by Bonsai 150 Replies latest jw friends
Oh, no, not weasels!
I think I'll take my chances with the squirrels. LOL!
My neighbor used to trap and release them in the woods until we found out they were endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrels and must be left alone.
Now they reproduce with impunity in the squirrel haven I have accidently produced on my property!
My azalea on the sunny side finally bloomed. The variety is called Karen Azalea and they do well in my climate. I have bluebells around them. On the shaded part, my lily of the valley bloomed and filled the flowerbed. I have mother's day azalea by the shed. One is about to bloom, the other is still waiting to bloom. Behind it is my clematis, forget-me-not and huge catawbiense rhodo.
Beautiful photos Kaik. I love Lily Of the Valley. Not much happening here yet now my daffs have finished. We had hailstones the size of peas yesterday! My bluebells are out though. My cat thinks they're beautiful.
Oh my, it's still cold here! A faint frost last night. We had a mild early winter with only two nights of hard frost but a cool early spring and it's still cold for the season. On the plus side my quince tree (variety 'Vranja) is in leaf, shining a silvery-sage green against the dark yew hedge and almost in flower, the same is happening on the golden leaved mock orange (Philadelphus coronarius 'Aureus'). Strangely the red-hot pokers are in evidence and about to flower about five weeks early.
This afternoon the bumble bees (they used to be called humble bees before the second world war) were busy pollinating my incredibly productive gooseberry (variety; 'Careless'). The pond has an unusual bumper crop of tadpoles this year, it looks like six trillion of them!
I have been harvesting rhubarb stalks to make a compote; just add a little water and a fair amount of sugar to the cut up stalks in a saucepan, then add some very thin slices of stem ginger with a bit of the syrup, boil first then simmer for a while, when reduced, serve with yoghourt or cream... a very satisfying dessert!
...............And talking of weasels, the cat has just brought in a weasel for the first time... although it only offered it as a gift bleeding on the kitchen floor since it didn't fancy eating it. The weasel, should you be interested, unlike the stoat which it greatly resembles, has not got a dark tip to its tail.
Yes my pond is full of tadpoles, Half banana. I love rhubarb, thanks for the recipe, sounds delicious.
Yuck my cats catch mice and frogs but that's rather horrible.
So April is over. We had strange weather extremes that month. Rain deficit is 3" or 4" but this will be erased by the next week. We had non-stop rain for the last three days. We had highs to 88F and early morning freeze. My hydrangeas suffered from freeze burn (the first time ever), while wisteria dropped all its flowers, and early blooming azaleas look terrible. On the other had, lawn looks good. I have a tons of lily-of-the-valley, dragonroot, and may night sage blooming. I am hoping for calla lilies and gladiolas to finally poke from the ground, because this time of the of the year, they should be already sprouting.
I also have a bunny family living under the shed. They stayed there couple years ago, but were gone last year. The biggest issue right now are caterpillars. We never had so many of them like this spring. They totally chew many leafs on my english laurels and some other plants. Birds seem to be too lazy to eat them, but I do not want to overspray the backyard with chemical(s).
cat has just brought in a weasel for the first time...
Once my deceased cat brought a live snake into the house. And also mice (dead). He also picked up moles, but never killed, but dragged them to the door, and then let it go. I was not very pleased with moles afterwards devastating my garden. Bad kitty.
When I was kid, I stayed the my grandmother house in the southern Moravian countryside. As a city boy, I never seen a snail, so I picked around the countryside a full box of them and brought them inside of her house. Worried that she would be too pleased with my life collection, I hid them in the water tank at her extensive orangery where she stored subtropical plants. The snails got out and went into feast. For year they drove her crazy, because they were everywhere, and they had to call exterminator. When i was older, i mentioned to my grandmother what I have done, and she laughed it of. She suspected her elderly neighbor was jealous and was throwing snails over the roof into her courtyard.
Loved your snail story Kaik. My two fearless farm cats would catch everything small which moves. Sadly the adventurous one Lupin got run over two weeks ago, he would travel nearly a mile to observe the activity in the village and sun himself on the benches outside the pub but this involved crossing a road. Nevertheless the two of them have reduced the swarms of pigeons which used to take all of the soft fruit in the garden. Highly focused stalking followed by a six foot leap into the air will bring down a big pigeon which is dragged through the cat-flap and eaten straight away always head first, feathers everywhere. It is only naive fledgeling birds of any kind which now visit the garden...
Moles are amazing, can you imagine the energy and strength needed to tunnel through the ground? They are tougher than old boots, all muscle, sinew and bone and apparently taste the most disgusting of all animals. At least that was the opinion of Buckland, the pioneer geologist in the 19th century and his son, who ate their way through every animal they encountered. Cats kill moles (thank you cats) but never in my experience eat them.
Yes, the plants appreciate the rain, but go away already!
It's rained for two weeks now. If I wanted this much rain, I'd move to England!
Where's the warm sun that teased us a month ago? Please come back!
We don't get that much rain in southern England. London gets slightly more than two inches per month fairly consistently throughout the year with a bit of a spike in October. It always rains in heavy showers in May but with plenty of sun as well, ideal growing and planting weather.
@Bonsai, I tried to find the botanical name of your stinky vine without success, can you help me with it?
I grow the deep purple flowered Dracunculus of the Arum family which I disturbed as I was weeding, the bulbs look like big turnips at the moment as the leaves come late. The flowers of this vegetable horror not only stinks of rotting flesh which attracts flies but gives you a headache as well. Ahh! the beauty of God's creation.
