Mother Nature Mixup

An odd fruit in the garden. Again this year we planted pumpkin seeds (from last years harvest) and we also planted cucumbers. Well, someone got mixed up. We do have a nice looking pumpkin growing up but we also have a strange looking fruit which we guess is a cross between the pumpkin and the cucumber. The bees must have been confused by the flowers and fertilized the with the wrong pollen. The mix creates quite and interesting offspring. Not sure what we'll do with it as it is hard to tell when it is ripe.

Cistern Frog Surprise

Today I decided to rearrange the cisterns to increase the amount of water I can collect from a rain storm. The 150 gallon Rubbermaid one on the left was previously used for temporary Goldfish housing. The one on the left is 275 gallons. to make the move, I had to drain the 275 gallon cistern and to my surprise, there were tadpoles and to my bigger surprise, there were frogs. We found 5 of the silver frogs living in the 275 gallon cistern. I was able to rescue all the tadpoles and one of the frogs immediately (he is in the second picture in the temporary location I set up for the tadpoles). The other 4 frogs are fine and we stuck a bamboo pole in the cistern to allow them to have easy access out. One did take the invitation and came out several hours after the move.

Baby Bird Flies Away

OK, so I got a little carried away. I peaked at the bird nest and one of the babies was standing tall, fully feathered. I grabbed the camera and took this picture of him standing tall in the nest. And he took exception. He surprised me by flying away to the apple tree. It was quite amazing that just two weeks ago he hatched and now he can fly like he has been doing it his whole life. The second picture shows the nest after he left and if you look close, another baby is still in the nest. I just checked and the flyer returned to the nest. He probably remember thats where the food has been delivered for the past two weeks.

Elephant Ear Update

Just five weeks from the last picture and what a difference. The plants in the brick planter have filled out the area and are about three feet tall. The plants behind the pond are taller, about 4 feet but not as thick. It will be interesting to see if they get as big as years past.

Baby Bird Growing Up

The week since we rescued the baby birds from the Black Snake have been quite a worry. I have been expecting the snake back every day but to my knowledge he has stayed away. So the baby birds are continuing to grow. In the picture, it just looks like a ball of fur in the nest. If you look close, you can see tiny black dots for the eyes of two of the three babies, and once you find the eyes, you can just make out their beaks.
Meanwhile, back at the pond, some of the baby frogs are growing. Here is a terrific specimen lounging in the rocks just under the waterfall.

Yucca Blooms

We have a Yucca plant in the front yard and this year it has produced a beautiful bloom. Our plant only seems to bloom every four years or so. We haven't kept track but maybe with this post, I will start keeping up with the bloom cycle for our plant. Most other years all we see is the pointed leaves and no flower stalk. Here is the flower stalk about four weeks ago and now the stalk is much taller and weighed down with masses of flowers. Quite a striking display next to the driveway.

Black Snake Intervention

Earlier I wrote about the Black Snake attempting to attack the baby birds in their nest on top of the porch column. While I have tremendous respect for the ways of nature, I felt compelled to intervene. I grabbed my snake stick (a gift from friends at work) and gently lifted the snake off the iron fence. I didn't think his was a capital offense but it did require some action. I chose relocation so I carried him about 150 feet away in the woods and set him free. I may be naive in they he might easily navigate back to the nest but I hope he gets the message. At least his punishment is much more lenient than what he had in mind for the baby birds.

Black Snake Attempts Baby Bird Buffet

On June 2nd I wrote about Momma Bird building a nest at the unprotected end of the porch. I was afraid a Black Snake would climb up and eat the baby birds like they have done at the other end before. Well today I heard a ruckus from the porch and peered out to see a Black Snake curled up on the iron fence a just 5 feet below the nest. The ruckus was caused by two adult birds flying around crazy flapping their wings and yelling in an attempt to drive the snake away. Those birds were not scaring the snake at all. I don't know how long the snake had been trying to get to the nest but then it dawned on me. Perhaps the Momma Bird was smarter than I gave her credit. A big difference between this end of the porch and the other is the gutter downspout is attached to this column. The nest is on top of the column. I wonder if the Black Snake was having trouble climbing up this column because he can't grip tightly around both the column and downspout where it is easy with a nice smooth column. I hope Momma was right and I was wrong. See what happens to the Black Snake in the next post.

Hydrangeas Flowers Closeup

I took a couple of close-ups of the huge flowers on the Hydrangeas and they are beautiful. Here is one from the plant on the right which is fully covered with flowers. And the other picture is from the middle plant and for some reason there is some separation between some of the flowers and just below the flower is some debris from the bloom.

Oak Leaf Hydrangeas Recovery Continues

The incredible recovery of our Oak Leaf Hydrangeas continues for another year. Several years ago these bushes were planted in the front yard outside the fence. I didn't realize they were Deer candy and the deer ate them down to little more than twigs. In our rescue attempt, we moved them to the back yard and boy are they looking good. With the huge flowers these bushes really add a wonder to the landscape and I understand they can grow to fill the entire space that setup for them. It will be great if they double in size - what a view. The orange Tiger Lily is a nice touch in this picture.

Deer Never Sleep

Here we go again. We have an apple tree hanging over the deck by the ponds and every year, the tree drops small un-ripe apples on the deck. I think the squirrels help knock the apples off the tree because some of them are partial eaten. Those apples are a mess so I pick them up several times a day and throw them over the fence. And guess what, the deer love these little green apples. And here we have the deer by day and deer by night nuzzling through the leaves on the other side of the fence chowing down on the apples.

