From The Old Farmer's Almanac.
For my Red Dirt Girl who said SHOW ME,here’s the scene from smokin’ hot Idaho. I hate to say it, but as I type I think I see a nasty smoke cloud……just over the horizon. 105 in the shade and we aren’t even in July yet. Everybody into the pool!
So Dee, here you have a few snaps of my weekend.
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Coral is my darling niece. Tells me she is two and won’t be three until her birthday next week. And she wants cupcakes AND a cake. I will have to dust off the cupcake tins…..
The wispy graceful echinacea is spending its second season in the garden….they are lovely. I bought them online last year, from somewhere in the Midwest.
The cottony scale looks like someone threw dryer lint on my apple espalier. I went in and pruned hard (undoubtedly part of the problem…..all things in the garden are overgrown or languishing due to benign neglect). I will try to knock it down with some water sprayed from the hose. If not, well, you have heard me before, “I am organic except when I’m not.”
For BOTH Debra and Dee, I wish I could tell you that the little plants were a gift. They weren’t freebies. No siree. I paid good money and THEN let them sit there hanging on for dear life. Fortunately, many things survive in spite of me.
Post from: Idaho Gardener
Yesterday I ventured off with a few of our kids hoping to get some firewood as stocks were desperately running low. I say hoping as I found a great tree last time that filled my trailer and yet it seemed like I had hardly touched it. So I was eager to find out whether someone else had also enjoyed my discovery or whether it would still be there for me to continue scavenging from.
Fortunately it hadn't been touched since I was last there. I was able to fill my trailer again (usually 6 weeks worth of firewood) and there is probably still a load or two to go.
One of the great things about collecting firewood is the enjoyment I, and the kids, get out of being in the forest. While I'm sawing away they will go exploring and become infatuated with some awesome discovery keen to show me once the saw's been cut off. And, in between fuel refills I'll take the opportunity to get the camera and snap some of our gorgeous flora. Here's a selection of some of our bounty;
This is the tree that I've been cutting. The one standing upright is a Red Gum.
Firewood of choice comes from these beautiful Jarrah's (Swan River Mahogany). A hard wood tree that can reach 30-50m when mature and are straight as a pin. When they burn they leave a tiny amount of white ash and very little mess.
This is almost the perfect toadstool that you often see in kid's story books. Obviously poisonous from its dark red cap but nice to photograph.
Eremophila sp. (Emu Bush). These grow in abundance throughout our forests and while breeders have now managed multiple colours this is the original.
I'm not sure what this one is but was intrigued by it's gorgeous florets. I'm guessing it's a relative of the grevillea family.
Another plant that we found growing in abundance and flowering their heads off. Notice the spiky foliage that the plant requires to withstand the fauna. Incredible.
