Work in the garden during the early morning to avoid heat stress, and wear a hat and loose clothes. Felder Rushing.
The fruit of the bois d’ arc trees are appearing high in the sky. The bright green balls bring a refreshing newness to the trees having suffered so from drought. Crazy crepe myrtles bloom with wild abandon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen crept myrtles so abundant or lush whether it be in the Prairie or downtown on Main Street.
At the Prairie House there are several areas where trees were removed. I continue to plant things in those spots we call “spots where nothing grows.” Somehow, someway, someday, I will find something to grow there. In one spot a small cluster of lantana was coming along planted three years ago. Next to it was a bit of butterfly weed. The butterfly weed seemed successful so I added three more that a friend provided and a couple of swamp sunflowers too. Both do well in the Prairie.
The next day all of my new plantings were strewn about on the ground. I replanted them. The following day the new plants had disappeared altogether along with the original butterfly weed.
No doubt they were eaten by the deer we enjoy watching. The deer seem to know when I have a new plant addition. If a plant has managed to survive a season or so they seem to accept it and move on. But something about disturbing the earth and adding new plants brings them right to the very spot and then the plant is gone.
One day a small, thin and leggy doe skipped out into the cleaning beside the driveway; behind her was a tiny spotted fawn. Watching the two makes it really hard to fault them for a couple of bites of butterfly weed.
For the spot where nothing grows that had been denuded of butterfly weed and swamp sunflowers I asked Sam to plant one of the volunteer crepe myrtles. Crepe myrtles are very hardy out here in the Prairie. You move one and the next year you will find you have two and so on.
We found a nice crepe myrtle of the dark fuchsia variety and moved it to the spot where nothing grows. With daily watering it seems to be surviving and it hasn’t been bothered by the deer as of yet.
Usually by July I’ve given up any hope of annuals surviving, but this summer the pink and white periwinkle, the blue Prairie petunias, the pink four o’clocks and the blue salvia are still showing out. The hanging plants of airplane, ivy, and bougainvillea continue to thrive.
It may be that I have good help these days since Sam has retired. Every evening after coffee and before supper we divide up what we’ve labeled as front porch, back porch, deck and garage watering duty. Or somedays Sam does all the watering while I feed the ducks, the goldfish, the rabbits, and the kittens.
Oh yes, Harry and Wilhelmina have their one-year birthday this month. But they’ll always be my kittens.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
