Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

The words do not have to be perfect.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

This blog will pay for itself.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

You cannot shame the shameless.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Memories of DC Summers

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Memories of DC Summers

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ET - Corner lot in DC

From commentor ET:

I am in DC so land is not so plentiful for gardens. I ended up on a corner lot and I HATE cutting grass, so I had some room for pretty things.

ET - Hydrangeas

I can’t claim credit for design and planting, but I have managed to keep it going for about 10 years so there’s that.

ET - Planned to Be Glorious

My favorite is the temporary phlox carpet – I have taken to describing it as phloxy. I have had people slow down and compliment me on it which makes me happy because a bit of pretty is needed in DC.

***********
Gorgeous!

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

Reader Interactions

149Comments

  1. 1.

    scav

    On the upper left?  Promise.  The tips of the daffodils and camasia (c. leichtlinii) are up, some more than usually enthusiastic crocus and primula are blooming (as are the mass of hellebore and some snowdrops since the solstice).

    And, of course, the shotweed is doing just fine.

  3. 3.

    grammypat

    Creeping phlox is also one of my favorite perennials because it’s always beautiful when in bloom (and doesn’t require much maintenance when it’s not).

    I’ve seen entire, terraced gardens containing multiple colors of creeping phlox and they are breathtaking.

  6. 6.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Spent $4500 getting rid of trees this week  (mainly dead ash, killed by the borer infestation), could easily spend 15K more.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Beautiful. Your creeping phlox is doing better than mine is. At best, mine struggles. At worst, some critter takes offense to it’s existence, digs it up and throws it off to the side like a weed.

    I finally got my flower seeds ordered last week, should’ve gotten it done earlier because most are wildflower and they need to be sowed during winter for proper scarification. They’ll get here in plenty of time. I’ve started working on my veggie seed orders too. Baker Creek is my main source but in the past couple years they have stopped carrying some things that I really love. Amana Orange tomatoes, big beef steak type, extraordinarily beautiful, very productive, tasty as all get out, always one of my longest producers, Poof! gone. Last year for the first time I got snowcap beans. Wow. Lots of beans, very striking to look at, and again, tasty.

    Sigh. I’ll just have to make more orders from different companies.

    I also need to add a level to my grow table. Last year I was able to stagger my seed starts without any losses but it wasn’t easy. A 2nd level will alleviate a lot of that.

  9. 9.

    Ohio Mom

    When I met Ohio Dad, he was living and working in the D.C. area. I have never been anywhere with as glorious a spring. Trees and shrubs in bloom In the brightest colors. These photos bring me back.

  10. 10.

    satby

    ET, beautiful yard! Is the flowering tree a crape myrtle? I love them but haven’t had luck growing even the hardy version.

    @OzarkHillbilly: Burpee and Park’s seeds both have orange heirloom tomato seeds, check there. Seed Savers might too, but honestly I haven’t had a lot of luck with their seeds, much as I might love the concept. I’m debating throwing a bunch of sunflower seeds down on the outside border of my back fence for the birds. Assuming I can prevent the bunnies from eating all of them when they sprout.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: Oh, I’m fine. It was pretty much as I expected. Not as bad as I feared and worse than I could imagine. Mama* was OK for the moment (“It just doesn’t seem real yet.”) (but when it does become real…), so was brother and Uncle*. Grandpa* was a mess. The asshole ex was not going to show up. Not for this.

    The suicide was not a result of depression as I had assumed. According to the police report, the kid was at his father’s and they got into an argument, A bad one. The kid grabbed a gun off the table and blew his brains out.

    As one who has dealt with depression all my life, I can understand a suicide born of it. I can even accept it, tho in one so young it is hard. Suicide out of anger?

    That just pisses me off.

    ETA the * designates the folks I am close to.

  14. 14.

    JPL

    @OzarkHillbilly: Impulsive and senseless.   Apparently he wanted to cause great pain to those left behind.   What a tragedy.

    btw you are a good person, but don’t tell anyone I said that.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: That’s a red bud. In a few years I hope the one I planted in the zen garden is as glorious.