First Baby Frogs of the Year

You have to admit these are some of the cutest little frogs you have every seen. Just a little while ago they were just eggs that were probably laid in early March and here they are, cute little frogs. And they are just barely frogs with their tiny tails still hanging on. They are just emerging from the water, climbing up on the Sweetflag leaf. It is hard to get a good picture since they are so tiny, dark colored and wet. Pretty soon we'll have to be very careful where we step with these little guys hopping all over the pondscape.

Ungrateful Birds

So here is the deal. For a number of years, the birds have built a nest on one end of the porch and Mr. Black Snake has attacked that location. I have tried several snake deterrents over the years. A nest was build there this year but the builders abandoned it. And then a nest was build at the opposite end and eggs were laid and the Momma Bird sits on the eggs. Here you see some of the eggs in the nest and then a shot from far away of Mom sitting on the eggs. I hope Mr. Black Snake doesn't attack this nest.

Mystery Bird Visits the Pond

We caught a picture of a very interesting bird visiting the pond last week. As you can see he was a bit too close to the lens to allow a good focus but you can get some idea of his features. The distinctive orange beak and the white feathers are probably pretty unusual. I looked around the web and maybe this is a White Zebra Finch. It does look like he is challenging me to guess with the front view and then the side view - maybe he has escaped and is used to posing for mug shots.

Red Eyed Bullfrog and Floating Green Frog

The Bullfrog in the small pond found a great corner to lounge in and stared as I took some pictures. If you click on it for the larger version, you can see a bright color in his eyes that looks kind of evil. He has been sitting in this corner on and off for the past week overseeing his small pond domain.
Meanwhile over in the large pond, one of our resident Green Frogs hanging on a rock next to a new plant we purchased last week. The plant is supposed to be an oxygenator, but at any rate the frogs seem to like it. We hope it will grow since it is quite delicate and adds some interesting textures to the pond.

Poinsettia Experiment & Unfazed Deer

This year we are trying a Poinsettia experiment. Every year before Christmas we buy Poinsettia and this year we bought five because they were such a good price. Usually we put the Poinsettias outside for the summer and most of the time they get leggy and we dispose of them. Two of the Poinsettias from December 07 looked good enough to bring inside for the winter. In this picture, they are the leggy ones surrounded by the ones from December 08. In the experiment, we planted them in the ground with hopes they will grow much larger. Meanwhile a Deer was grazing nearby while I was working on the plants and he very patiently posed for a picture.

Hawk by Day, Raccoon by Night

I was thinking I hadn't see any of the large predators in a couple of weeks but then... This week the Hawk was strutting his stuff at the end of the pond next to the beautiful Louisiana Iris plants. I didn't get any picture of him fishing, just walking around the end of the pond. And then two nights later a Raccoon came to visit again. We haven't seen one of them in a while but here he is checking out all the plants that have moved outside for the summer.

Stunningly Beautiful Louisiana Iris

The first couple of years our Louisiana Iris plants were a big disappointment. But then last year they were better and this year they are gorgeous. This one has at least eight blooms open at the same time with more on the way and it has been blooming like this for 2 weeks. Photo number two is a close-up of one of the blooms showing the striking designs of color. I sure am glad we didn't give up on these plants.

Black Magic Recovers from Winter

After spending the winter in the greenhouse, the Black Magic is pushing up shoots. My wife was checking the greenhouse the other day and said "they plants are really trying, they need to get into the pond." So into the ponds they went. If history repeats, in a month they will be quite dramatic plants. It appears that 5 Black Magic pots survived the winter and should recover in the warmth of spring and summer.

Elephant Ears Waking Up

The Elephant Ears are waking up after a six month sleep and they are looking good. Once again, I left them in the ground over the winter and as you can see a bunch of them lived to provide a great display again. The first picture show them behind the pond - some are already a foot tall. The second is the planting in the middle of the yard. These are not as tall yet, maybe because they are less sheltered. At any rate, we are looking forward to beautiful plants with giant leaves again this year.

Silver Frog on the Fence

A beautiful surprise when we were greeted by a silver frog on the fence out front. We saw the frog the morning after a night of frog singing and partying. There were a bunch of frog eggs in the pots behind the fence so I suspect this frog was resting after a busy night of continuing the species. We usually get beautiful baby frogs in the pots behind the fence. Hope that will happen again this year.

Incredible Nest Builder

There is a new next builder in town who builds a fine looking next. The first picture is a top view of last years nest with the babies in it. The second is this years nest - built somewhat like an igloo with a small entry hole on the side. It was amazing to watch this nest being build. The bird made a bunch of trips over several days bringing in small pieces of construction material and adding it to the growing structure. The final product is quite a work of art. The only problem is, we haven't seen the birds since the nest was finished - don't know what happen to him.

Small Pond Bullfrog

Hunting for wildlife sometimes takes an extra set of eyes. It helps to have your trusty Great Dane helping find the fun stuff in the pond.
And then all the sudden you look in the small pond and there is a Bullfrog who has taken up residence. He's a little hard to see in the picture but he is pretty big. In fact, yesterday we removed the cover from one of the chairs and there he was lounging under the chair. After the initial surprise, we stared at each other for a minute and then he hopped over and jumped into his pond.