Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here to tell you some about moderately interesting things. You may remember me from such posts as “Going With The Flow”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. Waiting for the mail.
The mail doesn’t come every day, which is very strange. It used to come every day, but now it doesn’t.
It snowed again, yesterday. There was a mouse on the patio. (We have mice in the garden, if you didn’t know.)
On my evening walk, yesterday, I saw someone coming long before the guy I live with did. He doesn’t wear his glasses, except for driving, so he doesn’t notice much. I notice almost everything.
That’s a guy and his dog, just passing our garden. I wonder if they found it moderately interesting.
Maybe you will find this moderately interesting, too. I don’t find it super interesting, but I know the guy I live with obsesses on these things, in a healthy sort of way, I guess.
There are more buffalo gourds up.
And then there are the amsonias. No, these aren’t the amsonias that you find in what the guy I live with might call “mainstream horticulture”, these are dryland amsonias, namely, Amsonia eastwoodiana and Amsonia tomentosa. Some botanists say they’re the same species, but we’re keeping the names, just to be able to sort things out.
They come up pretty quickly from seeds, but then after that, they get tricky. There’s some phase between what you see here and getting plants suitable to plant in the garden where the seedlings get all finicky, which is why he started them now, instead of later.
Not because he can control them in their finicky stage, but if they die, he has more seeds to sow. It’s a case of trying and trying again.
The mix in which these seedlings are growing is scoria, perlite, gravel, and sand. With a tiny bit of organic matter.
They’ll be growing in much denser soil in the garden, like they have in real life.
There are some other amsonias out in the seed frames, under snow, because they need a cold treatment to germinate. They’re Amsonia fugatei, jonesii, palmeri, and peeblesii, if you wanted to know. Maybe he’s into amsonias right now; I’m not sure.
I think, though, that the possibility that the owner of Alplains, where these seeds came from, might retire, made him order a lot of stuff, including all the dryland amsonias in their catalog.
There are a bunch of other plants growing under these lights, too. Mostly bulbs. Here’s a picture of one, not really the true color because the lights color the picture. Bellevalia kurdestanica.
It’s up in the bedroom, and flowering, because when it came in the mail it was already very advanced in growth, and so couldn’t be planted out in the garden because of the cold weather.
So that’s the gardening stuff. I hope you found it at least moderately interesting.
Now for something that I personally found a lot more than just moderately interesting. Like, super interesting. This happened this evening, on my walk.
It was just at sunset.
We were walking along, the way we do. Down the path behind all the houses, and then back again.
All of a sudden, as if out of nowhere, the guy I live with thought he saw a dog running by, but I, much more aware of things, knew right away that it wasn’t one of us. It was a coyote.
The guy I live with claimed that I “went berserk”. Hardly. I was viciously protecting him.
Then another coyote appeared, and ran along with the other one.
If you look at my magnificent tail, which, I have to say, is always worthwhile, then draw an imaginary line straight up until right before the house across the field, you can see a dark spot or blur. That’s one of the coyotes, running away from my terrifying visage and threatening posture.
I look pretty attentive, fierce, and deadly in that picture, don’t you think?
(That’s the main path, off to the left. I lost one of my boots right about where that picture was taken, and the guy I live with had to go back out and look for it. He found it. The guy I live with said I wear boots, and coyotes don’t. Chalk one up for me.)
And so, I’ll leave you to ponder all of this moderately interesting and super interesting news, with a picture of me in my most alert and dangerous mode.
There are coyotes in this picture, but you can’t see them. Only I could see them. Maybe that’s a metaphor, I don’t know.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
How fortunate he is to have you to guard him and all those amsonias!
He really is. I remind him all the time.
We get foxes and supposedly coyotes, although we only ever see and hear the foxes. Our little dog protects the house fiercely, from inside, when we hear them.
ceci
I’ve never seen a fox. The guy I live with tells the story of walking with his wife, and her saying she’d never seen a fox, and the guy I live with said “There’s one right there”. She said “Where?” He said “Right there.” She said “Where” again, but the guy I live with said it had gone.
That happened twice.
I know we have them, and I’d like to see one.
Those two species of Amsonia live in the Mojave Desert. I am unfamiliar with them, but find them to be compelling because of their origin. I could grow more desert plants where I lived in the Santa Clara Valley than I can here. I really do not know how well either of those Amsonia species would do away from a desert climate. You climate is likely better than ours, because it does not stay damp for so long. Even though it gets rain and snow, it seems to dry out in between.
They grow very well here. The guy I live with wanted more species, hence all the seeds.
The eastern ones don’t do well here, at all.
Mee-yow wow yore post iss TOETALLEE innterstin Mani! No ‘moddyrate’ bout it at all.
Wee wunder why youss’ not get mail dailee? That iss weerd. Maybee many post peepss are out sick with dreaded Covid? Wee miss THE odd day here due to sick post peepss.
An Guy’ss Gourdss are lookin perky!! They have grown since yore last post bout them! An THE Amsonias flowerss are purrty…..Guy sure has a green thumm!
So then wee looked at yore sunset foto an were al warm an fuzzy till you meowed THE “C” werd!!! An wee CAN see Coyote inn 1st photo….EEKKKK!!!
Mee will say Mani you look speck-taculur inn yore feerce stance!!
Those 2 Coyotess mew bettur than to mess with you! TOP DOG!
Wee semi-feral kittiess FEER Coyotss so much! An mee seen them beefore when mee was outside an alone….**shudderss**
Glad Guy found yore bootie so you do not have to hop along, mew mew mew…
**nose bopss** BellaDharma an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum
Thanks.
They aren’t too scary to me; every so often they come right up to the back fence, which they can’t jump because of the rabbit wore attached to the fence.
We haven’t gotten mail for two days now. It’s pretty unsettling to the guy I live with. But maybe there is an issue, with Covid, and quarantining, which the guy I live with understands.
Mee iss glad you Mani an Guy are safe from Coyotess…they can bee furry meen creeturess!
Mee still has nitemaress ’bout them chasin mee!
No mail inn 2 dayss??? Soundss like you are short of deelivery peepss there!
Our mail has been guud this week…wee still watin for sumthin impawtent……wee gotta bee payshunt riite???
I guess we do. The guy I live with got mail today, but it was nothing of interest.
It might be because so many people are sick, and have to stay at home.
Wee got sum flyerss an a card what was OPENED an THE silvervine powder was taken out. THE wee baggie was INN THE card butt had a bit of silvervine ‘dust’ inn it. Wee were not happy!
Oh an NO reeplacemint Debit card eether from THE bank….
Guess wee gotta bee payshunt rite Mani an Guy????
I guess we do. It’s pretty unsettling not to get mail.
The guy I live with has received stuff that had nothing inside. It could have been another of those metaphor things, though, with him.
Mee-yow Guy getss mail with nothin inn envelopess?? Wah tiss goin on Mani?
It sure iss weerd….. 😉
That happened some years ago. It was weird.
Well done Mani! I am sure the guy you live with appreciates your urge to protect him even though you they are your distant cousins. Exciting time of year when the seeds start popping. I share your friend’s enthusiasm and delight.
Thanks. I can be pretty brave, if I need to be.
The guy I live with likes to germinate seeds, even if, sometimes, he gives away the seedlings after they’ve grown a bit.