A Young Gardener Just Thrilled The Hell Out Of Me

Keynote speaker Ian McKenna wowed and
inspired us at the Gardener's Supply Company
annual meeting last month.

Last month, my employer, Gardener's Supply Company in Burlington, Vermont, held its annual meeting.

We're an employee-owned company. Everybody who works there, including me, has a stake in it. So the annual meeting is a great chance to look over our financials, see where we've been, learn where we're headed.  

Each annual meeting features a keynote speaker, almost always somebody from outside the company who gives us inspiration and information meant to propel us forward and keep doing what we're doing.  

This year's keynoter was, of all people, a 13-year-old kid named Ian McKenna from Austin, Texas. He was easily - by far- the best keynote speaker we've ever had at Gardener's Supply.

Some background: Gardener's Supply is big on giving back to the community. That's one of the reasons why I work there.

I know the following is a shameless plug, but bear with me. It's good. This year, we're promoting something called Garden To Give. We're inviting our customers - anyone from newbies to hard-core gardeners  -  to agree to give away some of their summer produce to food shelves and people who just need food. Many of us Gardener's Supply employees are taking the pledge, too.

So, back to our 13-year-old kid. His altruism started in 2012 when his younger sister, then in first grade, was in school talking about Christmas traditions around the world, but one girl in the class burst into tears.

The girl said, "Santa's never come to us, he hates us because we're poor."

Ugh.

When Ian heard that story, he and his family decided to show up on Christmas morning at the girl's house with a carload of toys and food.

That had such an effect that a few months later Ian found out a student at school only ate breakfast and lunch provided at school with no dinners because the family was too poor, he knew he had to act again.

So he started a garden at Oak Hill Elementary school, and that people who were hungry could come there and collect fresh produce. He also opened a garden at another school, and in the first year grew 750 pounds of vegetables.  The next year, it was over 1,000 pounds of food.

I'm as guilty as anyone in my garden. Sometimes I surprise myself with more produce than I can handle. I give some away, or live on a diet of, say, string beans for a week to get through the harvest. Or, sadly, some food gets thrown away.

I'm not sure I will grow a giving garden exactly like the one highlighted on the Gardener's Supply how-to website. (I'm not the biggest fan of kale)

But surely I can give something - produce, time, volunteer work, money.

If Ian can do that much good, maybe I could at least do a fraction of it. If Ian as a teenager pulled off this much good stuff, we can all do a little, right?

Here's a video from Laura, from her YouTube channel, Garden Answer, with more on Garden to Give:

Weird Crime Spree: Somebody Stealing Burlington, Vermont Gardens

A gap in a Burlington garden because of a plant thief
who is on a crime spree in that city.
Photo buy Joel Banner Baird/Burlington Free Press.

Vermont isn't the worst high crime neighborhood in the world, but sometimes, the crimes are downright weird.

For instance, lately, there's a crime spree in Burlington, Vermont's largest (but still small!) city.

Somebody is stealing garden plants from resident's yards and homes.

This isn't just some drunk college students ripping up flowers and breaking tree branches on an intoxicated late night stagger through the neighborhoods.

Somebody who knows what they're doing is carefully digging up flowers, plants and shrubs, or carefully clipping flower blooms in apparent attempts to make floral arrangements.

According to the Burlington Free Press, at least 26 people reported plant thefts within 10 days, (Warning, if you click on the Free Press link, you'll have to complete surveys and deal with pop up ads to actually get to the story. )

Sometimes the thief or thieves have pulled up easily replaceable annuals like marigolds. Other times, expensive shrubs or bushes disappeared.

My theory, because the plants have been so carefully uprooted, is somebody is getting these plants for "free" by stealing them, then reselling them for a profit somewhere.

Most of the thefts have happened in Burlington's Old North End, a neighborhood of homes that are fairly close together with small yards.

The neighborhood has experienced a welcome rebellion against lawns, and many homeowners have pulled up lots of sod and replaced the plots with beautiful vegetable and flower gardens.

This includes easily accessible spots, like erstwhile front yards.

Gardeners are famous with their generosity, and will very often divide some perennials for you if you see some in somebody's yard that you really like.

"If someone had knocked on my door and asked for some plants, I would have gladly split some of the perennials and give them some. And most people I know would have done the same," said Emily Lee, one of the plant theft victims told the Burlington Free Press.

