Red eyed vireo

I was minding my own business, working on the computer when a series of bangs on the window made me jump.  A greenish bird with its mouth open perched on a nearby perennial poppy and then hit the window again.  

This behaviour is common with male birds during breeding season.  They see their own reflection and figure it's a competing male, so they fly at it to scare it away.  Imagine their puzzlement when they hit a solid invisible wall of glass!  

To prevent this behaviour, you can take a bar of soap and scribble on the outside of the window.  That will break up the reflection and stop the bird's confusion.

I just ran at the window with my arms flopping and yelled at it.  That worked too.

baby mourning doves

I was walking past the raspberry patch when I saw two little grey heads poking out from between the leaves.  Two half-grown mourning doves sitting very still.

They were almost full size, but obviously not ready to take off into the sky.  It is a very vulnerable time for the birds after they outgrow the nest and learn how to forage for themselves.  I'm sure the parents were around somewhere, gathering food for their brood.

Meanwhile, the chicks' best protection is their grey camophlage and their very slow movements.  

Mourning doves eat seeds, and like to eat from the ground or a platform, not from a feeder.  They like millet, but will eat black oil sunflower seeds too.  They are very gentle and unagressive, and are always welcome at my feeder.

bad weed: violet

25 years ago, a friendly neighbour shared with me some of her best-growing perennials.  I was delighted to recieve a clump of sweet purple violets - what's not to love?

Well, that single clump has spread throughout the garden, shading out other less thuggy plants, and now they are invading the lawn.  The secret to their success is their 2-pronged procreation.  Underneath the ground, violets produce thick clumps of underground stems called rhizomes which store water and make the plant drought resistant.  Even if all the leaves are pulled, the rhizomes grow new ones in no time.  They also produce a lot of seeds that germinate quickly.  

On top of everything, the waxy leaves have a shiny coating that make them resistant to most herbicides.   

The violets have taken over my back yard.  It is no longer possible to get ahead of them.

A clump of violets has regular-looking roots plus long horizontal corms that are very hard to pull out.

The internet says the best defence is a healthy well maintained lawn, as dense grass helps keep the roots of violets from spreading.  

Obviously, that advice is not working for me.  All I can do is attack and destroy them in the flower beds, but I will never get rid of them completely.

bad weed: lily of the valley

Lily of the valley has tremenously beautiful and fragrant flowers that bloom in early June on PEI.  

This perennial is not considered a weed because people plant it on purpose, but it sure is invasive.  

A small patch will soon produce a dense network of roots that spreads throughout the flowerbed and into the lawn, choking out any other plants in its way.  

The roots are deep in the ground and it is very hard to get rid of all of them.  Any bits left behind will re-sprout and carry on as if nothing has happened.  I have been pulling and digging the roots, but there will always be some left behind.

My advice is not to plant them in your garden.  The pretty flowers are not worth the effort of keeping them contained.

bad weed: creeping jenny

 

Many years ago, I purchased creeping jenny to add to my outdoor flower containers.  Creeping jenny is labelled as an annual, and who would not believe a plant tag?  At the end of the season, I dumped the containers into my vegetable beds.  The next spring, I was surprised to find that the creeping jenny that had spent all winter with its roots in the air was still alive.  

Foolishly, I thought this would be a great plant for my garden, so I dug up and planted bits all over.  The plants flourished so well, that they took over the flower beds, filled up every bit of open space, and got into the lawn as well.  They root from every node, which means every inch or so.  They break when you pull them, and every bit of root that stays in the soil will start a new plant.  

It is important to put the pulled plants in a plastic bag and in the garbage, not the compost, where they will happily re-root and continue their thuggish ways.

They are lovely in early summer, with bright yellow-green leaves that contrast with everything else.  But by mid summer they become crispy and ugly, but are still almost impossible to remove completely.  Herbicides don't really work - you need to be careful not to apply so much that you kill the top growth before the chemical reaches the roots.  Nothing but repeated digging gets them.  They can even survive weeks covered with a tarp, getting no light.

I still try to get them out, but they have overtaken a few of my beds, winding around perennials and covering the ground with their leaves.  In one area beside the vegetable beds, I pulled out as many as I could find, and then covered the area with plastic and then pine needles for a year.  The fight continues!

bad weed: small flowered touch me not

In the shady nooks under the trees in my backyard are hundreds and thousands of these plants - called small flowered touch-me-not.

The plants are happily growing right through many inches of pine needles.

