This is one Mean Old Lady!

This is one Mean Old Lady!
Self-portrait: 'Quilter on Fire'

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Spring in Arkansas


...is always amazing. I lived away from the South for so long that I forgot how things grow--how quickly, how abundantly. Our neighbor's silver maple, after an orgy of pollen production, produced showers of the usual winged seeds, almost all of them guaranteed to sprout. For a couple of weeks every spring we have a 'lawn' composed of maple seedlings. Knowing that I had no real choice, I picked every single little helicopter out of the 32 x 4 ft. asparagus bed during the post-harvest weeding marathon. Asparagus do not enjoy completing with weeds, and you don't dare give them a foothold; likewise, the maple seeds can't be left in hopes that they will just dry up or rot. They won't. I picked up approximately 942,763. Honest!

In a fit of enthusiasm after retiring, I planted tons of things--including several repeat-blooming, fragrant climbing roses, (mail-order purchases from The Antique Rose Emporium in Texas.) The New Dawn (on left) is an old stand-by; Pinkie, on the right, was a 'buy one, get one' freebie. Both of these roses somewhat sat and sulked for a couple of years...and then, suddenly, they're both wonderful! I shot this picture right before we had a strong thunderstorm with heavy rain. Now I need to get out there and see what needs to be pruned, tied, or cleaned up.

Yesterday morning I inveigled Hubby Dearest into helping get rid of a flowering crabapple. The tree is lovely one week a year (after which it drops wee crabapples everywhere) but it was foolishly planted by the previous homeowners in an inhospitable and intrusive place. They regularly bashed it with their lawnmower, so it was damaged and diseased (but wouldn't die.) My husband is usually willing to do tasks involving tools, although he is allergic to yard work in general, so he and the trusty chainsaw lopped and hewed and now the crabapple is a curbside stack, awaiting the city chipper truck. It was incredibly hot and humid, even at 9 a.m., and we were both pretty well wiped out by the end of the day. This accounts, no doubt, for my sleeping through the night and well past my usual 4 a.m. wake-up time.

Today's plan: a crepe myrtle is going down!

2 comments:

  1. The roses are gorgeous! Do you grow them? I love old roses!
    ... Mean Old Lady?

    ReplyDelete
  2. These roses are along the fence facing the street on one side of the house/yard. The 'New Dawn' is actually planted on the street side; I thought people in the neighborhood would enjoy the rose, but some were allowing their dogs to stop, if you take my meaning. Bah. I have four climbing roses, all rather 'old-fashioned.'

    MOL--my registered name on the WordPlay blog of the NYT crossword. I think my arthritis was playing up that day...it seemed like a good idea at the time. When I proposed changing it, though, folks protested--people like what they are used to, I expect.

    ReplyDelete


Rose 'Crepuscular'

Asparagus bed--post harvest

Lake Conway Mutti und Kinder