Foothills Folly

I am plagued with wildlife here in the country. Some of which I like well enough, the daily birds and butterflies,  the occasional bobcat, the snakes , toads, and frogs. But the deer and woodchucks are too much, and destructive of most gardening efforts. So this year I put in a garden bed meant to keep them out— welded wire stapled together on the ground, stapled to the wire that rises vertically. Raised beds of two layers of concrete blocks. More wire on the sides. It is working!

It is small and compact; here are the little asian greens just set out. Flowers, herbs, some onions and scallions fill in the holes on the borders:

Next photo is the lettuce patch; we’ve been eating from it now for a week or so. I’ve got more little lettuce seedlings to replace them, and figure it won’t be too hard to put a shade cloth up next month. I think this garden is going to be a bit toasty come summer, but the back yard has gotten shaded out by all the trees.

We’ve had a nice long spring–many of the old tulips put on a good showing this year:

The tree peony bloomed with a lovely dinner-plate sized  bloom– and then got trashed by the rain.

And the iris my dad hybridized has made a huge comeback out by the mailbox; I once thought I had dug it all out of there—and look what remains!

7:44 a.m. this morning.  Spring arrives.  Snowdrops in my front yard.

And I  took the photo late in the day; they have been more open:

And actually I saw them first 10 days ago; but today is the first day of Spring!  Hooray!

I spent some time in my yard today; first mowing on my more or less once every three-weeks schedule; then I began to get house plants cleaned up and repotted to bring in as cold weather looms. As I got ready to open my water reservoir (a sturdy Rubbermaid trash can) I found this bitty wood frog. Warming himself in a sunlit spot:

I often hear the trill of the adults (males I suppose) this time of year; but they are difficult to find. I have before seen tiny spring peepers and little-bitty toads, but this might be the first tiny tree (wood) frog!

The Kalanchoe is re-potted and ready to come in:

It was a present from Sam and Kath on Mother’s Day, and is thriving. If I can just manage not to overwater it..

 Next is a Plumbago, a lovely blue-blue-blue leadwort, not very showy but such a great bit of color for this late in the season. I have no other blossom in my yard that is this blue, and I am so glad it has survived. It stays in the ground near the pond; I admire it for its tenacity:

My plum trees have been super productive; many have been eaten and I have made plum jam, oriental plum sauce, and two types of plum chutney. The last of them are ripening this week:

I haven’t tended my flower gardens much this year, but this hibiscus is 7-8 feet tall and doing wonderfully, even if it doesn’t look like it belongs in New England!

And I painted some; sorry the acetate reflects in this one:

L