Sunday, May 30, 2010

SWARMING BEES

The behavior observed in this video is know as swarming and is part of the natural reproduction cycle of honey bees. Swarming is a response to overcrowding of a bee colony. One or more queens are produced, the new queens leave the hive with hundreds of worker bees and form a massive hanging cone in a location not far from the original hive. The queen is secure in the center of her legions while "scout" bees fly out in search of a new location for a hive, like a hollow tree. A couple of years ago I observed this phenomenon in this same tree and I had seen it before on a job site, it is good to know what I am witnessing.

I believe that I shot this video as the new hive was breaking apart and moving to their new location. I went back to see if I could shoot some stills about ten minutes after the video and they were gone. The buzz is how I first noticed the bees, it took me a couple of minutes to find them in the top of the oak, they must have been upward of forty feet high my camera is only a 10x zoom so it is hard to make out the ball of bees, it was at least the size of a basketball. You can see it in the opening shot the clearest.

On a trip through the Amazon jungle several years ago I had and encounter with wasps which our fearless, super studly, multi-lingual, Spanish guide said were the thing he feared most in the Amazon. This is after I had witnessed him wrestle a cayman and climb a tree to knock a deadly viper to the ground so we could view it. We were on a day hike and were suddenly attacked by a small swarm of these 2" behemoths, we began to run away but I was last in the group and some hefty, old Italian couple were to slow she and I got stung several times. I ended up seeing a Dr. in Rio, but that is another story.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

The Age of Aquarius

Terry Mounsey from Aquarius Underground shares his thoughts on irrigation and watering.

He had three guys working on this job and they finished in about four days. The electrician hooked up the 220 line and we were ready to water. The pump and lines will be blown out for winter and the suction line removed from the lake. The automatic timer allows the watering cycles to be adjusted as needed. Installing the control box on the outside of the home allows the irrigation technician access without bothering the home owner.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Irrigation Day

Great Blue Heron flying low on Devils Lake

Irrigation is especially important for absentee owners, people with large or spread out properties, those with new plantings, new yards and people who want to maintain the highest standards for their property and investment. If you are lucky enough to own a piece of dirt and you want to keep it beautiful you can not always rely on mother nature. If we get an inch of rain a week in NE IN that is adequate to maintain most everything that is green. Ideally if that rain were gentle and the ground soaked it up slowly, say 1/2 inch in the early morning on one day and another 1/2 inch three days later you would only have to be concerned about watering your container gardens.


But with the dog days of August and the unpredictability of spring and fall rains an irrigation system with a rain sensor will give you peace of mind and maximize the performance of all your plant material. The rain sensor turns off your irrigation system when nature turns on hers. Of course having water available with the flick of a remote also means you have a insurance policy in times of draught which occurs historically about every six years in my neck of the woods.



Installation of irrigation often involves boring underground, trenching or pulling pipe, lots of hand digging and the removal of glacial till found in the soils around the lakes in Steuben county. Working closely with a limited number of irrigation installers means I am able to control the timing, scheduling and fine tuning of many of the systems our customers have installed. Communication with the installers results are the plants we just put in or the yard we have installed has water immediately available.




There is a lot of controversy regarding the use of water for lawns and gardens. June/July Reader's Digest features an article, Greener Grass which puts forth some sobering statistics regarding our water consumption. The use of potable water, cisterns, rain barrels and rain gardens is gaining popularity although I do not see this as a 100% solution I think many of these systems could augment underground irrigation. I sure wish I could have captured the excessive rain we have experienced this May.

Planting a Forest on Clear Lake


Eighty year old Patty Griest has planted over 3000 native Indiana trees on the ten acres of land she purchased north of her Clear Lake home, she is building a forest and prairie for future generations to enjoy. She even collects seedlings from her yard and sprouts a variety of trees from seeds in cold frames, I took home a healthy 2' tall buckeye she grew from the nut. She has small fenced nursery where the trees are moved up from the cold frames until they are large enough to be placed in their final locations.

She does not stop at reforestation, she is an accomplished potter, world traveler and yoga enthusiast spending much of her time at the lake tending various gardens. She is a slight women who walks purposefully weather she is toting a shovel or riding on her John Deere to mow around the 20 odd species of saplings that stand tall and neat in the field.

On a sad note Patty just lost her beloved dog Doogie to a fox who stole the animal right out of her backyard while her other dog indubitably witnessed the horror. Our condolences to Patty and a reminder for those with small pets who live in rural areas, be watchful and wary.


Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Sod Farm Grows







There has been a sod farm in Steuben County as long a I have been here (1978) and I do not know how long before that. The previous owner was Donna Moody who took over operations after she and her husband divorced she ran it well with her partner Cindy for many years. Now Cindy and Donna are living la Vida lo ca in Key West where Donna manages her grandchildren and Cindy manages a small hotel, I like to visit with them when I am in Key West. The new owner expanded his operation from Roanoke (near Ft. Wayne) to this location in Fremont.


In addition to sod they carry all fashion of landscape supplies and are currently expanding into plants, very convenient for us. Tim and his staff are genuinely nice people, Deb Waite who used to work for Donna and Cindy, handles the sod cutter and forklifts like she was born to ride. Tim is our on the scene man for Encore Lighting supplying on site engineering and support as well as being an Encore distributor. He keeps up on all the licensing, management and new advances in pesticides and herbicides making life easier for our four licensed applicators. There is a new product (chemical) he is using in the fields which kills all plants in sod except the blue grass, pretty wild huh? Only growers are licensed for the product thus far.

After May 15th we will begin planting annuals. That is supposed to be the safe date to avoid frost. My favorite annuals for a hanging baskets are Dragon Wing Begonias available in red and pink, they perform fabulous in shade, will tolerate some sun, require little to no dead heading and bloom profusely all summer long. These beauties can run a little dry from time to time and still bounce back. They grow so well a mid summers haircut is needed to reduce the weight of the baskets. For beds Victoria Blue Salvia is my true love the delicate individual flowers combine to form clumping spires of blue that wave on sturdy stems above the green gray foliage. When the bloom fades the silver pods remain attractive adding more color and texture to the plant. They will tolerate light shade and bloom well into November, often outlasting every plant in my garden. I guess if I have a signature plant "Vickie" is it.

We finally poured concrete for our stone bins, the aggregate company was supposed to bring us out a float but they forgot so we have a rough finish but hey we are landscapers not flat workers.
Our concrete pals recommended watering it daily for the first week to help the concrete cure and increase strength.

The house in Michigan is ready for plants this week as Bill and Ryan are on the final walk. We set grade and did some prep work last Thursday and Monday morning the plants arrive. The plant arrangement is seldom exactly like the blueprint I draw, often it is close and sometimes a very different arrangement shows up in the final product. Being on site for the prep work helps me get a feeling for where the plants need to be and where they will perform best. Devils Lake I am certain requires some latitude with
plant arrangement, that is one of the best parts of my job.