    Thanx for the tips. I have found a few sources already but more is nice. It’s stupid but I feel kinda guilty ordering only one seed from a place. Therefor, whichever place offers me several of what I want is the one I will order from.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: I have never been so insulted! You are dead to me. I will never again speak to you. Or at least not for the next 5 mins while I go and get more coffee.

  18. 18.

    Barbara

    @satby: I was going to say it looks like an ornamental cherry but now I see the hydrangea, so maybe it is crape myrtle, although crape myrtle doesn’t usually have a prominent central trunk.

  19. 19.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @satby:

    It sucks, and is beyond my ability to deal with on my own. I’ll cut up some deadfall, but every ash tree on the lot is dead, and the ones that are still standing are at least 50 feet tall, plus the bases are at least a foot wide.

    Add to that the notion that my chainsaw has a 16 inch bar, ash is super hard, and the last time I used a 24 inch saw it nearly killed me….

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Anger issues. The father was abusive, emotionally and could be violent, throwing things etc, tho as far as I know he only hit her (his wife) once.

    I have anger issues too, the source of which is abuse from a nun. The only way I have found to deal with it, to control it, is by keeping it buried very deep, never letting it out. I had to learn that the hard way and it took a long time. This kid didn’t get the chance to learn it. I only met him a few times but by all accounts he was a very sweet person.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: You can save some money by letting the pros drop them and then you clean it all up. But you already have a good idea of how much hard work that is, don’t you? My back is getting to the point where I am going to stop cutting my own wood and am just going to buy cutoffs from the local sawmills.

  29. 29.

    evodevo

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yes.  We have hundreds, if not thousands, on our farm here in KY.  You have to be careful cutting them because when they fall, the top 1/4 or 1/3 will break off and fall back toward you, the cutter.  People have been killed/injured around here that way.  We burn wood, so we can use them, but we are old, and there are too many of them for us to deal with.  Luckily, it’s a farm with no animals now, so we just watch them fall in the storms, and cut them up then….

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Slightly OT (it’s good outdoor nature news): A rewilding triumph: wolves help to reverse Yellowstone degradation

    The need for restoration was glaring. In the 70 years of the wolves’ absence, the entire Yellowstone ecosystem had fallen out of balance. Coyotes ran rampant, and the elk population exploded, overgrazing willows and aspens. Without those trees, songbirds began to decline, beavers could no longer build their dams and riverbanks started to erode. Without beaver dams and the shade from trees and other plants, water temperatures were too high for cold-water fish.
    ……………………..
    In Yellowstone, the wolves were kept in acclimation pens for several weeks to keep their homing instincts from leading them back to Canada. Shortly after the pens were opened, though, wolf No 10 headed north and crossed the border into Montana, followed by No 9, his mate, pregnant with pups. He was illegally shot by a rancher, but she and her eight pups were rescued and moved back to the safety of park boundaries. Their bloodline can be traced to most of the wolves in the park to this day.

    Scientists always knew that as the top predator, wolves were the missing piece in this ecosystem. But they were astonished at how quickly their return stimulated a transformation. The elk and deer populations started responding immediately. Within about 10 years, willows rebounded. In 20, the aspen began flourishing. Riverbanks stabilized. Songbirds returned as did beavers, eagles, foxes and badgers. “And those are just the things we have the time and funding to study,” said Smith. “There are probably myriad other effects just waiting to be discovered.”

    I have read this in other places, you probably have too, but it’s nice to read it again.

  38. 38.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Scientists always knew that as the top predator, wolves were the missing piece in this ecosystem. But they were astonished at how quickly their return stimulated a transformation.

    Maybe we need figure out how to introduce wolves into our electoral system.

  40. 40.

    ET

    That is a Red Bud in the front corner. I like the pink flowers what show up in the branches when the leaves start coming in.

    Behind it is a Viburnum which has the most delicate and delicately scented flowers for a lot less time than I would like.

    The low lying green around the Hydrangeas is actually mostly white Geranium that the local bees Love.

  42. 42.

