Wildflower Blitz

The last two years in North Carolina we’ve been living in drought conditions. We seem to be coming out of it, but only time will tell. So, given that I do not particularly enjoy driving the mower around the yard all the time anyway, two years ago I took drastic action.

The grass was dying…the good grass anyway. I had plenty of weedy stuff growing. I decided to take about a third of an acre (our yard, front and back, is an acre) out of grass. So now all around the border of the yard and dead center in the front, I mulched.

And then came the wildflowers. I bought over thirty pounds of seed, most of which are highly drought resistant. Liberally sprinkling same, I waited. Ok, I did water a little just to get them germinated. First summer, not much happened because I did start late.

Above is a Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata) a perennial.

Ah, but last summer! WOW! Things took off. I have about 45 varieties of wildflower out there now. Don’t need to bother with them much either. When the neighbors are all complaining about things dying, my wildflowers are blooming furiously.

My father-in-law hasn’t yet grasped the drought thing. He keeps buying traditional water-guzzlers. Unfortunately, since the in-laws live with us, that is cause for some conflict. Where I’ve gone to nematodes to combat grubs rather than chemicals, he still wants to poison everything. We finally had to ban him from all but the small section of yard near their entrance and along a small section of fence in the back yard.

The Blue Flax (Linum perenne lewisii) another perennial, are already in bloom.

At any rate, wildflowers are great! An added benefit is the variety of birds and butterflies they attract. My next-door neighbor complained last year that the gold finches were ignoring his finch feeder…they preferred my front yard. We had more butterflies last summer than at any time in the last twelve years.

This year we are looking forward to the perennial wildflowers taking off. They don’t usually flower the first year. Some are already in bloom. We also liberally spread the seeds from last year’s annuals and already they are popping up.

We could never get anything to grow along this small strip by the driveway.
Note the sunflowers towering over the fence.

This is in front where we got rid of over half the lawn.

The Johnny Jump-ups (Viola cornuta) are in bloom for the first time this year.
They spread like violets, which could be bad or good.

This year, we are working on seeding the wooded section at our back fence with woodland flowers. As things get more established we will start "shaping" to make the layout more presentable. If I could swing it, there would not be much grass out there at all.

But I suppose the doggies still need room to romp and poop.

Quick note...all the flower pictures above with the exception of the Blue Flax and Johnny Jump-up (which were taken today), were taken in August when drought conditions were severe. We were on the fourth flowering cycle by that time. The yard goes through first primarily yellow and orange, followed by pinks, blues and reds, followed by yellows and oranges again.

Recapturing the "Old Days"

Thursday night I went on a “date” with eldest daughter. Her sweet sixteen was actually last night, but she wanted to go to a rock concert for her birthday. Thursday had to do. We originally bought three tickets…an extra for a friend; unfortunately the friend brought home a substandard progress report from school last week, so his parents pulled the plug. It was too late to find someone else to go.

Well, we had a good time. It was the start of the 2008 tour for REO Speedwagon, Styx and Def Leppard. Strange thing though. The last time I last saw REO in concert was thirty-one years ago. The last time I saw Styx and Def Leppard in concert was twenty-five years ago. Back then the majority of the audience was my age...ish. This time, the majority of the audience was…my age.

Seriously! Most people attending were between the ages of forty and sixty! Actually, this made for a well-behaved crowd (roughly 10,000 attended). Many of us “old folks” brought teenagers, but we still vastly outnumbered the “youngsters”. It was really different seeing old rockers on stage with significantly shorter and grayer/whiter hair. Music was still good though.

Being the first real rock concert for daughter, she was shocked at the volume. Def Leppard really blasted the Greensboro Coliseum…just like I remembered. When the aroma of “wacky tobaccy” drifted up to our seats, she cast me a horrified stare. Yep, just like I remembered.

Things Don't Last

Ever notice how things don’t last anymore? I once had a dryer that lasted twenty years...never even a repair call. That dryer died in the fourth year of my current marriage. Now, in only eight years, we are getting another dryer. Ditto on the washing machines. Twenty years, not a problem. Broke within a week of the old dryer. Washing machines, however, have it even rougher than dryers. We bought the third washing machine of our marriage this past fall.

I lived in a house in Germany that was over five hundred years old. I am getting worn out trying to maintain my current forty year old house. Nothing lasts anymore.

When our kids are gone and we buy our house in Scotland, I’m opting for one that is at least two hundred years old. I have my eye on one that was built in 1698 on the Isle of Islay off the west coast of Scotland. It is currently owned by an English family who use it all of two months each year. The house overlooks my ancestral home of Finlaggan Castle (my MacDonald roots are showing). This is a picture of the castle ruins from the front gate of the house.

Or if I had $7 million laying around today I’d buy Borthwick Castle, which came on the market just last month. Borthwick Castle was completed in 1430. With walls fifteen feet thick, it was virtually impregnable . Mary Queen of Scots visited the castle frequently. Oliver Cromwell laid seige to the castle in 1650. It was the last castle in Scotland to fall to Cromwell. Damage caused by Cromwell's artillery to the tower on the left is still visible. They built ‘em to last back in those days!

Books…I’ve got books that are falling apart and are less than ten years old. Then I have my old books. The ones I like to collect. I’m talking two hundred plus years. My oldest complete book was printed in 1611…ok it was rebound in the 1800’s, but the pages, though yellowed are still supple. They made them to last back then. I have a partial book of the Acts of the Scottish Parliament from 1497, it was damaged in a fire in 1712, but the remaining pages are still supple. Once upon a time things were made to last and/or be repaired. Nowadays it’s, throw it away and buy another.

There is one thing I am glad doesn’t last – teenagers! Mine are driving me crazy. I’m glad I never was one!