Surprising things in the yard

WoolyGooly wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

oh, i have lots of these, i think. are they the ones that are kind of webby inside when dry? or are they the more solid ones? what colors can you get from them? lee

They're solid right now, with wee little grubs in them. Later on I imagine they'll become sort of spongy as the grubs eat the plant material. Eventually the wasps will mature and burrow out - by then the galls ought to be brown and dry.

I expect oak galls will produce browns since they're supposed to be concentrated sources of tannin.

What lovely pictures Wooly.

I think you'll find that oak galls dye fibres black - "Culpeper is generally not interested in the dyeing uses of plants, but he mentions woad and oak galls being used for dyeing. He says of Gall-Oak:

"They will dye their hair black, and are one of the chief ingredients of making ink; they are likewise used by dyers for making black dye." More info. at

What kind of oak is that? I don't recognize it.

Hesira

"hesira" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@r56g2000hsd.googlegroups.com:

looks like baby red oak leaves to me... right about the size that means it's time to plant corn! lee

I believe they're southern red oaks, which are supposed to be more resistant to oak wilt than the live oaks native to this area. I call them treelings because the trunks two feet above the soil line are still quite small - less than 4" diameter for the larger of the two.

The photos were taken this morn>What kind of oak is that? I don't recognize it.

Thanks Lee and Wooly.

I don't know if we have many red oaks around here. Lots of live oaks and water oaks.

Those pictures are beautiful.

Hesira

Yep, the leader leaves are just a tad bigger than a squirrel's ear in those photos. My soil is shit for growing foodstuffs, hence my unintentional zeroscaping. I am going to try tomatos in pots on the patio, where they'll get plenty of light but a lot less direct sun than the "garden plot" gets. And that reminds me to ask the gardener at school (to whom I gave all my leftover seeds at the beginning of the seed-starting season) if she has any extra tomato starts for me...

Pin oaks, white oaks, swamp white oaks, chestnut oaks, red oaks, black oaks, burr oaks. Not all on my property! (Just one big ol' pin oak) And none leafing out yet, although the daffodils are in full bloom (a couple of weeks early), also the maples, and I saw some deciduous magnolias with flower buds a-swelling. Time to plant peas, but not much else.

Georgia

Is that huge old walnut still standing in Crystal Lake (sic) Park? It was over on the Carle Clinic side, off of Park and near the footpath. It looked as if it used to be in somebody's back yard, as there were some concrete steps up from the curb as well as a couple of gateposts almost due south of it.

I was work>Pin oaks, white oaks, swamp white oaks, chestnut oaks, red oaks, black oaks,

Gee, "full sun paved path" sounds like so much fun in July and August when the humidity is 95%...

I moved in late 1995, haven't been back and probably won't be anytime soon. I shall, however, be more than adequately equipped for any winter weather I might encouter in the event that I do find myself there again...

When I left CC had already paved at least half of the hayfield parking at the fair grounds and was running a (sporadic) shuttle service. I just took the bus - door-to-door service! I do wish Austin's public transit system would emulate CU-MTD...and actually be of service!

I can't say off the top of my head if it's still there. How long since you've been in Urbana? Carle Clinic has bought up a lot of properties and put buildings and parking lots on them. Also, there is now a paved walking labyrinth over in that area--very nice, but in full sun, and pretty hot in the summer.

Zeroscaping! I love it! Thanks, I'll pass this to my native Californian MIL, who's xeriscaping the heck out of her yard (down with lawns!)

There's actually a very informal "zeroscaping" club here in town. Most of us are merely NOT making a concerted effort to maintain putting greens and water-heavy landscape plantings.

I zap the nastier weeds with a squirt of Roundup (I dislike thistles and stickerplants!) and I keep my foundation watered. If we have no rain and low humidity for more than three weeks running (which describes most of 2006 from about mid-May right through to November) I'll put drip hoses on the oaks and the Bradford pears, otherwise everything out there fends for itself or benefits from overwatering by my neighbors:

My uphill neighbor waters his putting green that the purple sage I planted as a privacy hedge never needs to be watered, and my downhill neighbor goes to great lengths to maintain the photinia privacy hedge on that property line.

The rest fends for itself...

Oh, I do use Amdro too: red box sprinkled as needed on new fireant mounds, green box around the foundation once a month to ward off evil spirits.