    Gvg

    @OzarkHillbilly: google says edenbrothers seeds and totallytomatos has the Amana orange tomato as well as a few others. I have ordered snapdragons from eden brothers and like them. Totally tomatos has a good reputation. I noticed they gave different stories on the name though so you may want to read carefully to be sure it’s the same tomato.

    i bought my own house about a year ago and spent the year getting it set up like I wanted. This spring I am letting my gardener out finally after several years of not doing much because we were going to move soon. Buying seeds and starting trays and trays of everything I love. It also been a very odd warm winter even for Florida. I hate cold but I am kind of worried about how things will go without the normal natural cold. Discovered Burpee seeds are so expensive in the catalog but have a much more competitive price in stores and even some of the interesting plant seeds are in Home Depot, Lowe’s and Target. I am contemplating entering Walmart to see what they have.

  43. 43.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m shortly heading to Florida to visit in-laws for a few days. I don’t expect to be online much while I’m there. I’ll miss you all! OTOH, I’ll also miss the R “defense” so maybe it evens out.

  44. 44.

    germy

    Is it normal to have a rainstorm in January in NY?

    I’m trying to think back to my childhood (or even early adulthood) and I’m pretty sure the only precipitation I remember during winter is snow and sometimes sleet.

    Am I wrong, though?  Rain in NY in January instead of snow?  Maybe I just don’t remember?

  45. 45.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’m still trying to learn spring flowering trees. Do you know it’s a red bud because the flowers bloom directly on the branches? There are a lot of them around here, and they are beautiful.

  51. 51.

    zhena gogolia

    I’m in moderation for embedding a tweet.

    Go to Asha Rangappa’s twitter and watch the clip of Rick Wilson making Don Lemon crack up.

  53. 53.

    Nelle

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ve read it before and seen before and after photos and I never tire of reading it again.

    We’ve got a fairly barren, suburban yard with a mesh fence around (we moved in last April).  I’m hoping to get frugal  (as in tight) husband to go along with getting a lot of bushes in on the inside of the fence for better bird habitat but it will require hiring help.  We have one small tree and, with bird feeders and a de-icer in the bird bath, we’ve drawn in a lot of sparrows, finches, chickadees, and juncos.  There were over 30 in the tree on Friday, to the immense delight of my granddaughters.

    Off topic, I slept all night.  I woke up relaxed and only with minor pains.  What a wonder!

  54. 54.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning. ?

    Also, happy birthday to me. ?  Gonna get ready in a little bit to go out with a friend for an early movie (Weathering with You) and lunch, location to be determined. No Trump, no politics for a little while.

    The last year was, if not an annus horribilis, a bit of a hard slog on the personal level, and I’m hoping for better in 2020. Hopefully crowned by the removal of the mad king in November.

  63. 63.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: Not to be flippant but I know it’s a redbud because I know what redbuds look like (they grow wild everywhere here). Thinking about it (I know, hard to believe I am capable of such a thing) I suppose it is mostly because of their growth habit, a strong center trunk with a spreading crown, the shape of which is determined by it’s surroundings and rarely more than 15′ or so in ht. The color of the blossoms is not quite a dead give away but is pretty indicative. The leaves, which don’t really grow until the tree is finished blooming, are distinctively heart shaped. The bark is also fairly unique, such that I can pick them out in the dead of winter, but I am not equipped with the words to describe it.

  64. 64.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Baud:

    Bet she can find it on a map!

    Thanks, all! Birthday shared with Paul Newman, Wayne Gretzky, Ellen DeGeneres and the country of Australia.

    Tactical gear (pants!) will be deployed today.

    That’s based on an efgoldmanism, by the way. In a discussion of retired gentlemen’s loungewear he said something like: “Pants—they’re a lot of trouble. You have to put ’em on, you have to take ’em off. Why bother?” But he did agree that they can be useful for certain occasions, like going out in public.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Not to be flippant but I know it’s a redbud because I know what redbuds look like

    That’s why I asked because I knew you’d know. Thanks, I’ll look for them this spring.

  67. 67.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Nelle: I love our small winter birds, the juncos, nuthatches, titmice, and chickadees. Always so busy and happily chirping away at our feeders.

  69. 69.

    dimmsdale

    @ET: What a beautiful house and plantings! It occurs to me to mention (you might already have one, I don’t know) the Washington Star Garden Book. My mom gardened for years in the Maryland suburbs and in Richmond, and swore by that book above all others, because it’s specially focused on the particular weather around DC (and the particular soil types that only the mid-Atlantic states have). The family house in Silver Spring was in the same neighborhood as the columnist who originally wrote the book, so my mom knew HE knew what he was about. The book is OP (as is the newspaper) but there are plenty of them out there. Great pictures, thanks for posting!

