“This old world keeps spinning round. It’s a wonder tall trees ain’t layin’ down.” (Neil Young). Except, this ain’t no coriolis effect…it’s years of root-killing drought. Lacking sufficient root mass, these red oaks are toppled by winds they ordinarily should withstand. As more light is introduced within the woods, non-natives that can tolerate drought come in and keep the inputting of CO2, and the outputting of O2, going. What in God’s name does this farmer think he’s doing. First, he puts up fencing on both sides of the stream to keep the cows out. Then, he realizes that he is also being kept out. Since no animal (including the farmer) can, now, go there, he decides to just herbicide it. Is it any wonder why farmers have giant targets on their back as significant sources of waterway pollution. Some non-native plants get a pass when it comes to colonial behavior. When you are good-looking, it seems like you get all the breaks…right? And, it can turn plant-evacuators into hypocrites by causing them to play favorites. Rest assured, this dense and expanding colony of daffs will have a long and bloomed residence, here.Before there were people everywhere, there were people most everywhere. Sometimes, the only way you can know you are in the presence of a long-disappeared homestead is from plants. This wall (along with Jap Honeysuckle) contains daffodils, lilac, quince, hemerocallis, climbing red rose, and Winter Jasmine…with a couple of American Hollies in back. Even the hardscrabblers grew plants for show. This is why you find ‘invaders’ like Vinca and English Ivy in the middle of nowhere. No seed was dispersed by a dumb bird; man planted it.Steep road cuts turn wild animals (their trails) into stream polluters (erosion). Queue the eye roll: 🙄 Waterway health has been a big issue this century. Unfortunately, wildlife gets thrown under the bus along with farming and development as to reasons for stream pollution (authorities like to point out that wildlife pees and poops, too). How stupid can these people be. Long ago, you could drink from streams…and I think there was wildlife back then. What there wasn’t was ‘Big Farma’, ‘Big Developa’, ‘Big Chemica’, ‘Big Crapa’ (sewage)…Need I go on?And God said, “Let there be”…well, you know the rest. Then this happened (the above) and man thought to himself, “Screw that! This is Man’s world, not God’s. I will suppress all life but my own.” As I look at this, I’m thinking that maybe this Fuji (my favorite) might have made all Man’s egosightedness worthwhile. 🙂 This roving band of berry swallowers (waxwings) first needs some sunshine before doing its ‘dirty work’ of thwarting NPN dreams for a native-plants-only USA. These birds are berry big fruit eaters…and distributors of the seeds in them…and…drop-dead gorgeous. Did you know that white sugar is made from sugarcane (a SE Asian plant) and sugar beets (eastern European). In other words, STOP FEEDING HUMMINGBIRDS, IMMEDIATELY. NPN scientist reasoning informs us that there is no nutrition there because the plants the sugar comes from are non-native which makes the food unsuitable, unusable, un…(fill in your favorite un, here) when it comes to this bird’s health and well being.As usual, it’s all a load of you know what! Where are the malnourished dead bodies? Year after year, these birds just keep coming back to your feeder. I guess this addiction to white sugar isn’t all that bad. As for myself, I’d rather have a Mountain Dew.This roadside photo was taken from my vehicle. Let’s see…road salt, vehicle fluid leaks, exhaust, illegal hazardous waste dumpages, herbicides, asphalt leachate, microplastics…but, “You know, the real problem here is these gosh darn invasive plants!” Please! Non-native plants are, thankfully for us, tolerant of these soil ‘amendments’ and are likely doing their part to cleanse through phytoremediation. Nevertheless, the NPN edict stands: “Pollution over plants.” How in the world did it ever come to this?A dutifully regurgitative press continually extolls Tallamy’s 70% native plant solution claim to help the ubiquitous Carolina Chickadee. Oh!…and…BTW, you’ll also need artificial nest boxes and artificial feeders, but…really and truly…the main and most important thing is to have the correct plants. The people who did the ‘science’ on this should be embarrassed. Take away those two, human-supplied, habitat supplements from the greater ‘Hood’ and all you’ll be left with is an occasional bird visit to your tree (if you have a tree for it to land on). Because of bird feeding and bluebird boxes, I’ll bet that we have more chickadees than at any time in the history of mankind.NPN-allied scientists love to use graphs to help make their research look legit. Well, (imagine whiny child) “I want one, too!” Thus, I have made my very own. Going from west to east you have the bulk of society until crossover. At that loci (the point of no return) is the frontier beyond which only NPNs inhabit. Be careful out there!A southern exposure is a killer for attempted cultivation. If this person had just let it go from the get-go, it would be green. Instead, though he payed good money for this property, he is choosing to have it erode away while he evermore (it’s already been many, many years) tries to get the plant he wants to grow to grow there. Mother Nature already knows how to handle this situation. Get out of the way and let her do it.
