gardening

IT's that time of year again in Baltimore and I love it. I know we have some gardeners in here. There's nothing more peaceful thatn puttering in the garden with no real agenda except to make the earth more beautiful.

Who likes to garden.

By the way, DJ is a garden designer...among other things.

Warning: Before you have someone trim your beds and bushes, check to see if they were ever in the military...you should see the haircut my yard man gave my bushes....eeek!

The soil where I live is mostly sand and then lime, so literally nothing grows unless you have a grow box built. The exception to that is Oleander Bushes. The one in front of my place is about 12 feet high and is now full of lush purple/red flowers that smell so good and in the corner of my back yard theres 2 together about 15 feet high full of pink and white blossoms. I just had them all trimmed last week-end. They get really bushy and need to be neatened up. I had the same guy trim them 2 years ago and like Jaw Jaws guy, he masacured them. I cried I was so angry. Luckily they grow back and grow fast and are back where they were. This time I stood there and chatted with him telling him cut here, not here etc. So they look wonderful. Oh, he was so upset the last time because he went trimmer happy that several days later he came over with a beautiful hand made oak and stained glass clock he'd built. It was an apology gift. So when having things done keep your eyes open.

I have to get the gigantic post-rainy season weeds out before they turn into brown summer uglies that seem glued into the ground.

I can't do anything with my garden because of my surgery, but I am concerned about the cecadas we will be gettting in our area. What are people in my rae doing to protect their plants from the bug invasion?

In the garden between the rows of flowers or vegetables lay down sheets of Bounce softener. My elderly neighbor, with the most beautiful garden I've seen told me that. It protects from all flying bugs as well as rabbits and deer. Seems to work for her. She also gave me a list of things Bounce is good for. Will post later for your information.

When we lived in our house, I had several flower gardens, plus a vegtable garden. I'd trim and weed and putter out there for hours. I always bought little lawn and garden statues of the trolls or elves and had them in the gardens.

Now we live in an apartment and I still have trolls and elves on the lanai, but I don't garden, I am more into house plants. I enjoy taking care of them and starting new plants for my friends.

Brought this post back to share that the cicadas are hummin' and hanging all over the flowers in my gardens!

I told my husband they were my friend and I was gardening regardless.

The other night we were laying in the hammock and I felt one on my toe! When we looked up we saw the ground in motion. They were all coming out of the holes. I got totally grossed out, got out of the hammock and we walked the dog instead.

I decided they were only my friends during the day. I was totally spooked by them at night.

Who has cicadas in their area?

My dog was eating the cicadas 2 days ago -- she was so excited and happy doing so. After all, this will be the only time in her life that she'll see them, so I let her have her fun.
But then yesterday she had the worst diarrhea on the RUG. When I let her out today, she went back to the place where there dozens of cicadas wew in reach if she just stood in one spot. Now she's confined to the kitchen.
Did you Marylanders notice the cicada recipes in the Baltimore Sun yesterday? Pretty funny. Maybe we should post a few Some say they taste like canned asparagus.
I got a deal on a rose trellis at Home Depot (only 2.98!--the last of its kind and no friggin skew number, so the cashier was frustrated and gave up) so I put that up, then spent a few hours yesterday a.m. moving shrubs around (spirea, buddleia, a couple of small lilacs, dwarf oakleaf hydrangeas), and so many cicadas landed on me that I've decided not to garden again until they're gone!

You poor folks with the cidadas.
Seems like we have them every summer, but not as bad or in the daytime.
We can hear them in the trees when we sit on the patio at night already. I wonder if there's more coming our way.
I don't mind the noise so far. It just sounds like a summer night always sounds.

I guess their singing could even be kind of a turn on. It's supposed to be the males trying to get the attention of a female with whom they can mate before they drop dead five or six weeks later I think.

Sounds like a plot for a musical, doesn't it. ??
A tragedy since they all die in the end.
Probably not a musical. More like a plague. But then there are musicals about plagues too. Hmmm.

I'm rambling again. Sorry.
smile

This is a song for the musical above in the tune of:
The Girl From Iponema.....

Loud and gross,
and always humming.

The cicadas are back,
and more keep coming.

We spray, we stomp and
we do all we can till their gone.

Nothing works so we simply suffer,
We use ears plugs as a loud noise buffer.

We have to take it,
but soon one day they'll be gone.
(chorus)
Oh, how we hate them so badly,
Why do they taunt us so gladly,

If we wait very soon we will see,
Not one will be left in a tree.

So just be patient, its almost over,
Heed these words all will soon be clover,
The Cicadas life span is short,
and soon they will be....dead.

Great song Chatty. I was thinking of "Rent" where the lovers are dying of aids and the opera "La Boheme" on which it is based where they are dying of tuberculosis.
I see the cicadas as lovers who have waited seventeen years to earn enough to begin the search for their lover.
They would be singing soulfully as they frantically search for their mates who they know they have only six weeks to find. Then if it's a real tragedy, they will die in each others arms before they can conumate their love. Or if it's a romantic comedy, they could die after finding each other and consumating their love.

Okay, it's a tragedy. Hey, these cidadas have a difficult and short life. A lot like an opera for sure.
smile

chatty, sounds like you've lived through this before. Great little song. Were you in Baltimore when they were here last?

I think chatty and smile need to start working together.

Okay, now I'm visualizing the eleven o'clock song, a baudy little number to wake the audience up.
I see the lead cicada singing romantically downstage about how he is looking for the love of his life and only has a short time to find her while a chorus of more pracitcal sex starved cicadas sing upstage. Their chorus would be something melodramatically off key and the lyrics might be along the lines of:

We got no time for love.
Love will just have to wait.
Seventeen years is enough.
Love's not a part of our fate.
No time for love
but sex would be great!!

then the romantic lead would go into some romantic love song and his lover could come onstage and sing demurely back to him and get pulled off stage by the baudy cicadas and the romantic guy could finally get close enough to kiss her as they both die.

As you can see, I am a very SICK person.
What a way to go.
smile

TOOOOOO funny!

Chatty,

Loved the song! You are so funny! Can't wait to meet you.

Sherri

Thanks alot for looking at my silly song and I am looking forward to meeting you as well. August is the HOTTEST month of the year so we won't be out of doors too much. People have been known to melt into their loafers in August....

Funny,,,when I was writing the song above (it took all of 5 minutes) to the tune of THE GIRL FROM IPONEMA I was doodling and drew a tall leggy Cicada in a bikini strolling down the beach, I laughed so hard at my own picture. Wish I could get it onto this site somehow, she had great tits and lipstick, oh, red hot mama Cicada . Today I called Dotsie and got her machine so I sang her machine the song since she didn't know the tune....