Outdoor Bonsai

In a residential section of Kyoto, I caught sight of this bonsai tree that was cut to fit the space it's in as well as to please the eye, its leaves artistically cut. The Japanese admire things that are "sculpted and controlled," in the words of writer Pico Iyer, who lived in Nara, close to Kyoto.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see the "fence" made of horsetail plants that are grown closely together around the base of the tree. Very ingenious. The tree with its gnarled and shaped branches in a "pom pom" look, must be quite old.

Note the decorated ceramic tile roof of the house in the background.

Dead branches

Rising from bed with the flush of flu and glancing out the window at falling snow covering already covered trees, branches, and street,I notice for the first time a pale brown gash in the oak tree across the street, more than a foot wide.

Nothing too strange, but what a relief!

They have finally done it - removed the heavy branch that overhung the road and the entrance to my driveway. We just had heavy snow and ice, and now more snow. Was it a year ago that I started calling the city's forestry department and the electricity company to try to have the dead branches removed. Not only did they remove those branches, just in time I think, but they took off the entire limb.

How often I had imagined children, dogs, dog walkers (notice the order of importance)and cars being smashed by those decayed branches falling. And just when I was not noticing, somebody removed the entire limb. It might even have been the homeowner whose backyard the tree resides in.

Now, if I can only get the city to remove another heavy dead limb overhanging the street next to ours....

First Snowfall

First all-day snowfall of the year - steady falling, silent snow.

Things look quiet, clean, and calm outside, and a bird or two has found a perch on the bare branches of the cherry tree out back.

With a soft red sofa, two good books in hand, and holiday music in the background, it's possible for a while to forget the current craziness of a downspiraling economy, looming layoffs, and uncertainty in the future.

One reason to like the change of seasons - the first calming snow of the year.

By the shores of Lake Huron

Over the Labor Day weekend, we stayed at a hotel in Mackinac City, Mich. right along Lake Huron. I spent an early morning taking pictures of the waves, the stones, and the friendly seagulls.






This curious gull might have been looking for handouts as it walked by.

Polka Dot Annual

The "polka dot" plant above is doing well in the front and still alive and kicking at the end of October, thought the bright colors have darkened a bit. Click on the photo (taken early summer) to see the beautiful spotted leaves up close - dark pink, pink, and green combined in each leaf.

Fall Blooms

Okay, so my significant other "weeded out" most of my yellow and lavender mums in the front yard and threw them away. !#$%!. That was in the spring, by the way. But I'm promised purged plants will be replanted elsewhere in the future.

So, what's blooming at the end of October? Mums of course, the red and lavender ones that survived in the front and a great big mum bush of red-with-yellow centers in the back yard. Also, those two knock out rose bushes I planted about a month ago are blooming nicely, with double red rose petals. They are still small bushes though and I hope they will spread out a bit next summer.

What else blooms this time of year?

Two bright red African impatients are still putting out flowers, and one of the canna lily bulbs I planted finally produced tiny yellow flowers. I don't know if the flowers are miniscule because of the type of canna or because the bushes are new to the soil. Am going to leave them in the ground and hope for a mild winter and big lilies next year. (The Farmer's Alamanac predicts warmer than usual winter temps in Zone 5). Keeping fingers crossed.

My shishigashira, Japanese Lion's Head Maple, has not yet turned color by the way. It is usually the last tree in the yard to change color and will go from a deep green to deep orange.

Knock Out Roses

i've decided to make it easier to get 9 months of color in the garden, and have put in two red knock out rose bushes in the front. They are supposed to have double the petals but since they are new to my ground, they are testing the air with just single rows of petals right now.

I've just added mushroom compost and will later add fertilizer granules to entice them to develop double petals. If they do well before the frost in November (?), I may just get a couple more for the other side of the yard next year.

No hassle roses, they say, not heirloom, but then who wants roses in the front that passersby will be tempted to pick? Knock Outs - the crysanthemums of the rose world! Easy to grow and blooming every time. I just hope they do all they promise!