But somebody is not politely asking for the plants.  They're just taking.

Burlington City Councilor Sara Giannoti, who represents the hardest hit part of town is dismayed because this is a quality of life issue.

"For it to happen to people who take so much time and effort to beautify a neighborhood - it hits your soul," she said.

A lot of the thefts are fairly unusual specimens, so the garden thief has taste, even if the lousy person or persons has no morals.

Among the plants to disappear are three dwarf apples trees that a man had planted as a memorial to his late mother-in-law; a dwarf weeping Japanese maple and a beautiful red blooming Asiatic lily.

People in the neighborhood are setting up surveillance cameras in an effort to catch the plant criminals.

A technician at the University of Vermont Medical Center is offering to help people set up inexpensive surveillance systems.

This is good. I hope the what I believe to be the World's Most Unethical Gardener gets caught. And I'm dying to know who it is.

As an avid gardener myself, I know my fellow gardeners tend to be a friendly, honest bunch. I hope this Burlington bad apple gets caught before he steals more good apple trees. Or any other plant.

 ,

Crisis In Ogden, Utah: City Orders Cardboard Play Fort Razed

The cardboard castle in Ogden, Utah, that has
some city officials up in arms.  

A dad in Ogden, Utah had a whole bunch of big empty boxes. He must have made some big appliance purchases or something.

He was going to throw them out or recycle the cardboard, of course, but first he decided he'd have a little fun.

Jeremy Trentelman built a giant castle out of the boxes, complete with a  slide, trap door, tunnel and windows  or his two young children, ages 3 and 2, reported the Salt Lake Tribune.

Trentelman said he was going to take the cardboard castle down soon. After all, cardboard isn't all that durable in the outdoors.

Now he's going to leave it up longer. Because Ogden City Code Enforcement swooped down quickly.

The enforcement officers said the castle constitutes "waste materials or junk," and he would have to take the castle down within 15 days or face $125 in fines.

"It was a great project for all of us to build, and now it's just fun watching them play in it, and watching their imagination run wild is just fantastic," Trentelman said.

Trentelman said it's absurd that code enforcement acted so instantaneously, so he's going to keep the cardboard castle up longer, out of spite.

Like all code enforcement department's Ogden's is understandably worried about piles of materials that could pose fire, safety and health risks. Secondarily, they want to keep the city looking pretty.

Which all means there's good reason for most city zoning codes, in Ogden and everywhere else.

What gets me is when zoning officers strictly enforce city ordinances in a way that make no sense. Clearly, the Ogden cardboard castle wasn't going to be there forever. Maybe the city prefers children not play outside or use their imaginations.

Maybe code enforcers they feel they have to enforce the codes when they make no sense, because, after all, they do have to follow the law.

That's when you get stupid things like crackdowns on Little Free Libraries. Those are little kiosks that people put in front of their houses so people can voluntarily put books in, then take them out for awhile to read, then put back in the kiosk.

Nice thing, but code enforcers say those are structures. You can't have a fun little convenient little free library.

Some cities said they would allow the Little Free Libraries only if people pay for permits, and they can get the money to do that from local arts organizations, say these crack code enforcers.

Or as The Atlantic put it:

"We've constructed communities where one must obtain prior permission from agents of the state before freely sharing books with one's neighbors! And their proposed solution is to get scarce public arts funds to pay for the needless layer of bureaucracy being imposed on the thing already being done for free."

There've also been big crackdowns on people who dare to plant vegetable gardens in their front yards.

Apparently, your front lawn is supposed to be a useless expanse of wasteful grass, and not something that can provide food, and, if properly cared for, some beauty to a neighborhood.

In most of the enforcement of libraries, gardens and in the Ogden castle, action was prompted by an anonymous complaint. Apparently every neighborhood has at least one miserable killjoy who can't STAND to see anyone have any kind of fun, and in their wimpy, anonymous fashion, try to put a stop to it.

Back in Ogden, a protest movement is growing. The Salt Lake Tribune said a Facebook event is on calling for people to build cardboard castles in their front lawns.

Summer Flowers Keep Blooming Around My House

It's a slow Sunday, rainy and quiet, so I just went through a few of the photos I took in my gardens in St. Albans, Vermont so far this summer.  

Check out a few images to brighten up your drizzly Sunday.

