I Don't See Any

While weeding the south side bed by the arbor, I looked at the underside of the leaves on the milkweed plants which had sprouted in that area.

There is a very small white dot on the underside of this leaf. I got excited. This could be an elusive monarch caterpillar egg. I have seen plenty of butterflies but no caterpillars. I know the eggs are hard to find so I left this and dashed inside to google it. It seemed like a winner. I was so excited. First a caterpillar. Then a chrysalis.

The milkweed is blooming in the southeast corner of the front yard.

Every year, a few more plants show up. It's overgrown, and, living in suburbia, yards which are not golf course perfect, can be flagged for code violations. But everyone seems to understand this is monarch territory. They can pull their milkweeds, run them over with a lawn mower. Mine are there for this endangered butterfly.

So far, no sign of a caterpillar, anywhere. The small white dot has vanished. Bees are circling the flowers, but if there are any caterpillars, they are where I can't see them. I'm disappointed, to be sure, but I'll nurture these plants and hope I see something over the summer.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

It's Deck Time, Part 2

The next step was to wash the birdbath. Oh was that nasty. I took it into the house and scrubbed with dish soap and a stiff brush. Thankfully, it didn't smell. It was just red and weird. It's really important to thoroughly rinse the bath after scrubbing like this because who wants to ingest soap.

That made me feel so much better. The birds haven't been using the bath so I'm hopeful cleaning it out will make them return.

I turned my attention to the southwest corner of the deck.

Perhaps the spring weather encouraged growth. I can't have all this greenery in front of the air conditioning unit. That makes the motor run harder. Here, too, the daylilies at the upper right corner of the photo, were encroaching everywhere. But it's not just them. I don't know what all the plants are which took over the space. I just know they needed to be removed.

This was a 40 minute bit of work. I should probably pull daylilies from the side of the unit, too; move them back a foot. What this area now needs is for me to get mulch and lay landscaping fabric in front of the unit. There is old fabric buried in this area. Daylilies reproduce by roots so they simply burrowed under the fabric and spread. A spray of weed killer, then fabric, and top that with mulch will keep the area clear. It's overgrown to the right, but that's a project for another day.

I have, in past years, put datura in the pot, but the last two daturas I bought didn't do very well. This year, I'm trying nicotiana; tobacco plant. The colors are dark purple and chartreuse. I usually add alyssum to this pot, to surround the datura, but I think I'll forgo the alyssum here this year. I need to get a bag of washed stones and dig out the ground under the pot so it stands more flat.

After finishing this, because I had to trim to the ground, some small trees, I trimmed back some trees around the compost pile. What you can't see is, to the right, a mound of plant life which I'm going to bag up and put out for recycling. I thought about adding everything except the tree trimmings to the compost pile, but daylilies love compost and, since I can't, currently, find the top to the compost receptacle, I knew stuff wouldn't compost. Instead, I'd have a pile taken over by daylilies. I think the top is in amongst stuff near the composter. If I find the top, I can drop all this greenery into the bin and have good compost for the yard.

I was getting tired and although the day was wonderful, I knew I needed to not push myself and to take a break. But there was a bit more I wanted to do.

Beverage:  Earl Grey Tea

Deb

Thank You, Mom.

I like plants indoors. I bring in my geraniums to overwinter. I have a zebra plant which I've had since my dad died in 1991. In my office, I have an aloe vera my sister gave me back in 2002 and a geranium I bought which I really didn't need on the deck. I might take that one home this spring. I'm not sure.

I also have an ancient spider plant. You know these; chlorophytum comosum. They have spindly leaves from a central hub and prefer to be pot bound. Eventually, they send out long branches on which is a small spider plant. This plant can be potted and grown. They also produce small white flowers.

The cats love to chew on it. In fact, this spring, when it's warm enough, I'm repotting this particular one into a smaller pot because the cats have chewed off one whole side. I have no idea how long I've had this plant, but it keeps going and going, enduring the chewing of its leaves. Hamlet is the worst.

Now cats eat grass. This is a known fact. It aids in digestion and a cat with an upset stomach will gravitate to grass as a means to sooth the tummy. That they turn around a couple hours later and regurgitate said grass onto the middle of the hallway floor is no matter. The tummy ache is gone. There are all sorts of grass products you can buy for this particular issue. The problem with additives to food is that I think there's a tactile pleasure derived from the chewing of grass and the leaves of my spider plant. Just providing "Greenies", for instance, a treat with grass in it, isn't going to solve the chew problem.

When I go get cat food, I have taken to buying a small container of oat grass. I got one over the weekend. Hamlet was beside himself.

I unpacked it from the bag, wiggled it in his face and set it on the desk. He promptly jumped up and knocked it off, jumping down to chew. So I moved it to my office chair.

He was overjoyed. He goes looking for this, although he still chews on the spider plant. He knows he's not supposed to chew the spider plant and I yell, "NO!" when he jumps up to chew, but that doesn't stop him. I still come home to leaves on the floor. I don't really have a place to put the spider plant where he wouldn't be able to get it, to let it recover. I do think repotting into a smaller container will help because the larger container is just too big for most "Hamlet-proof" spaces.

Mija used to chew but she's given up on that, at least I think she has. She used to do her chewing when she thought I didn't see. She'd jump up on the window sill and sneak in from the back side. After catching her a few times, she quit. I really do think Mija and Pilchard love to see Hamlet get yelled at. Mercifully, unlike other cats I've had who eat grass, he doesn't throw this stuff up

This batch will last until the middle of next week, when it will be brown and dried. I water it every day and keep it in indirect sunlight, but there is a finite amount of grass which can be produced. Somewhere, I have a container with oat seeds, which just needs water. I should find that and see if it will grow. The cost is minimal for one of these, but I don't have to go back to the store for food until the end of the month and I'd rather use the $5.99 for other things, like breakfast at Panera.

Beverage:  Water

Deb