B is for blessed and bunnies!!!!

I know that where I live is a blessing. I’m grateful for it everyday because I’m surrounded by nature, peace and tranquility.  Rarely do I have to endure sirens, traffic or noisy neighbors.  The most I hear are birds twitting, my neighbors Guinea hens “buck-wheating'” and the occasional squirrel fussing about whatever.  It is green here, lush really and even though I’m only a short distance from civilization most days it feels like it’s hours away.  So I count my blessings and often.  Today I got another blessing, one that while most gardeners would shudder at, well I embrace as a wonderful gift.
I was gathering up my plants that I’d purchased earlier in the week, loading them into my cart to haul around back. Something moved and at first I thought it was a chipmunk, but when I looked closer I realized it was a baby bunny!  A tiny little puff of brown fur no bigger than my hand sat looking at me with big dark eyes.  I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from squealing with delight!!  I scurried into the house to grab my camera to get a picture of the tiny little critter nestled in among my flowers.

My next thought was what is it doing here?  I’ve seen one rabbit down here and that was a couple of years ago, I saw it twice in one week and then never again.  Was this baby lost?  I came inside and searched for information on baby bunnies and learned that mom leaves them, (them"?) behind for the day while she goes off to eat.  Them"?  I went back out and began to look around and sure enough there were other furry little bottoms under my front porch!  There is lattice that skirts the porch but it’s not enclosed entirely. It is however a very safe and dry environment for a bunny nest! 
For me this is another wildlife victory.  I know many will never understand my stance on this and that’s ok.  There are so few places left where animals can go and feel safe, have food, wood and shelter.  If my little place here provides that I’m happy to share, even if it means that some of my flowers won’t look perfect or that I might miss something blooming because someone decided it tasted good.  I’ve been living with the deer and we’ve come to an understanding, if I remember to spray they don’t eat it lol.  The flying squirrels, the raccoons, the foxes, the owls and the hawks are all a part of my life.  Just like the hummingbirds, the chipmunks and those nutty red tailed squirrels that make so much mischief.  We live here together, sharing this piece of property and I think that is one of the greatest blessings of all…

You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name
Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest
Come taste the sun sweet berries of the Earth
Come roll in all the riches all around you
And for once, never wonder what they're worth
The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
The heron and the otter are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends
How high will the sycamore grow?
If you cut it down, then you'll never know
And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
For whether we are white or copper skinned
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains
We need to paint with all the colors of the wind
You can own the Earth and still
All you'll own is Earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind

Bee Garden Beginnings..

Ok let’s see Saturday morning was spent (for the most part) watching Randy level out a spot for the new Top Bar Hive.  It took him longer than I’d expected but, he is after all right..(shh don’t tell him I said that!) The hive isn’t going to be moved around and it’s better for it to be in a spot that’s properly prepared. After he leveled out the area, he made a nice frame out of some landscape timbers and then he put down some large pavers that have been wasting away in the back for a base.  It turned out pretty good and he even made a level spot on the other side where the observation window is so I can easily take a peek!  I painted several frames with beeswax and added some pure lemongrass oil inside.  I’m hoping a swarm will adopt this as a new home, if not this year than next.  If not I’ll be looking for a rescue locally!

The old pond was in this area (we had envisioned a wonderful in ground pool with beach entry and large rocks but the price was crazy) and it’s always been sort of my problem child. Between the mostly clay soil, rocks, constant encroachment of the woods (and weeds) and the grazing deer I’ve not had much luck.  I’m hoping to change that though. I’ve got BIG plans for back here and so mom and I headed out to a couple of nurseries last week and I got the humble beginnings for a pollinators paradise.  Salvias, catmints, herbs and a few natives and I’m off and running.

I’m really making an effort to plan this one out but I’m not a ‘formal’ garden plan kind of gal. I mean really unless you are going to spend every second pruning, pinching, dividing and digging, your garden is going to do basically what IT wants. Plants spread to unexpected places, the flop over the borders and they grow how they want despite our attempts to make them do what we want. I’m just trying to actually place stuff a little by size and to group the plants together for the ‘en masse’ impact.  I also made sure to plant a bit away from the beehive as I saw mentioned that they won’t eat where they poop!

