Nice Friday

I finally got up enough energy to see what is new in the neighborhood. My volunteer sunflower has bloomed. The one in the back had its top blooms bitten off but is recovering with more lower blossoms opening. This one is in front and seems to be a different variety - only one blossom. I have never had sunflowers in my gardens all these years. Maybe it is there to support Ukraine.

The Mullein still has not opened but the top is stretching up higher.

A lady from our neighboring lake took a short video of a buck swimming in their lake! We wonder if is the same guy. No closeups to compare though!

I rode around over there and saw a large track excavator in action scooping some of the black mucky stuff from an old dried up pond this morning. I wonder if it will be used for gardeners. It must contain a lot of nutrients, I'm guessing. I liked watching the large machine in action scooping and dropping the black gold into a heap.

Two of these things do not belong!

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First Time Out in a While

Four weeks ago I injured my knee. It's not all better yet, but I'm making a little progress. I simply cannot sit idle - I cannot! Today was my first day out on the golf car with my camera. Things have really grown! ...each in its own time. Today is tiger lily time. They abound and were everywhere I went. Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot) and pretty purple thistles showed off their spirit as well. The nectar and pollen of thistles are valuable food sources to bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Some songbirds also feed on thistle seeds. Nature knows.....  just saying...

There is some wild mullein growing but not in bloom yet. From the internet I learned that the flower is used to make medicine. It is used for cough, whooping cough, tuberculosis, bronchitis, hoarseness, pneumonia, earaches, colds, chills, swine flu, fever, allergies, tonsillitis and sore throat. It is traditionally used for its ability to promote the discharge of mucus and to soothe mucus membranes. Perhaps I should keep in mind where I found these!! At the bottom of this post is a link about Mullein tea.

I think this wild bush is an invasive wild honeysuckle. I see many of them throughout the area. It might be poisonous too, I don't know. The closest photo I found identified it as Morrows Honeysuckle.

And on June 21,  I thought this was a portal to a peaceful place, but today I see that it is only a massive "KEEP OUT" gate.

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Mullein Information

Get up! Get Going! Go Out!

The bout with bronchitis is almost over so I went outdoors today to wander around the back of the cabin. Back on July 3 when we first arrived home I spotted a wild mullein growing up on the bank. There has never been one there before. We really don't want them there either! I'll cut it down just before it goes to seed. However, a progress report is here now.

Back on July 3, when we first arrived back from the south where I saw my first one up close, I took this photo of mine. (The southern one's story is here: Mullein down South)

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Today, 16 days later, it continues to reach for the sun. It is not nearly as pretty as the southern one.

THEN! I saw wild sweet peas too! They were never there. I know because it is the view through my bathroom window.  How nice it is to have volunteer flowers to enjoy.

Mullein in Campground

“Oh, grey hill,

Where the grazing herd

Licks the purple blossom,

Crops the spiky weed!

Oh, stony pasture,

Where the tall mullein

Stands up so sturdy

On its little seed!”

– Edna St. Vincent Millay

We always called it “flannel leaf.” My Dad used to eliminate it when he could because he thought it was poisonous to children.

"The seeds are said to intoxicate fish when thrown into the water, and are used by poachers for that purpose, being slightly narcotic."

For much more information and some medicinal uses read on:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mulgre63.html

Make cough syrup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My3WHWYl-IA

Use for toilet paper!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4putIxHsNCk

Now I am over-informed!
Who knew!!??