ボストンに来て、激しい夕立が一度ありましたが、あとは晴天続きです。気温は摂氏２３度から２５度ぐらい。暑い日もありますが
湿度が６０％ぐらいで低いため、室内にいる時は寒がりの私は長袖をもう一枚着て過ごしています。
さて、気になっていた家の周りの生垣を数日かけて綺麗にしました。生垣の植物の名前は分かりませんが棘があり侵入者を防ぐには良いかも知れませんが、刈り込みをする時は注意が必要です。この生垣に近年Black Swallow Wortというツル科の多年草の雑草がはびこるようになり、ツルが生垣の枝にまとわりつき、元気な枝を締め付けて相手を枯らしてしまうので、新聞などでも捨てる時は別にして広がらないように注意喚起を行っています。この雑草のやっかいなところは絡まりながら緑の実をつけ、それが弾けて風にのると別のところで根をつけて本来の植物を次々にダメにしてしまうので、本当にいやらしく北米では深刻な侵略的外来種となっているようです。実が弾ける前に取り除いてしまわなければという脅迫観念にかられながら、毎朝2時間ほど少しずつきれいにしていきました。
軍手を二重につけ、鎌やハサミを使ってトゲが刺さらないよう気をつけながら雑草の根を起こし、絡まったツルを外していきます。若い元気な枝からグルグル巻きのツルを外してやるとこちらも命を救った気持ちでほっとします。根気強く手作業でやるしかありませんが、生垣の足元がすっきりすると達成感も湧きます。後は、表面の飛び出た新芽をトリマーでガーッとやって終わりです。
We have had a heavy evening shower since I came to Boston, but it has been fine these days and the temperature is around 75°F, humidity is 60% to 70%. I even need a long sleeve cardigan inside the house. It's pretty comfortable compared to Japan which is very hot and humid during the summer.
Well, I had been working on the hedge for the past few days which is surrounding my house. I don't know the name of the hedge but it has thorns and we need to be careful not to get pricked by them when we trim the hedge. In addition, we have another troublesome problem about hedging in these years. A special weed named Black Swallow Wort has been propagating under the hedge. It's a perennial vine and the vines twine around the plant and make the hedge die. Experts advised us to separate this Black Swallow Wort when we throw it away. It has many 2~2.5 inch green fruits and when it opens brown seeds fly on the wind and take root elsewhere. Therefore it is called invading foreign species. Being consumed with an obsession which I need to hurry to eliminate the annoying weed, I was working to remove it for about two hours everyday.
Wearing double-work gloves for protection from the thorns, I tried to cut the weeds and pull off the roots with scissors and sickle. When I could remove the vein from the hedge, I felt good because I saved the life of the young hedge. I had to do this work all by hand patiently but after I cleaned up the hedge, I felt accomplished. Lastly I ran a trimmer over the new shoots sticking out from the surface, and all my work was done.