  71. 71.

    frosty

    @debbie:

    Beautiful! When I die, I want to go to Eternally Always Spring.

    Me too. I moved to Southern California to go to college and stayed another five years. Homesickness for Spring was a big reason I moved back to Maryland.

  73. 73.

    WaterGirl

    @satby: That actually makes me feel better, because I have wanted a crepe myrtle since I was in NC over a decade ago, but they don’t grow here.

    I didn’t know there was such a thing as a hardy crepe myrtle.  I am always jealous when I see Raven’s.

    I do have a redbud, though!

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: Some ranchers, yes, but not all. From what I’ve read the real problem are hunters who see wolves as stealing “my elk”.

  86. 86.

    MomSense

    @OzarkHillbilly:  Sending you a big hug. So many layers of pain in that situation.  I hope you will be gentle with yourself.

    ET, your garden is so lovely – like a jewel box.   I miss visiting DC for the spring awakening.  The colors are amazing.

    Still have this stupid cold.  Planning another quiet day before I have to tough out next week.

  91. 91.

    Nelle

    @OzarkHillbilly: Another quiet thrill is  watching the 11 month old know what I’m talking about.  I said, “Oh, the birds are back in the tree” and she immediately turned to the window and smiled. There’s one nest in the tree and both girls (the other is 2 1/2) know what a nest is.  One of the older one’s favorite youtubes is common birds in your backyard.  We talk about eye and beak color,  wing patches, etc.   This spring, we’ll set up a nature table for rocks, twigs, whatever they want to collect.

  94. 94.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Nelle: My newest granddaughter (4 mos.) is now reacting to the world around her, as opposed to just absorbing it. So much joy.

  95. 95.

    chris

    Pouring rain here in Nova Scotia on the 26th of January. PERFECTLY NORMAL!

    Birds? I had birds, fed them all for years. The feeders are full and there are no birds now. Haven’t been any for over two months now and I have no idea what happened.

    Trees? Lots of those here and I do cut the odd one down but I’d never try that near a house or power line or in a town/city yard. Watch these guys and you’ll see why it’s so expensive. You’re paying for skill, machinery and, though he never mentions it, astronomical insurance premiums. These guys are pros but youtube has lots of, um, non-pros and the results are sadly predictable.

  96. 96.

    Nelle

    @Immanentize: What is it with this virus?  I’ve thought I’ve shaken it three or four times, as has my husband.  Of course, he isn’t helped by shoveling snow seven times in the last ten days (at least an hour at a time) and sometimes in subzero temps).

    Confession..last night’s sleep was brought to me by a combination of one of the green capsules (night cold med) and tussionex (codeine) which I had to fight to get.  Used to get it over the counter and now merely asking for what I know will work puts a huge asterisk by my name.

    Share any remedies that you know.  My sister insists on boiling down cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, allspice, cardamom, then adding fresh ginger and lemon.  I may skid out on the ice to go get some of the ingredients later today.

  99. 99.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Thanks again, everybody. About to shove off. Tac gear securely in place. Back this afternoon.

  102. 102.

    frosty

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Yes, you do have spring in SoCal. I noticed it my last couple of years by the smell of the bean fields when I was driving to work (probably subdivisions now). It’s just that it was so short! A brief period of green on the hills between the winter rains and the summer sun turning them brown.

  103. 103.

    MomSense

    @chris:

    We had the downpour last night.  No birds here, either.  Last summer freaked me out because I’d wake up in the middle of the night to silence.  It used to be that if you woke up in the middle of the night you couldn’t believe you were able to sleep through the racket all the birds were making.

  105. 105.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby: I’ve had disappointing outcomes with SeedSavers seeds as well. Which was disappointing, because – like you – I like the concept.

    I get most of my seeds from Baker Creek. Do you (or anyone else) have other favorite sources?

  107. 107.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @OzarkHillbilly: And then there’s the issue of having a gun at hand, which made acting on the anger impulse deadly. I’m so thankful we did not have guns in the house when my sons were that age. The worst acting out I had to deal with was a thrown (full and open) can of 7-Up in the house. Messy, but no physical harm done.