Plants in a pot on my deck soak up evening sun.  

A peony captures the last light of a setting sun.  

Close up of a white peony.  

Some festive lillies  

Lillies, with more colorful blooms in the background.  

Governments Continue War On Greenery

You might have seen or heard me complain before about governments or homeowners associations forcing homeowners to tear out vegetable or flower gardens because, apparently, pavement or sterile, overfertilized lawns are SO much better than a fresh tomato or some brightly colored zinnias.

The "unsightly garden" that was "bringing down
property values" in Miami Shores, Fla.  

Well, the trend seems to be continuing. The people responsible for forcing gardeners to rip out their vegetable plants or flowers always give "maintaining property values" or "safety" as the reason, but they never explain how doing this saves property values and safety.

This is all a mystery to me. 

Hermine Ricketts and Tom Carroll are now suing the city of Miami Shores, Florida, because zoning officials made them rip out the vegetable garden they had in their front yard for the past 17 years.

The couple said they didn't grow vegetables in the back yard because that area of their property doesn't get enough sun.

A new Miami Shores ordinance prohibits front yard gardens to "protect the distinctive character of the Miami Shore Village" whatever that means.

Although vegetable gardens are banned from front yards, cheap, plastic pink flamingos are just dandy, according to the Miami Shore Village ordinance.

I wonder if bathtub Virgin Marys and those weird crystal balls are OK too? I guess as long as there aren't any rogue radishes or kale growing nearby, I suppose. 

Meanwhile, in Britain, a couple have been told to get rid of the flower garden in the narrow space between their cottage and a road because it supposedly blocks views.

According to a local government in Britain
the few flowers between this road and
cottage are making it impossible for
motorists to see where they're going.  

Judging from the pictures, it does no such thing. And the couple said they were told a decade ago to plant the garden to minimize flooding that occasionally occurs along the lane.

Also, according to the homeowners, the garden helps motorists figure out where the edge of the road is when it's snowing, so they're less likely to slide off the pavement and less likely to smash into their cottage. 

Next, the local government said they had to remove the flowers because it prevented pedestrians from moving out of the way of oncoming cars. But there's a well-maintained sidewalk across the street and there's plenty of room to jump into the narrow flower garden if someone had to in an emergency.

I'm sure the couple wouldn't mind one broken rose branch in the unlikely event someone had to get out of the way of a car.

As I said, the hostility some governments show toward gardens is baffling. I guess some people prefer their surroundings boring, useless, and unproductive.

Kind of like some government officials.

Vermont's Last Flowers Of The Autumn

The weather abruptly turned chilly and November-like Tuesday around my house in St. Albans, Vermont, spelling the end of a remarkably long flower season.

A cosmos bloom catches a gusty October breeze
in my St. Albans, Vermont yard.  

The spring was somewhat early and warm, and October until now has been the warmest in many years.

We've had no frost, at least until probably tonight, so a few of my flowers are still blooming.

As if to signal the change toward winter, most of my perennials really started to give up the ghost in the past week, even before it turned nippy.

I was able to get some more photographs of flowers in during the past two weeks before the inevitable cold, colorless winter sets in. A few examples are in this post.

Hope you like them as you scroll down for a peek.

A zinnia seems perky enough despite the growing
October chill. 

The morning sun lights up a rose bloom
after some rain.  

A bee rests on this colorful bloom on a warm
October morning in St. Albans, Vermont.  

More Garden Beauty

Every summer, my flower gardens in St. Albans, Vermont get better and better.

They are not anywhere near where I want them to be yet, but it's getting there, slowly but surely. Here are a few photos to show what I've been enjoying.

The sun glows through a day lily  

Day lillies compete with wildflowers
at the edge of my property.  

A riot of color in front of my house.  

Peak Summer Flowers in Vermont

As I occasionally do, I'll wander through my flowers in the gardens around my St. Albans, Vermont house and take a few photos. Here are some of the latest:

As always click on the images to get a larger view of them, if you'd like.

Stealing Flowers: Angering the Gardeners Will Cost You

I admit it, stealing flowers from people's yards isn't exactly the most heinous crime in the world. I mean, compare a few missing lilacs and daffodils to serial killers and terrorist bombers, and you get a bit of perspective.

But still, I can see how Washington DC gardeners are infuriated by a persistent flower thief in their midst. 

