Home Again

When I was in high school and went to Denmark on a 4-H exchange trip, my friend Eilley Weddle gave me a poem about how it was nice to visit other countries but also nice to come home to the US. And that is how I feel this morning. We had a great time in Spain and saw lots of things that were really old, including 20,000 year old cave paintings, but it is nice to be home and sleep in one's own bed. I wish I could say the same thing about my lugguge, which is still enjoying a vacation, because it got left in Barcelona. I hope it gets home soon.

My garden seems to have survived my absence. The butterfly bush that I transplanted before I left is still alive, as are my lobelia hanging baskets (although they need a trim,) and other bedding plants. This morning while drinking my coffee I watched a juvenile hawk land in the yard. There must be a bird nest in the honeysuckle hedge, because he ducked into the hedge, which caused a little stir and came out with something in his beak. The wren that was at the feeder did not move a feather. Yesterday when I was watering my impatiens, a hummingbird was feeding on them. I have a hummingbird feeder in the back but I like to see them also feeding at my flowers.

I stopped by C'side yesterday to pick up my schedule and chatted with Lori, who tells me the Japanese beetles are out. I found a few on my asters and sprayed them with Safer's Yard and Garden Insect Spray. It contains pyrethrins and salts of fatty acids. I don't think it has much of a residual effect because you can use it up to the day of harvest. I don't like to do a wholesale spray because it is a non-selective chemical (even though it is organic) and will kill even beneficial insects, like bees. I spray the beetles directly and I spray every day.

I am back at work on Wednesday, so stop by and see me.