You Can Only Win Battles 2016-W23

A year ago this time, I undertook a career reinvigorating learning experience that consumed every spare waking hour from June through October. I was either working, doing school work, or taking the train home to sleep. Then back the next day and that's it, those four things. No weekends... those got devoted to schoolwork. Ah well, I'm better for it (I think).

Which brings us to today, where in the war of Back Yard vs Mother Nature, my forces have been slowly reclaiming territory that got overtaken during the Lost Summer of 2015. Technically, the "lost" time extended well into the fall so garden cleanup chores went undone as well. To understate, Spring 2016 found me with a lot of yard and garden work to do.

Humans have proven themselves more than capable of thriving and expanding the reach of their territory, and the garden has many similar species: lemon balm, rose of Sharon (which I just learned is the national flower of South Korea), vinca — and my arch nemesis, the white poplar. All are prolific, some spreading by seed and one, the heinous poplar, by sending up baby trees from points along its massive root system.

Each tree-let has to be dug out by hand, some go quietly and others really fight to the death. As the process requires a lot of jumping onto a shovel to drive it through a gnarly root, I can only manage so many in a day. But this year, I unleashed a secret weapon: the Hofer. My new neighbor wanted to pitch in with the yard work and took to the poplar task with zeal...  as I knew and he discovered, it is oh so satisfying when each moment of triumph arrives and another (former) young poplar joins the pile of uprooted wannabes awaiting disposal.

When you combine his youthful zeal and his many-pound weight advantage over me, the Hofer is a poplar slaying machine. In two days he cleared away the mini-forest, a task that this year would have taken me at least a week. And his partner proved herself quite adept at uprooting the hundreds of miniature rose of Sharon saplings that filled most of the available space between the dozen roses in my rose bed.

In the meantime I focused on clearing out and rejuvenating the herb border and I think once I plant some new thyme and lavender we can call it done. And I would already have done that except for the RAIN. All our yards are flush with green. Anything that was already in the ground has been flourishing because of all the RAIN. But unfortunately, you cannot till or plant in wet earth and because it has RAINed every other day, it has been a challenge getting things planted or transplanted.

But we press on. The goal this year is to plant out about a third of the beds and then renovate the remainder. After a couple of decades, this seems overdue. Just as I've transitioned life stages, so must the garden! I need it to be more self driving so I can better tend what needs tending. And at the same time make it even more hospitable for the birds, bees, and butterflies that visit us in droves. I haven't seen the rabbit yet this year —I hope the feral cats that pester our neighborhood haven't killed the poor thing. I wonder if I can plant anything to kill the cats?

For those who wonder (which may only be me), I didn't see Old Red in bloom this year but I did find his leaves so let's hope he'll be back next spring for his 23rd appearance. In what, fingers crossed, are somewhat more attractive and well-planted surroundings. When and if he does pop up, Old Red will see me hard at work... in the war with Mother Nature, you have to win every battle you can even though we know she ultimately wins the war.

Spring flower studies

Since I las posted, the Salon deWinchester gathered a couple times to paint and I used the opportunity to be inspired by spring and to experiment with some new paints and stuff.

The wee tulip study I made using watercolor markers, which I think is the new "thing". I learned I wouldn't use them for a full work, but they'll be great for adding linear elements. Which is something I've wanted to explore... along with a dozen other things.

Moving on, the more vivid (lurid?) study is made with paints that use polymer binders instead of the traditional gum arabic. Thanks, NASA! Don't know if I am a fan but these paints sure pack a lot of punch I will say. A little goes a long way.

I will wrap with a tease... I have a great new banshee painting that I'll publish next week together with a more thoughtful, less anecdotal posting to accompany it.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy both of today's studies as well as the splendid (albeit soggy) June weather. Since it RAINed overnight, no planting today. Instead, I'm off for coffee with some 2015 school chums. See you soon!

Aforementioned Herb Border, Post-Rejuvenation.
Visible are Thymes, Sage, Lavender, Tarragon, Savory, assorted Mints and Marjoram, Chives,
plus Sweet Alyssum and Cosmos for a bit of flowery color; Lemon Balm, Oregano
and Rosemary are hidden from view.