Where did the time go?
Author Archives: jmarkowski
I just got back from another stakeout.
I kid you not, it all started innocently enough with me running around in my backyard trying to track down a Monarch butterfly. The best way to describe the scene would be to imagine a toddler chasing a seagull on the beach. A slight giggle, no chance in hell of ever catching it but still enjoying the thrill of the chase. Along the way, there is a lot of falling and running into things, maybe even a slight drool.
As I’m about to give up on the hunt, I hear a mysterious vehicle pull into the street. How do I know it is mysterious? When you live on a small street without only 3 houses inhabited, you learn the sound of everyone’s vehicle over time. This one was not one of those.
I quickly see that it is a white “company” vehicle and I’m on high alert. That is life these days with the threat of the PennEast pipeline. The company is attempting to survey potentially affected properties through all means shady since only 30% of NJ landowners have granted them access (Don’t mess with Jersey). Illegal trespassing, utilizing electric companies to survey for them, even fake bat studies (you read that correctly) are the norm.
We have “no trespassing” signs all over our property and will not hesitate to call the authorities if a surveyor shows up. We denied all access and have completed all of the necessary paperwork to ensure that holds true. I am also keeping an eye on neighboring properties to make sure there are no shenanigans.
So I set up camp at my favorite hideout (I’ve done this a few times before as you can tell) where I can see the entire road and take pictures if necessary.
If there is any sign of surveying/drilling, I will be on that shit like an animal. This is what you turn into when dealing with situations like this.
Turns out there is no foul play (for now) as the truck immediately departs. If there were any concerns, I’d have photos including their license plate. Yes, our new reality.
Part of being able to function on a daily basis is to make light of the situation. We’ve taken to blaming PennEast for everything. If the drier stops working, it’s PE’s fault. If there is a large collection of turkey vultures sitting on my roof plotting their next move, it is because of PE. If Shop Rite is out of white peaches, you guessed it, f’n PE. It gives us all a much needed laugh.
Another fun family activity is to run outside if we hear the sound of a plane/helicopter/drone. PE has been surveying from the air so we all know what to do if a low flying object appears.
Kids love having the OK to throw up the middle finger. They need to learn just how powerful it can be at the right time. I’m so proud of them.
We’ve even gone so far as to imagining a future where there is no pipeline and we create a restaurant that sits on the originally proposed path. Ask my wife, it’s true. I recently jumped out of the shower one morning and announced what one of our starters would be at the “The Pipeline Cafe”:
Eminent Romaine – we’ll decide when you are done with this delectable salad and we’ll decide what we want to charge you.
Sick, I know.
But in all seriousness, there has been an incredible push from the people to defeat this monster. Just last night I attended another meeting to further educate the public on how to get involved and most importantly, what to do next now that the pipeline company, PennEast, plans to submit their application this month.
Over the last year, amazing leaders have emerged from all over the affected townships and you would swear they all fight pipelines for a living.
No, not even close.
These are farmers, teachers, professionals, you name it, who have dedicated their time to energizing this fight and most importantly, keeping the people engaged. I am proud of it all and look forward to continuing the fight, how ever long that may be.
Who knows, part of my fight beyond red shouldered hawks, environmental concerns and proximity to my well just may be protecting the milkweed and those ever elusive Monarchs.
Today I will take a back seat and allow the photos to do all of the talking for me.
I know you all visit here for my sick wordsmithing skills but you’ll just have to wait for another day.
Because if I write too much it distracts from the purpose of today’s post.
And that would be a travesty since the 15th of each month is dedicated to all that is blooming in our gardens.
Some times we just want to see beautiful photos and bypass all of those silly words that  get in the way.
So with than in mind, I won’t write a thing today.
Because, you know, I care.
Truly I do.
Like, a lot.
Helenium autumnale (Sneezeweed)
Helenium (Sneezeweed) Mariachi Series
Helenium (Sneezeweed) Mariachi Series
Veronica ‘Royal Candles’
Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’
Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’
Boltonia
Boltonia
Physostegia (Obedient Plant) ‘Vivid’
Physostegia (Obedient Plant) ‘Vivid’
Eupatorium (Hardy Ageratum) ‘Wayside’
Eupatorium (Hardy Ageratum) ‘Wayside’
Spent Joe Pye Weed blooms in front, Panicum (Switch Grass) ‘Rots’ and Sorghastrum (Indian Grass) in back from left to right.
