The joy of waking to see sunlight streaming in after the soggy weather we’ve had of late!
Glancing outside, I noted significant cloud banks surrounding us and I wondered, were they coming or going?
But pretty soon the wind chimes indicated a healthy breeze and as I watched, I could see that the clouds were retreating to the south.
A new landscape. Most of the bushes and trees are now in leaf although there are a few holding back.
Water droplets on a plant I am yet to identify.
Perhaps field sage wort? It’s pretty.
After a morning acupuncture appointment, we took an early lunch, encouraged by the cats who queued in the kitchen expectantly and, inspired by the sunny but cool day, I took myself into the garden.
There isn’t a great deal I can do, physically, but I thought I should tidy the bed at the end of the driveway, for appearance sake, at least! I had spotted a very invasive weed sending out its tendrils and one has to get on top of these things. Right? That’s a laugh. The wretched thing grows in every direction, wrapping itself around anything in its path and the roots are equally long.
And just to make me feel bad about what I was attempting, the thing has already managed to flower. The blooms are actually quite pretty and it goes against my nature to destroy something that is attractive.
Not my photograph, but there it is, Crown vetch.
It could have a flower bed to itself, but other things are planted there. Such as Yucca which I think may one day finish me off.
It grows and multiplies many fold, each season.
Back when we still had snow and food was short, I saw that deer had been feasting off the yucca, that has green leaves long enough to poke through deep snow.
Consequently, some of the plants now look decidedly tatty, particularly the one at the end of the drive.
.
You see what I mean. Tatty.
But now life has returned to the surrounding plants, including the wretched vetch. Time to tidy up.
Not only did the little pink flower make me feel bad, but as I was pulling up roots I disturbed a big earthworm and I asked myself again “what are you doing anyway?”
There is always some creature that will be upset, but the old yucca, I soon realized was rotting and the new shoots needed room to expand.
So up it must come….
….Don’t do battle with yucca plants!…
.
Unless you are young and healthy, don’t plant them in your garden. They will take over.
They produce gorgeous flowers, for a short time, in the summer (July) and then they are gone.
Last year I saw that for each plant there must have been 20 or more new plants. It’s an ever-expanding plant, like the Universe.
Fine, if that’s all you want. I daresay there are a number of uses for the fibrous plant and the tough stalks that remain when the flowers are gone.
But I didn’t fancy it coming through my front door, so I removed most of the off shoots (baby killer!) and did my best to thin out the parent plant.
It does not surrender easily. I made a note to keep an eye out for any new shoots and to remove them promptly.
But I hadn’t counted on having to deal with an entirely rotting plant today. Being dead didn’t take too much fight out of it.
So I grovelled around at ground level for about an hour, filling the wheelbarrow to the brim.
Then I stood up.
GROAN.
The wheelbarrow got parked by the garage and I staggered in to stand under the shower.
From somewhere out there on a cloud, I can hear my mother laughing. She always had gardens with plants that were a lot of work. I just want a pretty little flower garden, that needs a tiny bit of weeding maybe twice a year. However it seems I have picked the wrong spot.
When I looked up invasive plants of NY State, to see what I was dealing with?
It turns out that I have more invasive species than plants I’ve actually invited.
A wild garden is definitely the thing…
Wild garden – good idea!