Cool pictures, Laura! Don't you just love to go ramblin' like that? The picture underneath the pitcher plants is sundew, another insectivorous plant. Those shiny little droplets are sticky, and the insects are trapped when they land on them. They don't close up like a Venus flytrap would, but the insects are digested anyway. Both the pitcher plants and the sundews are becoming scarcer as the slightly boggy land areas they prefer are developed. Don't know what the top picture is, but the predominent lichen in the next to last picture is called deer moss. It's another fascinating plant. Thanks for sharing! A great walk through a bit of nature. Marcia

Well I grow purple loosestrife - after a fashion. I have a swamp. It grows in the swamp. It was in the swamp when we bought the house, and since it really hasn't spread much at all, it's fairly low on the to-do-list to do anything about. The Amur honeysuckle, garlic mustard, and multiflora are all much higher up than the loosestrife. Actually, watching the purple loosestrife over the years has left me with the distinct impression that it really doesn't stand a chance against the more aggressive swamp dwellers.

This is all so timely for me. After 15 months on the market and a 30% price reduction, I actually have an appointment at 3:30 today with the realtor to sign the contract to sell my beloved painted lady. She's going to a property investment company. They have close to a million dollars in property assets (they had to provide a balance sheet to us with their offer as proof of funds) so I'm guessing the chances of her becoming someone's beloved long term family home are slim. Her fate is more likely a rental, or worse, being chopped in to 3 or 4 studio type apartments. It makes me a little sad, but the dire financial situation this whole divorce/sale ect has put me overshadows all of that. I NEED it sold. I hadn't mentioned anything to my realtor about how I was feeling. Last night on the phone he said to me, you know, every Sunday I'm going to force myself to not look at the house when I got to church (his church is directly across the street). It'll make me too sad if it becomes apartments. He went on to say he doesn't get emotionally attached to properties - he's one of the highest grossing realtors in our metro - he can't afford too. This time he has. He's gone to that church for many years and always admired the house. When we bought it, it was covered in various colors of vinyl siding with half it's fishscale siding missing or covered. It had drop/grid ceiling tiles and 70's wallpaper everywhere, but you could still see how pretty she was underneath all of that. I'm very excited about my new little cottage. It's no where near as grand as the victorian, but it's very "me" and it fits my lifestyle as it is now quite well. I haven't even moved in yet and it already feels very much like home. I will probably, however, not drive down the street where the victorian is, again.

Let me add that making a garden of a natural landscape is not so different from making a typical suburban garden. It requires the active participation of a gardener, a person who cares for and tends the land. The methods may be slightly different, less intrusive and in many cases easier, but it is still active management of the landscape. Neglected and ignored, the forest will take it back in the blink of an eye. You might find my walk into the deep forest yesterday of interest. http://outsideclyde.blogspot.com/2020/04/where-caged-orchid-still-blooms.html