My garden in St. Albans, Vermont begins to
grow last week. Hands off, please.  

As an avid gardener who fortunately lives in a place where it is somewhat impractical to steal too many flowers and plants, I can see how people would be livid if the plants they nurtured were vandalized or stolen.

The psychological point of gardening is to labor in the dirt and the mess and to look ugly doing it so you end up with something beautiful.

So when someone steals your reward, namely the flower that is there because of your work, you get livid.

The New York Times article says the thief is elusive, and may be trying to resell his loot at flower shops. My guess is some flower shops might be a little unethical and don't ask questions about where this guy gets his flowers.

Police say they can't make arrests unless the thief is caught red handed. There's nothing illegal with walking down the street holding a flower, and if there's no obvious evidence the flower was stolen, there's not much you can do.

A daffodil in my garden says hi.  

I suppose it's possible somebody will come on my property and steal flowers, but it's in an impractical place to steal, so I'll just have to contend with the insects and the little varmint animals that occasionally damage my plants. And my dog Jackson, who recently decided some of my daffodils weren't yellow enough, so he peed on some of them.

I also must credit New York Times writer Jennifer Steinhauer with her way with words in her report on the flower thievery in Washington. You can't beat her references to thief's "ill gotten begonias" and "one-man flower power grab."

Anyway, I hope they catch the Washington DC flower thief and stop him before somebody drives a garden spade through his heart.

A Bit Early For a Vermont Sign of Spring

We're having a January thaw here in Vermont, a temporary break from the deep winter chill.

We had a pretty substantial snow cover a few days ago here in St. Albans, but most of it is gone now.

January in Vermont? A daffodil pops up in St. Albans
during a January thaw

The rapidly melting snow, coupled with the comfortable temperatures, had the added benefit of hitting on a weekend,. This gave me an unexpected chance to get things accomplished outdoors. It mostly involved clearing brush and chainsawing a few scrubby, unwanted trees.

The heavy snow earlier this winter came before the ground really froze, and the snowcover acted as a blanket to keep the ground relatively warm.

That meant a few hardy plants were able to respond to the midwinter warmth when the snow disappeared today. That's why you see the daffodil sprout in this post. I spotted the green shoots this afternoon as I was hauling dead branches to the burn pile.

The daffodil plants won't die when the cold inevitably returns. (It's supposed to be below zero in a few days) But the ends of this plant will turn brown, and not look great when it first comes up in April. I'll probably cover it with a thick layer of mulch, just to give it an assist to ride out the deepest cold of the winter, which will surely hit soon.

Flower Season Fades Fast

It's cool this morning here in St. Albans, Vermont, cooler than it's been since early June. Fall is coming. The lawn is littered with a few colored leaves, the first scouts of an army of foliage that will drop onto the yard in the coming weeks.

Flower season is waning fast, too. Zinnias are still colorful at the edge of the vegetable garden. Sedum is turning pink. There's black eyed susans blooming, too. But the flowering season in the yard has largely passed.

It's time to start planning next spring and summer.  I'll figure out how to add more color to the gardens so that in subsequent warm seasons, I can enjoy something that isn't just bland lawn.

I've been carving out perennial beds for three years now. Every summer, there's a bit less lawn, a bit more flowers. This fall, I'll probably make the yard look even more like a construction site, as I remove sod, prepare dirt, and wait until spring when I can happily plant as many more perennials as I can.  

Yup, I'm always looking forward to more gardening. Even if it means waiting through the upcoming long months of Vermont cold and snow to get there.

Meanwhile, I'll enjoy whatever flowers last into the fall. And dream of next spring.

Home Depot Sold Us Plants That Will Automatically Die.

The ever observant and kind Jeff caught it when  I muttered in my St. Albans, Vermont garden a few weeks ago.

I said some splashes of blue would be nice in the section of perennial flowers I was trying to whip into shape.

This flower grows in my St. Albans, Vt.
garden recently. It's a perennial, but
unfortunately won't be back this
year because a national chain
store sold this in Vermont, though it
 can't overwinter here.

Next day, he happened to be in Home Depot picking up some construction material  and drifted by the garden section. He remembered my comment. And there was a clearance sale!  Low, low prices! He spied some perennials with pretty columns of blue flowers. He purchased them and brought them home.

