Marty

And with that bit of sillyness out of the way...

All just different shades of violet, young Albert!

A neighbour told me earlier today that there's no such thing as a blue flower. He claimed they are all just different shades of violet. I thought about it for a while, and then just looked at him and said: "You'll be telling me next that there's no such thing as colours. But that they're all just pigments of our imagination."

Just out of interest, here's a macro shot I took of a honeysuckle inflorescence in August of 2015:

I normally find that if I just prune the vines near their bases occasionally I can keep it under control. As the vines wither they may look unsightly for a while. But, yes, I have seen them overtake hedges if left to grow completely wild.

That looks like honeysuckle, also known as woodbine (Lonicera periclymenum), one of my favourite wild flowers. It's actually growing wild in the hedge on one side of my garden (the one the robins are nesting in). The flowers have a beautiful scent, particularly after dark on warm evening. Apparently they are pollinated by night flying moths that have long tongues (technically: proboscises) that can get down to the nectar at the base of the long tube-like flowers. Some species of bees are known to bite through the base of that tube to get at the nectar.

Sweet!

That's good to hear... Because I love me, too!

Greetings, young Albert! Hope all's well, and you haven't got a sore head after all the birthday celebrations.

I was having exactly the same problem last night and this morning. I can only get mobile broadband where I live, and it can often be a bit flaky at the best of times. But since the lockdown, and the kids being home from school all the time, it's been a lot worse. Late last night even opening a page like this one was taking in excess of 30 seconds or more. So, as you can probably imagine, it was a waste of time trying to watch youtube, or any of my other video streaming sites. Happy Wednesday yourself, B!

Good morning, all. Another beautiful day here, so don't expect to see all that much of me until late evening. (Although I will be in occasionally for snacks.) Hope you all have a great day.

It is actually very possible that I am mixing the contents of two different books that I read around fifty years or so ago about wilderness life in Canada in the early 1900's, and that it was only Grey Wolf's work that contained the information about beavers. I'm just not fully sure after all these years. I really should try and dig the books out (my book collection is vast, and currently in various and numerous boxes and crates). But, if you're interested, the National Film Board of Canada have an 8 minute silent film (with annotations) called The Beaver People, which was originally released in 1928 by the "National Parks of Canada, Department of the Interior", showing Grey Wolf and his wife interacting with beavers... https://www.nfb.ca/film/beaver_people/

I bet you say that to all the good looking guys...

Voice of experience there, young Albert?

Good night, gang!

I'd say that's happening to a lot of tourist spots around the world this year, Albert...

I've a couple of books by Grey Owl somewhere, at least one of them supposedly signed by him (although I suspect the signature was done as part of the actual printing). Definitely a cool guy, although he lost a lot of his credibility when it was discovered that he was lying about his real heritage. He was actually born and reared in the town of Hastings in the south of England (the Hastings made famous in 1066 with the Battle of Hastings, and the Norman conquest of England).

When and if I manage to dig the book out, I'll give you the tile and author.

Hi, Page! Hope all's well with you. Your seconding has been noted. But I would point out that Albert didn't actually propose a motion. He simply jumped right in and voted. And I must also point out that this is not a democracy as far as my garden is concerned. At the end of the day the decision will be mine, and mine alone. And a good part of me reaching that decision will be to do with what wildlife (in particular pollinators) will be encouraged by what I plant.

Noted. And thanks for the encouragement. It's a long wall, and not the only wall in the garden, so I may go for a mix.

Possibly. And maybe Clematis, Wisteria, and possibly Virginian Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)...

I'm not sure if its the same in your province, but I read an autobiography (can't remember who by) many years ago of someone who lived in British Columbia. He said that in his part of that province he didn't experience spring. Apparently summer would eventually just appear. It's a book I bought in a second hand bookshop sometime in my early to mid twenties (so sometime in the 1970's), and had been written in the early years of the twentieth century. I seem to remember the author's opening sentence being something along the lines of "The first time I saw the place that I now call home, all the land around me was burnt." He was unhappy with the exploitation of the land, and the clear-felling that had been done of the native forests. He realised that the beaver, which has been hunted to extinction locally, was an important factor in maintaining the balance of nature, and spent several years repairing old beaver dams to regulate the flow of water and prevent flash flooding and erosion of the soil. Eventually a wild life ranger became interested in what he was doing, and gave him a pair of beavers. Within several short years, as they bred and their numbers increased, the land returned to its more natural state. I have my copy in one of the many boxes of books that are awaiting bookshelves to be put up in my new place. I really must dig it out sometime and re-read it.

Lucky that no-one was underneath when that thing came down! Had to use Google Translate to understand the article, Tim. Not sure if it translated everything correctly. For example Google translated the following... "Men nu har der været en del blæst, og det var åbenbart den sidste blæst, der skulle til i går, og så faldt den." ... to this, in English: "But now there has been a lot of blows, and it was obviously the last blow to go yesterday, and then it fell." I'm assuming that blaest probably means strong wind(s), or gust(s), or possibly gale(s)? And am I correct in thinking the plant was a climbing euphorbia? (Google seemed completely confused there.)

Sleep well, B

Good morning, Albert! Please wish Steve the happiest of happy birthdays from me.