1 June 2011 - Be careful what you wish for

Before I launch into June, just a few notes on the end of May. May was cold and rainy. So rainy that we ended the month with 6.49 inches of rain, making it the 5th wettest May on record. All that rain filled the roadside ditches. In the 32 years we have lived here, we have never before had water standing in our front ditches. This May we had a foot and a half of water. Wow. Our side ditch still has standing water, and is breeding mosquitoes like crazy. I should go buy some of those larva killers, but I need to find out what else they might hurt, first.  The last two days of May were crazy hot. We went from low 70s up to the low 90s. It was a shock to the body, but it surely made the seeds pop right out of the ground.

For years I have lamented that April and May are over too soon. In the last 7 years we have reached the mid 80s in April accompanied by a hot wind. Fortunately this doesn't last long, but what it does is blow all the flowering trees and bulbs into bloom. With temperatures this high, flowers don't last. I have lusted after a long cool spring, where the flowers would reach their full potential--mostly because my garden is spectacular in May, and just once I would like to see it in a slow climb to the peak then a slow descent.

This year I had a long cold  spring. Cold and rainy. Often the flowers that actually showed up were promptly frozen or had their petals pummeled to the ground by the rain.

In spite of that I did get some color to enjoy. The forget-me-nots made a lovely blue carpet under the flowering crabs. The tulips floated over the sea of blue like exclamation points. Jack answered the doorbell one day, to find a woman wanting to take pictures of the garden. She came back a day or two later with a page of flower photos for us.

As a gardener, one of the many things I love is the juxtaposition of color, size, and shape.

For example, this hosta with its large leaves surrounded by tiny forget-me-nots. By the time the forget-me-nots are spent and the plants removed, the leaves on this hosta will have tripled in size filling the space.

 Here large tulips in pink echo the same color of the tiny blooms in the ground cover. It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but up close in person it's lovely.

Wondering what all this is? The clusters of blue bells are mertensia, the small pink in the back is an early blooming pulminaria, the yellow is golden poppy.

I seem to have a problem with aggressive plants. So many plants that I have spread or reseed rapidly. I let them bloom then ruthlessly pull the extras out. By then they have spread enough seeds to make a huge show the following year. That bank of forget-me-nots? That is the result of three small plants.

Each golden poppy flower results in hundreds of seeds. Fortunately they are easy to pull out.

The cool weather plus last fall's pruning resulted in the best lilac display we have had since we've been here. Not only were the bushes loaded to the point of drooping, but oh! The fragrance was amazing, overwhelming at times, yet so sweet. And the flowers and scent lasted for over two weeks.

It was amazing, beautiful and a sensory delight. Plenty for bouquets in the house and for my desk at work without even touching the display outside.

The fauna in my yard has been interesting. Three different toads in three days. Turns out that all three are Bufo americanus, the common american toad, but they were all so different in size and coloring. Turns out toads can change colors with temperature and lighting. We have had toads in the yard for years: brownish or blackish toads.

I was sitting on the deck with a cup of coffee when movement caught my eye. Big fat toad on the deck. He was gold with bright gold eyes. I ran for my camera. The ferals, Hughie and Big Fluff were interested in what I was doing, but were totally indifferent to the toad. They practically stepped on it while watching me.

At one point, Big Fluff became interested in the toad and gave it a gentle little push with his paw.

The toad reared up into what I can only imagine was a defensive position. His back was hunched up into the air and he was practically standing on his head and balanced on his tip toes. Odd.   He stayed this way for about 10 minutes.

Big Fluff is mighty cute. You can see his huge extra toe in this picture. His mother, Hughie, is also polydactyl on her front feet as well.

I think he was quite smitten with the toad, after he finally saw it. He didn't hurt it at all, just watched.



 

The very next morning I was looking out the window to see what the ferals were up to and I see Little Fluff bouncing around with something. I finally realize she has a mouse or a vole, so I trek outside to see if it can be saved. Surprise! She is bouncing a small toad. I chase her off and the toad dashes to the base of the maple tree where he disappears. Protective coloration is an amazing thing!

Adding to the continuing toad story, the next morning I am weeding and bagging like mad so I can get the sacks out before the yard waste truck comes by. In my maniacal state, I'm grabbing huge handfuls of the nasty ground ivy and yanking it out of the ground. I pull a toad right out of his cozy little tunnel. Oops. This toad, no picture, was a very brown toad. I herded him gently into another area of the garden.  I love having toads.