Fall chores starting early

The days are getting shorter, the shadows longer and the nights a bit cooler. I chose today to bring in all the orchids and bonsai Ficus. This year I did something a bit different and I'm glad I did.

Last year I just brought them in and put them in their wintering spots around the house. Unfortunately I also brought in some hitchhikers. There were ants, slugs and spiders taking leave of their summer homes and wandering all over the house. We woke up one morning to silvery trails all over the living room, over the floor, the couch and the pillows!

cleaned and ready for the inside

This morning I brought out my screen I made for screening dirt, and emptied each orchid pot, sifting, making sure there weren't any hangers on. I did find a spider or two in the leaves and one of the pots had 3 slugs living in the bottom under the roots. I washed them all and re-potted them with cleaned orchid bark and I added some sphagnum moss to a couple of them.

Oncidium orchidaceae

I also noticed some good signs. My Oncidium orchidaceae (dancing ladies) has 3-4 new stalks and will be honoring us with beautiful flowers soon. Plus, one of the others has a lot of new leaves after having a hard year. So things are looking up.

new leaves are a good sign

The dying green makes way for color then rest

It's that time of year again...

Boy. Things change over night it seems. Just a few nights ago the temperatures dropped for the first time at night into the high 40s, low 50s. And the next day you could see a change. Some of the leaves are yellowing and some are starting to drop.

Some of this is due to a lack of rain for the last few weeks. Spotty at best, sprinkles here and there. We had a pretty wet summer though. Hard rains greeted me upon my return from India and I thought I had brought the monsoons with me. I'm hoping that there is enough moisture in the ground to give us a showy fall full of all types of colors. It seems that when we have a dry spell, just before autumn, the colors are more muted and all in pretty much the same hues, with very little variation. We'll just have to wait and see.

The echinacea have been completely compromised by the Goldfinch

Leaves are already falling

Hostas are getting ready for their winter nap

Some last minute flowers are popping up, but for the most part things are starting to die down, literally and figuratively. I'll start cutting back the echinacea, Ginger Lily and Hosta leaves and stalks as soon as they wilt and turn tan/brown. Mulching the overwintering tubers and roots is a must. I have heard that in this part of the country, we are supposed to see a very bitter winter, so we will take the necessary precautions.

Beautyberries are showing their colors, offering a feast in the coming months for the birds.

The last canna of the season does not disappoint.

Tree killing European Hornets!

European Hornet, post mortem.

Did I get your attention? If you have River Birch trees on your property, then please read! Houston, we have a problem. Our River Birch trees are being mutilated by these very aggressive bees. They arrive mid to late Summer every year and eat away the bark on the newer branches and main trunks.

This is a European Hornet. Wiki will tell you that is is a species that might be soon endangered. Well, I can understand why. Now, if you have read my blog from the beginning, you will know that I try very hard not to be a killer of everything that flies and really have cut down my pesticide and herbicide use. I do try. Really, I do. But these buggers are costing me dearly.

Any gardener will know, that it ain't cheap growing a garden. Especially when you have to purchase your plants. In the last several years, we have gone from a blank slate to a yard filled with trees, shrubs and flowers. We only have lost a couple for various reasons as all gardeners do from time to time. But this is pest related.

Girdled branch on River Birch

These European Hornets chew off the bark, using it for their nests. The big, oval papery nest we remember from cartoons. They also probably get some nutrition from it also. But they are basically killing the tree. By chewing off the bark and exposing the cambium layer, they are girdling the tree. The branch or trunk will die from that point outward or upward. If they chew the bark off all the way around, it will die. If they don't go all the way around, there is a chance that that branch or trunk can survive. It will however, make it weaker, especially with rain or snow loads.

Freshly chewed.

Damage from last year. This will heal over as it did not go all the way around.

So I have resorted to a couple of methods to deal with this. I can't afford to loose these trees. Actually, the worst time for this to happen is when the trees are young. It can severely misshapen or even kill a younger tree. As far as the older one in my yard, it amounts to lots of lost branches higher up the tree, many falling during snow loads or high winds.

I have tried the traps, but they don't seem to work, so I will be returning those. It seems as Wasp and Hornet spray, ones that shoot long distances, are the ticket. I have to go out in the morning and then again, when I return from work. My wife will try to hit them at one point during the day.

I am dealing with a conundrum. I want to be clean and earth friendly, but I can't afford to be 100%. Am I a hypocrite? Am I a bad person. I know there are natural gardeners out there. I have read about them. Let the chips fall as they may and let nature take it's course is the way they garden.

I'm almost there, really I am. But it is so damned hard.