I'm glad I could help. Everyone on my street is suffering the loss of their boxwoods. The ones here are still pretty good, but sadly, I still see small branches coming out white or beige. I need to get another bottle and spray again, especially with this heat. This will be the third bottle for me to cover 4 bushes.
Late to the party after a 36-hour whirlwind to Chicago & back (ostensibly to see BRUUUUUUCE at Wrigley, but really to connect with some HS buddies and assorted miscreants.)
Loved the travelogue but you had me worried when you said "then-boyfriend." Was thinking all sorts of horribe reasons for a breakup - or worse - a fatal tragedy. Kind of buried the lead on the engagement, but I'm glad it all worked out for the good. Best wishes for a long and joyful journey of continuing to grow in love.
I've been actively battling boxwood mites for the last 2 months. The spray must contain Bifenthrin, Carbaryl, Cyfluthrin or Malathion. However, if you go to Lowes or Home Depot, you can just read the labels of the plastic bottles that will be titled as Mite control on Boxwoods. They are handheld bottles that hold 24 ozs. For me, that covered the 4 boxwoods I have. I first cut off all the dead leaves/branches as advised on the label. Then I sprayed the bushes when they were dry covering them until they are wet. Don't water them, and then treat them again in five days. I did notice an improvement after the first week. Now it's four weeks or so later and I am going to give them another treatment (after giving them two prior treatments @ $10/bottle). Also, they recommend you try to spray them off well with your hose when you are not treating them with insecticide. They recommend you can use dormant oil spray applications in late winter, or insecticidal soap sprays in May. I try to use something safe that will not kill butterflies, etc.
Thanks for the advice on spray, Kate. Used it earlier this week on the boxwoods in the backyard which are mostly healthy. Finished ripping out the ones with varying degrees of brown in the front.
Re: REDS KARMA. Sure if you consider manager David Bell repeating the exact same stuff he did two years ago - the aforementioned 2021 season. I speak, for the second time this week - kind of like Bula-bula - about the inexplicable lineup change by Bell immediately after the All-star break in 2021, a lineup that was winning prior to the break, but mounted losses right out of the playoffs. Then again here in 2023 an inexplicable lineup change immediately following the break and, again, the losses have mounted and the Reds chances of a playoff spot, and/or run seem slimmer and closer to NONE with each passing day. Just for the sake of clarity: Winning with a set lineup before the All-star break, change of lineup and mixing it up virtually every day since the break and LOSING! I call it managing the club right out of the playoffs. Of course, it is NOT David Bell's fault - the brass above are calling the shots. Yeah, yeah, I've heard that and the INJURIES excuse too. Not buying it. Sorry. Return to the winning lineup and stick with it and let's see what happens. Go Reds!
Awesome effort today Jay. Very interesting destination. Did you run into any demonstrations, strikes regarding the usurpation of the powers of the Supreme Court? When I was in France last fall the trains didn't run. Great idea about turning over all of the local stuff to a travel agent.
Thanks, Andy. We were there during the demonstrations but did not see them nor we were affected by them. Our guide was a 41 year old non-observant guy who was not fan of the Orthodox. After he dropped us off our first day in Tel Aviv, he drove over to Jerusalem to participate in the protest before heading home an hour or so north of Tel Aviv.
That is too bad about France. When we visited Greece on a cruise in 2011, the taxi and bus drivers were on strike. People who had booked excursions with the cruise line were out of luck and did not get to see Athens because they could not leave the port. I fortunately had booked a private driver for the four of us and we were able to visit Athens.
August is the BEST month in Cincinnati sports...or at least it has been since the Western Southern Open began here in 1899! It actually holds the record for the oldest tennis tournament held in its original city. Seems like that is going to change within a year or two, and I will miss it dreadfully. I no longer enjoy baseball and football games. Too many rude people for an old lady to cope with. Crowds at Lindner Center are always friendly, the entire place is handicap accessible, the ushers are polite, considerate, helpful. I can't think of any better place to be in August than in Mason! ...and on a side note, Jay, I think I went to high school with your father.
Wow Jay. You covered more bases than Eric Davis in 1987. Nice work!
I hadn't thought about August being a sports desert before. But now that you brought it up, I can see it. The good news is that it is followed by the best sports month of the year, as far as I'm concerned.
