The noisy visitors are gone…

The day finally came where I walked out the door and noticed a strange thing: All I could hear was the wind blowing, the birds singing, the children playing. The roar of Brood V cicada was gone; that loud undulating cry of the males seeking hanky-panky was absent. Too much information? I know. To us it's cacophony, but to them it's a symphony of love. And no more dive-bombing us unsuspecting humans that like to go outside. Their bombing was unintentional, I’m sure – they just were in a frenzied state and didn’t know what they were doing or where they were going! You can read my original post about cicadas here.

In their absence, signs of their destruction lay all around. Empty shells, where the insects were sheltered for a very long period of time until they hatched, lay in piles all over the yard.

Many tips of my maple tree branches (they only live in certain trees) are brown and crumbling and getting ready to drop off at some point. I’m assuming this is where the new batch of cicada crawled to, buried themselves in the branches and wait to fall off and once again burrow to their new home in the earth. Whew!
What a process!  If you click on the photos you'll get a better view of the brown branch tips.

I drove down a nearby street and the owners of a home had built gigantic screened-in frames to place over their small, maybe newly planted Japanese Maples. They did what the experts recommended: cover your small trees. When I was able to try to take a photo, the cages were gone - because the cicadas were gone. That was a lot of work to protect their trees, but I'm sure the trees cost a lot of money.

The best thing about the invasion  – if you can look at it this way (and I do) is that the cicada’s have completely aerated our lawns. About ¼ inch wide holes, maybe an inch apart pepper the landscape which will allow our lawns to receive water like they never had before (my lawn anyway). I figure between the holes and the break-down of the exoskeletons , our lawns will be pretty healthy!

I will never stop being fascinated by this Cicada circle of life. I’m sure there are equally amazing animal and insect life-cycles in the world, but this one comes to our back doors and lets us share in their brief visit on top of the earth.

Have any of you experienced a cicada invasion?

Thanks for reading and I would love it if you would share this post, and sign up to receive my blog regularly. But I'd especially love it if you would comment down below! If you are having trouble commenting, please email me at eabailey661@gmail.com.

Happy gardening, my friends~
~Ann



  

A gardener carries on.....

It’s been a rough almost four weeks (and continues) as I recover from shoulder surgery. But, you can’t keep a good gardener down – or a determined gardener! It’s amazing what you can accomplish with one hand and one arm. Looking back I really did get a lot done – with the help of my Master Gardener friends and wonderful neighbors.

                                 I got my deck pots planted.

                      I got a deck-railing pot and got it planted.

I got two junk trees cut down, including this “West Virginia Palm Tree” (above), the name according to my friend Becky.

 The dead tree now supports poison ivy, which I got in my ear when I cut it down off the tree. Ugh. My plan is to grow a couple of climbing flowering plants to climb the tree, like a rose and clematis. I have to check how much sun the area gets.

No, my shed is not being held up by the tires!

I got plantings under my tree, with a few to go. I’m going to put a lot of dirt right on top, then plant a couple impatiens and a begonia as well as a couple small ferns in the pots. The roots of the tree are so thick that I would never be able to dig holes for the plants. I do hope the fern roots will dig in, though, like the others that dug in last year did.

I got some of my donated plants planted and my garden mapped out. It will be large and I’m sure will take years to fill in. But half the fun is in the planning and process. I’ve got a daisy, lamb’s ear, my beloved moonflower, black-eyed Susan, pink Echinacea, liatrus (blazing star) , daylily and coreopsis.  My friend who planted the plants split up the Echinacea into two plants. Came out the next day and the one was chewed almost down to the ground from the bunnies. Sigh.

I hung these three planters on the fence at the end of my yard.

Finally, I’ve managed to keep all my container gardens alive with every-other-day watering. I wish it would rain every 3-4 days. That would be so helpful!

I'm going for the "country cottage" look - I want one of everything in my garden. It is nothing to look at this year - the goal is to get the plants and keep them healthy - but next summer it will be beautiful! I have to go have a talk with the bunnies.....

