The Midwestern shores of the Great Lakes can be lovely — although I’ve only seen them from the Michigan side. My thanks to commentor Elma, for a new vista:
I don’t have a garden of my own anymore, since I sold my farmhouse house and moved into a city apartment. But there are many gardens around here to enjoy.
The Mariners Trail runs along the west shore of Lake Michigan (The Coolest Coast according to the Visitor and Convention Bureau) between Manitowoc and Two Rivers.
The gardens along the Trail are designed and maintained by local people for the benefit of all. (The two cities also put a lot of effort into beautifying their main streets.)
I was always full of garden enthusiasm in May and June, but lost the will to weed by the middle of August. Seeing others’ neat end of summer gardens confirms my faith in humanity.
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What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
oatler
‘Midwestern shores’? Get a chance to sample the alewife?
Baud
Because of the name I assumed this trail was in Washington. Damn you, MLB.
Lapassionara
That’s a lovely garden. Thanks for sharing these photos.
Donatellonerd
truly lovely. inspirational enough for me to google to see if it was somewhere near somewhere i might visit. unfortunately google tells me: Life in Two Rivers, WI has its enjoyable moments as well as its troubling times. In the right parts of town, you can feel comfortable, safe, and part of the community. There’s a wonderful police presence to add to the feeling of safety. Plenty of shops provide comfort, but also leave room for the small town feeling.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
It must be lovely to walk along a trail bordered by such pretty flowers – and even nicer that it is maintained by volunteers. I think we need more efforts like this – I think of Lady Bird Johnson’s efforts to beautify America and wonder if we had more flowers and beautiful spaces, we would have less violence.
raven
Continue going north from Manitowoc up to Door County! Great place. Last time I was in Sheboygan we rented Harleys and spent 18 hours cruising around Wisconsin. The most dangerous thing was getting stuck behind the damn green bean trucks!
J.
So pretty! Thanks for sharing.
kalakal
That looks like a beautiful walk.
Kristine
@raven: Love Door County. The views. The night sky.
Kristine
Lovely photos. I also lose the will to weed by August.
Rose of Sharon and goldenrod getting lots of visits from bees etc, as are the Annabelle and Limelight hydrangeas in the shade garden. We’ve been getting decent rain this summer, so things are still green. You can tell the winding-down has begun, though. The sugar maples are starting to turn and it’s aster season in the parks.
delphinium
What lovely views and gardens!
Think a lot of us can relate to that. : )
Ken
The “etc” can get alarming this kind of year, as the goldenrod is full of wasps and hornets. As I understand it, they’re done killing other insects to feed to their young, and are just partying on sugar until the first frost.
WaterGirl
Lovely gardens. I especially love the ones that pooch out by the side of the road for a surprise garden.
Kristine
@Ken:
Even more alarming since I learned I’m allergic to some wasp and hornet venom and need to carry an Epi-Pen. I was stung three times last summer—the drought made the paper wasps angry—and multiple stings over a short period can trigger allergies.
I read that paper wasps are normally docile, which I believe because 34 years in this house without a single sting and then bam.
germy shoemangler
tybee
@germy shoemangler:
5′ 6″ ceilings
Elma
@raven: As soon as the green beans are all harvested, it will be trucks full of carrots. Don’t get behind one of those of you cycle!
Mousebumples
Garden tool recommendations requested!
I swear I’ve seen you all talking about this in the past, but now I’m in the market for one and figured I’d just ask the crowd.
Looking for an electric trimmer or weed whip. Would mostly use around the fences, or around stakes by newly replanted trees.
Details on brand, model, etc., are welcome.
Also, anyone know if there’s protocols for asking/informing a neighbor that we’re planning to take down a 85% dead tree? (judging by the # of branches that don’t have leaves) It’s on the lot line, but I think slightly more on my lot. I’m hoping to see him in person to ask/say something (including trying to stop by and knock on his door, if needed), but I haven’t seen him recently, so I’m not sure if he’s traveling or anything? I figure trying a few different days and times is appropriate? Do I need to send a letter if I can’t get in touch?
(I’m so out of practice talking to people with a Covid isolation protocols in my brain, haha!)
