Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 60 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is wrinkled. The sky is overcast and it has been raining off and on. The barometer predicts more rain.It is a quiet morning except for the robins rejoicing in their wormy breakfasts, and the dripping of the rain from the eaves to the decks. Our walk was just around the block.
Summer flowers are coming on strong now, purple cone flowers and brown eyed Susan's beginning to bloom. The hollyhocks are beginning to recover from the thrips.
Pictured are evening primrose, Oenothera biennis, a common native plant of fields and roadsides, and common milkweed, Hibiscus syriacus, of similar habitats. The former is a cheery flower which opens towards evening, and the latter is noted for its perfume, which is unbelievably sweet and powerful. Milkweeds are very important ecologically as the obligatory host plant for the Monarch butterfly caterpillar, without which this wonderful insect cannot survive.
The tree board discussed the invasive plant issue at some length at our meeting yesterday, just to get us all actually thinking about…rather than just reacting to…this issue. Then we carried buckets of water to all our newly planted street and park trees, which of course caused us to have a nice rain this morning. The rains have come at fortuitous intervals this year, providing just enough nitrogen-rich rainwater when needed by gardens and rain barrels.
It has stopped raining, but is pretty wet and this may be mostly a clear-the-desk day.
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