Miscanthus (Flame Grass) blooms
A plethora of ornamental grass blooms
Panicum (Switch Grass) blooms
First blooms ever on Abelia ‘Golden Anniversary’
Lone surviving Monarda (Bee Balm) bloom
Lone surviving Achillea (Yarrow) ‘Grapefruit’ bloom
I have a hard time letting go of the summer, the heat, the well earned sweat and the longer days. The stark reality of winter can force me into the fetal position. No matter how hard I try, I cannot deal.
But you knew that already.
Before that reality sets in however, I do truly cherish the fall for oodles of reasons. And we are right on the cusp as we speak. The current state of the garden tells me that.
Last night I tried to take some photos of the “just about autumn” garden from angles I typically forget to enjoy. Here are just a few for your viewing pleasure. To the shock of no one, you’ll notice all are anchored by the ornamental grass.
Before I get to the garden lessons learned …
It’s early June, 1985 and I will be turning 13 years old in a few weeks. School has just let out for the day and a bunch of us prepubescent boys are gathered around the lockers, planning our afternoon activities. If I had to guess, I am wearing Jams shorts, a Gotcha t-shirt. and a killer coral necklace. Surfer wares for a non-surfer but damn if I don’t look good. It doesn’t matter that I had never set foot on a surfboard and still haven’t to this day. I was a fashion follower, not a leader.
The plan is to meet up at the middle school for yet another intense game of baseball. The fences are in close so we can all feel like Darryl Strawberry and hit a ton of home runs. It is even possible to hit the other school building across the street with a mammoth home run; that only adds to the excitement. If a window shatters we all run for our lives; always a good time when you are a pre-teen. Oh yeah, and anything hit to right field is a foul ball since we never have enough kids to cover the entire field. I hate that rule.
After collecting my books and heading out to my mom’s car in the parking lot, I inform her of my afternoon plans. Baseball is good clean fun, right? I won’t be staring blindly into the TV while playing Atari all afternoon. This is a no-brainer.
I can remember her response like it was yesterday.
“John, I don’t want you go. There is no supervision and anything can happen. Not today”
Are you f’n kidding me? (I didn’t say that to her). I’ve done this a dozen times before and nothing ever happened. I am not telling my friends that my mom said “no”. C’mon, do you want your oldest child to be the laughingstock of the 7th grade? I need this.
Needless to say, I talk my way into going and my mother regretfully drops me off … within walking distance of the school.
Game on.
It is a great time. No broken windows, but still fun. It’s a close game and comes down to the last out of the game to decide the winner. My father and youngest sister wait for me along the left field fence and I shout “Just one more out.” I have to focus in left field and there is no way in hell I am leaving now.
What happens next changes my life forever. And I swear to you it is the absolute truth. Mom – can you leave a comment below to confirm this really happened as I remember it? I need to keep my credibility in check. Thank you.
Line drive is hit to left field. I am ready to make the last out and secure the win. I go down on one knee to make the catch and end it in style. Everyone will jump on me with excitement and even my family will witness my greatness.
The ball completely misses my glove and drills me above the left eye. The field is dead quiet. While I guess it hurts like hell, I feel no pain. None at all. I immediately flash back to my mother’s warning and become furious. I even blame it on her as my dad ushers me to the car.
Lesson learned – Mom is always friggin right and you cannot do anything about it. Even though the black eye brought me much desired attention in school the next day, I was never the same playing on a baseball diamond again. And it all could have been avoided if I listened to the wise one.
So about those garden “lessons learned” …
To begin, I realize you’ve had your fill of these already. You’ve read about them on other sites, on other blogs and even on TV shows (that last one is an intentional joke, there are no garden TV shows anymore.) By now, we know them all. So I apologize in advance if you’ve had your fill.
But my lessons learned are killer. They’re better than all of the others combined. I’m talking life changing. Go get a notepad and pen and jot these down and keep them in a place where they can be seen daily so they reinforce how you go about your gardening ventures in the future.