I'll defer to your knowledge of CFB and re-allignment. But I think there is one more thing to fear. And that is the fact that if Stanford and Cal decide to shop themselves to a Big Four conference,it wouldn't surprise me to see UC on the block again. Especially if they don't perform well - which is a dicey proposition at best.
I would never have called myself a Sinead O'Connor fan. But her version of Elton John's "Sacrifice" is among the most hauntingly beautiful songs I've ever heard.
Thanks, Patrick. Another nice metaphor in a week chock full of them.
I thought you would appreciate that I was incommunicado about my daughter's engagement because you and I were discussing football realignment.
I am unfamiliar with that Sinead track. Thanks for the heads up. If you have not seen it, check out singing "Mother" with Roger Waters. Her voice is angelic but her gravitas towards the performance is immeasurable.
Ha! I meant to comment on that but was too busy remembering to recommend the Sinead song that I forgot. If not for the fact that I've been a space cadet since childhood, I'd chalk it up to old age. I'm deeply flattered. But I hope I've not run afoul of Janice's good graces ☺️. I love the song Mother by Pink Floyd. I'll Spotify it tonight after golf. Thanks for the recommendation.
Outstanding, IB. Simply outstanding. So nice I read it twice.
I watched the Mark Cavendish documentary. After thinking about it, I’m not so sure he didn’t hit that Milano Sanremo traffic bollard on purpose given the state of his mind. He knew that road. Hard to miss an object as big as a VW Bug sitting in the middle of it. I do hope he comes out of retirement for an OG attempt for the stand alone TDF stage record. Yeah, he’s an asshole but, wow, that dude has an uncanny ability to sprint through traffic.
Glad you liked the Cavendish documentary. The man has a talent and nerves of steel to do what he does.
Even though Cavendish was the protagonist, I was still glad that Wout won the Champs stage in 2021. I remember the incalculable joy on Jumbo Visma after that win and felt so good for him and them.
I don’t think there’s anything more taxing to an elite athlete than to be a sprinter cyclist, having a sprinter’s body and conditioning, and yet still make the cut-off times of some of those diabolical TDF mountain stages. That’s a Herculean effort amongst Herculean efforts.
I think your regional play for non-rev sports is a great idea. Once those less essential sports teams experience a full season of commercial airline delays, cancelations, and small-getting-smaller coach seating, they will look forward to a bus trip a few hours away.
I think when you look at what it took for some of the buyers at the deadline to land folks like Lorenzen, for instance, it makes the Reds' standing pat even more infuriating. It wasn't taking a whole lot to get folks at the deadline, but the Reds' appear to rather hold on to the eggs that haven't hatched yet -- for lack of a better term -- than trade a couple for an egg or two that has.
It was actually nice to see the USWNT fall in the World Cup. Not because I'm not patriotic, but because a squad that has won so many times -- like they have -- and let it go to their heads -- like they have -- is always in need of some humble pie, and they got a big ol' piece of it. I felt the same way in the past about the US men's basketball team in the Olympics, too.
Haven't lost any boxwoods due to the freeze, but did lose a smattering of other bush varieties due to the December frigidity. Also lost a 30-foot Bradford Pear earlier this week with the storms that rolled through late Sunday/early Monday. Not heartbroken by any stretch -- the tree was there when my wife and I bought the place -- but it was quite the pain to chainsaw up Monday afternoon after a half day at work. Luckily it wasn't any taller, or it would have been through my back living room window. Instead, it wiped out a smaller crabapple tree. I'll take that tradeoff.
Much less to say, a Bradford Pear is not replacing it, either (too weak of a root system when it gets older, plus the nasty smell of its blooms and its invasiveness). I'll leave it up to the wife to decide what will replace it.
Congrats on the daughter's engagement, and on having had a wonderful vacation. Good read as always, Jay.
I don't believe you'd find a Bradford Pear to plant in it's place, anyway. I thought I read that nurseries around here won't sell them anymore. And sorta think they may be banned from being sold...but i could be wrong on that. They're notoriously weak trees and always seem to come down in high winds.
I appreciate your analogy about the men's Olympics team. I remember being turned of one year when Larry Johnson dunked and then stroked his chest to celebrate. It was off-putting. I looked up who was on the 2004 team that lost the gold medal. It was full of players under 24 with only two all-stars and a dearth of shooters. The issue was that we did not send our best. The next cycle was when Coach K was brought in and the stars like Kobe returned to the team.