I am using cardboard boxes to map out my path area and I hope to get some wood chips to put down on top of them.  I still haven’t settled on one but might be going for a sort of half circle with off shoots into the beds. There was very little left from the previous use of this area, a pussy willow that is lovely, a butterfly bush that blooms faithfully, a red twig dog wood that’s never looked red, a large clump of ornamental grass that’s long lost it’s variegation, some sweet flag iris that haven’t bloomed in years and some purple fringed loosestrife that has been struggling because of dry conditions and deer.  I’m hopeful with some serious sweat and muscle (mine not Randy’s!) I can turn this area into a pollinators paradise!

Did you hear about the Mason’s???

They are some of the best neighbors you could ask for.  They are hard working, polite and so industrious. Now some would have you believe that they are picky neighbors but I’m here to tell you that this is just not true!  Why they will live in any old hole, they aren’t picky at all.
Case in point, her is one of the Mason girls now, she just happens to be on the underside of the small table on my front porch! 

When she’s done, I won’t be able to access those screws till next spring because it’s gonna look like this.

That’s some handy work right there!  I know some people that don’t spackle that well!  Well I decided to assist the Mason family since there are only so many screw holes on my front porch.

I’ve had this Mason beehive for a few years, I’ve been needing that lovely cedar “L” that you see there.  I just got it this week and my intention was to mount it in the ‘right’ place. Facing south or east, under an eave away from winds, etcetera, etcetera, however I decided to see what would happen if I presented it to the Masons in a location that they were already making home.  Guess what, it took no time for them to start moving in!


I don’t know how long it will take for them to fill up these tubes but it sure is fun watching them fly back and forth.  They seem to not have a care in the world and don’t mind me sitting here watching them.  I love the sounds they make, that happy hum! 
Mason bees are one of Americas native bee species. They are excellent pollinators and since they are quite furry they come out a little sooner in the cool spring air than most honeybees, which are not native to America by the way. They are gentle bees and unless you are rough with them they don’t sting.  Anyone can provide housing for mason bees, either by building it or buying it.  You can simply Google Mason Bees for tons of information on the variety that live in your neck of the woods!
Bee Happy!

Blooms, Bugs and Bees…

So not that it’s anything new but Mom Nature can’t seem to make up her mind if it’s Spring or Summer.  Temperatures around here have ranged from 30’s to 80’s, some sunny, a lot rainy so my days have varied in activity. I’m ready for the weather to maintain a steady 70ish so that I can do or at least try to do everything I’m designing in my head.
On those days when it’s warm especially after a rainy day, everything seems to green up further.  Most of what’s in bloom right now is yellow, daffodils, Japanese rose and woodland poppies.  Shots of pink from lungwort and the lovely purple blue of Virginia Bluebells.  My favorite though is this Redbud shrub that Randy’s grandmother gave me.

This is a picture looking down onto it from the deck off the sunroom.  On one of the sunny days I had my lunch out there and just loved watching all the bees that were all over it.  The entire shrub just vibrates with happy pollinators!  I have another that has never bloomed so I think it’s not happy in its current location.  I’ll be moving it on the next nice day, along with two yellow bushes!  My vision of those yellow bushes and this purple together is lovely!
While dinning that day on the deck this guy joined me.  I have no idea what he is, but he was quiet and pretty much just sat in the sun.

I’ve finally decided on my beehive!  I’ve gone the way of a top bar hive and am waiting for delivery.  I’ve also decided that my bees will either be a local swarm rescue or they will adopt me.  I’m not interested in selling honey or beeswax products, I’m actually far more interested in the bees and helping them.  I’ve chosen the location for the hive and this weekend I started the process of cleaning up the area.  I’ve got a grand plan for flowers that I want to plant in and around the area.  I also know that I will be planting them in multiples, not just one or two of one variety.  I’m going to do everything I can to make it a bee happy area!
Happy Spring!

