States where I've been.

These are the states where I've visited, lived in, or driven through. If just the airport, I would add a few more:


visited 30 states (60%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

These are the states where I've lived at least a couple of months, although in most cases several years. Louisiana was boot camp, Texas was medic training. I've lived at least 4 years in each of the others. My heart is in the Pacific Northwest.

visited 7 states (14%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

(Thanks to Plants are the Strangest People for the cool link)

Ginkgo stats

This ginkgo grew 27.5 inches this year, with a final height of 75 inches. I don't think that it will grow much taller this year.

The smaller ginkgo grew 12 inches, then a bug ate the apical bud. It's now 37 inches tall. I pruned it back to the next bud, which I hope takes over at the new apical bud next year.

The largest ginkgo is about 15 feet tall. I cant reach the top with the tape measure. It;s in the center of the 'dog yard'. The added nitrogen from dog pee probably explains some of the rapid growth. It's been in the ground 1 or 2 years longer that the other two, but all of the seeds were started at the same time.

Tomatoes in the time of burnout.

There's love in the time of cholera. This is different, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The tomatoes do get watered, and I've been fairly diligent about pruning and tying them up. Much of the yard has been neglected this summer.

It's OK, though. Some things may need more care than they are worth. I've prioritized. Brown grass is not only OK but environmentally friendly. Once it's brown, it doesn't need cutting, weeding, or watering. The tomatoes are top priority, as are the fruit trees, ginkgos, and a few others.

See "yellow" for the first Lemonboy. It's not as big as last year. I suspect this is more due to the late start followed by instant heat, than to anything that I might have done differently. This continues to be the top performer large tomato in my yard. One of the 'black' varieties is starting to darken - not sure which one, the labels were mixed up.

We've been getting a few Sweet 100's for a week. Not a lot, but enough to remind me that it's worth the trouble. 1000-X better than any store bought tomato.

One of the tomato patches.

More White. More Yellow. Some Orange.

Chinese chives, First flowers. Bees love them.

Lemonboy. The first full-size tomatoes. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Here's an interesting development. Dozens of male flowers on all of the zukes and squash. No female flowers. No zukes. What's up with that?

This lily survives neglect. It's about 7 feet tall. Not the best location - maybe it will be moved this fall. Maybe not.

Brasiliopuntia first bloom

I've been growing this type of cactus for 20 years. The current plants were grown from cuttings from previous ones, probably back through 3 or 4 generations of starts from pads. It is not winter hardy, which is why the current plant is not larger. Its parent was left outside too long and died in a freeze. The current plant is about 4 years old. This is the first time that I have seen them bloom.

The last photo is a much older brasiliopuntia, photo is from Wikipedia commons.