  108. 108.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @stinger: No, it’s not. I like things nice and simple. Having to order from 7 different seed suppliers means 7 different websites, 7 different passwords, 7 different ways of damned near everything. It would be so much nicer to go to one place and get everything I want, the same way every time.

    A man can dream, can’t he?

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: My oldest granddaughter crawled for about a week, walked for maybe 2 days and was off to the races after that.

  112. 112.

    debbie

    @Nelle:

    I’ve gotten past the cold after 13 weeks. I can vouch for ginger tea, but I backed it up with Mucinex and Delsym. I think not letting the inside gunk settle in makes a difference.

  113. 113.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @O. Felix Culpa: In addition to Baker Creek I use Renee’s, because of the French Emerite pole beans and the French Gold pole filet beans. BIG producers of very flavorful fresh beans. I always have plenty for canning/freezing. I get other things there too, like the Romanesco zucchini, which is by far the best zuke I have ever eaten, not at all watery like the usual zuke, but most of them are sold by Baker Creek as well.

    Like I said, I feel guilty only ordering 1 or 2 things. If they are going to be my source of those beans I should support their business.

  115. 115.

    Suzanne

    So I started my new job on Monday. Was in Cleveland for onboarding for five days, and came home on Friday night. I was absolutely nonstop for the entire trip. Packing and cleaning at home continues apace. Hoping to sell AZ house soon.

    I am still not fully adjusted back to PHX time. I got really tired at about 9 pm last night, and I woke up at 5:30 this morning (with a baby wakeup in the middle there). So I got up and cleaned the kitchen (a big job), and took Luna for a sunrise walk, got the mail, had some Irish coffee, and watched the birds. We have a pond and a little natural canal nearby, so we get some oddly awesome waterfowl. I always forget how much I like the world in the early morning hours. It’s hard, because I also like to sleep late. And I like to stay up late, too. It’s really the bright and shiny middle of the day that I can do without.

  116. 116.

    chris

    @MomSense: It’s very odd. One of my neighbours has birds at his feeder but he doesn’t think it weird that there are no chickadees. Just the most common, half-tame visitors are… gone. I had them in numbers but also finches, nuthatches, woodpeckers and blue jays. All gone now and the deep woods are quiet too. I don’t know what to think.

  117. 117.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @O. Felix Culpa: Yep, I’ve always kept mine put up and away at all times, unloaded and locked when there are children around.

    Was dropping off the boys at their mother’s once when they were app 8 & 10. Walked in to talk to her about something. There;s a loaded 9mm on the kitchen table. I grabbed it, removed the mag and emptied the chamber saying,”WTF is this?”

    “Oh yeah, I forgot to put it away.”

    Which really pissed me off because #1 I knew she was lying about putting it away (these rednecks out here just don’t get it) and #2 forgetting about it is something one just doesn’t do with a gun. It’s like forgetting it was loaded, or that it is in your purse, or where you are pointing it, or ad nauseum.

  118. 118.

    laura

    We had the annual breakfast party yesterday- spouse squeezed 2 laundry baskets full of oranges from our tree. The rain held off and the day was mild and sunny so the house and backyard were full of friends and friends of friends but the lawn took a savage beatdown. Everyone took a sack of oranges home but the tree barely looks picked. So spouse is going to throw a bag of grass seed down and plan to call the harvest food bank to send out the crew to pick the rest and donate them to the food bank. I’ll be working the ham bone into a pot of beans and call it a weekend.

  119. 119.

    WaterGirl

    @Catherine D.:

    I love redbuds in the rain. The bark goes black, and the flowers really pop.

    I have never noticed that, and I have redbuds!  I will watch for that in the spring.   thank you!

  121. 121.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oooh, thank you for the Renee’s link. Like you, I try to support good seed businesses, but Baker Creek didn’t have some of my favorites this year either.

  122. 122.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL:  I have not tried it, but I obviously saved it!

    My issue was more that I actually needed to cough, to get rid of the crud, and not a cough suppressant.  So I didn’t think that was the right thing for what I needed at the time.

  123. 123.

    WaterGirl

    @Suzanne: Isn’t it funny how when we are about to leave a place, we suddenly start appreciating the beauty of our surroundings, which we somehow manage to successfully ignore, or at least take for granted, most of the time.