I will preface my 5 lessons learned with this: I did very little in the garden this year. There were a few reasons for that and here is how it breaks out:
40% time constraints – kids, family, job
25% pipeline shock – no need to discuss this further
25% intentional – I’ll go into this one in a bit but I wisely took a break when nature called for it
10% laziness – I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Yes, every winter/spring I allege that this will be the year I transform my garden into a mini Longwood Gardens. If you are a regular reader, you know how that has turned out. But this was the first year I took a more realistic approach.
No long term goals.
Just do what I can when the time allows.
No rush.
No pressure.
And you know what? I feel like it paid off in spades.
Garden lessons learned #1 – Patience
It’s amazing what happens when you just let your garden develop on its own. No tweaking or moving plants around every other day. The plants establish themselves and those empty and bare areas fill in quickly. It’s like giving the garden a chance to breathe and stretch its legs.
Like I mentioned before, I did a lot more sitting back and enjoying this gardening season. I think I grew a little bit tired of constantly changing things up and playing plant musical chairs.
The area of the garden below has been a continuous project over the years. Last year I added perennials that I knew would establish themselves quickly. I didn’t do a thing this year and I’m thrilled with the results.
Other areas have benefited from my absence as well.
Garden lessons learned #2 – Â Smaller plant palette
I know by now what plants work well with my conditions. Anything that the deer ignore and anything that is OK with consistently wet soil. This includes ornamental grasses, deer resistant shrubs like Clethra and Boxwood and perennials like Bee Balm, Joe Pye Weed and Lobelia.
This is what I have been handed on this property and I am going to embrace it. No more attempts to try and force in plants that will never thrive here. There is enough variety within these plant choices and I will just continue to explore that avenue.
Here are some examples of my, dare I say, smart plant choices.
Clethra and Joe Pye Weed.
Bee Balm and Joe Pye Weed.
Clethra, Joe Pye Weed and ornamental grass.
Bee Balm and ornamental grass.
Garden lessons learned #3 – Repetition
This ties into the previous one and is an age old tenet of most garden designers. Repetition of plants, shape, color, etc. is pleasing to the eye. It is what separates a garden from a collection of plants. Repetition leads the visitor through the garden and enhances the visit.
By limiting my choices of plants, I’ve somewhat inadvertently (I’ll take just a smidge of credit) created repetition throughout my garden.
Garden lessons learned #4 – No planting in the heat of summer
Yes, another well known “not-to-do” among gardeners all over the world. Planting in the heat of the summer with the extreme temperatures and lack of rain is a recipe for disaster. But I’ve always been defiant and figured I could plant whatever I want, whenever I want.
This really hit  home for me one day this past summer. I was updating my plant list/spreadsheet and referenced recently purchased plants through various online plant sellers.
I kid you not, half of the plants I had ordered over the past two years had died. Most of them I had forgotten I had ever purchased. That is not good. That is what you get when you stick a small and vulnerable plant in the ground and forget about it … during the wrong time of year.
Just plain dumb.
Garden lessons learned #5 – Start small plants in containers rather than in the ground.
I’m still not sure if scientifically, this is the right way to go but it has been working so I ain’t stopping. Too often I’ve witnessed small plants purchased online not make it through the year. They easily get lost in the shuffle with all of their larger brethren. That means not enough water and potentially not enough sun if overshadowed by other plants.
My solution has been to “raise” these plants in containers so I can carefully watch them and give them a good head start. Since they stare me in the face at all times, I know to keep them watered.
Case in point is this Sambucus ‘Lemony Lace’.
This was no bigger than 5-6 inches when I purchased it this spring and now it looks fabulous. I am debating when to introduce it to the wild and may keep it in the container for one more year.
So there you go, please fire away with your thoughts and comments.
We have had incredible weather this long weekend so most of it has been spent outdoors on our back deck. We’re milking this summer thing for as long as possible.
Breakfast listening to nothing but the birds, including our friends the Red-shouldered hawks.
Watering and deadheading the container plants and harvesting the tomatoes and peppers that are still thriving on the deck.
Watching the sunset turn the sky into an intoxicating pink melange.
This time of year also brings about the stellar blooms of Indian Grass (Sorghastrum) ‘Sioux Blue’Â which emerge right at the deck’s edge.
As soon as you set foot out of my kitchen and onto the deck, you are immediately drawn to them.
