Lands Capers

Richard is chairperson of the Elderberry Landscaping Committee. Many community members thoroughly enjoy Richard’s skill in beautifying Elderberry, as well as reading his wonderful reports! 

Here is the latest update from the Landscaping chairperson:

Good morning, Neighbors.

This Saturday we have another opportunity to make Elderberry even more beautiful.

It is working! We are keeping ahead of the weeds and adding opportunities, and nature is responding with blooms and flutterbyes.

The Sneezeweed has arrived and is great! Even the South Quad has a volunteer, which in its lone perch is spectacular.

And we are blessed with displays, on our property and all along the roads, of what Mary B calls Ditch Daisies. They are actually Bidens aristosa. If you aren’t politically inclined or if you have a dog who walks through the flowers after they’ve gone to seed, you can also call them Bearded Beggar Ticks. Meg has a stunning bed in the common ground west of her unit.

Soooo slow, but I believe by the next note, that the augustifolia (swamp sunflowers) will be blooming (finally). They are tall this year, drooping over the pedway and nodding in the heat. But they cannot hold out much longer. The shorter days will force them.

And in yet another note we cannot fail to mention the Scarlet Rose Mallow. It just keeps blooming. Some of those plants must be 8’ tall, and not a marsh in site. Now they even have a response from the Pedway Bed. Wait until next year to see who blooms most. I must admit to cheating. More than 10 have been planted from south quad cuttings in the pedway bed this year.

But we do work for it and several small beds do need attention. Nothing is overrun, so pick a buddy and walk around, look at the raised beds beside the walk from the circle to parking lot, at the river oats bed below the south quad, at the tree plantings, or walk the EB Land bed. Only after the first hour are you allowed to get distracted and sit down and weed and seriously talk.

Speaking of seriously, we have a dead and very likely termite infected tree behind the small pack house. It is only a standing trunk, not small yet easy to bring down. The question is, what do we do with it. Logs on the ground are even more attractive to termites. Cecil has made an excellent point when saying that fires are a part of nature, but if we pile up brush and logs in the woods – that is not. It is dangerous to the forest and to our homes. Some time ago, we decided that periodic burns, if scheduled allowing for short term changes due to weather, were what we wanted. The first notice after that decision met an objection. Since then no one has come forward to manage the fires. We have no burns, that is, so far, no controlled burns. So if we cut the log down – where does it go? Do we hire someone to truck it off to the landfill?

Consider coming to the Landscape Committee Meeting, Monday, September 14 at 4PM. We will talk about all this and anything else. And, please, pay attention to our plants. They are new; everything is changing, and we need to respond.

Good compost to you (it’s available),

Richard