House Plants, Lawns, and IPM

Imagine my surprise this morning when I noticed that the "Corn Plant" (Dracena something-or-other) in the living room has sprouted flower buds! I snapped a couple of photos, but I'll see what they look like when open and post a photo then. On some level, I assumed that these things bloom, but I'd never actually seen on in bloom, so...

We've had a few days of sun, no rain, and very light air movement, but the rains are due back this evening.  And they're supposed to be heavy and last for most of a week. Mind you, I *love* the rain. I like the sound, the smell of the air, the clean look of everything between showers, and the fact that it means I have to worry less about drought. But, between last week's rain and this week's sun, the weeds growing in the lawns are going berzerk and are starting to throw seeding parties. Conclusion: Today's the day to mow the lawns.

Mind you, I'd rather *not* have lawns, but I inherited them with the house and I don't have the strength/endurance to replace them myself and I don't have the $$$ to hire it done. At least they're relatively small. And they're mostly Bermuda, so they *rarely* get watered. The back lawn gets a soak a couple of times in the height of summer and the tiny front lawn gets watered, at most, once every couple of weeks. One of these days, I'll come up with the money and the plan.

I'd like to have a small meadow out front and a mix of raised vegetable beds, a [non-native] fruit tree or two, and a collection of native flowers, native flowering shrubs, native scented shrubs (e.g., salvias and mints), native trees, ... (Seeing a trend? :-)

One of the blogs I follow is The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse. The other day, Town Mouse posted about an Arboreal Salamander she found in her yard that seemed ill. She gave it a couple of days of putting it back in moist shade among native sorrel, but it seemed to be getting worse, so she took it to a rescue center. Sal seemed to be getting better, but suddenly died. It seems that a neighbor's herbicide or pesticide leached out of the soil and ran to TM's yard, sickening and killing Sal. 

I'm sad to hear of his passing. Not so much because I knew Sal, but because there's really no good reason for using x-icides when there are so many options for IPM (Integrated Pest Management). As a general rule, I don't use x-icides. I use a little RoundUp on the weeds in the crack between the gutter and the street because they cause the pavement to heave and break up. I spray the huge ant trails (and the golden aphids) with a little dishwashing liquid mixed with a lot of water. When wasps start building nests on the house, I spray them down with a jet of water. The rest of the bugs in the yard are kept in check by the birds. The snails and other pests in the back yard are kept in check by Shelley (for whom the blog is named). Weeds are pulled by hand, tho' those in the lawn are generally just mowed.

As to the birds, I have found that offering a source of fresh water is quite sufficient to keep them coming around. When I first moved here eleven years ago (OMG!), I had a 4-legged child named Sparky. Sparky "mined" the back lawn quite liberally. This, of course, drew flies no matter how often I scooped. Lots and lots and LOTS of flies. That first summer was The Summer of the Flies. They were EVERYwhere. The following spring I put in a hanging bird bath with a slow dripper. The birds started showing up for the water, but they *stayed* for the flies. Black Phoebes even built nests on and around my house. The flies disappeared by the end of summer, as did moths, gnats, etc. 

My yard and plantings are virtually bug-free simply because I put in a water source. In the morning I wake to birdsong. I can peek out my bedroom window and watch hummingbirds bathe in the morning dawn and all the rest of them bathe the rest of the day. They come for a drink and a day at the spa. And they stay for the bugs.

So, yes, I have bugs. But not enough to do any noticeable plant damage. 

AND I have salamanders.