Grass Attacks

Weather: Decent rain on Thursday. In the past week the golden spur columbine has doubled in height and seedlings have come up in every available space. They buried some recently planted iris.

Last useful rain: 9/20. Week’s low: 43 degrees F. Week’s high: 90 degrees F in the shade.

What’s blooming in the area: Hybrid roses, yellow potentilla, buddleia, trumpet creeper, bird of paradise, silver lace vine, Russian sage, rose of Sharon, datura, sweet pea, coreopsis, black-eyed Susan, Maximilian sunflowers, chrysanthemums, zinnias, pampas grass

One person planted annual four o’clocks in a raised bed at the end of his trailer. They’ve now been there several years, getting larger and bushier every year. I don’t know if they winter over or if the owner lifts the roots and replants them in the spring.

This year, I ordered some seeds to see if I would have his luck, especially since the perennial species has naturalized in my yard. The plants remained small through the heat of June and July, then began blooming a couple weeks ago. They’re nothing yet to compare with my neighbor, but maybe they’ll survive like his.

What’s blooming in my yard: Large-flowered soapwort, David phlox, pink evening primroses, calamintha, scarlet flax, chocolate flowers, blanket flowers, Mönch aster, white cosmos, African marigolds, bachelor buttons, larkspur

What’s blooming outside the walls and fences: Apache plume, stick leaf, velvetweed, bindweed, silver leaf nightshade, greenleaf five eyes, leather leaf globemallow, goat’s head, prostate knotweed, yellow evening primroses, broom snakeweed, Hopi tea, horseweed, wild lettuce, dandelions, plain’s paper flower, áñil del muerto, native sunflowers, Tahoka daisy, pigweed, Russian thistles; purple, heath, and golden hairy asters; quack grass; seven-week, black, blue, and side oats grama

Bedding plants: Pansies, sweet alyssum; petunias and dwarf marigolds locally.

Tasks: I had another hose fail this week, but in a new way. The rubber pealed away on the inside, blocking the flow of water.

I’d known something was wrong a couple weeks ago when beds were getting less water. I checked that I hadn’t left another hose running some place that was diverting the water. Then I climbed into the well to purge the sand filter. Nothing changed. It didn’t seem right to call the maintenance company to change the other filters: they’ve never created this serious a problem.

Friday no water came through. I walked the line and found no leaks or kinks. Then, I detached the hose from its connection and water came pouring out. I reached into the hose and felt something hard a few inches from the end I thought was a stone. When I got it into better light I saw the rubber.

Animal sightings: Cat, small brown birds, geckos, small bees, hornets, other small flying insects, sidewalk ants, crickets

When I was weeding this week I found a dead crow in the grass a few feet from the utility pole. I asked my neighbor, who had worked for electrical utilities, if it had electrocuted itself. He said it was possible: if it put its beak somewhere near a certain place near the pole then current would jump to it.

He suggested I look for singed feathers. I didn’t get that close. I removed it wearing rubber gloves and a face mask. Besides, it probably had died just before I smelled something bad last April, because only the feathers and bones were left.

As I’m sure someone already has said: gardening is not for the squeamish.

Weekly update: I wonder sometimes if it’s inevitable that steppe vegetation will completely replace native grasses in this area. When a winterfat or four-wing salt bush gets started it kills everything under it, leaving the soil open to the kind of wind erosion I mentioned last week. The area remains bare after I cut down the intruder.

I know grasses evolved as a plant type before trees and plants at a time when the Earth’s climate was very different. I thought it possible the native grasses simply hadn’t adapted as well to the changes and were vulnerable to the plants that emerged with the new conditions.

I have one area above the retaining wall where nothing would grow. I put in some bulbs and the ground squirrel ate them. I finally managed to get some miniature roses to grow and the rodent bit them all off at ground level and no more would grow.

I noticed what looked like crab grass did grow, so I planted some blue grama and buffalo grass seed. Some finally survived, I think the buffalo.

Then, everything started to invade. The golden hairy asters and hollyhocks have been the most aggressive. Next, the pink evening primroses moved in. This week, while I was removing those ground squirrel mounds I mentioned last week, I found quack grass on the perimeter getting ready to drop its seeds.

Apparently the lush grass creates a ground cover that retains water and traps seeds. Alas, as soon as the seedlings grow they kill their nurse. Or, I kill them.

Notes on photographs:
1. Perennial four o’clock (Mirabilis multiflora) in my yard, 19 August 2018.
2. Annual four o’clock (Mirabilis jalapa) in my yard, 8 September 2018.
3. Annual four o’clock in neighbor’s raised bed, 9 July 2018.