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Sunday, January 13, 2013

"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART TWO-G-1 (Sept. 1st — Sept. 11th 2012)



Today's entry here on Blogger is part two-G-1 of a series of posts pertaining to a year-end review for special occurrences in my rooftop garden for the year 2012 (the schedule for this series is described in part one as well as part two-A of this topic) and, because September 2012 was the month when my garden went through so much upheaval, I will be posting the review for that month in three parts.

In today's entry I will be reviewing events that took place in the month of September during the time period of September 1st through September 11th for the year 2012. Tomorrow's (January 14th 2012) will deal with the events from September 12th — September 19th 2012, and on Tuesday, January the fifteenth of 2012, I will conclude September 2012's review!

So without further ado, I begin my September 1st — September 11th 2012 review and much to my delight, the month began with the return of my "lone" visiting cardinal, Cam. Her motive in visiting seemed to check out what I had to eat, as you might surmise from the images posted above. However, Cam also checked out yours truly as seen in the image below.



Cam would prove to be most delightful to photograph as evidenced by the number of images on two of my Pinterest Boards which you may view by clicking here as well as here.  Moreover, I've posted "stories" about her in a number of entries here on Blogger and within my tumblr pages. Additionally, Cam has become a "regular" on TLLG's Facebook Page.

However, Cam was not the only one who returned to my garden for some food in September of 2012, for September also saw a "lone" visiting bee - the first bee to visit my garden in the 2012 gardening season, who also came to nosh! This was a welcome surprise for me as I had enjoyed watching bees munching on my Echinacea as well as Hyssop in bygone years.

The bee who came in September seemed to be a loner who throughly enjoyed my Black and Blue Salvia, as evidenced by the images posted below.





But who could blame a bee for being attracted to this plant! The foliage of the black and blue salvia is quite striking as you can surmise from the images above as well as the ones below.




But, in September of 2012, my Black and Blue Salvia was not the only thing I grow to boast new foliage or flowers: both the yellow and purple varieties of my Oxalis produced lovely flowers as seen in the images below.




And as the black and blue salvia was not alone in sporting gorgeous flowers, Cam, was not the only bird to appear in my garden in the first week of September 2012. Red house finches also returned and as was the case with Cam, their motive in visiting seemed to be to check out what I had to eat as you might surmise from the images posted below.




And just as Cam had done, the red house finches also checked out yours truly as evidenced by one of them who can seen in the image posted below.



And also like Cam, the red house finches would prove to be most delightful to photograph as evidenced by the number of images I have of them in on two of my Pinterest Boards which you may view by clicking here as well as here. Moreover, I've posted "stories" about here in a number of entries here on Blogger and within my tumblr pages. Additionally, they have been featured on TLLG's Facebook Page.

As you may know, dear reader, the red house finches are males, and in my garden in September 2012, they were joined by female finches and the following photo-ops represent a few of my gal pal finches.





And like their "boy toys" — the red house finches, the female finches would also prove to be most delightful. Images can be found on my Pinterest Boards which you may view by clicking here.

Moreover, I've posted "stories" about them in a number of entries here on Blogger and within my tumblr pages. Additionally, they have been featured on TLLG's Facebook Page.

But Cam and her entourage of House finches were not the only feathered friends which I had in my garden the first week of September in 2012, for a number of Mourning doves hung out here and the following photo-ops are pretty typical of their activity — eating and hanging out in my planters, where they always "leave evidence" of their having been there!






All of my visiting birds got along with each other, they were able to break bread at the same table and often had "convos" as represented by the images posted below.





And although I've yet to include images of my visiting birds enjoying the feeder, which I had initially hung near my door as stated in yesterday's post, photo-ops of them indulging themselves at the feeder can be found by clicking here.

On occasion in early September, I placed the feeder on a table in my garden, which the birds thoroughly enjoyed — once they read the owner's manual and figured out how to use the feeder — as evidenced by the images posted below.







But even though they got along, on occasion they did gossip among themselves, such as the day Cam and a lone Mourning dove noticed an "ankle bracelet" on one of my house finches and they wondered aloud if she had escaped house arrest! A photo op of the "scenario" is pictured below.



And it is a "scenario" which may look familiar to you, dear reader, as I made reference to it in yesterday's post. I also posted a "story" about this incident within my tumblr pages and included the image below.



