For the past week, we have enjoyed some unseasonably warm weather, with temperatures in the high sixties to mid seventies. Last Saturday I mowed my lawn for the last time this season. If you’re thinking that this is rather late for Michigan, you’re right. The grass really hasn’t grown much in the past few weeks, but […]
First it was falling leaves from my Maple trees and then falling stems. Now it’s falling branches. Fortunately, the dropped branches are few in number and small in diameter. In examining the breaks, they are suspicious looking. Certainly, there was a weakness at the point of separation that caused them to break. Each fallen branch has […]
A few weeks ago, I shared about leaves falling from my Maple trees (see Raking Leaves). In the spring an insect lays eggs in the stems of Maple leaves. When the eggs hatch, the stems become weak at that juncture and the leaves fall off. That was June 6. At this time, the leaves have stopped […]
For the past several years, at about this time, leaves fall from my trees in alarming quantities. Yes, leaves falling in the spring—enough that they should be raked. In our yard are ten Maple trees, which are the culprits (victims) of this phenomenon. Apparently, an insect lays eggs in the stems of Maple leaves in the […]
Last week something outside caught my eye. Every few seconds some dirt would fly through the air. It was emanating from grass level in the middle of my back yard. Upon further investigation I discovered an industrious gopher furiously cleaning out the entrance to his subterranean abode. I stealthy approached the nexus of the activity […]
I’m so excited; my first outdoor flowers are in bloom—primrose. Seeing my yard’s first flower of the year and with daytime temps finally in the 60s and 70s, I know that spring is actually here—not because the calendar says so, but it actually looks and feels like spring! However, the primrose shouldn’t be my first […]