WiseAcre Gardens

My pond garden gets a spring clean up. Finally.

Note the tree stump in the upper left hand corner – The Maple tree that is no more used to provide shade for my Ligularia and Jewelweed. I think the Ligularia will handle the extra sun but the Jewelweed is going to suffer. Not that that’s a bad thing – the Jewelweed sprouts everywhere and a little help controlling it is appreciated. Yea right – I’ve planted some Yellow Jewelweed seed I collected last year.

I want to do more of this. I just love a stone wall emerging from water. The Sweet Woodruff growing out of the cracks only ads to the charm.

Stone bridge over the drainage ‘ditch’ along the driveway. All part of the plan to get the vegetable garden dry before the end of may. The crushed stone dry stream is also part of the ‘easy maintenance’ pond overflow.

There’s a dam at the end of the pond I lower to drain and flush the pond. One reason to drain the pond in the winter is to keep frogs from trying to overwinter in it. The pond is way too shallow (only a few inches deep) so before they start to think about burrowing in I drain the pond, forcing them to seek better shelter elsewhere. They don’t have far to go though, my plot is surrounded by swamp.

A look at another bridge in the ‘construction’ area. Where the hand dolly is laying was flooded not that long ago. The spring melt usually fills the area about 8 inches deep. I haven’t decided if I want to make it a permanent pond or put in a drainage pipe to carry the water away.

The wall will get done sooner or later. It’s just that I suffer from Shoemaker’s Syndrome. I probably would never have started but I came across some stone that I wasn’t going to let anybody else have.

I call this Bubble Rock. It has to be the only pieces of stone like this around. How it formed is a mystery to me but it’s mine, mine, mine. All mine. Those Jewelweed seedlings in the crack are mine too but they’ve got to go.

I guess the best way to describe it is it looks like half filled water balloons that hardened into multicolored stone. The sandstone quarry had never seen anything like it before and probably never will again. There were only a few pieces and I took them all. They just begged to be in a water feature and I couldn’t say no to them.

The hamlet of Morley, NY saw heavy traffic yesterday. At least one local resident overheard himself discribe the traffic as crappy. It appeared that a single Deere was responsible for the shitty road conditions found a little way down the road.

On one of the busiest travel days of the year the air was filled with the sound of honking. Thousands of travelers took to the air to head south.

Leaving the traffic behind I went looking for Green Gift ideas but by this time of year the selection is pretty slim. The first real green item I stumbled upon was fencing. Handmade of 100% eastern White Cedar this fencing will last for decades without any maintance but it takes special care to get the green look.

One item that dates back long before electric shavers was shelved in great supply but none seemed to be moving. Once used to strop razors these Birch Brackets are now left to produce a green apple smell while decomposing dead Birch trees.

Birch polypore, Piptoporus betulinus are leathery unlike the more common woody conks that grow on dead trees. Strips cut from them are used as a strop for razors. The annual fruiting bodies emerge in the spring and summer from wood that is extensivly decayed.

Looking up the tree trunk gives one a different perspective.

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I happened to make it to Carol’s garden in Amherst, Mass the other day.

It was a spur of the moment trip even though I’ve planned on going since there was snow on the ground. A combination of circumstance led me there. I just happened to stumble into blog world and was reading quite a few before I started mine. One of the first things I came across was talk of a ‘Spring Fling” at Pam’s Digging. Well it doesn’t take much to put an idea in my head. Unfortunately Texas was a bit too far to go just to have a good time.

By now Mr. Brown Thumb had managed to coax me into starting my own blog.  I’ve learned since then I better rely on my photographs.  A few one liner comments doesn’t qualify me as a writer. But still I try and participate since it’s a way of sharing.  It’s a world tour of personal gardens and I’m still waiting for someone to show me a gardener that can resist showing off theirs.

That’s how bloomingwriters – Garden Blogger Geography Project steered me to Carol’s place. No big deal. It was one of numerous blogs I visited. But going through some old posts of Carol’s I learned she had used her little car to haul some fairly large rock to build her steam and pond. Now there was something I could relate to. Anyone who drives around the countryside kidnapping rocks and putting them to ‘work’ is my kind of person. Not just anyone knows how to outsmart the big ones.

If anyone deserved another rock I figured Carol qualified. I pretty much made up my mind right then and there to make a drive by rock drop off. Sooner or later I was going to be within 60 miles of her place and figured it was a good excuse to revisit some old rock hunting grounds of my youth.

As you can see I made it to Carol’s and saw the pond. It almost didn’t happen. We both had limited time and mine was running out. Getting lost in western Mass. is not a good idea. Relying on memory of roads taken so many years ago isn’t a good idea either if the storage medium gets corrupted. I managed to make a 50 – 60 mile trip turn my odometer over 100.  At home, 40 miles isn’t considered a long drive but driving the back roads in western Mass is painfully slow. What really hurt was losing over an hour before I really had my bearings.

But i did make it and before you know it I broke off the conversation and chased another visitor out of the garden.  I only wanted a better shot but the butterfly refused to cooperate.

Turning the corner from the sunny garden I saw the fire pit.  It was very nicely done but I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad. It will never hold a ‘north country bonfire’ with flames dancing wildly 20 feet high. Carol’s fire pit is more reserved and I imagine the conversation will be a bit more subdued too.  She has neighbor’s to contend with after all.

In the background you’ll see why Carol better be discrete. Besides living in the center of town Carol has a big box of old folk living next door. Not the kind of people you want to build a huge fire or have a raucous party in front of. Note the progress being made to fence them out

If these come up missing don’t look at me. Go look in my garden.

I prefer Great Blue Herons but those Peacocks would fit in any garden.

This was new to me. I lost the note I made when i got back in the truck.

It was quick. The visit was over before we really had a chance to get going. I dropped the rock (it was heavy) and had a whirlwind tour before we had to part and go our separate ways. I’ll be back sometime. I never did get to the old rock hunting grounds. By the time I left I had just enough time to get home before dark. I figure both Carol and the rocks will be around a while longer.

Here is what all the fuss was about

- a stupid rock (none have a very high IQ)

DOH! I forgot Carol’s link and had to come back and post it.

Tera Nova Design

Now you can go and tell her I sent you to look at her ‘new garden tool’