those. You either have the spirit and creative zeal, or you don’t. Not as hard as recapturing dreams, because done with waking mind, but still.

  125. 125.

    d58826

    Sunday morning rant. As a nation and esp. TX, we deserve every misfortune that befalls us. The chemical plant is exploding/burning and spreading FSM what toxins in the air/water but FREEDOM means that the owners will not reveal what chemicals are on site.

    And the flooded Superfund sits that the EPA says it can’t get to but the media can. Lets not forget them.

  128. 128.

    opiejeanne

    @Mel: We’re just outside Seattle. I don’t think those bugs are here but we do have other interesting beetles who want to destroy certain things in our garden, like the long row of birch trees across the front of our yard.

  130. 130.

    james parente

    @HeleninEire: LOL! I’m from Long Island. These are NYC prices you quote.
    I’m looking in Mexico and the Caribbean. I can’t afford the USA anymore.
    My life has been pure shit since Sandy but there might be relief on the horizon. All I now ask is that I can live out my remaining days having some fun in my life, again.
    I would love to hear more of your experiences living in Ireland and I would love to hear the experiences of other ex-pats.

  132. 132.

    germy

    Here’s the current controversy in my house:

    Mrs. Germy brought home a bag of miracleGrow potting mix. She’s preparing for a long cold winter by preparing her house plants, spices and vegetables.

    After she filled the plant pots I noticed a tiny ball in the soil. I picked it up and popped it between my fingers and it liquified. I went online and decided these are bug eggs.

    I told her and she insists NO THEY ARE NOT EGGS they are something added to the mix for moisture. I insisted back YES they are bug eggs and I reminded her the last bag of that stuff she bought two years ago ended up full of gnats and white fungus.

    We’re at a standoff. I keep peeking at the pots to see if anything has hatched. So far no.

    So as not to irritate her further I’ve dropped the subject. If another infestation occurs we’ll dump it outside and we’ll have to find a better soil.

    I told her she should purchase sterile soil for indoor use, but she says none of the store people know what she’s talking about when she asks for it. .

  133. 133.

    opiejeanne

    @debbie: I was on the freeway in Southern California, somewhere in Orange County and traffic was brought to a halt by a massive butterfly migration that was simply amazing. I don’t know what they were, just clouds of yellow billowing across the freeway. Possibly sulphurs but largish ones. That was in the early 2000s.

  135. 135.

    chris

    @germy: You can sterilise soil in the oven. Put in cake pans and bake at 200F until thoroughly heated. Pasteurisation basically, nothing survives 185F. The good stuff dies too so you’ll need a good fertiliser afterwards.

    (As a former garden store worker I sold a lot of “miracle grow” but the experts around me privately thought it was expensive crap. The fertiliser, on the other hand , works well. Cheap sterile soil and good food is the way to go.)

  137. 137.

    M31

    @germy:

    What will Trump’s letter to his successor say?

    “WAAAAH WAAAAH jail is bigly no fun please pardon me please please you don’t have to pardon Pence, he’s a terrible cellmate. PLEASE President Pelosi I beg you you can have Jared if you want”

  138. 138.

    debbie

    @germy:

    I think the Mrs. is right this time. I never tried to pop one, but those little balls are almost always in the mix. I think you can just buy them and broadcast them over gardens.

  139. 139.

    Elizabelle

    @O. Felix Culpa: Lake Michigan is pretty much the polar opposite of your very fine current locale, no?

    Do love those dunes. Gonna go hike through them (established paths only) later today. It is perfect early fall weather here.

  142. 142.

    LaNonna

    @james parente
    We left NYC for Italy initially for Il Nonno to have experimental (successful) medical treatment here, which would have cost about $300,000 in New York, free here due to dual citizenship on my part. After a few years, including the treatment time, we decided to stay. Quality of life, low cost of living, lovely people and soft climate keep us here. Also, as Italian/French Jews, we feel safe and that our civil rights are well protected. The lack of guns a big plus, civil discourse the norm, and high expected standards of public behavior helps. Still donate to our fave US causes, worry about our country, vote early and often by paper ballots by mail, and hope to return someday to a safe and sane USA.

  143. 143.

    rikyrah

    @Laura:
    My sister is getting better. She wants to get out there, but I argue with her about taking it easy.
    Peanut started school last week. She has joined cheerleading. I don’t know what I think about that.?

  144. 144.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Elizabelle: Yup, no major bodies of water at hand (some nice plashing rivers though), but thankfully lots of other natural beauty to compensate.

  147. 147.

    germy

    Matt Damon: Donald Trump Required That He Cameo in All Movies Filmed on His Properties

    “The deal was that if you wanted to shoot in one of [Trump’s] buildings, you had to write him in a part,” Damon explained, before providing an amusing example of the rule: “[Director] Martin Brest had to write something in Scent of a Woman — and the whole crew was in on it. You have to waste an hour of your day with a bullshit shot: Donald Trump walks in and Al Pacino’s like, ‘Hello, Mr. Trump!’ — you had to call him by name — and then he exits. You waste a little time so that you can get the permit, and then you can cut the scene out.”

  149. 149.

    HeleninEire

    @james parente: I am in the city center of the capital. If you go elsewhere it is much less expensive. For example, in Carrick on Shannon, about 2 hours north west of Dublin you can rent a 1 bedroom for as little as $350 and buy one for as little as $40,000. Not sure about the job opportunities but COS is a resort town and hopping in the summer, so if you are retired and want only seasonal work, it may be an option.

  150. 150.

    james parente

    @LaNonna: Thanks for your insights, La Nonna.
    I will probably try out a location or 3 in Mexico. I am very familiar with Cozumel and Tulum.
    I have a friend who kept his boat in Ensenada and loved the town.
    I’m looking forward to learning Spanish.

  152. 152.

    satby

    @bemused: just back from work. I would put the potted cuttings that rooted in either the basement or the insulated garage where they could go dormant but not freeze. Ad give them a dash of water once a month or so just to keep the soil from completely drying out. I overwintered a potted petunia last year that way.

  154. 154.

    No One You Know

    @Alain the site fixer: @OzarkHillbilly:

    I built a pond (hand-dug!) fifteen years ago. This year the marsh marigolds grew in, and the cattails went from an attractive feature to taking over the third of the pond not already belonging tip the water lilies.
    Not sure if red-winged blackbirds will come-that would be a reason to keep them. Removing them promises to be like cutting down blackberries.

    A showdown with the yellow jackets in the back is due. We are armed and ready. All I have to do is find them…They appear to be underground. :(

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