Smiles and tears…

Last Monday afternoon, after several hours of leaf pick up I was startled by a large white bird on my deck.  At first glance I thought it was a juvenile turkey vulture, but quickly realized that wasn’t the case at all.  It was just hanging around, couldn’t fly very well at all and from the looks of it, was young enough that it didn’t have all it’s neck feathers yet.  It was however a large bird and was making quiet chirping sounds, of course the face wasn’t like a cute puppy or kitten, however it was a face that I fell in love with.  Let me digress for a moment and say that I have a huge heart for all animals.  I hate to see anything suffer and hate to harm anything (sans mosquitoes and ticks) I will rescue just about anything from any situation that looks remotely dire to it’s living.  Seeing anything hurt or killed will bring tears to my eyes, I know rationally that it’s part of the cycle of life, I get that.  I also get though that while they may not relate the way humans do, doesn’t mean that all creatures great and small don’t feel and for that, they get my empathy, kindness, compassion and respect.

So back to my bird, I had a hockey game to go to and so we left and at that point I was hoping that where ever “mom” was she would show up and reclaim her lost child.  When we got back home at 11:30 that night I searched the yard and saw no sign of the bird and felt relieved.  So in the house I came and night chores began.  Upon entering my bedroom, my cat Hayleigh was face planted against the screen, so much so that I couldn’t even see her breathing.  Raccoon was my first thought and I went over and peered out the open window.  There sitting on my porch chair looking right into my bedroom was the bird!  Uh..ok time to Google…it turned out it was a Guinea Hen and it obviously had escaped from one of my neighbors.  

I sent an email out and by the next morning I knew who she belonged to and I contacted her.  She arrived her to claim the bird but by the time she did the bird had vanished.  I listened and looked for that bird all day, I played Guinea songs off my deck hoping she’d come back and I left the flood lights on well into the night hoping she’d find her way back, but she didn’t.  Now I was worried about that bird, we have owls, hawks and fox running around in these woods.  I’ve seen them all and I regularly see what the hawks leave behind (piles of bird feathers).  I hate it, I know they have to eat but how I wish they’d take there meal to go, instead of dining in my yard.  Seeing a hawk snatch a frog out of my pond and chow down on it in the tree was just too much for me to take and I went out of the house shooing it out of the yard.  Rationally I get it, emotionally forget it!  I have a set of wonderful neighbors that love nature and wildlife and they too started keeping an eye out for this bird.  She showed up down at their house near the end of the week and I was happy and surprised to know she was still alive.  On Saturday morning she was here and we almost caught her, we had her cornered under the front porch but she escaped.  With the owners and us we thought for sure we’d get her, we got so close and then she did something that surprised us all, she flew! After an hour and a half we gave up and hoped that she’d come back to roost here and we’d get her at night.  Apparently these crazy birds don’t see well in the dark and you can sneak up on them and catch them.  She however didn’t come back and I reasoned that after being chased for all that time, she’d never set foot here again.

Well this morning there she was eating cracked corn I’d put out for the squirrels.  I watched her all morning thinking that perhaps she’d stay here as there was good eating and that tonight we’d be able to nab her and get her home safe and sound.  It was not to be.  I got up to start the laundry and in the time it took me to put one load in the washer and come back, the hawk got her.  I looked out the window to see the hawk pinning her neck down to the ground.  I ran out the door screaming no but it was too late that poor bird was no longer alive.  I cried, I stood there in the yard crying for this bird that had managed to survive a full week on her own only to meet such an awful fate.  I couldn’t bring myself to look at her and there was no way I was going to be able to clean her up.  My amazing, incredible neighbor who had also been watching out for this bird came and got her.

I know a lot of people will think I’m nuts, I know that there are those who could never possibly understand.  I know that to some it’s just an animal and so what.  Trust me there are times when I think my life would be far easier if I didn’t feel the pain and hurt the way that I do.  The thing is though, that for every tear I will ever shed for every animal that gets into my heart.  I’ll have a hundred smiles for the joy that each of them brought me and that’s a pretty amazing gift!     

A Stinky Invasion!

I love bugs, I really do.  They are such an important part of my garden, I know that sounds odd but it’s true.  Bugs of all kinds play a very important role in gardening. I love to watch the pollinators, I love to see the giant beetles that help break down old tree stumps, I even love the worms that help to turn my kitchen scraps into compost!  Right now though, I am not loving, these….