Elma
@oatler: Haven’t been many alewives in Lake Michigan for a long time. They came into the lakes after the St. Lawrence Seaway opened. The non-native salmon, introduced by the DNR, cleared up the alewives, but also ate most of the native chubs. Now we have invasive zebra mussels.
oldgold
Re : The GOZ
Living on the sparsely populated outer rim of the Hardy Twilight Zone, in a dense boreal forest, along a cobalt blue glacial lake, my home security is as loose as a long-neck goose. Hell, when I Snow-Bird south for the winter, I do not lock our home’s front door.
This lax home security comes to a screeching halt each year for a period of 4 weeks as Summer slips into Autumn. Then, my home security becomes as tight as a hungry tick on an anemic Xoloitzcuintle‘s ass.
The gate is chained shut and the front fence is electrified. The border walls my neighbors erected and paid for, Phil Anders’s 16 foot high, knotty pine wall and Neandra Tal’s 20 foot high, stone wall are each topped with 6 strands of barbed wire. The beach front is mined to prevent amphibious encroachments. Every door to the house is double bolted shut and all window curtains drawn closed. Finally, new this year, a large blinking neon sign has been installed on top of the house that warns: “The Kraken Have Been Released.”
Why, you might ask, in this sweet time of the year that Keats described as “a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,” would I take such extreme home security measures? The answer: it is when the demonic, deplorable Denizens of the Damned are running amok – The GOZ!
mrmoshpotato
@oatler:
Yumm-o! (Not really.)
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Haha, should’ve named it the Brewers trail.
oldgold
The GOZ : Givers of Zucchini- raw and/or baked.
Gin & Tonic
Sort of gardening-adjacent? Anyway, I make yogurt using my Instant Pot. Same method as always, fresh milk, some previous yogurt, boil the milk, cool it to below 110, add some yogurt, pour into mason jars, incubate for 12 hours. Sometimes, if I stop the sequence, I buy fresh yogurt and re-start. Lately, though, after a couple of generations, my yogurt is coming out smelling and tasting more cheese-like, not as tart as I expect yogurt to be. So I dumped everything, re-sterilized the jars, started over and after three “generations” I’ve got the same thing happening. Anybody have any clues?
delphinium
@Mousebumples:
I would put this in writing (and also discuss any potential issues in person), in the event something on your neighbor’s property has to be moved or gets damaged. When my neighbors took down a huge pine tree, they let me know that part of my fence had to be taken down so that they could get the equipment in to remove the tree (and eventually the stump). It may also help to talk to the tree removal company and see what they say, and relay that to your neighbor. Not sure how friendly you are with your neighbor, but if the tree is actually on the lot line, then you might see if they would be willing to pay for part of the removal as well since dead trees can become a hazard.
delphinium
@Mousebumples:
Also per the trimmer: I have a Black & Decker 20-volt trimmer/edger (Model LST420) that works really well. Is lightweight (~ 5.5 lbs), with an adjustable handle, and has 2 power settings. When I bought mine many years ago, it came with two 20-volt Li-ion batteries and the charger.
oldgold
@Mousebumples: Pray fervently that a strong wind topples the tree on your roof. Your home owner’s insurance company will pay for the trees removal and you get a brand new roof.
PBK
@Gin & Tonic: Try buying a different brand/type of yogurt and starting the process from scratch…look for Bulgarian if you can find it. White Mountain might be available in your area; it’s very good.
Mousebumples
@delphinium & @oldgold:
Thanks to both of you! My dad is actually going to help take it down (and it’s not crazy huge), so there shouldn’t be much cost. My BIL also has a stump grinding business, if it comes to that. (not sure that it’ll even be that big?)
Thanks for the suggestions! No fence on this lot line, thankfully. 😊 And it’s too far from my roof to (likely) fall on it. Upside/downside of having a larger (1/3 acre) lot…
And thanks for the trimmer suggestion too!
Tommy D
Yeah, now it looks like this. Not much later is the reason I don’t live in Michigan anymore. Or Minnesota.
WaterGirl
@Tommy D: Not sure what you are saying, exactly. Is that a reference to getting colder in the fall and winter?