How did I get so much done? I felt like I was 35 again with boundless energy. Why, the humidity is way down!

I spent the weekend doing a little of everything: editing The Author's next book, eating, reading the Sunday paper and doing yardwork.

The yardwork is where I really got stuff done. The latest invasive around here to make big inroads is the stilt grass. It's easy to pull out, but it spreads everywhere.

I cleaned out several perennial beds absolutely swallowed up in stilt grass. I considered planting grass seed to reduce future maintenance, but I decided that it would be a lot of work because I'd want to move what perennials remained to other parts of the yard, so it would be digging and trudging around with the wheelbarrow and so on.

I have some Preen which is a weed suppressant. It works by preventing many different weeds from germinating. It won't work with something that spreads by undergrounds roots. I have mixed feelings about using it because I'm not sure if it's safe for amphibians and I do welcome toads and garter snakes. Anyway, i may sprinkle some of that. It works for about six weeks and is activated by rain.

The last thing I was working on as it got dark out was the increasingly jungly area alongside my driveway. This area consists of an extra large viburnum (we're talking about 15 feet wide by as tall; this baby's huge), a butterfly bush and a silky dogwood. It's the silky dogwood which is becoming a problem. I planted it myself over 5 years ago. It's a native. All good. But it spreads by sending out underground roots and then you get the sprouts of new silky dogwoods coming up all over the lawn, creating a miniature forest over time. This is what's happening near the driveway, and it's too overgrown looking for the front yard.

It's a good plant, but one better planted in an area where you want a hedge-type shrub on your border or somewhere out in a field. I hadn't counted on its spreading capabilities. I'm thinking I'll pull out all the suckers, which are about three feet tall and higher, but leave the mother plant and then just stay on top of it, mainly by mowing, to keep the new suckers in check.

I don't want to get rid of it entirely as it producees black berries the birds love and I am all about gardening for wildlife. I think it will work ok as I have another silky dogwood elsewhere in the yard and while that one also sends up suckers, it seems easier to control by running the mower over it. With the one by the driveway, I hadn't really been doing that because next to it there were the remains of a large pile of woodchips on the lawn from when I had the black locust tree cut down and chipped. The chips are mostly gone but the grass had died where the pile was and that's where the suckers were coming up. I hadn't been mowing there on account of the wood chips.

So tonight I used a hard rake to rake out what wood chips remained and a bunch of weeds and I began pulling suckers out. There's also a large pokeberry in there that has to go, along with a butterfly bush. After that, I will throw some grass seed down to try to stabilize and neaten the area.

I planted so many things over the years to feed the birds. Now, after 17 years, a lot of things are getting huge and I'm beginning to realize I have no more room for some of these things and I want to introduce a little more air and light to certain parts of the yard. Which also happens to be good tick control.

I still have a small bed right in fromt of the house that looks pretty ugly since i ripped out 4 large shrubs, but I'm waiting for tulip bulbs to go on sale and plan to get about 50 to plant en masse in the front of this bed. I am excited about how good that will look, and I can use a Home Depot gift card to buy the bulbs. I have never been able to plant tulips on account of the deer, but this location lies next to a set of stone stairs leading to my front door, with just a small slate landing upon which I suppose a determined deer could stand to munch on tulips. I'm going to take that chance; if i saw evidence of deer browsing, I could always put a chair in the one spot a deer could access the tulips from.

A representative from Target called me tonight (Sunday night?!) to verify I was who I said I was in my credit card application. Yes, I decided the Target card is a pretty good deal with 5% off everything plus free shipping.