That Weed Whacking Woman is at it Again!

The woods in back called my name this morning. With all the wet then extremely hot weather that we have been having, the woods are lush with foliage. I only keep the front 8 - 10 ft planted and trimmed up. So today...a nice cool day....I got the trusty weed whacker out and the shears and pruners and headed for 2 - 3 hrs. of work. The honeysuckle around the birdhouses got a little haircut. They were so thick the birds could never fly in and out. The wrens are finished for now in these houses anyway...so trim I did. The Susans and Goldenrod are in front of these houses and will soon be pictured on the blog.

Sumac trees provide a background for my planted areas. I know they can be invasive, but they are easy to cut down and keep in bounds. I have always loved these trees. When I was a little girl we had them next to our house. I would see them along the railroad tracks...all red in the fall. There are a couple of smaller ones that I keep in control in the front...and those were the ones that were trimmed this morning. I love the fall color that these trees share with me. The flowers are in dense spikes , each flower very small, greenish, creamy white or red, with five petals. The fruits form dense clusters of reddish sumac bobs.Sumacs propagate both by seed dropped in bird and animal droppings, and by new shoots from rhizomes forming, sometimes, large colonies. I trimmed hanging branches in the yard in front of the woods. Wild grapevines....watch out that weed whacking woman was after you too. I found, crawling on the ground, pumpkin vines. I had pumpkins along the border in the fall and some seeds had taken root. I trimmed suckers from the Mulberry Trees. I don't mind these trees, but hate the scrubby way they look, when their trunks are full of new growth. I moved garden ornaments around, so they looked better from the house. The last thing was to trim the grass in front of the woods, so that when Joe mows it will be tidy. I emptied my lawn cart....piled high with debris and filled it with my tools. I headed for the house and watered the tomatoes on the way. When I found Joe in the garage I said, "There's going to be some serious sitting around goin' on here the rest of today!" He just smiled....he knows how I am.

Balisha