New York Renovator

Oh July! I love this month because it’s when everything is glorious buzzing with activity! And my most favorite flower, the fragrant Oriental lily, is blooming. Click the photo for a very large view. You can almost smell them from here.

I clipped a few and have them in the house. Their scent fills the home with their sweet, heady fragrance. Mmmmm.

My son has a growing collection of grasshoppers. He wanted me to post a photo of them. I think they are ickky. But I remember how fascinated I was with bugs when I was his age.

Well, the trees I planted last November didn’t make it. Bummer. I got about a dozen bare root trees from the Arbor Day Foundation. They were a lovely assortment of sweet gum, white oak, beech, and maple. I did wonder if the trees would make it. For some reason, my bare roots have a very low success rate. Ten years ago I bought ten blue spruce, only to have one survive. (Well, four survived the transplanting but were eaten by deer and/or chopped up by the neighbors, grr). The five privets I planted are doing well, and the willow tree I got is doing well, too. I was really hoping to have some nice trees, though. I takes SOOO LONG before the tree is something enjoyable! Arg! The kids complain that by the time the trees are able for climbing, the kids will be too old to climb them!

Same goes for the flowers. I have good success with perennials most of the time, but they do take a long time (read: FOREVER!!) to get established before they ever produce any color. It’s so hard to be patient! That’s why I’m wondering about silk plants. I have a neighbor who has silk tulips in her flower bed! They look incredible! You’d never know they were “fake” until you actually walked up to them and touched them (I’m an expert tulip detector). They are so colorful and no one would know… plus, silk flowers in an outdoor garden would help to keep the pollen at bay. The pollen count has been terrible this year– outside, we have big puddles of yellow pollen where it has washed off the cars and trees. I’ve never seen anything like it!

I wouldn’t have a problem with silk flowers in the beds. Or even a big silk cactus or palm tree, just for kicks, in the front yard! Wouldn’t that be a conversation starter!