September has started out very hot – days still reaching into the 90s. We haven’t gotten much rain recently either. We do have a sprinkler system which I have kept running to help the native plants that I planted early in the season become well established….with the plan to water less next year.

In the front yard….

The edging around the native plant garden is making it easier to see/pull any encroaching grass and to use the weed eater to trim just outside the stones. There are frequently mushrooms on both sides of the stones! The one yarrow in the garden is blooming and I am optimistic that enough of its seeds will land in the garden for more plants to be there next year.

The elderberries are thriving – two better than the third one but they might all survive and be the thicket in the middle of the garden.

Missouri Evening Primrose has bloomed at various times….the new plants blooming better than the larger one near the mailbox (they are in a better place than the small triangle between the box, sidewalk and driveway where the original one is planted. The Rattlesnake Master is thriving only 1 of the 3 plants has stalks still upright; they should do better next summer will some other plants around them (and some strategic staking).

In the back yard…

The shade garden is my favorite part of the yard. The 7 young pawpaws (from seed, MDC seedlings, and Ozark Soul) are doing well and some insects have found them too (note the ‘bites’ out of the leaves). There is a pokeweed growing with them….violets and iris underneath…a spicebush a little further down the hill.

I go around with my pruners cutting down small oaks and maples in the areas where I don’t mow any more.

The chives I planted from seeds collected in my mother’s garden are blooming – providing for some pollinators before the goldenrod started blooming. Those plants coming back every year prompt good memories.

The pokeweed fruit is ripening. I have cut the plants to keep them low this year and might have prompted more fruit! They do get competition from the violets under the pine.

The funnel spiders like the violets!

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Free Technology for Teachers: Resources to Learn About Outer Space – Good resources – for more than teaches!

When They Said They Wanted to Rethink Agriculture, They Meant It – Cool Green Science – Developing ways to feed more people with less water and without expanding the area we already use for agriculture….crop redistribution to maximize food production with rainfall rather than irrigation may be part of the solution.

Image of the Day: The Last Sloth | The Scientist Magazine® - Taking a closer look at the Caribbean Islands where then end of the ice age and the arrival of humans were 1,000s of years apart. There were two waves of extinction induced by human arrival: the first about 5,000 years ago when humans first arrived (ground sloth extinction) and the second around 1492 when Columbus arrived (smaller animals extinction).

Ah-Choo! 11 Fun Facts About Sneezing | Berkeley Wellness – No – your heart does not stop!

Large decrease in age-related macular degeneration in baby boomers compared to previous generations -- ScienceDaily – Positive news…but it was a small study and the participants were mostly non-Hispanic white individuals…and there is no information about why the decrease happened. Hope it holds for my family. My grandmother was blind by the time she died in her 90s…from macular degeneration.

New Science Shows Nature’s Potential to Fight Climate Change – Cool Green Science – Finding natural solutions to fight climate change. Reforestation has the highest potential!

Midwifery care at hospitals is associated with fewer medical interventions -- ScienceDaily – enhancing perinatal car and lowering costs for low-risk pregnancies…what’s not to like!

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #115 and #116 – Birds and more birds!

Making it easier to recycle plastics: Emerging technologies could greatly reduce plastic waste -- ScienceDaily – Only 9% of plastics are recycled in the US…not good.

How did Ammonite fossils form? – The chemistry of ammonite fossil formation