My Hermit Haven

 August 2, 2023

Good morning from Hermit Hill this fine Wednesday. We got full sun here today, so charging I will be. Lol. (The gang for the chargers came yesterday, after the other one actually melted in the heat...who even knew that could happen? Shikes!) You can see the first one, below. I've only been charging one generator at a time, since that one went kaput, and it's a slowww game. Luckily, it's been partly sunny here, so I can get at least one of the two Rockpals up to 100% without too much trouble.

On the usual note, plant talk today is about galls masquerading as flowers. Ha, ha, ha, not really, but doesn't this little thing look like a miniature Maine Pineapple? I posted it on a FB Plant Id group before I went to bed last night, asking for some suggestions on what it could be. Well it musta' started a flame war, on account of I got a notice saying I got kicked out of the group. Lawdy, but those folks shore do be a bit crazzzy, don't ya know?

(Sorry about this centered text formatting, google is quite fussy, and won't let me select and left align, in the center of two photos....just one of the many reasons I find Google quite klunky).

In any case, the reason I even bothered, was because Plant Snap gave me a different answer for every picture and INaturalist couldn't even be confident enough to make a suggestion....grr. Well, for once, Google Image was on the mark and pointed me to Rabdophaga rosaria, which is a gall got from roses, that affects Camellia plants. It just so happens that this New Jersey Tea is sitting right behind an invasive rose, right behind the cabin, in a drainage ditch. One good thing about invasives, is that they aren't too fussy. lol

Anyhow, it's the first one I've ever seen and I find it quite fascinating.

Following up on yesterdays post, I did end up moving the two Catalpas further down the driveway, and geared them all out with fencing, flags and food, so they'd be all ready for winter and hopefully safe from varmints. Guess it depends on how much snow we get. I can't speak for mice, but maybe they like a clean smelling home as much as we do? Guess we'll see, hey?

I ended up cutting and cutting, on a Maple tree behind where I wanted to put the second Catalpa. Man, I am suitably impressed by just how much a Maple tree will sucker! As you can see, this stump that was cut for logs, sent out this incredible group of suckers. It was quite tall and shading the area, though, so out it had to go.  It won't be good for syrup in this condition, so I didn't feel too bad about offing it.  

I also did set up the mountain Ash's with as much of the same protections. I am really hoping they come back, as they are incredibly beautiful trees and it will be lovely to pull into the driveway and have that be the first thing to see. 

That's likely enough plant talk for today, so in closing, I will say: Be kind, always, and keep the faith! 

❤