Now I know what you are thinking dear reader, Marc's squirrels have eaten the rose bush?! No, not the case. The squirrels have been active but only with the bird feeders. No sooner do I fill up the feeders than a marauding band of 3-5 squirrels come charging across the yard to eat every last speck of bird seed! It is rather aggravating since the birds don't even get a chance at the seed. I once saw a product at the local nursery that I can mix in with the seed to keep the squirrels away. It contains capscacin from hot peppers and isn't harmful to birds or squirrels. The birds are fine eating it. The squirrels apparently hate it. I think that I am going to try it.
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| The remains of the rose bush after pruning off empty branches. There is still hope! |
The rose bush is another issue. It was growing so well during the spring. I was getting pink roses early! It was even surviving the beginnings of this hot dry summer we are in the midst of. Well I walked out one evening to water it and prune off the dead roses and found it stripped completely bare down to 6 inches off the ground. That means I had a full 3 feet of nothing but thorny branches! Argh! So after a little investigating, I discovered that deer love munching on roses. And sure enough, I found deer tracks in my yard. I often get deer in the night. Hardly ever see them during the day. An online resource recommended the product Liquid Fence but it came with the caveat that even that isn't foolproof. Hope Mr. Deer enjoyed his meal of roses.
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| What you see in green is crabgrass! |
The only vegetation successfully growing in my yard in this hot summer is the crabgrass, I have decided that I am going to embrace it because that is the only green on my lawn. I had once dreamed of calling the property some bucolic grand estate name such as "Foggy Hollow" for the morning fog which settles in the yard, or "Sloping Meadow" for the way the yard gentle slopes downward towards the house. I think I will settle on "Crabgrass Alley."
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| Dead leaves from my wilting pussy willow tree. |
The heat has been horrible! The forsythias are wilting. The trees are wilting. My flowers are done. The pussy willow tree is shedding inner leaves. Some trees have actually started to go into the Fall change from the heat. Ugh! I don't know about you, but I just don't have the money to run the sprinklers 24/7! I am thinking this summer is a bust for the perfect lawn. I hear humming or is it "Mum-ming" around the corner? Come the fall, I am going mum crazy and just gonna plant mums everywhere. Gotta love the mums, they can survive pretty much anything. But can they survive a marauding band of squirrels and one hungry deer?
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