We had big winds last night that blew leaves and twigs all over my yard, especially in the gravel areas and pathways. What seems strange to me, is that the winds always blow these things into my yard, but once here, they never get blown back out again. They just stay, which makes the ornamental rock around my garage and house look terribly unkempt.
The people who are laying down the rock told me I will have to get a leaf blower to keep the rocks clean, otherwise, the leaves decay and sink to the bottom of the graveled area, and will eventually destroy the weed-blocking fabric. I figured I’d have to blow the leaves off the rocks once a year or so, but the way things look, I’ll have to do it rather frequently. Also, to my surprise, plants do grow in the rocks, though supposedly, they are easy to pick out because of shallow roots, which is only partly true. Some are easy, but some are as difficult to remove as they would be from soil.
I always thought the purpose of xeriscaping at least part of a yard was to make it maintenance free, but as it turns out, I was wrong about that. Still, my main reason for the rocks around the house and garage was not easy maintenance so much as to protect the foundations, and the reason for the pathways was for my safety as I age. I don’t suppose I’d mind the work as much if it were my leaves and twigs settling in the yard, but they’re not. I don’t have any big trees any more. Mine were diseased, and had to be cut down. I will plant new trees, but it will be years before they would affect the xeriscaping areas of my yard.
Looking on the bright side, I get to buy a new tool! I’ll probably get a leaf blower that plugs in rather than a battery-operated one to make sure it’s not too heavy for me to carry around because there is a lot of area to cover.
Unless there is a way to redirect the wind to send the detritus back where it came from? I’ll work on that.
Meantime, the good news of the day is that the mechanic came to pick up my car so he could fix the brakes. Yay! I also enjoyed showing off my garage to the mechanic and his helper. It really is quite a wonderful building, and well organized, if I do say so myself, with metal shelves along one side, racks to hang long-handled tools on the other, and counters under the window for a work space.
More good news is that a daylily I planted a couple of years ago finally bloomed! I was surprised to see it was orange for some reason, perhaps because the other daylily, which did bloom last year, was yellow.
I’ve been checking out daylilies, and found a company that will sell untagged batches, so I wouldn’t know what I was getting. Sounds like fun! I discovered that it’s possible to plant them in the summer, so it would give me a more interesting project for the next few months than blowing leaves and twigs and such.
Good or not-so-good, there’s always something new, it seems, when it comes to landscaping and gardening.
***
What if God decided S/He didn’t like how the world turned out, and turned it over to a development company from the planet Xerxes for re-creation? Would you survive? Could you survive?
A fun book for not-so-fun times.
Click here to buy Bob, The Right Hand of God.
Bertram's Blog 
June 25, 2021 at 4:53 pm
I tend to think of twigs in the yard, and weeds in rocks as examples of the 2nd law of thermodynamics. The incidence of twigs (or weeds) will flow from a well-ordered to a less-ordered state over time, requiring an input of energy to return the system to its prior, better organized state. The law doesn’t specifically apply to twigs, but the inexorable nature of the process seems to.
June 25, 2021 at 9:05 pm
So now, when I clear away weeds, twigs, and leaves, I will believe I am participating in an inexorable process rather than a rather annoying one. I don’t know if it will help, but I can try.
June 26, 2021 at 3:54 am
Beautiful Daylilies. As you said one of you earliest blog post that when you have a house there is something to do often.
I admire you are a enthusiastic and perseverance gardener.
You must have some patient to get beautiful surprises with seeds when you are a amateur gardener.
Gardening will help you to have some kind of balance with physical and intellectual occupation. I an happy you are doing well with your garden. Keep it up.
Health, House with garden, a car always need good maintenance even sometimes it takes lots your time and energy.
June 26, 2021 at 6:42 am
Thank you for your kind words. Since I am alone, all my energy goes into maintaining all those things.
June 26, 2021 at 10:24 am
Knowing a process is inexorable somehow helps me accept the limitations of my ability to entirely overcome it – otherwise, the perfect has a way of becoming the enemy of the merely good.