Not that I accomplished an enormous amount, although I did manage to get the neighbours’ side of the fence trimmed. I’m very surprised they didn’t complain; it was pretty jungle-y over there. Anyway, for whatever reason (might have been Stranger Things on Netflix), I didn’t get these posted on Sunday, so I’ll do it now and change the date. Hee!

The weekend was beautiful and very warm, so I guess the water hyacinth wanted to make one last wave goodbye to summer.

Out of the 25 pine sticks I planted last spring, 8 remain. Not too bad, considering how small they were, and the fact that Eastern White Pine very often doesn’t survive the first year, and I didn’t water them, or give them any special treatment. This is the strongest-looking of the ones in the “grove” by the creek.

For whatever it may be worth, I unpotted the mulberry cuttings and put them (sand-infused potting soil and all) in the ground. One was dead for sure–it broke right off when I bumped it–but we’ll see. I potted them on 05 August, and put them in the ground on 30 October. I kind of had to wing it as far as location was concerned, but I’ll be very lucky if even one survives, let alone lives to mature and bear fruit. I don’t know why the second shot is blurry…fire the photographer.

I thought this little dude was an ant, crawling on my arm, and I felt badly because I thought I’d injured him when I swiped him off. He was okay, though, and I know he’s a Leptoglossus, but I don’t have a vegetable garden, so they’re no harm to me, and their babies are downright adorbs!

I finally found out what kind of grass is planted at the front of the house, and (predictably for the old lady) of course, it is invasive. FlowerChecker ID’d it as maiden grass, which is pretty much what I’d thought after doing a little research on my own. Vinca, wintercreeper, Chinese lilies, maiden grass…it’s like she went through a list of introduced invasives and thought, “Yep, I’ll have that, and that, and some of that, and…” Anyway, it can stay for the time being, but now that I know it’s invasive, I won’t feel bad about killing it when I find something else to go there. Big bluestem, maybe…it does want a grass of some sort.