Motley Monday - May 12, 2025

Another park update.  It's flat.  They've planted some trees at the far end, away from the new splash pad, pickleball courts, etc. and surrounded them with wood chips.  That's new, before it was all grass.  I don't know what the gravel path way over along the fence, ending in a square area in the upper left is for.  This was a basketball hoop area in disrepair, so an improvement.  

I'm guessing the big holes are for more trees.  If this gets chipped as well there won't be much lawn!

There are sprinkler heads.  I think the green is weeds not grass.

The daylilies at the school are blooming already.  I have a few seedlings from these plants seeds I gathered last summer.  

New chalk drawing.

Another encounter with a Bold Jumping spider.  The iridescent chelicerae (fangs) are what people often notice first!  They are always visible, just more noticeable in certain light.  Scientists use them to identify this species in the wild.  You really can't mistake them for any other spider.  You ask, "Do they jump?"  Yes, they can jump 50x their body length!  They catch prey with 89% accuracy.  Their bites are no worse than a mosquito's and symptoms usually only last a few hours.

Another species of spider spotted in the garden was this one.  I've probably seen it plenty of times and didn't know what it was called. 

It's a Black-Footed Yellow Sac spider, or American Yellow Sac spider (to differentiate it from its European relative).  They are nocturnal hunters, and by day hide in silken sacs.  The bites of these spiders is more painful than those of the jumping spider, but not dangerous, as formerly believed.  They frequently enter homes, and most bites occur during the day when skin is pressed against them, like when putting on clothing or rolling over in bed!  They are not as friendly as the Bold Jumping spider, which can be kept as pets.

So, yesterday, in the U.S., it was Mother's Day.  My son got me my traditional gift giving occasion present!  He calls it "dirt."  

Four bags of potting soil, two kinds, and a bag of compost.  These are in addition to the ones I bought myself last week.

I used a bag of Lane's Super Natural potting soil mixed with 1/2 bag of Rogue compost in each of my four #15 nursery pots.  Lane Forest Products is right here in Oregon, but north, in Eugene and Springfield.

It was a pain to get that rose arch back together.  The wisteria had broken it.  I got some Liquid Nails adhesive and over several days put it back together in sections.  Cucumbers and the Sungold tomato can climb it.  Sungold can get huge and very viny. 

I had a few other things to share today, but the post is already long enough.  I'll post those Wednesday.  Tomorrow's Tuesday Treasures has a great, rather international, garage sale haul!