I find myself constantly touching the upright flowering stems and really love how they look up close where you can appreciate the yellow stamens.
Now having said that, Sorghastrum really shines (figuratively and literally) when planted among other grasses, shrubs and perennials.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
All of this Indian Grass love has inspired me to widen an existing bed I can view from my deck, just so I can move additional ‘Sioux Blue’ that are located in other spots within the garden.
Operation “Kill the grass with cardboard and grow more plants” has entered into phase 1.
An update on my state of mind:
This week I snapped a photo as best I could of a Red Shouldered Hawk chilling on the kids playground. Yes it is endangered in NJ, yes I’ve submitted its existence to both NJDEP and FERC. Nailed it!
Now we wait.
This is just the tiniest microcosm of why this pipeline cannot come to fruition.
In a wonderfully awful mash-up, I went on a local radio show “Into the Garden” to not talk gardens, but all things gas pipelines. The two gentleman who accompanied me were incredibly informed and if you had listened, you would give this project zero chance. Freaking smart and dedicated people.
A quick aside – my hairline is disappearing rapidly. My large dome cannot handle this.
Since the “announcement” that my property would be directly impacted by the Penn East pipeline, I had yet to obtain and plant a single plant. That protest is officially over. I feel optimistic (subject to change) and energized once again. Amazing what a few Sweet Flag can do for the psyche.
The deer are apparently optimistic as well as they no longer fear the repercussions of destroying my shrubs. They must sense I am more at ease and it is OK to devour the hydrangeas now.
While I’m feeling better of late, the panic and anger hasn’t completely dissipated. A co-worker in typical corporate-speak mumbled “What else do we have in the pipeline for this project?” After a few deep breaths, I retorted with “Nothing” and calmly added “Don’t ever ask me that again.”
As far as I can tell, my intimidation worked.
Just three pics today.
They all make me happy for different reasons.
1)Relentless pruning can prolong color all summer and march you happily into fall.
2)Foliage is your friend.
3)Just let nature spread its wings and stay the hell out of the way.
According to Wikipedia, photobombing is defined as “the act of accidentally or purposely putting oneself into the view of a photograph, often in order to play a practical joke on the photographer or the subjects.”
Most of you are probably already aware of the years old photobombing phenomenon, but if not, consider yourself educated.
You are welcome.
If you were to visit my garden from early July through the end of October and tried to take a photo of any of the plants, I can guarantee you would be photobombed by a Joe Pye Weed plant. You cannot escape them.
I was off from work yesterday, it wasn’t terribly sunny and the kids seemed occupied and in no need of Dad time. That meant a nice and long photo shoot was in order.
As you will now see, even though I put in quite the effort to photograph the garden and avoid the obnoxious Joseph Pye, I failed miserably.
It may have been funny the first time, but after that I wasn’t laughing any more. I guess that is what I deserve after buying every cultivar I could get my hands on.
About three years ago I asked you all to help me identify a certain bird that was making its home in my back woods. You can read it here.
Ever since then, we’ve enjoyed seeing many more of them flying around and even hanging out on the kids playground. Their high pitched shrills are endless and we love every minute of it.
Ironically, we’ve now discovered that the red tailed hawk is an endangered species in New Jersey and that this will be a factor in our fight against the proposed pipeline potentially coming our way. If the 50 foot wide easement becomes a reality, the red tailed hawk’s home will be gone.
The plot thickens.
As you may have observed, I’ve been a bit re-energized with the garden this past week and in keeping with that theme, here are a few photos to power us into the weekend.
There are a ton of “volunteer” Rudbeckia that have become borderline invasive in my garden and I’ve religiously removed them all summer. The only exception are the ones below that nicely filled in a gap and look quite handsome through the Karl Foerster grass.
What a frickin color on Panicum ‘Ruby Ribbons’.
I know nothing about tropical plants but this one was given to me by a plant loving uncle and I some how managed to keep it alive in a container. What a bloom on this one.
The Sneezeweed have arrived and hopefully will stand their ground and not topple over as they are want to do.
And they have appeared mysteriously throughout the garden this summer.
I am completely sold on the dwarf Sneezeweed by the way. Phenomenal even after having been planted as recently as this spring.
Have a great weekend.