What have you accomplished in your garden so far?

Happy gardening my friends,

~Ann

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Starbucks - Free coffee grounds for your garden

I came home a few days ago and found a bag on my porch. It held a large bag of used coffee grounds from Starbucks.

I was excited because I knew about their program, but never remembered to check it out at the Starbucks in our local Kroger’s grocery store.

According to their website:

Starbucks started its 'Grounds for Your Garden' program in 1995, which is offered on a first-come, first-served basis in participating stores where local codes permit. Even the packaging has been reused – baristas scoop spent coffee grounds into the empty bags originally used to ship espresso beans to stores.

The White Orchid

Coffee grounds offer benefits to your gardening by increasing the nitrogen in the soil, and they give better structure to your soil.

Farmer's Almanac
Nitrogen in your soil is equivalent to the air we breathe as humans. It helps keep soil in good health. The coffee grounds contain some nitrogen and mixing them in with your soil makes it more “friable” meaning that plants will be able to more easily grow in this environment because the soil is nice and crumbly.  Not like in a slab of clay-like cement – er, I mean dirt. Yes, I have experience with this clay-like type of soil!

Some say that a ring of coffee grounds around your plants will

keep slugs away! All right....it's worth laying them down just for that! Slugs do such awful damage!

By all means if you make a pot of coffee every day like I do, save those grounds! I think a good way to do this is to put them in an open container and let them dry out before you use them. I have seen wet grounds get moldy.

For more information on the benefits of coffee grounds in your soil visit Oregon StateExtension .

Check out your local Starbucks OR your local independent coffee shop for free coffee grounds.

And by the way I do want to give a shout out to Starbucks as being a company that is truly giving back – not just in word but in deed(s). I receive no compensation from them, but I want to let you know that this company is pretty amazing and ask you to go to their website to see just how amazing they are. Read about their 

Global Responsibility.

Who was the mystery gifter of the grounds? My daughter. Thanks daughter!

Have you used coffee grounds in your garden - and if so, have you noticed any improvement in any way?

I'd love to hear any comments from you below, and I'd really love it if you would sign up for my blog!

Happy gardening to you, my friends~

~Ann

Summertime update!

This is my house I bought in March 2015

I thought I’d do an update of the front of my house for now. I’m pleased with it compared to this time last year! Gardening on a budget is a challenge, but I make progress here and there.

 One of the things I'm most excited about is the two Clematises I planted. You see them above - they weren't very vigorous plants to begin with so I wasn't sure if they'd even make it. Some of you told me not to worry because they are very hardy. You were right! And note the color of the pink one....the light one doesn't look anything like it.

You can barely see them, but they are under the small obelisk I put there for them to climb. I know I need to do something more grand for them, but I had to see if they'd make it. I planted the Clematis with two Knockout rosebushes that I got at WalMart for $2.73 each! Now THAT was a great deal.(Left) Here's the Knockouts going crazy!

The Clematis in all their glory. The light one is a pale lavender and the dark purple - supposed to be a Jackmanii - has huge flowers. I'm not sure if this is a J. but I love it. I believe J. has smaller flowers. The photo is too bright - I'll take more to show you the real colors.

Summer 2016

A beautiful pot of Lantana and matching petunias and yellow gazanias!

My next project is to create a shade garden under my remaining tree in the back yard.

More to come!

Happy gardening to you,

~Ann

I'd love to have any comments from you. Or you can email me at libbylottie@yahoo.com.

Cicada - Invasion of the 17 year-olds!

I wonder about the Cicadas. Their life cycle just fascinates me.  They are all over my area – the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia.

I truly wonder why God created certain things, like slugs and cicadas. They seem to have no purpose to me – and are annoying - and yet they thrive!

Last week there were a few of them – this week they’re literally dripping off the trees and clinging to anything and everything. I went out and came into my house and one flew right in!