Also known as small-flowered jewelweed, is an annual flowering plant originally from Asia. It grows up to 60 cm in height, and has a shallow root system with translucent stems.

It has very small pale yellow flowers.  But they pack quite a punch.  

Touch-me-nots earn their name from ejecting their seeds from their seedpods when ripe. If left to ripen, the seeds explode in all directions, and next year there will be hundreds and thousands, like there are in my back yard.

This plant is typically found in forestlands and forest edges. It invades forest edges, disturbed sites, edges of waterways, and prefers moist soil. Because of its small and inconspicuous form it has gone unnoticed and is much more widespread than thought. Touch-me-nots can quickly disperse across the forest floor. This can effect forest regeneration. It crowds out native species and ultimately reduces biodiversity. 

hundreds of pulled touch-me-nots, with thousands still standing

one of many wheelbarrows full of pulled touch-me-nots

The thin filaments are pods starting to ripen. 
Once they do, the seeds shoot out after the least disturbance.

Controlling this thug

• the good news:  since these plants have shallow root systems, they are fairly easy to hand pull. Pull when soil is damp so roots will be removed as well. 
• Avoid disturbing the plants when the seeds are ripe. Any disruptions may cause seeds to shoot out further around the site. 
• Do not compost; dispose the plant properly at the landfill.  Well, I don't have that option - I'm piling them in a spot in the back with their roots up in the air.  Hope they don't reproduce from there.

• 

  these weeds can grow right through hosta

  
  
  

plants and flowers of Croatia

 

When my husband Wayne suggested we visit Croatia, I was not particularly impressed or interested.  I  knew nothing about the country located along the coast across the Adriatic Sea from Italy.  

Turns out, the country is a stunning mix of limestone cliffs plunging into blue-green waters, mountains,  rocks, and lush plants.  The coastline regularly sees winds over 200 kilometres per hour, but there is none of the downed trees and missing roofs that plagued Prince Edward Island after sub-tropical storm Fiona blew through at windspeeds of over 130 km last September.  The Croatian buildings are built to withstand those winds - built with stone and tile roofs that don't blow off.  Now, I am impressed.

Here is a list of some of the cool plants I found:

Huge palm trees in Split - the climate in the south is Mediterranian, with palms, tall thin cypress trees, lavender, and figs.

The palm trees big and small support their own ecosystems, with tiny plans growing in the cracks between the bark.

Another big palm 

Cupressus sempervirens, the Mediterranean or Italian cypress, is a native conifer of the Eastern Mediterranean, the cradle of Western civilization. It grows 20 to 30 feet tall, with aromatic wood and scaled leaves. Cypresses are long-lived trees.

The Italian cypress is hardy from USDA zone 7 to 9.  PEI is not the place for this tree.

Look closely at the trunk and you will see me.

above - baby figs can be seen growing close to the stem.

left - fig seedlings are everywhere - this one was growing in Krkr national park.

Oleander grows everywhere in colours of white, pale pink, and red.  Cultivated on lawns, and growing wild along roadsides, the profusion of flowers is stunning.  Unfortunately, no scent though.

The tiniest flower I found growing on a mossy rock in Rastoke amid rushing waterfalls.

Agave plants in Zadar.  These also grow everywhere.

On the road from Dubrovnik, from a high point, we could see valleys cultivated with fruit trees and vegetables, striped with irigation canals.

A type of snap dragon finds a foothold in cracks of an old limestone wall in Split.  Life is everywhere, even in the most inhospitable places!

Huge old London Plane trees in Zagreb and throughout Croatia.  I love the patterns of the bark.

Fragrant rosemary grows 3-4 feet high.

No fear of the cold here.

Thick ropes of ivy climbs a tree, using small supports to hang on to the trunk.

We didn't get to the botanical garden in Zagreb - it closed at 1:30 (??) but this is a view of the flowers in a local park.

huge bunch of Russian Sage

Passionflower vine.  Those who named this plant saw great symbolism in this flower, seeing a representation of the passion of Christ at the crucifiction.  The three parts of the style represent the three nails that attached Jesus to the cross.  The 5 anthers represent his 5 wounds.  The many filaments are the crown of thorns.  And the 10 petals are the 10 loyal apostles.

not a plant - but this was the coolest thing.  Half-way up a church tower in Cortula, at about 50 metres high, a mama seagull and her two babies hung out on a narrow ledge.  Made me dizzy to think about it, but it is a spot safe from preditors, although not safe from a long fall.