August Yard Highlights

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The two plants that are the highlights of my yard this month are the crepe myrtles – which all died back to the roots over last winter and are now blooming – and noticing a stinkhorn under one of my red maples.

The crepe myrtles are not my favorites because they will never grow into small trees with interesting bark like they do in Texas and Maryland. Both winters we have lived in Missouri – the 4 crepe myrtles in our flower beds have died and come up from the roots - growing enough to bloom in August. But they will always be short bushes if this continues. I am giving them one more season before I start replacing them with a native plant.

Earlier in the season I saw stinkhorn fungi in the area where a pine tree fell in our back yard and the chipped remains of the stump are decaying. This month, there was a stinkhorn near one of the red maples. They are a welcome sight so far because their presence means there is plant material decomposing and being recycled in the yard…and there are never very many of them to be unbearably stinky.

The August Pivot

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What a difference a year makes! Last year in August I was finishing up Zentangle sessions and butterfly migration games with Howard County Conservancy summer campers

And ramping up my volunteer shifts with the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy butterfly exhibit that would continue into mid-September.

My husband and I made a day trip to the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge where I managed to photograph a cicada in foliage (following its sound).

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Somethings were the same: there was the weekly pickup of the CSA share and grocery shopping (although I did it weekly rather than every other week).

Another aspect of the month that is turning out to be similar is the pivotal aspect of the month. For so many years of our lives, we have been so tuned to the school year that it only seems natural that August is a starting point – a change over from relatively free form summer to more structured ‘school.’ Even though we don’t have the forcing function of an actual school – we invent the pivot for ourselves.

Last year we were making plans for the fall and early winter: an astronomy focused camping trip, a birding trip to Smith Island, day trips to Conowingo (for the Bald Eagles), Thanksgiving in Springfield MO, a day trip to the Maryland State House, 3 days Delmarva birding, and the a trip to Texas for a family visit and then the Laredo Birding Festival. All in the September to February period. The travel was interspersed with lots of volunteer gigs.

The pivot is still happening this year but the plans are just for the early fall and are all birding festivals that have gone virtual: Yampa Valley (Colorado) Crane Festival Sept. 3-6, Puget Sound Bird Fest Sept. 12-13, Cape May Fall Festival Oct. 2-4, and Hawaii Island Festival of Birds Oct. 15-19. The two big festivals in November (Rio Grand Valley and Festival of the Cranes) have cancelled this year. I’m looking forward to the virtual festivals in September and October… and on the lookout for opportunities for virtual travel or online classes in November, December, and January.