Steve, I had a Greek travel agent recommended to me by my friend, Joanna Caneris, who knows all things Greece. For Israel, I used a tour company that I found on-line and which I would recommend. If you need either name, let me know.
My boxwoods were fine early in the year. I'm thinking maybe it's because of the super dry stretch we went through late spring to early summer? I'm hoping they come back but not sure if that's realistic or incredibly optimistic haha.
And there's the crux. We have the landscaper below saying there is a blight and others with knowledge saying it is weather. Some of mine are entirely dead and I am waiting for my yard care guy to yank them. Question is what to put in their place.
I have 20 boxwoods that I have been trying to make a hedgerow with, IB. A few years ago, three died. Shriveled down to brown and died. The best place I have found to buy larger boxwoods to match the size of the mature dead plants is Bzak in Milford.
My boxwoods face east and are shielded from the wind ripping up the valley from the river. They are in good to very good health now but I do occasionally clip a few small, dried branches away.
I have an issue right now of the grass receding that borders my front walkway and a concrete plinth I put in with a an 8 foot steel sculpture mounted to it. I don’t know if it’s from the concrete, the steel, or the heat. All I know is the grass is GONE…like it packed up and left…and my lawn service guy has no idea what is happening.
I’m seriously considering going full Arizona, total rockage, on my entire yard. I want so many rock features that NASA could practice Mars explorations in the lower yard.
I'm glad I could help. Everyone on my street is suffering the loss of their boxwoods. The ones here are still pretty good, but sadly, I still see small branches coming out white or beige. I need to get another bottle and spray again, especially with this heat. This will be the third bottle for me to cover 4 bushes.
Late to the party after a 36-hour whirlwind to Chicago & back (ostensibly to see BRUUUUUUCE at Wrigley, but really to connect with some HS buddies and assorted miscreants.)
Loved the travelogue but you had me worried when you said "then-boyfriend." Was thinking all sorts of horribe reasons for a breakup - or worse - a fatal tragedy. Kind of buried the lead on the engagement, but I'm glad it all worked out for the good. Best wishes for a long and joyful journey of continuing to grow in love.
I've been actively battling boxwood mites for the last 2 months. The spray must contain Bifenthrin, Carbaryl, Cyfluthrin or Malathion. However, if you go to Lowes or Home Depot, you can just read the labels of the plastic bottles that will be titled as Mite control on Boxwoods. They are handheld bottles that hold 24 ozs. For me, that covered the 4 boxwoods I have. I first cut off all the dead leaves/branches as advised on the label. Then I sprayed the bushes when they were dry covering them until they are wet. Don't water them, and then treat them again in five days. I did notice an improvement after the first week. Now it's four weeks or so later and I am going to give them another treatment (after giving them two prior treatments @ $10/bottle). Also, they recommend you try to spray them off well with your hose when you are not treating them with insecticide. They recommend you can use dormant oil spray applications in late winter, or insecticidal soap sprays in May. I try to use something safe that will not kill butterflies, etc.
Thanks for the advice on spray, Kate. Used it earlier this week on the boxwoods in the backyard which are mostly healthy. Finished ripping out the ones with varying degrees of brown in the front.
Re: REDS KARMA. Sure if you consider manager David Bell repeating the exact same stuff he did two years ago - the aforementioned 2021 season. I speak, for the second time this week - kind of like Bula-bula - about the inexplicable lineup change by Bell immediately after the All-star break in 2021, a lineup that was winning prior to the break, but mounted losses right out of the playoffs. Then again here in 2023 an inexplicable lineup change immediately following the break and, again, the losses have mounted and the Reds chances of a playoff spot, and/or run seem slimmer and closer to NONE with each passing day. Just for the sake of clarity: Winning with a set lineup before the All-star break, change of lineup and mixing it up virtually every day since the break and LOSING! I call it managing the club right out of the playoffs. Of course, it is NOT David Bell's fault - the brass above are calling the shots. Yeah, yeah, I've heard that and the INJURIES excuse too. Not buying it. Sorry. Return to the winning lineup and stick with it and let's see what happens. Go Reds!
Awesome effort today Jay. Very interesting destination. Did you run into any demonstrations, strikes regarding the usurpation of the powers of the Supreme Court? When I was in France last fall the trains didn't run. Great idea about turning over all of the local stuff to a travel agent.
