Delight and Destruction

First Morning Glory from Boulder Seeds
(there's a bee inside)

It was absolutely beautiful today. Not too hot and no humidity. Plus, my first Boulder Morning Glory bloomed. A perfect day to pick up branches and take pictures of yesterday's damage:

Three fallen trees. The furthest one is the largest.

Chili under the largest fallen tree.

The water came up to the far end of the canoe.
The "Fairy Castle" stone fireplace is on the left side of the picture.

These strange 1/4" diameter spores or mushrooms coated the trail.

Aftermath

Our power was out all day. That meant no radio, no TV, no lights and no Internet. It's like we were Amish for a day.

I'll go out tomorrow and try to take photos of the trees that fell in our forest and post them. Until then, here's a little recap of what Hurricane Irene did to our neighborhood and our garden:

The Fairy Castle in drier days

• The pond rose about 50 feet up the shore to the edge of an old stone fireplace that neighbor girls once named the Fairy Castle.
• The canoe righted itself and filled with water and fortunately didn't sunk.
• The blueberry bushes that fed the birds and deer so abundantly this summer were under a foot of water .
• The mulch trail to the pond was coated with an array of spores and mushrooms.
• The dead tree behind our house that we've been getting estimates for removing didn't fall. (Whew!) 
• Two trees fell down crisscrossing each other across the trail -- one with its roots sticking up.
• Two more trees fell into other trees and were resting in the crook of their branches.
• At dinner time our neighbor came by to tell us of yet another tree that he heard fall, roots and all -- it was enormous.
• There are hundreds of broken branches strewn everywhere. You could hear chain saws working away all around the neighborhood.
• The bridge across the pond was flooded so all traffic was detoured down our little street and turned it into a major thoroughfare. 
• The front lawns of several houses near the bridge were under water. 
• Raspberries were blown off the bushes and were being eaten by tiny slugs and other bugs.
• Half of the remaining raspberries were water-logged, soggy and tasteless -- yellow jackets and horseflies were gobbling them up. When I shook the bushes to shoo them away so I could pick, they didn't budge. The must have thought it was still storming.
• The cage of volunteer Roma tomatoes toppled over and a dozen green ovals were scattered across the ground.

Last night, while we were preparing for the storm and a possible blackout, we decided to defrost and bake the two remaining raspberry turnovers I blogged and raved about in July. They were just as heavenly as the first time -- and this time I remembered to take a picture. Irene wasn't all bad.

Raspberry Turnovers -- YUM!

Morning Glory Musings

Boulder Morning Glories
in Boulder

I started feeling nostalgic about the magnificent Morning Glories that grew up the South wall of our house around this time every summer. They are the only flowers that seemed to thrive better in the hot, dry Colorado sun compared to New Jersey's humid rich soil.

I planted two kinds of Morning Glories along the picket fence around my small herb and veggie patch. One was from a packet that the previous owner left in the garden shed. The other was the remainder from a seed packet I brought with me from Colorado.

New Jersey Morning Glories
in New Jersey

Boulder Morning Glories
in New Jersey

The New Jersey variety have taken over their half of the picket fence with extra large fuzzy leaves and smallish flowers that shrivel up before noon -- even on cloudy days.

Here, my Boulder Beauties are frail, insipid vines that can't even make it up the picket fence, much less produce a flower. I blame it on the fabulous New Jersey soil. In Boulder, my Morning Glories emerged from unamended soil in a crack between sandstone pavers and the concrete base of the house. The seed instructions said not to fertilize them so the soil was always poor.

So far, I'm pleased to report that I've handled the transition to New Jersey better than my Morning Glories have.

Dog Days

This is the time of year when I would disconnect completely from working in my Boulder garden. The Purple Cone Flowers (Echinacea), Black Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia) and Daisies (Argyrathemum Frutescens)* would be getting leggy but still showing some flowers. The weeds would have been fairly contained. It would have been nearly impossible to pull the weeds up from the clay soil that had baked rock hard by now. The Morning Glories (Convolvulus) that grew up lattice on the South side of the house would be in full glory. Wormy apples would be dropping from the tree. The pink flowers in the mint jungle on the side of the house would be buzzing with bees. The wild garlic would have gone to seed. White and blue Liatris would be spreading all over the two front berms. And the fields behind our house would have turned yellow.

* I'm practicing my Latin names in case I get accepted to the Master Gardeners program

Every evening when I walk Chili around the neighborhood, I keep an eye out for interesting flowers and shrubs. Lately, I haven't seen much. But walking around my back yard, there's a wealth of pretty treasures. Here's a brief pictorial inventory:

Butterfly Bush

Chamomile? Maybe?

Grows like a weed
but is it one?

Pink Hibiscus

Native Climatis

 Nicotania

Orange Blooms of some sort

Dainty yellow rose

I think there should have been some Echinacea in this garden but the plants with Cone Flower-like leaves have their tops consistently nipped off. Also, there should be some Black Eyed Susans but perhaps I was overly enthusiastic with my early weeding and spreading of preemergent.

Pale pink & pretty

RED!

Cup Plant with Moth

White Hibiscus

Volunteer Roma tomatoes
are ripening

Big Dreamer

Fantasy Blackberry V Reality Blackberries

I bought the berry on the left (along with a dozen or so others of equal magnificence) at the Farmers Market. Then I came home and picked all the ripe berries I could find in my garden. Guess which one tasted better.

On the bright side, I'd rather have the birds and other critters feast on the Reality Berries then to repeat what happened with the blueberries: finding them missing after watching and waiting for them to ripen.

Then again, isn't that what fantasies are?

They're Back!

First pick

The new raspberry canes are starting to bear fruit. The few berries I've picked are delicious -- despite the weeds that still surround them. It rained a bit today so hopefully the weeds will be easier to pull out of the soil.