Sunday, May 29, 2011

Momma Turtle

I just never know what we will find when we go out in the county to do a Breeding Bird Atlas block. This morning was an exceptional morning.  Not because of the birds that we saw, even though we did see some sweet birds.  What was so exceptional is that I found a Snapping Turtle laying its eggs. I have read about this before but had never seen such an amazing sight.
As you can see she had to dig a big hole to lower her large body into.  We stayed and watched for about thirty minutes. I could see her do a shudder or two then she would be quiet.
Her clear yellow eye was focused on her task. She must not have been at it very long because the soil on her head was still damp. The wind was blowing quite steadily this morning. I think the soil would have been dried on her head and even possibly fallen off if she had been there very long.
I will be worried about her nest. As we sat there watching her just down the opposite side of the field was a racoon heading for shade. He would make short work of those tasty little eggs no doubt.
I wouldn't doubt that even a big Black Kingsnake such as this one wouldn't mind a tasty turtle egg or two for a treat.
As my friend Sandy has stated on her blog, you should be careful as you drive this spring. There are all sorts of animals roaming around, place to place over the roads. Do try to make them safe.
I want to thank my Dearly Beloved for being patient with me, sitting there while the bugs tried to carry us away. Taking pictures with his long lens so we didn't have to disturb anyone.

Monday, May 23, 2011

What's happin in the garden now...

Mother Nature has finally stopped drenching us with deluges of rain. Now we are getting the usual tropical spring-like 1/4" here and there. Good for getting out and doing some weeding. It has been difficult to get pots planted and to keep up with the weeds that savor this weather.

I did a project with my Dearly Beloved this past week. I had this Red climbing rose that I planted under the apple tree. I had this vision of red roses blooming with the white blooms of the tree. Well, that never will happen because the tree blooms earlier and the rose simply doesn't want to go up the tree. So I had a dinky little trellis for the rose to go up and then I thought it would latch onto or at least lean into the apple tree to grow.  The rose and I were not on the same thought path. It just flopped back onto itself on the little trellis. I couldn't stand to see it. I thought it had so much more potential.
I went shopping for a big tall trellis. There are none here in town so I got the ole thinking cap on and started looking at the farm stores. After consulting my post hole digger (my DB) I finally decided to have 4 posts put in and then we nailed a 16' cattle fence section to it. I think I am going to be very pleased with this. The rose has lots of room to grow.
I am also going to get that red and white flower color here. The Viburnum on the left side of the path is blooming along with the rose. Don't you just love those happy accidents. The poor rose had to be disentangled from the small trellis. It was a little shocked at its handling but I hope it will be the better for it.
Plus I will have room on the opposite side to grow another climber. I wish I knew the name of this rose. It blooms only once per year at this time. It has lots of blooms when it does bloom. It is a tough old rose too. It has been moved a couple other times before it landed in this spot which it obviously likes. I am not one to coddle roses either so it gets whatever is being fed to plants around it. Sometimes it gets a little black spot but I don't bother with that. I am usually too busy to notice really. 
Do you have a project that you have completed lately?

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - May 2011

Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day that Carol at May Dreams Garden has hosted and encouraged everyon to list what all is blooming in our garden on the 15th of every month.  This month is very nice in my garden despite the wet weather. I am going to show you some photos I took the other day since today is a cold 52F with mist in the air all day. 

The iris show is almost coming to an end. The bearded ones are blooming. You can see behind these iris the wild honeysuckle blooming.
A few of the Japanese Irises are beginning to bloom.

 I have several shrubs that are blooming. This buckeye is one of my favorites. There are also two types of viburnumns blooming.
 As I was telling my Sister the other day about Comfrey, when it starts to bloom as it is now it will bloom until frost. The bees are most happy about that.
There are still some columbines blooming, the native and some white ones.
If there had been sunshine and warmth the past couple of days I would have had some minature hosta blooms and the Mock Orange shrubs are set to burst open at any moment. These will have to wait until next time. What is bloomning in your garden?

Other blooms:
Baptisia, Golden Alexander, Water Plant, White Japanese Iris, Amsonia, Perfectly Pink Phlox, Ramona Clematis, Climbing Rose, annuals.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Wild Wet Spring

I'm telling you it has been a wet spring.
Of course some of us don't mind getting out in the garden and mucking around. Time will tell if anything in this corner of the garden will survive. It was like this in 2008 but this wet spell has lasted longer.
I have been a little frustrated that I can't plant anything yet unless it is in a pot. I can see the affects of the rain on this Baptisia. It normally gets as tall as this 4'fence behind it. It actually hides the fence but this year it is pouting due to the wet conditions. I hope it hangs in there. It has been in this spot some 10 years or so.
I have a couple of pea gravel walkways. I have been most happy with them this year.
I have some new edging along this section. My neighbor does small landscape jobs for people and she said a client wanted to get rid of this edging and offered it to me. I like it. On the left side of the path you can see the Pink Phlox I have been waiting to see bloom.
It being a wild flower it doesn't seem to mind the vagaries of spring. This sweet blooming clump of Practically Perfect Pink Phlox was  given to me by Gail at Clay and Limestone. She is a Champion of Wildflowers. What with such weather extremes one can easily be convinced to use such beauties in the garden.
If you follow my blog you know that this end of the patio has had some major changes in the past few years. This spring was no exception. The Lilac tree just couldn't take any more stress. It fell over in one of the storms. The ground was so saturated we might have been able to push it upright but it was too large for us to do so. Unfortunately we had to remove it.  So this end of the patio will be getting lots more sun until I figure out what to do here. I will miss those delicious smelling blooms.

We also learned where we need to add a gravel path so we can get around this part of the garden.
Things have dried out a little bit now.  How are things in your garden this spring?

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Neighborhood News From Fairy Manor

This spring when I went to the Indy Flower Show I was quite taken by these three minature shrubs. Left is Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Silver Lode', middle is Euonymus japonica 'Rokujo' and right is Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Gold Pin Cushion'.  I brought them home not knowing for sure what I might do with them.  I was delighted when the Garden Fairies that live in my garden expressed great interest in them. I asked them to come up with a plan and they did.
 They gathered their gardening equipment and worked diligently. 
Stopping to rest only a short while from time to time under their gazebo to rest. 
Each took a corner to work on. 


In no time they had Fairy Manor ready for company. 
If you are ever in our area do stop by for a cup of tea and a biscuit. 
They would be delighted to give you a tour of Fairy Manor. 
We are wishing all a delightful week.

New Blogger, Old Blogger

     All I can say it is difficult to deal with change. This new Blogger format is not as user friendly in my opinion. I guess I will get us...