    That’s true for me, at least.

  125. 125.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WaterGirl: Finding an expectorant without the suppressant is all but impossible around here. I keep thinking somebody somewhere has to sell it but I got over my 6 wk cold before I found one.

  132. 132.

    artem1s

    https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

    this visualization map is pretty cool.  But I wonder how updated their data is though.  Given the amount of commerce China is conducting in Central America and Africa, I’m surprised there are zero reported cases there.  The state of medical care in those areas are going to problematic given the long incubation rate. China isn’t where we need to worry about cover up or lack of reporting.

  133. 133.

    J R in WV

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I’ll cut up some deadfall, but every ash tree on the lot is dead, and the ones that are still standing are at least 50 feet tall, plus the bases are at least a foot wide.

    The Emerald Ash Borer has devastated eastern forests and woodlands. We have a friend who manages his woodlot for timber, and has a small ancient sawmill. He has dropped several hundred ash trees and has them up off the ground.

    We only dealt with the few ash trees within impact distance of our house, by hiring that friend and his buddy, who is a professional tree cutter. They used a pulley and a hand winch to force the trees to fall away from the house. I had wanted to use the trunks, ash is a great wood for everything you can use wood for, but that is when my shoulders gave it up. So they just laid there.

    We have hickory hardwood floors, mostly, with a walnut border. But there are two boards that turned out to be oak, and one that was ash, from the lumber company. You couldn’t tell because hickory is  so very different from board to board until we were sanding and finishing.

    An ash floor would be a thing of beauty, or a set of kitchen cabinets, but of course now that tree is effectively extinct. Like chestnut.

    Very sad.

     

    ETA:  Today’s garden pictures are wonderful. Thanks for that!!

  134. 134.

    dnfree

    @OzarkHillbilly: so sorry to hear about this tragedy.
    Your description of burying your anger reminds me of a couple of close relatives who had combustible tempers when young. Sometime in their teens, they learned a method of control that sounds similar to yours. Someone meeting them now would never think of them as having a temper at all. It’s very difficult to get a rise out of them, even when something should make them angry.

  136. 136.

    J R in WV

    @Suzanne:

    So I started my new job on Monday. Was in Cleveland for onboarding for five days, and came home on Friday night.

     

    Congratulations! We hope it works out well for you, it’s a big move, 2,000+ miles across the country and into a new company culture. Best of luck with humidity and all that!

  138. 138.

    ziggy

    @chris:

    That’s interesting, I’ve noticed a lot fewer birds here also. I assumed it was because we had a family of sharp-shinned hawks living in the trees on our lot, and that they cleaned out all the smaller birds. But there is also a lot less noise from ducks and geese at night.

  141. 141.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @J R in WV:

    You couldn’t tell because hickory is so very different from board to board until we were sanding and finishing.

    So very true, I love hickory.

    And yes, sad that the ash is all but gone. Maybe with GMO they can breed a borer resistant type.

  142. 142.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @dnfree: I wish I could say I was that good, but I’m not. I get frustrated with things, like computers, and I have to let off steam. I’m not as bad as I was in highschool, way better, but still there are times. With people tho I am able to contain it. It isn’t even hard for me to do so. It don’t mean a thing.

  144. 144.

    dnfree

    @OzarkHillbilly: this thread is probably long dead, but yes, I would say the same is true of my relatives. They can get frustrated or aggravated, especially with things, but they don’t show or apparently even seem to feel anger with people. It’s remarkable to me. You have my respect for learning to handle this.

  146. 146.

    GregMulka

    We have three bee nucs coming on the 28th of March. The spouse and I just determined where we’re setting up the hives. We planted four dwarf apple and four dwarf cherry trees this past fall in a circle in our front yard. We also planted a Saucer Magnolia in the driveway island and planted about fifty various bulbs in said island. We’re in the process of making concrete raised bed boxes using this guy’s plans.

    February always has seed day for the spouse. That’s her visit to the Missouri Botanical Garden shop. It’s her favorite day of winter.

    We’ve been hacking out bush honeysuckle since August but I have to wait for cold days because it’s laced with poison ivy and I have to suit up in full body cover.

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