However, the beginning days in September 2012 were not just for the birds; mushrooms which had made their way into my garden in August, as discussed in yesterday's post, made their way into the container that houses my strawberries as seen in the photograph below.



Meanwhile, Juan V returned to my garden for the first time in September, on September the Eleventh, a somber day in New York; the United States; and in many parts of the world. 

However, in spite of the fact that an array of birds were happy in my garden, a number of the things I grow were not; for instance, my Actinida kolomikta and Actimida (AKA Kiwi Vine) was going down hill quickly re the mold and mildew I mentioned in yesterday's post, and Juan V and I had to pick off all of its damaged foliage so it would not die. This meant that come late autumn, the kiwi would not spawn its brilliant yellow foliage which has awesome red makings as was its practice in bygone years. Be that as it may, we had to remove the kiwi's leaves or risk my losing the entire kiwi vine.

The aerial view Juan V took after we completed our work on September 11th 2012 shows the nearly barren kiwi vine.The black square and white double-sided arrow indicates where its foliage had been; my illustrating the kiwi's situation this way should leave you, dear reader, with an idea of how extensive the damage to my kiwi had been.


The red arrow in the image is representing a void in my garden as of September 11th 2012, for on that day, Juan V and I decided it was time for me to let my Physocarpus opulifolius, AKA Coppertina Tree (who once stood where the void is) move to another location where it could get more air circulation. It was a decision I knew was coming as I also indicated in yesterday's post

Therefore on that day I ultimately gave it to Michael for his vast garden. The photograph below, also taken by Juan V, shows both of the aforementioned losses in my garden.



In the image above the fate of my kiwi vine is indicated by black circles. The double-sided white arrow indicates another area where the kiwi vin's foliage had to be removed. As with the first aerial image in this post, this particular arrow is also designed to illustrate how extensive the damage to my kiwi had been. The red arrow is posting to the container that had been a home to my coppertina tree.

Juan V took a third image to highlight how much foliage the kiwi had lost which is posted below.




White squares have been added to the image to indicate how much was missing from the kiwi. However, upon a closer look at all three of Juan V's aerial images from September 11th 2012, you may have noticed that a lot more than kiwi foliage and my coppertina tree was now missing! This is because I had received news that my landlord wanted to re-surface the "floor" of my garden and had informed me I would have to have everything off the "floor" of my garden in fifteen days! The task ahead involved in doing thus and finding safe places for the things which I grow as well as my garden objects seemed daunting! Juan V and I began that task by taking one small step — uprooting all of my herbs (fifteen varieties).

It was very early in the season to do this as I usually don't harvest my herbs until November or December so I can give them to friends during holiday time by packaging them as seen below in images featuring nine of my fifteen varieties from bygone years.











While it did seem a shame to uproot so many things at such an early date, I consoled myself with the idea that at least I had moved a number of containers and the things growing in them from the surface of my garden, and in the case of my herbs, I'd have started early on holiday gifts for people near and dear to me.

And so a lot of losses occurred in my garden on that day and I was concerned there would be more in prepping my garden for the "so-called" renovation, but in spite of all the losses, there was new growth on my autumn clematis as seen in the image below.



The triangle which is superimposed on Juan's image reflects how lush my Sweet Autumn Clematis had already become — even though the start of autumn was still ten days away!

The black circle indicates the kiwi's proximity to the clematis, whilst the red arrows indicate the view my clematis and kiwi vine have of my neighbors's yard. It's not a pleasant view for either of them and my kiwi vine had no qualms speaking about this fact when he narrated my first garden themed Virtual Story (movie) called The Kiwi Speaks! Fifteen Minutes of Fame . . . almost. This movie is in my Vimeo Library and may be viewed by clicking here.

Meanwhile, in terms of the clematis, Juan V and I both wondered how it would fare in my prep for the "renovation," for as you may recall, the clematis had already gone through an upheaval when it had been repotted in April of 2012!

So as you can see, this September a number of the things I grow in my garden had their entrances and their exits as did my bees and birds. Even the house finch with the "ankle bracelet" returned after Juan and I finished our "yard work" on September the 11th 2012; and she can be seen in the image below where she is getting comfy in the container which houses my Pyracantha coccinea (AKA Orange Charmer).



And just as birds and bees returned to my garden, I'll return to you, dear reader, tomorrow, Monday, January the fourteenth, for part two-G-2 of this review series, where I will cover the events from September 12th 2012 through September 30th 2012.

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