Thanks, Andy. We were there during the demonstrations but did not see them nor we were affected by them. Our guide was a 41 year old non-observant guy who was not fan of the Orthodox. After he dropped us off our first day in Tel Aviv, he drove over to Jerusalem to participate in the protest before heading home an hour or so north of Tel Aviv.
That is too bad about France. When we visited Greece on a cruise in 2011, the taxi and bus drivers were on strike. People who had booked excursions with the cruise line were out of luck and did not get to see Athens because they could not leave the port. I fortunately had booked a private driver for the four of us and we were able to visit Athens.
I visited South Africa in the late 70s and found it enchanting. It sounds like 2023 Israel has a lot in common with that old place and time.
Enchanting is a good word. Big difference is that Israel can be very modern while surrounded by millenia of history.
We were in South Africa in 2019. Cape Town is one of my all time favorite cities. Definitely a top 3 most beautiful.
Boxwood Moth - an invasive species - has made its way to Cinti. Google it.
Love the trip reports. Excellent Hemingway today, Jay. Thank you.
Thanks!
August is the BEST month in Cincinnati sports...or at least it has been since the Western Southern Open began here in 1899! It actually holds the record for the oldest tennis tournament held in its original city. Seems like that is going to change within a year or two, and I will miss it dreadfully. I no longer enjoy baseball and football games. Too many rude people for an old lady to cope with. Crowds at Lindner Center are always friendly, the entire place is handicap accessible, the ushers are polite, considerate, helpful. I can't think of any better place to be in August than in Mason! ...and on a side note, Jay, I think I went to high school with your father.
I share your affinity for the Western Southern. It is a gem and the best annual event in town. It is a wonderful place to spend a summer evening.
My dad grew up in Norwood and graduated from Purcell. Same guy you are thinking of?
Irish Bearcat,
Thank you I will take both names if you don't mind. Thanks!
Greece - Litsa Chistou @ Fantasy Travel. litsa@fantasy.gr
Israel - Melissa Shabo @ Touring Israel. melissa@touringisrael.com
Good luck. If you need anything else, let me know.
Wow Jay. You covered more bases than Eric Davis in 1987. Nice work!
I hadn't thought about August being a sports desert before. But now that you brought it up, I can see it. The good news is that it is followed by the best sports month of the year, as far as I'm concerned.
I'll defer to your knowledge of CFB and re-allignment. But I think there is one more thing to fear. And that is the fact that if Stanford and Cal decide to shop themselves to a Big Four conference,it wouldn't surprise me to see UC on the block again. Especially if they don't perform well - which is a dicey proposition at best.
I would never have called myself a Sinead O'Connor fan. But her version of Elton John's "Sacrifice" is among the most hauntingly beautiful songs I've ever heard.
Thanks, Patrick. Another nice metaphor in a week chock full of them.
I thought you would appreciate that I was incommunicado about my daughter's engagement because you and I were discussing football realignment.
I am unfamiliar with that Sinead track. Thanks for the heads up. If you have not seen it, check out singing "Mother" with Roger Waters. Her voice is angelic but her gravitas towards the performance is immeasurable.
Ha! I meant to comment on that but was too busy remembering to recommend the Sinead song that I forgot. If not for the fact that I've been a space cadet since childhood, I'd chalk it up to old age. I'm deeply flattered. But I hope I've not run afoul of Janice's good graces ☺️. I love the song Mother by Pink Floyd. I'll Spotify it tonight after golf. Thanks for the recommendation.
Video is here if you need it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ2tluarzZs
I have not listened to Pink Floyd in 40 years, but have watched this a half dozen times since Sinead died.
Good luck on the golf course.
And congrats to Blair and Brandon - Ain't Love Grand!! ❤️😎
Outstanding, IB. Simply outstanding. So nice I read it twice.
I watched the Mark Cavendish documentary. After thinking about it, I’m not so sure he didn’t hit that Milano Sanremo traffic bollard on purpose given the state of his mind. He knew that road. Hard to miss an object as big as a VW Bug sitting in the middle of it. I do hope he comes out of retirement for an OG attempt for the stand alone TDF stage record. Yeah, he’s an asshole but, wow, that dude has an uncanny ability to sprint through traffic.
Thanks, JP. Glad you enjoyed it.
Glad you liked the Cavendish documentary. The man has a talent and nerves of steel to do what he does.
Even though Cavendish was the protagonist, I was still glad that Wout won the Champs stage in 2021. I remember the incalculable joy on Jumbo Visma after that win and felt so good for him and them.