The brown marmorated stink bug.
These little armored tank bugs hale from Asia and arrived in Maryland around 2003.  They were first seen in Pennsylvania in 1998 and have since worked their way down to as far south as West Virginia.  These bugs are harmless to humans and animals, they don’t bite, they don’t sting, they won’t eat your house and they don’t mate indoors.  Where they are a problem and potentially a huge one is for farmers, vineyards and orchards.  You see these harmless looking bugs suck the juices out of fruits and vegetables and one local Maryland orchard in Maryland is blaming a 30% apple crop loss on these bugs.

The adults emerge in late spring and mate. The eggs hatch into small red & black nymphs that go through five molts. Adults begin to search for overwintering sites starting in September through the first half of October which is why so many people are having problems now!

Unless your house is 100 percent sealed at every crack, crevice and corner, these guys are going to get in.  Chances are that even if it is sealed that well, they are still going to get in just from you going in and out of your house.  Manual control is currently the only way to handle these guys, that means gathering them by hand.  A jar of water with a drop of dish soap to break the surface tension will drown them.  You can use your vacuum them up as long as they won’t be crushed in the process of doing that.  These guys stink and when the stink is released it attracts more to the area.  Currently the departments of Agricultural are hard at work trying to find a solution to these guys.  I’m sure it’s pretty important to them because I suspect these are going to become a problem all over the United States.
For more information check out these sites…
Home & Garden Information Maryland

Only the tough…

It’s the time when the leaves are starting to fall, mainly poplar leaves but enough so that the familiar crunch was underfoot as I walked my yard this morning. With the dry comes the deer, some of my hosta have been munched to look like stalks of a odd grass, it is part of my gardening life though so cest’ la vie!  The true tough characters of the plants in my gardens shine at this time of year.  It’s dry as bone here we’ve even been under wildfire warnings because of the lack of rain, low humidity and wind. So to see anything blooming is impressive to me!

My pollinator garden is a mass of mostly green right now, there are a few blooms scattered about, a few daises, some basil, some boneset and this flower that is planted solely for sentimental reasons.  This delicate little pink flower is from my grandma’s garden, passed to me via my mom.  It’s a perennial begonia that I love, it’s happily spreading here in this bed, mixed among ferns, miniature hosta and milkweeds.  I treasure this flower as it reminds me of two women that I love and deeply admire!  My grandma has long since passed and I miss her very much, yet when I’m out among my flowers weeding or walking I can still feel her with me.  My mom is very much alive and is still gardening with a passion that she passed on to me.  I’ve learned more from her about how to be a gardener than any books I’ve ever read.  The respect for nature and the love of all things wild was given to me by her.  She I am sure doubted how much attention I paid to the garden club meetings and sales that she towed me to when I was a little and even as a teen, but it appears that osmosis works better than she knew.  I owe her much, for if I hadn’t been blessed with the knowledge and understanding of plants and nature that she gifted to me, I would have missed so much!

My butterfly bushes are still blooming, though they need tending to very badly.  I need to deadhead and stake up some branches that have fallen over into the surrounding plants.  I’m hoping that this weekend will be favorable to some much needed gardening!  The process of deadheading, weeding and leaf mulching will be starting if this beautiful weather holds.

My Asters are blooming their proverbial heads off and they are gorgeous!  This is something that I really want more of in my gardens!  They really are super easy to grow, perform every year and as a bonus the deer don’t eat them!

Another hard worker are these lovely almost blue perennial ageratum, each year they comes back and each year they bloom regardless of the weather.  Granted the leaves are a bit shriveled right now because of the lack of rain, yet here it is, lovely as ever. 

My transplanted sedums are doing pretty good all things considered and behind them, I noticed some firecracker goldenrod getting ready to bloom. Since I thought I’d lost all of that, I’m pretty happy to see it back there.

Finally there’s the pond and it’s thriving!  The annual water lettuce spread nicely this year (maybe a bit too much lol) but it’s provided shade for the fish and hiding places for the frogs that are heard but not seen.  The fish seem to be exceptionally happy in their new home and have been eating like piranha this year!  We’ve designed a new leaf net for the fall, you can see the line already in place and I suspect we will be putting the net over it pretty soon.  Last year between the wind and lack of landscaping too much leaf matter got into the pond even for the monster skimmer to handle, didn’t want to repeat that!
I’m ready for fall I think, ready for the leaves to change color, the temperatures to cool and for some rains to come and soften the ground.  I’ve still got some trees and shrubs in a holding bed that really need to be planted!