Dr. Daniel Frank, Entomologist Specialist at West Virginia University sums up the lifestyle of cicada’s perfectly:

My neighbor's tree

Have you heard of Brood V? Brood V is a group of periodic cicadas that will be appearing throughout much of West Virginia in 2016. These cicadas will be emerging in mass from the soil where they have spent the last 17 years sucking the nutrients from tree roots. From May through June the adult male cicadas will announce their presence with a loud chorus of sound that they use to attract a potential mate. Once the females have successfully mated, they will cut small slits in the twigs of trees to lay their eggs. When the eggs hatch the immature cicadas (called nymphs) will burrow into the soil where they will remain for another 17 years to start the process anew.

cicada

Next to my tree

The only damage that cicadas can inflict is on small or young trees, as they slice into the branches to bury their eggs. Dr. Frank suggests that people cover their small and/or newly planted trees with light fabric to keep the insects away from them.


This is my remaining tree (above). The roots are so thick that I couldn't grow anything under it, so last year I just put several pots under it and planted flowers and ferns in them. The cicadas are all  over the pots and in them. I wanted to plant them today, but YUCK!

And, yep, the males have started their mating call......

As I said, I’m in awe of these creatures. There’s just an existential depressing “ness” about them that makes me ask “why?” But maybe I should leave the philosophy to the philosophers!

Do you know why?

What is your cicada situation where you live?

Would love to hear from you below, or you can email me at libbbylottie@yahoo.com

Million Pollinators Garden Challenge

Starting in 2014 the National Pollinator Garden Network, which consists of groups of people concerned about the decline of pollinating creatures, got together to start the Million Pollinators Garden Challenge after President Obama issued an Executive Memorandum. The memorandum outlines the President’s strategy to “Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators”.

                    Is your mouth watering yet? The pollinators did a good job here, huh?

 “Pollinator gardens provide one way to reverse that decline (of pollinators) by offering food, water, cover and places to raise young for honey bees, native bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators.”

Hummingbird: Audubon

Butterfly: PBS

Other pollinators also include bats, moths, flies, beetles and ants.

Bat - don't be afraid!

One in three bites of food we eat is because of pollinators. Without them a major food source would be eliminated , as fruits and vegetables must be pollinated to bloom, which is part of the process for their production. 

Native bee

Honey bee

So pollinating flying things go around spreading the good stuff to keep the cycle going.

Register your yard or site here. There are almost 188,000 sites registered so far.

To find out more information, such as what a good pollinating garden looks like, go here. 

I'm hoping I can get a good start on building a pollinator-friendly garden this summer. I think they like what I already have, but I want to make it lush and protective for them, which takes time and money. It'll be worth it.

How about you? Is your garden pollinator-worthy?

I'd love to see your comments below. If you care to email me please do so at: libbylottie@yahoo.com.

Happy gardening ~

~Ann

Wedding Flowers - Unique at West Farms in West Virginia

While researching photos for one of my posts I stumbled across a unique farm - West Farms in Lewisburg, West Virginia.

West Farms is a cutting flower farm with three acres of beautiful healthy specialty flowers - 120 varieties to be exact! They also grow other things such as herbs. You’ll find them parked at local farmer’s markets in the area as well.

Pam West

Pam West has been growing cut flowers at West Farms since 2000 and has received the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, Women in Agriculture Award in years past.

What is so unique about Pam’s farm is that a bride-to-be can take herself and her bridesmaids on a ride throughout the farm and pick out the flowers she would like to have in her wedding, from bouquets, to corsages and boutonnieres to bunches of flowers in Mason jars hung on a Shepherd’s hook.

See my post on Shepherd's hooks here  .                                             

The finishing touch to the bride’s visit at West Farms is when Pam presents her with a complimentary bouquet of the flowers she picked out to take home.

If you are thinking of a rustic or outdoor wedding, try West Farms for your flowers. They can also give you a list of venues in the area for your celebration.

Please visit West Farms in Lewisburg, West Virginia. Call Pam at 304-647-8195 for directions or more information.

I'd love to hear any comments from you, and if you'd like to email me please do so at: libbylottie@yahoo.com

Thanks for reading, and sign up for all my future posts!

~Ann