11.07.2006

 

A Botanical Conundrum

With the Indian Summer we've been having in W PA this week, I've finally been cleaning up my garden. The flowers are long-dead or frozen and I've delayed the clean-up as if the delay could prolong the long-gone summer. As I was cutting back my Astilbe I noticed how many weeds had sprung up surruptitiously among the flowers. What really annoyed me was that the weeds were still green-and fluorishing! The nerve! It's November! If anyone can explain how a weed can grow, even after a killing frost, please clue me in.

There is a positive side to this. As annoying as the weed growth is, you have to give those little weeds credit for their spunk and spirit.

Comments:
Well, there are degrees of frost. Most of my impatiens are dead, but a few survived the rather hard frost we had recently.

I'm guessing the astilbe provided some shelter for the weeds.

Weeds are hardy!

My sorrow over the loss of summer has passed; I loved fall and am looking forward to winter.
 
There are many common flora in West Virginia that verge on 'weed' status. In late summer the roads are lined with day lillys and chicory. Rhododendron bushes grow to amazing sizes and Rose of Sharon plants can tower over your garage. All these grow like crazy here in the Mountain State.

What I can't stand are the garbage trees like the insidious Sumac. Very difficult to purge from the yard.
 
Hello from Florida and the endless summer...I have missed the change of color that fall brings, nothing seems to have changed down here... except maybe its a little less hot.
 
Ginger! Welcome back! Almost all the leaves are off the trees but there are still literally tons of them to be gathered. This week has been "warm"-temps in the 50's! We'll probably mow the grass one last time. I found a bush in the woods near here with red berries so I picked some for a decoration. It's wonderful walking in this weather. I enjoy that the most I think. I'm beginning to look forward to winter too.
 
At our house in Baltimore City, we had a garbage tree that grew in the cracks of the pavement in the windway between our townhouse and our neighbor's place. I never had the heart to cut it down, although I'm sure its roots were doing damage. We lived there for five years and by the time we sold the house, the tree had made it to the third floor window. No branches except at the very top. It was amazing.
 
We have two little Red Bud trees we brought from our old house. They came up on their own from trees we had gotten from Don's Dad and I had to dig them up-I couldn't leave them. I transplanted pieces of many perennials from our old place. It's funny how attached one gets to certain plants. One of my joys is to share perennials with friends. And I never say no to a new plant. I always find room somewhere.
 
Posting from Leon, Nicaragua. Check the cluster map.

¨Weed¨is a relative term which we anthroporphometrically get to assign. I suspect the sumac and the roaches will outlast our species.
 
Joe's gonna love this! And I knew you'd have something to say about the topic Tim. Sadly I believe you're correct about the sumac and roaches.

What's it like down there anyway?
 
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