Choice Morsels

Well, even after replacing the Lawn Emitter Tops with a flap release, this one, was still not doing the job right. A daytime thunder shower let me see the gutter down piping was still backing up out of it's seams rather then flowing out and I decided the hole pipe leading to the emitter must not be right.  Later that day, I pulled the Emitter cap off to see standing water.  It's not supposed to have standing water. The other emitter line doesn't. (Not anymore since I adjusted it a couple weeks ago.) Not only did it have standing water---it had lots mosquito nymphs in that water.  I decided the whole pipe had to be redone to get rid of the standing water, because clearly the standing water meant it was not functioning correctly. So, the next day, I removed the grass and dirt covering it just to the white edging you see in the background of the photo. Originally, the gutter guys who installed it simply dug a ditch and threw the pipe in without using a level to check the flo...

When the bad tree-cutter cut down pine trees and let them fall on every adjacent fence, many branches on my Maple tree were torn down as well---but the upside is that loss of those branches on that side is allowing so much more sunlight in! Plus the neighbors pines are all gone, which makes things less shady and more light as well! My Plumbago shrub, which is planted in the vicinity of that Maple, is blooming more now then it ever has--because it is getting more sun! Plumbago flowers are naturally baby blue in color. It's a popular landscape shrub here in Florida. I got this one from a favorite local nursery that is now out of business, so I'm fond of it for that reason. Between the Plumbago and the Maple tree is this Raspberry colored Hydrangea.   It's been there for years, but this year it is blooming a bit more then it has up to now, because it is enjoying more light! This area is a few feet in front of the Maple, still fairly shady, but I view it from m y sliding glass ...

First photo today is one of my lawn emitters.  I have 2 in the backyard and rain water runs off the roof, down the gutters and out to these emitters, which open enough to let watch trickle out into grass. This version, with the pea gravel, is my improved version. The gutter guys really didn't put the two in very carefully. They just dug a trench, laid them in and, I guess, hoped they were right.  They didn't use a level to make sure they were angled properly and the emitters were both below grass level, so the water couldn't escape effectively. And t hey did NOT use any gravel as a You Tube video on installing these emitter kits I watched demonstrated, as tube below the emitter has a drainage hole for excess water left behind. Besides that emitter center only pops up 1/2 inch---not enough to let out water fast enough in a sudden, hard down-pour causing the water to back up, resulting in gutter down pipe seams squirting water and other blocked flow problems. So my project th...

Garden project this week was re-adjusting the pavers edging my Hosta bed on the north side of the garage. They were in a bit of a mess. Just one Garden Pic today: a nice shot of my Final Touch Daylily blooming amongst white Vinca's: