You Grow Girl™

Yo!~

::peeks out from Life in Upheaval::

Glad you're all still there, as my personal ghods thought that the last few months of my life should be more interesting than I'd like. The gardens and I have survived and my botanical brain cells are back in full gear.

Over the Winter, like any good gardener, plans for the garden seethed in my mind. High time to put up a "take your dog elsewhere" fence around the parkways, time to admit that the choke-cherry tree needs a significant amount of pruning and enough with the phlox , already. Too much time, maybe, because I woke up one day thinking about how cool it would be to drill holes in the two comical plastic heads we have as yard ornaments and use them as fountains in a pond and the swimming pool.

The techie stuff went smoothly and on a glorious warm Spring day the small pond in the front of the yard began spewing. Just in time for the last snowstorm of the season, which was gone in a matter of days.
The tulips made up for lost time and I don't know who appreciates the fountain head (sorry) most, the kids walking home from school or the drunks leaving the pub.

The parkway outdid itself. Tulips racing to bloom before the columbine got too tall, white-edged hostas showing off their stuff before the lilac got all the attention.
Not to be out-done, the redbud and cotoneaster in the rear of the yard went nuts. We've gotta get that parkway fence up, though, as half of the poor juniper was lost to leg-lifting canines and a couple of (insert favorite evil adjective) dog owners let their pets dig about, sending mulch and plant bits flying. Pepper seems to keep the majority of dogs away, as most of them seem to have watched Cool Hand Luke with their owners at some point.

Speaking of fauna.

The mystery Pond Marauder was found early in Spring! A sizeable racoon was found feet-up on a second story porch. Not to offend the racoon lovers in the crowd, but there was a small group of pond owners doing a happy dance as the remains were being shoveled up. For once, the goldfish didn't scream and hide when I moved them from their Winter quarters in the big fishtank to the ponds. At least the racoon had a well-fed three years under his belt.

Aside from my own dementia about the head ornaments, there's a cardinal in the 'hood whose behavior is more than odd. I know that birds sometimes see their reflection in a window and get territorial about it, but I think this bird has larger issues.
After singing his usual "wake up, everyone, it's a lovely day in my territory" song in the choke cherry tree , it rushes over to a window in the house next door and pecks away like mad, then jumps and flaps its' wings against the glass.

Thinking this was odd behavior, I mentioned it to one of the neighbors across the street. Mike tells me that the same bird (it has to be the same bird, or we have a serious genetics problem in our avian community) was also doing that at a window next door to him. The Frat Boys who are renting that apartment thought they'd scare the bird away by putting a picture of a human in the window, but the bird, apparently, likes Playboy center folds.

The Peruvian lilies are a foot high, the bridal-wreath bush about to explode into bloom and we're hoping the birds don't get all the plums again. The veggies are half in and it's nearly warm enough to plant the bush beans . We've registered for the Second Bucktown Garden Walk, June 21 & 22, competing in 5 out of the 7 catagories....it looks to be a botanically busy Summer!

--Karen--