Who are we? We are our stories.

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Too Many Plants

My friend Keith has a marvelous garden which I have only experienced in online photos.  He has great hostas, irises, lilies, mulched and spaced so one can appreciate them from 360 degrees. He has incredible discipline. I do not. Even though I have pretty much as much space as I want to expand my gardens, I do not - so it is a free-for-all with plants jammed in, fighting tooth and claw (root and stem?) for space, light and food. Not exactly survival of the fittest ... but close. Many survive only because I am continually lifting, dividing, transplanting, gifting and composting.








(pictures for Keith Camburn)

-Gunnar

Thursday, June 11, 2020

The Wrong Redwing



The high slurred whistle of a redwing blackbird
Sounds like he's singing, oh that I might die
It's a song for those who have fallen
Unrepentant with no alibi

I been ridin' stone blind horses
Never seen a reason to believe
Hey sweet Genevieve say a prayer for me
Wild young cowboys, old drunks, paramours and thieves



- Gunnar

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

The Last Warbler?

Yesterday was well into the 90s and humid which generated a late afternoon thunderstorm - but no tornadoes. Which was a good thing because I was in the Growlery. It is only about  8' x 12'.  When I moved it in it had no floor, no ceiling and the corners were splayed out. I rebuilt it pretty sturdy and tied it down to two tiers of railroad ties and ground anchors. But a tornado? 
"When the Growlery was eventually discovered in a cornfield on the Einar Peterson farm south of Hayward, Mr. Berg was found still seated at his bench with a crushed beer can in his hand, dazed but apparently unhurt except for minor scratches. When asked if he was hurt, he replied, 'Are the tree peonies okay?' ".
Here are some photos before all hell broke loose. First, a view of the rock garden from the Growlery - various Pinks and Blue-eyed Grasses (which are actually in Iris family). There are a couple of species of Blue-eyed Grass, and (what do you get for an old man who has everything?) a Blue-Eyed cultivar from the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum plant sale which my daughter Addy gave me for my birthday a year ago. They are the lower growing  blue flowers in the center of the photo. 


We haven't seen a Warbler in a week or more so I was surprised when this one showed up. It is an open beak, spread winged, heat stressed female Nashville Warbler. She found the coolest place in all of Oakwood - the mouth of the cavern which is the spring source of Oakwood Creek.






Technically the source of Oakwood Creek is a recirculating pump in a cow-tank, but I am not going to tell the bird. She is running late, has enough on her mind right now and doesn't need to know that.

- Gunnar