Nick comes for breakfast

Nick, our oldest cat, came down for breakfast this morning. This is notable because we have children visiting this week. Nephew is almost 6 and Niece is 8. They have been gentle with the other cats but Nick does not feel comfortable around children. When Niece visited two years ago, Nick spent the week under a dresser. This week, he has come out only when we were all watching a movie, later after the children went to bed, and in the morning before anyone is up. I can hear him singing by the front door, which is his way.

I made our bedroom the cats' safe room, with Feliway diffusing in the entry hall, water, and litter boxes. So Day One of the visit, I fed the cats their dinner early. Day Two, Nick was under our bed with the guitars. I set his breakfast down and he came out after I left the room. Same with dinner. Day Three, Nick came out when I brought his plate for breakfast. Same with dinner. Day Four, Nick came out in the bedroom hallway to greet me. I put his plate in the usual place by the bed. Same with dinner. This morning, Nick came half way down the stairs with the others. I fixed the plates and when it was time to set them on the floor, Nick came down for breakfast. Not in the breakfast room where he usually eats, because the children were there, but he ate on the sun porch with Bonnie. We'll see how dinner goes tonight.

Several times recently, we have seen a different deer. A mottled deer and her fawn have come in the woods and the yard. They were eating wild grape leaves. They left the roses alone because I spray them with Liquid Fence almost every week. If I don't, they eat the leaves and buds. But the upshot is, another generation is being taught to graze in my yard. Sigh.

Cherry tomatoes and friends

I planted two cherry tomatoes, both Sun Sugar yellow cherry tomatoes. When I bought the plants at the nursery, another gardener commented that deer could be kept away if you put human hair around the garden. Okay, I thought, I'll try it. I had a haircut soon after that and brought home the sweepings.

About a week later, a big storm came through. I went out to check on the tomato plants. Everything fine except, no hair. Then I realized, of course, birds had gathered the clumps of hair for nesting material. So much for that strategy. I continued to think of ways to garden for both wildlife and myself, not just for wildlife.

A week ago, one tomato ripened. Then a few days later, two more. It was then I realized how many empty stalks were on the plant. About a dozen. Guess who! The pretty little deer has been beating me to the cherry tomatoes again. I keep her off the roses, mostly, the coreopsis, and the cut leaf coneflowers with Liquid Fence. But I can't spray this noxious mixture on tomatoes that I want to eat myself. Yesterday I built a light barrier around the tomato plants with stakes and picture framing wire. We'll see how effective that is.

One Poke Here, Another Poke There, Then Poke Everywhere

Two years ago, I let a poke plant grow near the big birdbath. When the berries ripened, the cardinals and titmice and chickadees clung to the branches and ate them all.

Last year, I let that poke grow again. It turned into an even bigger plant with tons of berries. I also let several poke plants grow out front where they came up volunteer. We'll have bluebirds all over the front yard, I anticipated, eating poke berries. The berries ripened last fall but no one showed up to eat them. The berries dried and fell to the ground. When the leaves turned, I cut the plants back to the ground. This spring, every one of those poke berries is sprouting, undeterred by a layer of pine bark. I'm pulling up little poke plants everywhere. I am also digging up some of the roots of mature plants, sadly, because it's just too much poke plant out front. They can grow as much as they like in the woods, and they are filling in where we cleared invasives. Better to have native poke plants than invasive ardisia and sword fern back there.

The original poke plant I dug up in the fall when it turned brown. There was a buckthorn tree growing up next to it, and I wanted it to have plenty of light and nutrients. As it turns out, the buckthorn berries are more popular than poke berries with a wider variety of birds.

The navel orange

Sadly one of our citrus trees is succumbing to greening disease and had to be taken down. Last winter, I noticed a few small oranges fell to the ground before ripening and one branch showed signs of chlorosis. I fed the tree and hoped for the best.

This winter, the condition is markedly worse. Many branches have chlorosis, and more than half of the oranges are small and green. The oranges that did mature and ripen have brown stains on them. After consulting my neighbor who is knowledgeable about citrus, I realized she is right and that I need to take down the tree. Insects will spread the disease to other trees and it will eventually die. There is no cure, only stop gap measures.

I cut off the branches down to the main trunk. Then I set about excavating and cutting the roots. The tree was about ten years old and the roots were well established. Bob helped me with the axe. We were almost finished, with just a couple of roots underneath the trunk to cut, when the thunder and rain started from a big storm that is moving through the southeast. I was concerned about the thunder and tools getting slippery, so I called it off. There stands the branchless trunk, a sad sight, more than half dug up. It will have to wait until the storm is past. 

This navel orange was the third citrus tree I planted, and it is closest to the street and therefore more vulnerable. The other citrus are near the house. Two ponkan tangerines, a red navel orange, and two grapefruit trees haven't shown any sign of infection, another reason to deal with the diseased tree sooner rather than later. 

I might plant something else there, but not right away. I feel too sad that I couldn't save the tree.

Camellia bush says thank you

Two years ago this 20+ year old camellia bush was completely covered with Carolina jessamine, Virginia creeper, wild grapevine, and smilax. The vines were growing up through the camellia, covering it, and then growing up into the laurel cherry tree next to it. Light and nutrient competition were severe. Even after the vines were removed, the camellia didn't bloom at all last year. Now it is covered with hundreds of buds. These have opened up on the lower branches. 

The nights of freezing cold we are due to get tonight and tomorrow night may knock the blooms a bit, but I feel rewarded for the time and effort of cutting all those vines down and digging up the roots. In 15 years of watching it, I have seen it bloom before, but the blooms were smaller, not enormous double blooms like these. 

There is still one piece of smilax root that is under the camellia's roots, and I haven't been able to get all of it excavated out from under there. So one small smilax vine is still there. My work is not completely done.

Holly #2

For two years we have been looking for an East Palatka Holly tree to go with the one we planted two years ago, and a few days before Christmas I found one. It had a single trunk and had not been shaped at all. It reminds me of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree when he first finds it-- looking like it can barely hold itself up at all. We planted the holly this morning, on the other side of the front of the yard from the first holly. Immediately a lady bug lighted on it and crawled up to the top-- a good sign!