(no subject)

[muckefuck]

I haven't mentioned mollpeartree in like a whole month in this journal, so here goes:

Mollpeartree mollpeartree mollpeartree mollpeartree mollpeartree!

Ah, much better. Her most recent entry reminds me of two things:

1. An incredibly mortifying childhood incident in which I was the one holding the leash.
   
2. My lifelong love affair with vinca minor.

I was charmed to see that she also calls the latter "myrtle", which is the first name I knew it by. Later, when I'd got some book larnin' in me and discovered this plant wasn't a true myrtle (the EB calls it "creeping" or "running" myrtle), I began to call it "periwinkle". The GWO was the first one I knew to call it by the genus name, vinca.

Of course, the species he knew best is the greater periwinkle, vinca major, which looks basically the same except the flowers are HUGE. It seems to be the preferred variety in CA. All the familiar flowers looked bigger there. I'm not sure if they're all related species or if the lack of a harsh winter just does lovely things for their complexions. My first stroll through Golden Gate Park was like wandering into a faerie forest. Everything was like it is in the real world only bigger, brighter, and more beautiful.

welcomerain mentioned to me during our tour of the grounds that she'd like to plant some periwinkle. Unfortunately, the previous owners lacked her exquisite taste and stuck in a big border of hostia. There's no point in pulling it up when so much of the garden needs work, since it's in excellent shape and covers a part of the lawn that you can't really see unless you're in the neighbour's yard. And there's nothing really wrong with hostia; I mean, it could be worse: It could be spurge.

There's a lot of potential locked in her property. The gravel bed with the twisty oriental pine by the sunroom is simply crying out for a harmonious Chinese- or Japanese-style garden with funny rocks. On the other side, there's an odd-shaped corner dominated by a silver maple that could become a spring oasis with the planting of clumps of woodland wildflowers. The front lawn needs some vigourous plants on the bank to halt erosion and there's room for large planters in the rear courtyard or on the front porch. It's the kind of place I'd love to have if I wanted to spend tons of time maintaining a big old house, which I don't really want to do but can be fooled into thinking I do, if only for a little while.

Comments

[welcomerain.livejournal.com]

Dude, you're always welcome to come garden at my haus anytime! mollpeartree too!

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

I'm totally stealing that Japanese rock garden idea for the big dead shaded area in my back yard. Welcomerain, I'd be happy to come and plant a vegetable garden in your back yard, if you have an area that gets lots of sun, and you want one. I caught myself fantasizing the other day about flying out to Oklahoma City and planting one in my in-laws' back yard, which gets so much sun it looks like Arizona scrubland most of the year. It's slowly becoming a grudge match with me. I'm probably going to try another one in my own yard next year after all, even though that would clearly be insane

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

So is your idea to do a rock garden, with plants peeking out between stones, or a Zen garden, with lots of waves raked into gravel and next to no actual plants? The latter might seem the easier alternative, but remember that the very same bastard vegetation cutting off your precious sun will drop shit onto your pretty white gravel.

Zen, baby.

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

So, hypothetically speaking, if part of the trunk and root system of your neighbor's tree is actually on your property, and if you happened to just sort of accidentally inject that part with massive doses of herbicide, would that be a felony or anything?

Re: Zen, baby.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Good question. I know as far as branches go, the space above your land is yours and you can hack them off at will. I would assume that goes for roots to, but IANAL. Whether it's a felony or not would probably depend upon the assessed value of the tree, don't you think so?

And remember:

I may commit a felony
But only god can kill a tree.