Sun & Shade Mapping: Spring Equinox, 2021

I am a natural night owl.  So yesterday I simply stayed up just to see if we would have any sunlight worth noting at 6AM.  We did not, but I still managed to catch a neat shot.  I did manage the 9AM as well, but then fell asleep in my chair and woke up just in time to snap a near noon shot before toddling off to bed.  I did get up in time for the 6PM.  I cheated a bit today by taking the 3PM shot because I figured one day difference is still close enough. (Said to self while inwardly cheering the skies were not cloudy as well.) [Note: I took an actual 3pm shot today (22nd), so for those that might have seen this post before, now the sequence makes more sense. If this is your first time reading it, I moved the prior note about why I had to fix a mistake to the bottom of the post.] Continue reading “Sun & Shade Mapping: Spring Equinox, 2021”

Note to Future Me #6

Remember those images of the shade changes in the backyard we took last year in mid May after reading about how useful it is to understand which parts of a garden is shaded or not, and when?  They were then filed away in the “Progress” folder, and I only found them again this year while hunting for an older picture.  Here’s a refresher in case you forgot again: Continue reading “Note to Future Me #6”

Posted in Indoor Musings, Plants

What is it? Part 2

Courtesy Notice: This did get a bit more rambly than planned, but I don’t have time to try to knock it down because I have a promise to keep today.


It finally opened!  The other one also suddenly has a second bud forming.  So I had to take some pictures.  I want to point out that last year I have no photo evidence of anything like that in that bed.

Here’s what’s odd.  When I look at my 2018 Plantings notes, I wrote that I planted “Black eyed susans – porch – June 8”. From pictures I’ve looked at, this is a fairly likely candidate but the “porch” designation is supposed to mean something else. Continue reading “What is it? Part 2”

Posted in Plants, Progress

strawberries everywhere followup part 2

Today, as I am yanking up my latest nemesis–purple loosestrife–I see a tiny blob of red.  “Huh,” I think to myself, “That’s new.”

Strawberries.  Three tiny ones on a plant buried in the front yard sloped portion’s masses of wildflowers and grasses.  Then I find another plant close by, also with red budding berries. Continue reading “strawberries everywhere followup part 2”