Monday, April 5, 2010

Roadside Ramblings

Remember this photo? Here's what Sam did with the beefed up jack hammer...It took less than one day to bust up the concrete pad. A whole lot better time than if he'd gone at it with a sledge hammer!! When the rubble is gone, he intends to make a gentler slope. His brother wants the rubble to control some creekside erosion. So...

LOOK! I have two new things! A new hummingbird feeder and...a Japanese maple to replace the Mountain Laurel I had to remove. The laurel required sweet soil. Did you see the azaleas? Acidic soil. I would add lime to the soil around the laurel and an iron supplement for the acid around the azaleas. LOL And I truly thought it might work. Not!

Oh. Funny story time. We bought the maple at Lowes. I was on one side of the trees, Sam on the other. A man - customer - walked by me and said, Oh. Those are synthetic Japanese maples. Excuse me? Yes. Real Japanese maples that size are $500.

Well. It was the right color and in a price range I was willing to shell out. The label stated it was a Japanese maple. I said something to Sam. The man realized... Hey...she's with someone. So he buggied on off and even said something to Sam about the trees. I leaned over to Sam. "He doesn't know what he's talking about." ;o)

After I got home, I did a search on the variety of maple that I came home with. It is the original variety brought to the USA in the late 1780s and cultivated in a nursery on Long Island! LOL

More azaleas are blooming. One of the three bushes here hasn't burst open yet. Be sure to check out my hosta...The bluebonnets in the bed are about to explode. Can't wait until they bloom down by the road! Yippee!!

We made two more purchases at Lowes. Live oaks. They aren't synthetic either...the Latin name had Virginiana in it...True Southern live oaks. ;o) Hmmm...Can't see them very clear here. So here's a close-up.Another variety of daffodils blooming.On the way to Mama's for a visit, I had to pull over and inhale the heady scent of wisteria. It's gone WILD and crazy on both sides of the road through here. I would love to have a vine (and know where to get it too!) but I can't handle this out of control-ness. Indian Paintbrush.Not very good photos of dogwoods speckled throughout.




Then...there is THIS! Both sides of the railroad track. I live in an area of trashy TRASHY people... And a county without a landfill... That won't set up dumpsters for tax-paying county residents to dispose of garbage like T H I S!!! I deserve to be a Cranky Old Woman today!

1 comment:

Darla said...

Funny story about the synthetic maple! Lovely blooms there. I was appreciating the tip about mountain laurels needing alkaline soil...thinking I would pick up something at Lowes. Well I went out to take a look at mine and it looks like I won't have to spend any money on it. It's deader than a doornail.