Two weeks ago I mentioned that I was in a battle to weaken a very large wisteria plant. My goal is to cut all new growth every week. After a span of 9 days, I measured the new growth today.
That's a yard stick! So wisteria grows about 5 inches per day. Per day! I have always joked about job security if you buy a wisteria you need a gardener, my way of telling you not to. And this is not my plant, I tore mine out years ago. It takes so much effort to control them. We will see how the rest of the summer goes, I shall be persistent in my duties as an estate gardener.
It also seems like the jungle arrived this weekend. I felt so good about my maintaining the weeds and the vines, and the vegetable garden. Then it hit and I feel totally out of control. We'll call it biodiversity, food for all.
Turtles have been on the move and I saved a female box turtle on Route 50 in Chantilly. She suffered a fractured jaw (hit by car) and is healing at the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center in Boyce, Virginia. I understand they have to go back where they came from which is bad news. I believe she survived the giant construction of storage facilities for Dulles Airport and there is little for her to go home to. The instructions are no further than a quarter mile from where you find them when taking them back. So the location is the Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church, 43987 John Mosby Hwy, Chantilly, Va and I'm hoping someone might live near there and can give her a good home. The call to take her home may come at any time or it might not, the last one took 3 months, but I sure would like to have a plan. Spread the word please. A nice home with a good supply of water.
Twice there have been snapping turtles traveling through the yard.
They may have been females looking for a place to lay eggs, or moving to another pond. I noticed the little protuberances on their head, almost like small worms.
When the kids were small and we had the plant farm, swimming was a daily occurance, especially on hot days. There were so many snappers in the pond that I worried about little toes. One day I called Loudoun County hospital to ask if I had any reason to worry. A nice nurse told me to make a lot of splashing of water as the kids went in and the turtles would leave. As I researched the bumps on their heads, the topic came up and the advice was the same. It seems they are only aggressive when out of water, which is understandable. Otherwise they are docile and can live to be 100 years old.
I hope they make it safely to wherever they are going.