Weeds for Every Season

Be careful on the stairs for now

I love Summer; I enjoy all the seasons in their own way, but there is a magical combination of puffy clouds, extra hours of sunlight with warm days and slightly cooler breezy nights that summer... OK I am recalling the summers of San Jose where I grew up but you get the idea. Today it felt like Summer to me, as I was able to get home early and get myself and my dog Bentley to the garden before dark.

Unfortunately for Pennsylvania Garden weedy things like blackberries, ivy, and fennel also love summer and have started to gain a foothold in certain areas of the garden. I spent a bit of time

Linaria, Yarrow, Digitalis and Lychnis
creating some nice May color

getting rid of some bindweed among the various succulents in the middle bed (it loves to hide in there!) and some neighbors stopped by with their very sweet dog Grady. Meanwhile my woofy ill-behaved dog Bentley was barking at me from the bench area, so I changed tasks and took him on walk through the garden to survey how things are going.

Please note that at the bottom of the steps two steps need to be fixed - and we're on it! I talked with Gary who helped install the steps, and he may be able to coordinate with Ryan soon to get them fixed. I also bet Annie and Matt will be there to help as well, so rest assured, it will get done, by someone, soon. So just be careful when using the steps for now.

Better to dig out weeds now

Another thing I noticed that I could deal with today was some canes of blackberry branching out from above the cacti at the bottom of the stairs. Partners in weedy crime were nearby fennel and ivy, so I grabbed a shovel and dug out the blackberry and fennel roots, and pulled quite a bit of ivy. This  area is still a work in progress, as by this time my dog was getting woofy again so it was time to take him home.