I don’t think there’s anything more taxing to an elite athlete than to be a sprinter cyclist, having a sprinter’s body and conditioning, and yet still make the cut-off times of some of those diabolical TDF mountain stages. That’s a Herculean effort amongst Herculean efforts.
Agreed. Which makes me respect Wout even more. He is versatile but has no weak spots. He can sprint, climb, and time trial. Hard to root against him.
Complete rider. If he was so inclined, he could probably win one of those unicycle marathon races. :)
I think your regional play for non-rev sports is a great idea. Once those less essential sports teams experience a full season of commercial airline delays, cancelations, and small-getting-smaller coach seating, they will look forward to a bus trip a few hours away.
I think when you look at what it took for some of the buyers at the deadline to land folks like Lorenzen, for instance, it makes the Reds' standing pat even more infuriating. It wasn't taking a whole lot to get folks at the deadline, but the Reds' appear to rather hold on to the eggs that haven't hatched yet -- for lack of a better term -- than trade a couple for an egg or two that has.
It was actually nice to see the USWNT fall in the World Cup. Not because I'm not patriotic, but because a squad that has won so many times -- like they have -- and let it go to their heads -- like they have -- is always in need of some humble pie, and they got a big ol' piece of it. I felt the same way in the past about the US men's basketball team in the Olympics, too.
Haven't lost any boxwoods due to the freeze, but did lose a smattering of other bush varieties due to the December frigidity. Also lost a 30-foot Bradford Pear earlier this week with the storms that rolled through late Sunday/early Monday. Not heartbroken by any stretch -- the tree was there when my wife and I bought the place -- but it was quite the pain to chainsaw up Monday afternoon after a half day at work. Luckily it wasn't any taller, or it would have been through my back living room window. Instead, it wiped out a smaller crabapple tree. I'll take that tradeoff.
Much less to say, a Bradford Pear is not replacing it, either (too weak of a root system when it gets older, plus the nasty smell of its blooms and its invasiveness). I'll leave it up to the wife to decide what will replace it.
Congrats on the daughter's engagement, and on having had a wonderful vacation. Good read as always, Jay.
I don't believe you'd find a Bradford Pear to plant in it's place, anyway. I thought I read that nurseries around here won't sell them anymore. And sorta think they may be banned from being sold...but i could be wrong on that. They're notoriously weak trees and always seem to come down in high winds.
Thanks, James.
I appreciate your analogy about the men's Olympics team. I remember being turned of one year when Larry Johnson dunked and then stroked his chest to celebrate. It was off-putting. I looked up who was on the 2004 team that lost the gold medal. It was full of players under 24 with only two all-stars and a dearth of shooters. The issue was that we did not send our best. The next cycle was when Coach K was brought in and the stars like Kobe returned to the team.
I share your disdain for Bradford Pears.
My lawn guy said the December freeze got the boxwoods. I see a slight recovery.
Do you have a name for your travel agency and are they only unique to those two countries? Looking for a good travel agency.
Thanks
Steve
Steve, I had a Greek travel agent recommended to me by my friend, Joanna Caneris, who knows all things Greece. For Israel, I used a tour company that I found on-line and which I would recommend. If you need either name, let me know.
My boxwoods were fine early in the year. I'm thinking maybe it's because of the super dry stretch we went through late spring to early summer? I'm hoping they come back but not sure if that's realistic or incredibly optimistic haha.
And there's the crux. We have the landscaper below saying there is a blight and others with knowledge saying it is weather. Some of mine are entirely dead and I am waiting for my yard care guy to yank them. Question is what to put in their place.
I have 20 boxwoods that I have been trying to make a hedgerow with, IB. A few years ago, three died. Shriveled down to brown and died. The best place I have found to buy larger boxwoods to match the size of the mature dead plants is Bzak in Milford.
My boxwoods face east and are shielded from the wind ripping up the valley from the river. They are in good to very good health now but I do occasionally clip a few small, dried branches away.
I have an issue right now of the grass receding that borders my front walkway and a concrete plinth I put in with a an 8 foot steel sculpture mounted to it. I don’t know if it’s from the concrete, the steel, or the heat. All I know is the grass is GONE…like it packed up and left…and my lawn service guy has no idea what is happening.
I’m seriously considering going full Arizona, total rockage, on my entire yard. I want so many rock features that NASA could practice Mars explorations in the lower yard.