Monday, March 19, 2012
The weekend was a mixed bag of weather. Some sun, some rain .. wonder if the plants were going crazy ..bloom? grow?
On the overcast/sunny Saturday morning, I continued to learn more about plant identification.
Learned some more about invasive weeds and recognizing more wild plants. The Alaskan Onion is now a familiar to me – grass-like type plant. I hadn’t taken any photos (but I plan to do that!)
Here are some excellent sites for further information (oh, wow, I am in the learning mode now!)
http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/GarryOakEcosystems.html
And ..finally, some photos:
http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/ShowDBImage/gallery.aspx?page=0&specrep=0&code=PMPOA3X0J0
Onion grass looks like .. well, grass! Right now, what I’ve noticed is that the blades seem a bit wider and “boxier” like and to find out if the grass is onion grass. … you just carefully move the grass away at the bottom of the plant and feel around for the little bulbs at the ground level, where they are protruding from the soil. Once I can touch and look closely at a plant .. a wild plant anyway, I know it and can locate others. So far, anyway, touch wood. (ok, now where did that phrase originate!)
I learned how to identify licorice fern and tasted the inner portion of the root, which was bright green. Just a tiny taste and the licorice flavour developed more and more as time passed. Quite dainty and delicious. Oh, mother nature, you are good!
S and I worked away, lifting invasive ivy … .loosening the soil. She carefully removed the invasives from the struggling tiny leaf wild rose plants, tough plants, growing through the tight covering of the vines. She also found some wild honeysuckle and these now will grow quite strong, now they are free to do so.
We worked away for a few hours, soon had a good size area clear, the rich forest soil loosened up. Once hidden plants now able to breathe freely and grow as they should.
I brought away with me a tiny deer fern, surrounded by a little blanket of moss. It’s potted up and I’ll be planting this treasure in the shaded woodland part of the yard.
S also gave me some pussywillow, rooted, and some in water to root. I look forward to these growing in the yard and will bend them over as they grow, to form a little umbrella shape.
Another thing about us gardeners .. we share and share and share our plants. Such a fun thing to do. And I do intend to name them somehow .. must think of an easy way to do this. Maybe carry around some cut-up plastic or aluminum sections of window blinds & a black marker, so I can easily write down the names and place the section in the plant. I’ll work on that.
Anyway, I am getting very spoiled now. Twice I’ve had the most amazing little cups of espresso. Made from home-roasted beans and ground up especially fine. Saturday, I just had to take a photo, to share .. see, how beautiful this is! What a treat.
So, Saturday was a busy day. A friend of mine is going travelling, so I will be “mother” to her plants while she is away. And today .. I’m going to water them with EM. As a matter of fact .. today .. is the day for me to add EM to all the outside plants.
I’ll put some of my precious EM in water, and spray the leaves and water the base of the plants.
Plus, time to move some raspberry plants.
Yesterday I noticed a yellow jacket (I think it was that, some kind of wasp) and didn’t have a chance to take a photo. I think it must be the Queen. So now I’ll be very careful and looking for potential nests. And now is the time to do all the digging in the side gardens, last year I waited too long and just had to leave them alone. There was so much wasp activity, and I can’t bear to be stung again.
Looking forward to spending this whole day outside in the yard!!
And tonight .. finally .. we go to see William Roache (aka long-suffering Ken) from Coronation Street. He’s acted in this show since the very beginning. We are so looking forward to seeing him in person. We have the first row seats and will have the opportunity to meet & talk with him after the show. Oh, what shall I ask him? Dare I comment about “Deidre’s” neck .. how the veins stand out when she’s yelling .. “oh, Ken!” 
I was going to take a lot of CS memorabilia with me, but, will try to be mature and just take a few things. But which few? Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Well .. on with this day!!!
