Time for the annual–more or less–horticultural–slash–porch kitty–slash–stuff going on–report. All of you waiting with “bated breath” can relax now. (What is this “bated”? Any relation to “rebate”, “debate”, “exacerbate”, “probate”, “abatement”, “incubate”, “reprobate”, ”intubate”? Huh? Well, there are some 20 playable words in Scrabble featuring that particular root, meaning : to lessen or lower; to deprive of. Or you could go with the second entry in the Webster’s New World College Dictionary, which links it to the German word, beiszen–to soak in lye–all about tanning leather. I don’t see the connection, myself. Go for the word score.) Anyhow… The long-awaited emergence of the “flowering ferns” (Ferns do not flower, but that’s what the Dutch company at the BIG Home and Garden Show were selling them as, probably because of the shape of the foliage.) planted in front of the Y some time ago, has finally come about. We planted somewhere around eighteen individual bulbs along the front of the building, using my favorite method of pounding a stake into the ground then pulling it out and dropping the bulb into the resulting hole and covering it up. Then we waited. And waited. And waited.
No sign of greenery at all, fernlike or no. Rain came and went, the sun shone, then didn’t. The flowers in the big box out front popped up (They’re blooming now, not like last year, but making progress.). Still no sign of life from the bulbs. Then…Presto! One came up then another, and so on; about 15 of them are now waving in the breeze, so-to-speak and at least ten of them have blossoms–pink/magenta, mostly. I did spot a couple of green blades of some other sort of plant coming up. Heaven only knows what those are. I only vaguely remember putting anything in there, but volunteers are always welcome.
At home, things are blooming all over the place–there are blossoms on the tomato plants, whatever the variety(There are several, including some “tumblers” and at least one yellow kind.). My “flower tower” has changed its color scheme this year and seems to be doing well, if I can just keep it watered. The red raspberries are looking good. The blueberry bush has reduced itself to just one scraggly stem in a pot. Good luck looking for muffins. The blackberry bushes that were in one of the big pots croaked and left prickers a-plenty and one lone stem in a different pot–also, I think that there are some outlaws coming up in the ferns by the front porch. Those ferns are tough as Marines and can hold their own, for sure; gotta thin them out or they’ll take over the whole lawn. Could choke out my new “Primrose Lilac” or the Franklin Tree. Either they’ll take over or the Jack-in-the-pulpits will. The Silver Creek Garden Club sold me shade perennials which appear to be doing well in the back. The Porch Kitties do not appreciate their finer qualities, since these take up space in what the PK’s consider their own, well-deserved “comfort station”–under cover and so convenient! Spike, the new guy, prowls around there, talking all the while, making sure that everybody knows that he’s not the Welcome Wagon. RM (Reformed Mamma) gets an occasional snack back there on the steps and sometimes drinks from the water feature in back of the garage–where the bat house is located, so far keeping die fledermaus from coming into MY house…but the summer hasn’t even officially started yet, maybe they’re on vacation.
Who is NOT on vacation is the raccoon population. Several times now, I have had to chase a pretty rotund-looking masked bandit off the front porch where it has been scarfing up the PK’s morning rations. It seems that the ‘coons did not have a particularly rough winter. I thought they were pretty much nocturnal or crepuscular but maybe they’re just finishing off a night of partying and stopped in to have “one for the road”. I yelled and picked up my trusty buggy whip (What? Doesn’t everybody have one of those?) to chase the creature off. Once he went down the steps and around in front of the porch; I spotted him hiding in the bushes plotting to come back. One other time, I blocked his exit that way so he went up and over the porch rail to escape. Apparently, even being hissed at by RM was not enough to deter the critter from his morning snack and none of the PK’s wanted to pick a fight.
Anyone looking for a challenge should show up here to be hired to work on my really, really assorted flower beds before they do their freelance imitation of the Amazon jungle. I certainly have not kept up with the stuff.
AND… Great graduation Sunday. Wonderful weather, great set design, outstanding class. Congratulations all around.
