Garbage Day!

 This household had trash out last Wednesday, Sept. 13th, when garbage day was the Monday prior. Of course, the critters got into it. The top floor of this house is being rented. It is also for sale. You'd think they'd do better than this in rural Ontario. 

It was still there Sunday, Sept. 17th. The trick to putting garbage out in rural life is washing your recycling, and waiting until that day to put it out. Keeping a cover on the green bags is essential. Mostly the crows get into it. It looks like plastic has blown down the highway. 

I put my garbage out at 7:30 a.m. It is lovely looking across at the empty lot, seeing the colours change.

I transplanted the forget-me-nots from the planter to the garden. This is a non-mental note so I can find them in Spring. I've scattered seeds for them for years, but never managed an actual plant. 

The planter looks a bit lonely, but the petunias and lobelia are still OK. I could see my breath when I put out garbage Monday morn. Later on, the bees were out.

We had a surprising 13 mm rain on Monday afternoon. We are affected by the aftermath of Lee, formerly known as a hurricane and then a tropical storm. The storm is turning counter-clockwise, as it moves northeast. There was some thunder and lightning.

I am still tidying up the garden, and thinking about transplanting some stray lilacs to the front yard, when it rolled in. Up above, there was a flock of geese, then two more with 16 and 21 geese in two more formations. I was really glad to get more gardening done first.

Canada Geese Sept. 18 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I made another apple crisp, some hockey puck biscuits, and heated up some chili (frozen, from M & M's) for dinner. If anyone has a good recipe for biscuits... sigh.

BTW – I've come to the conclusion that it was the fisher who terrorized Cinnamon. It popped up on the trailcam. 

Poor Charley!

 Charley, the spider, had a disappointment, something wrecked her web. She is still there, but didn't fix the web overnight. Nor the next. I was going to turn the plant around, but I can't with the web attached.

It was a beautiful web. 

😿 Friday night, around 7 p.m. dusk, someone came to the door to ask if we had a black cat. We used to, first Olive, then Felix and Buster. I am wondering if it is the wandering Pepper. This woman say a black cat had been hit by a car and was lying near our mailbox. JB and I went out and brought the little body in, and put it in a plastic garbage bag in a box. Joe took it to the vet Saturday morning. Hopefully he is chipped, but I doubt it, as Pepper was an intact male. 

I had a big cry. 

The vet posted info about the death, but so far no one has come forward. I have looked for months for where he came from, but no one came forward. He wasn't chipped, as I suspected.

Our last sighting in June, 2023.

😼 Cinnamon Walkies

The good news is that while Joe was walking around the house, Cinnamon went with him. (He refused to walk with me a couple of days ago.) Then, Cinn followed his sister back to the woodshed, and one of them got on the roof of the shed. It is good for him to get some exercise. The bad news is he won't walk with me in the forest! 

I'm wondering if our neighbourhood Bobcat is the culprit! We've a Bobcat. These are from postings from local trailcams, Nov. '21, and Jan. '22. It is an elusive beast. I've had a couple of triggers on the trailcams that didn't show up anything. Could be.

Autumn chores continue. All of the lilies, phlox, hibiscus, and other plants are done. I've one more rosebud, but that may be it. The datura is still going strong. My fuschia in the hanging planter, and the tomatoes, and the yellow petunias Caitlin brought me, are still good. 

I've taken down the deer fence.

The danged weeds are thriving, however. I've been pulling twitch grass till I'm blue in the face! I pile it into the metal garbage can, and throw it onto Oliver's Lot.

The other problem I have is that there are many saplings growing in the garden. I've been having to dig out knee-high trees: mountain ash, lilacs, and baby elm trees. 

Good news! I've been trying for years to grow forget-me-nots, and finally the seeds took in the planter. Usually, I put pine branches in this planter over winter. I'll have to rethink this. The lobelia and marigold will die off soon. Maybe I should transplant them to the garden.

We had a visit from the cardinal pair. He landed on the bench and then perched on the railing. This is a photo from my chair, it was a tricky shot.

Spring flowers!

Yellow Wood Poppy

After yesterday's bear encounter, I confined myself to the garden!

I love this time of year when the garden wakes up. My Orchid cactus was a gift from Nancy, and it likes being out in the sunshine.

 I have some plants that were new from last year. I'd forgotten about the jack-in-the-pulpit in that post. I hope it sprouts. They are from a native and rare plant nursery in southern Ontario. This Wood Poppy is one of the plants.

Marsh marigold - poisonous

Lilacs are ready

Orchid cactus

daffies

tulips

primrose

forget-me-nots

iris

Linda, AKA Crafty Gardener, has kindly ID'd the last flower as giant allium. I really don't remember buying them (there are two), let alone planting them!

The red trillium in the woods are still blooming. Nancy, my friend in Muskoka, writes about the difficulties of trillium spreading, as they depend upon critters, like ants!


The white trillium, in the garden, had a bit of a trim. This is a consistent story! At least they left me two blooms this year. Last year, Daisy guarded them for me!

May 2016

Daisy, fern, trillium, 2015

May 2014

Last year, I planted two apple trees, the last two that sat on the lot at our local nursery. Bambi has trimmed them, but they survived! I placed broken pine boughs around it to discourage them.

My horse chestnut has flowers this year. It didn't do well last year. It is heart-warming seeing everything come back after winter.