Quest For World Domination

Day 154: Yesterday's foray was all about Skunk Cabbage, but it was a short-term mission and I needed some way to fill the rest of the day. Since I'd decided to invest in a Discover Pass which allows me access to state parks, I thought I'd do a land survey of Ike Kinswa. My previous surveys of the area have all been done by kayak. That said, before I left the Swofford Pond area, I decided to check on a nasty infestation of Yellow Archangel at the boat launch. The land managers have been trying to eradicate it since I first alerted them to its presence a few years ago. Unfortunately, the stuff is amazingly hard to wipe out and spreads like wildfire unless it is hit hard and on a regular basis. Sure enough, the 3000-square foot patch is taking off again, bad news which gave me cause to file another report with the Invasive Plant Council.

At Ike Kinswa, I found some digitalis (foxglove) along the roadside. This wasn't unexpected, and it's much easier to control. The first shocker came when I got to the highway and saw Vinca minor which had been deliberately planted beneath the park's entrance sign. It had escaped from the landscaping and was moving into the forest. A grounds-maintenance person was on staff, so I mentioned it to her before continuing along the Mayfield Lake Trail. Oh, but what a nightmare I found there! However the plant may have crossed the highway (subsurface runners, seed, fragments caught in someone's boot or tires), the invasion force was hard at work. I mapped approximately 30,000 square feet of Vinca minor, so aggressive that it is even overwhelming the Himalayan blackberries.

The real mind-boggler is this: nurseries in Washington are still allowed to sell both of these virulent invasive groundcovers, and they do so, touting the plants' ability to "suppress weeds." Those words alone should be a warning to anyone with half a brain. Both of these plants are extremely difficult to remove once they become established, so if you have them in your yard and don't intend to live forever to maintain them in a confined space, get rid of them NOW!

The Gardening Bug

Day 169: Is there a 12-step program for gardeners? I have the gardening bug, big-time. It seems like I can't go to town without something following me home. Today I laid in a new bark bed and planted it with two prostrate junipers (foreground). Two blue junipers will fill in empty spots beside the driveway, and the Periwinkle will sprawl in the corner with my "smiley-face" boulder (a natural crack makes the rock look like it's grinning). Then I must be counselled to patience as I wait for the hardy fuchsias to arrive at the nursery. I have a spot for just one more...or maybe two (she said with a wink).

New Camera Accessories

Day 185: "Oh, no! Another gardening post!" I can hear you now. No, the Vinca minor was modelling for a test of a new piece of camera equipment, a "Little Big Shot."

You'll notice I stopped right there, without calling it a lens, without calling it a filter. I'd put it in the category of filters, but the manufacturer refers to it as a lens. It was designed for "bridge" cameras like my Canon SX30 IS which do not have interchangeable lenses. In fact, out of the box, the SX30 doesn't accept filters, either. I purchased an adapter ring which allows me to use 58mm filters. The Little Big Shot is, in short, a lens in a frame which attaches to the camera by means of an elastic band. It's not elegant, but hey, it does a great job, as you can see here. I have a set of macro filters which seem to distort the subject a bit more than is acceptable to me, and do not give as good resolution. I believe the vignetting in this shot is due to the fact that I did not remove the adapter ring I normally use for filters before attaching the LBS. All in all, I'm quite happy with this new...whatever you want to call it. It will be in my camera bag, and those macro filters may stay home.

Making More Work

Day 183: I had to go to town today and wanted to pick up some more bark mulch for the garden, but wound up with a little extra time on my hands before an appointment. What happened next was as certain as death and taxes: I came out of the garden store with a full cart. My acquisitions included two more Blue Star Junipers, two "Furzey" Heathers, a Vinca minor, and two sedums and a stonecrop (a taller plant) which will be the centerpiece of the strawberry jar, presently under conversion to a succulent garden. This phenomenon is known as "making more work for myself," something I do all too frequently when planting season rolls around. With snow sprinkled on the hills above the house like powdered sugar on gingerbread, I successfully resisted the temptations offered by zonal geraniums and calibrachoa. Neither is frost-hardy. However, I did fall for the lure of a wrought-iron trellis which barely fit in my car.

Periwinkle Check

Day 209: Periwinkle...or Vinca minor, if you prefer...sprouts in odd places in my yard, leftovers from years ago when I envisioned mounds of it galloping along at the base of my rail fence. As is so often the case with my gardening, the plants simply refused to establish where I wanted them, and proceeded to send out runners underground. I'll blame my lack of success on the soil here. What of it there is between rocks is acidic and nutrient-poor.

There are other oddments in between the hawkweed and moss in my loosely-termed "lawn." Wild strawberries bloom in great patches of white, never bearing a berry. Primroses in yellow and purple are scattered in the carpet of questionable "grass." The Periwinkle always surprises me with its bright blue eyes staring up out of a section twenty feet from where I installed it originally. "How'd that get there?" I wonder, since it was so reluctant to bloom where it was planted.