I was of course thrilled with this latest act of kindness and enthusiastically and got to work planting the blue flowers.

It was only when I was done I spotted the problem. If perennials are sold in Vermont, you don't stop to think whether they can actually grow here if you're presented with them as a gift. Of course they can grow here. They were bought at a store located in Vermont.

I looked at the information. My heart sank. The flowers, something callled Blue Fortune, Anise Hyssop,  were hardy to Zone 6. Vermont is solidly in Zone 4. The perennial Jeff gave me would survive only to temperatures to 10 below. It regularly gets colder than that here in the winter.

Now my sense of outrage grew. To me, Home Depot took advantage of Jeff's kindness and generosity. Why were they selling perennials that can't make it in Vermont?

Let's face it, most people who buy flowers for their yards aren't super experienced gardeners. They don't know the particulars, they reasonably just want to make their property look nice.

Garden zones mean nothing to a lot of people. And it's true the perennials I got spelled out that they were hardy to 10 below. But people don't read the fine print.   Like Jeff, people assume if it's sold in Vermont, it can grow in Vermont.

This fall, I'll mulch the hell of the perennials Jeff got me at Home Depot, but I'm not optimistic at all.

Since most casual gardeners are inexperienced, they won't know why these Zone 6 plants don't come back next spring. They'll assume they did something wrong. So they'll go back to Home Depot and buy  more plants that aren't good for Vermont. Home Depot makes more money and yards remain unadorned by flowers.

I'm sure this all has to do with Home Depot's distribution system that doesn't make distinctions between zones. Still, to me this is a scam.

My advice, and my lesson learned by not reading the fine print: Buy your plants from local growers.  They're  more likely to winter over the perennials they sell, so you know they will grow here. And small, local businesses don't want to screw over their customers. They want you to be happy, so you'll come back for more.

Also, large national chains import plants from growers elsewhere in the nation. That could import diseases to Vermont. A couple years ago, we had a terrible outbreak of late blight in tomato plants across the state.

The late blight got an early, strong start because of tomato plants brought in from warmer, southern climates, to be sold at large national chain outlets. This allowed the late blight to become established early and firmly in Vermont, resulting in a lot of lost crops.

So, learn my lesson. Buy your garden plants locally, wherever you are. And make sure they're selling you plants that can actually grow where you live.

My Backyard Lily Fair

Last week, Jeff took me up to Greensboro, Vermont, to the Vermont Daylily Farm, where I was besides myself with glee.

They have hundreds of really wild varieties of lilies, and he brought me there to shop.

Of course I like the traditional orange lilies, but my gawd, the colors, textures and sizes you can get make my head spin.

I need that variety in my St. Albans, Vermont gardens

Jeff already brought home a bunch of the Greensboro  lilies last year, and they are now in bloom in various sections of my yard. My attitude is, if a few day lilies are a good thing, more are a great thing.

The pictures in this post are lilies that are already growing and happy in my yard. The last pic is in Greensboro, which shows just some of the huge choices I had. You might have to scroll down to see the photos at the bottom, and click on any of the photos to get a bigger, clearer view of them.

At Greensboro, you can wander around the gardens this time of year, and look at the different varieties in bloom. You get a multi-page list which shows which lily is which, and the particulars like when they bloom, how much they cost and how big they tend to get.

We took the list home, after our marking our potential choices. A very nice chore was wandering around the property, imagining which lily would look good where.

I probably could have spend $2,000 on what I wanted. But I'm on a budget, so I limited myself to $124.

It might actually be more fun to add a few lilies every year, so that every summer the color in my yard gets more and more extensive.

We put in the order, and Jeff will go to Greensboro tomorrow to pick up the order. I will be busy planting next week, for sure.

I can't wait.

Quebec Town Hates Front Yard Garden. Why?

A couple in Drummondville, Quebec, well northeast of Montreal, are having quite a war with their town because they are growing vegetables in their front yard.

Criminal activity: A Quebec couple seen here breaking
the law through the evil activity of growing veggies in
front of the house. 

This criminal couple (How dare they have anything other than wasteful, expensive to maintain grass in their front yard!) say the vegetables they're harvesting have improved their health, neighbors like the garden, and they share produce with their neighbors)

But the town said a neighbor complained, though I think that's code for a zoning enforcement person complained that his will is not being followed the way he wants it to be followed.  Apparently, front lawns in this Drummondville neighborhood are required to be 30 percent grass. I don't know why that rule is in place.

