Sunday, May 27, 2007

Let it rain, down on meeeeee.....

We were promised some thunderstorms this afternoon...

Storm a comin
...and when the wind picked up, the silver maple across the way started showing off its silver.
Running from the rain
The girls were nervous and at one point everyone ran for the front door.
We got a few sprinkles, but it didn't amount to anything.
But we are supposed to get a good drenching sometime in the wee hours.
We could use a good rain. The ground is cracking in places, but you know the only thing really suffering? The grass.
All the native plants are fine, maybe just a bit limp around the edges. But the grass is suffering. Why? Because it is a greedy, non-native. If I can, I will go out tomorrow and get a picture of how nasty the grass looks next to my nice native plants.
volunteer scarlet oak
This volunteer is a scarlet oak, I think.
A free plant!
We found it growing under a picnic table that had been forgotten in the honeysuckle forest (the table was left by the previous owners) and when I finally dug the table out, I sheared off the top of the oak even though I was trying to be careful.
I thought the poor thing was a goner, but over the last month, it has come back. Now that I can get to it, I am going to transplant it over to the prairie and as it grows, it will add another dimension, shade and habitat to the tall grasses and natives. We will have a nice mini-ecosystem, and if I can sweet-talk Geoff, we will also have a pond nearby. Man, we will have so many critters!
black moth-butterfly
Someone tell me what this is.
It was on the spiraea. Isn't it a cute little thing?
Isabelle and daisies
Free plants get me all warm and fuzzy. These daisies were saved from the mower (thankfully they were starting to bloom the last time I mowed!) and they are also filling spaces between some of our pines.
Oh! Here you can see some of the grass getting crunchy. Around the trees, as they suck up the water they need, the grass is drying up. Oh, well. Like I have said before, I would be happy if all the grass died. Well, maybe leave a bit for the girls to do somersaults on.
Dees are for you, Mommy
"Dees are fo you, Mommy."
Mini pond
My project for the day:
While I work on Geoff about building a real pond, I thought I would do a tiny little water source in the back yard. This is my hummingbird/butterfly garden, in its second year. There's lobelia, bee balm, bleeding hearts (which seem to have disappeared) and a new wild strawberry and also a pink beard-tongue.
I got a plastic green bowl planter and dug a hole for it, put it in and surrounded it will old carpet (that was going to be thrown out at RAPTOR...and I thought, "Hmmm...I can use that!") for weed barrier. Tomorrow, I will surround it with rocks (we have lots of large rocks that we keep digging out of flower beds and around the house and we also have some smaller marble pieces in the front of the house I can borrow from) and cover up the carpet. I will put a big stone in the water as a perching area for birds and maybe find a tiny little water plant to sink in there.
Oh, and I need to mulch around the flowers.
(I also have a left-over bag of mulch!)
So this little improvement cost all of $10.

7 comments:

LostRoses said...

I hope you got your rain, Susan, there's nothing better than hearing that sound on the roof! I like your little watering station, that's a great, economical idea. And the birds will love you for it (like they don't already)!

Anonymous said...

Oh that silver tree is beeeeeautiful. I wanted to fly to it like a wanton fairy queen when I saw it.
I recently saw old tea cups and saucers (cup glued to the saucer) mounted on wooden spikes. The cups were filled with fresh water daily and either seed or fruit put on the saucer.
It gives new meaning to having tea with the birds.
Megan from Down Under

Anonymous said...

WIthout a doubt that you need some rain! You lawn looks very thirsty!! But, why can't it rain during the week and be nice for the holiday? Guess I shouldn't be too picky!

NatureWoman said...

Wow, I hope it rained in the wee hours for you Susan! The ground is very dry and hard here, but the grass is still green. "Dees are fo you, Mommy" is so sweet, what a cutie!

Mary said...

"Dees are for you, Mommy", awwwww. That's a special memory.

I just love the feel of soft, green, grass under my bare feet. LOL! Sorry, I had to say it.

Your yard must be a magnet for life, Susan. Your water feature will serve well until Geoff decides to take the plunge and build a pond. The deepest end of my pond is 36 inches - safe from everything except stinkers.

Unknown said...

Nice little water feature, Susan! I love it. And, I'm so glad to hear you say you are going to mulch. That was going to be my comment! MULCH THAT GARDEN!!! :)

Glad your natives are doing so well. You rock!

Julie Zickefoose said...

Brown and fuzzy: southern cloudywing
someone tell me what this is: common roadside skipper (which is by no means common!) Kudos!
I think the other mystery one is a question mark. Its wings aren't deeply cut enough for a comma. Question marks are so much more elegant than commas, in my opinion.
Ragged: red admiral
yellow/greenlittle guy: clouded sulfur
orange and brown wings might be a least skipperling.
Off the top of my head...too lazy to hit the books but I think they're mostly correct. Love these mystery bug blogs! but I'm staying clear of the moths.