The couple face fines of $100 to $300 per day if they don't remove the garden and plant grass. 

As you can see by the photo, the garden is well maintained, so it's not like the neighbors are looking at an eyesore. And I do think it's reasonable to expect people with front yard gardens to keep them looking nice and neat, and well landscaped.

Not explained in any of the articles about this incident, and similar ones elsewhere in the country, is why zoning departments insist on grass on the front yard and not gardens. Gardens use less water, and better for the environment, and aren't a waste of space like lawns can be.

HGTV, that home and garden design network that shows all those oh-so-perfect houses, notes that front yard gardens can be designed to look absolutely gorgeous.  You might try tastefully arranged raised beds, landscaping and scattering some flowering plants among the veggies to make things look pretty for the neighbors and those hyper-critical zoning department inspectors.  

Don't get me wrong. Grassy yards are great if that's what you like. It's your house, do as you wish. No sense of living with surroundings you don't like. But geez, a garden is a bad thing?

Drummondville officials think so. They are working on an ordinance banning the growing of vegetables on front yards anywhere in town.  Because as we all know, a tomato plant growing on a front yard can lead to all sorts of criminal behavior.  I mean, what if somebody uses the tomatoes from the front yard garden to make salsa or something awful like that. 

Unique Day Lillies, Thanks to Jeff

Jeff bought me some really cool varieties of day lilies from Greensboro, Vermont, last summer. They were near the end of their blooms when he got them last August, so I didn't get to fully enjoy them.

I planted them in my St. Albans, Vermont gardens late last summer. Most of them came up nicely this spring and summer,  and now I get to enjoy the results. They're a little later than the standard day lily varieties, so as the traditional ones fade away, these take over.

I'll have to get a lot more of these unusual varieties. They are gorgeous.  Here's a few sample pics. Click on the pics to make them bigger.

Rain and Flowers Create Great Photos

Last week, a thundershower passed over my house and gardens in St. Albans, Vermont, giving the flowers a needed dousing. Then the sun came out, and as usual, I ran around the yard, taking pictures. Here are some of them:

Vermont Flower Season Still Early

The entire spring was early in Vermont due to record warm temperatures this year, and now that we're into summer, everything is still running very early.

A day lily blooms in my St. Albans, Vermont garden this week.

Flowers in my gardens are about where'd you expect them in mid-July. The day lilies have been blooming for awhile now. Astilbe is also blooming nicely now. Black eyed Susans are ready to bloom.

All this leaves me wondering whether there will be any flowers at all in August.

Meanwhile, I'll just enjoy what I have. And if this trend continues, I'll have to find more late blooming perennials so that what usually blooms in September will brighten my garden in August.

Vermont is Early Summer is Perfect

Flowers enjoy the warmth in my St. Albans, Vt. garden

Clouds billow over Lake Champlain, off Burlington, Vt.

Hostas in my St. Albans, Vt, garden

The first blossom appears recently on my newly
planted rose bush in St. Albans, Vt.

A rainbow appears at the end
of a thunderstorm recently
in St. Albans, Vt. 

Some photographs I took over the past week or so, just because early June in Vermont is my favorite time of year, and the photos partly capture the season.

Season's Last Daffodils

I was smart to plant a variety of daffodils in a variety of locations. Some are early, some are late, so I have an extended daffodil season in my garden.

The last daffodils of the season are still blooming in my St. Albans, Vermont garden about a month after the first ones appeared this spring.

I photographed a few of the daffodils drinking in the May sunshine the other day. I'm just adding to my flower phhoto collection. The collection is getting big, and that's fine by me.

More Vermont Spring Flowers

Flowers continue to cycle through the gardens around my house, as spring progresses nicely.  I've found myself in the yard with my camera almost every day for the past month, checking out and documenting it all.

Most of my daffodils have gone by, but some clumps in colder, shadier areas continue to thrive, as you can see in one of the photos in this post.

My sister Lynn gave me some peonies, divided from some plants that were first established by my grandmother decades ago. So it's nice to have tradition in the garden now. I transplanted them over a week ago. They took to their new surroundings nicely, and the new leaves played off the setting sun in the gardens yesterday.

Ahhh, spring.