Friday, May 31, 2019

Beauty & The Beasts

As a blogger, I often show you the beauty of my home and garden in the different seasons.  After all, that's really why I started this blog back in 2015 - to capture the beauty in every day. 

My house is never staged....I just don't believe in that. Yes, I might fluff up the pillows and pick up the dog toys....but then again, maybe I won't! 

The same outside....there are forces at work against my dream of creating an absolute dream garden, and I seem to be at a loss to outwit them. 

So here's a peek at the reality of my garden right now. Welcome! 


Take, for example, my pots. I plant them, water them, nourish them, and photograph them....and then I come out the next morning and the critters have either eaten or dug up the plants. 

It's making me crazy. 

I have yet to successfully grow a sunflower from seed....I start them indoors, get them good and strong, and then plant them out in the garden. 

The next morning? Gone. Just gone. 


This year I am trying desperately to win that battle. I went to my local Dollar General and bought all the little wire baskets they had like this....they have rounded handles at each end, which keep it anchored very firmly in the pot. 

So far, so good....but I'm honestly afraid to take the baskets off!!  I think I may honestly cry if the critters win after all this time! 


I had to do the same with the whiskey barrels on the garden wall - but the sunflowers under those baskets are still not as strong as the others, since the chipmunks come right up through the bottom of the barrels and eat the roots of the plants. 

Yup, true story!!  

I planted the whiskey barrels with Castor Bean in the center this year, surrounded by red cosmos, and blue and white wave petunias. All but the petunias I started from seed in the midst of winter. 

The chipmunks ate some of the Cosmos down to the ground the very first night. I nearly cried. 

Sigh. The battle is real, my friends. 


Remember my plan to add Hostas and Cranesbill along the front of the house, starting at the birdbath garden and continuing over through the Hydrangea bed? 

Well.....I planted 5 Hostas and 10 Cranesbill last weekend. 

Three of the Cranesbill have already been dug up by critters and replanted by me 4 times already. 

The Hostas have been trampled, pecked, and all but destroyed. Thankfully they are a hardy plant, and I have hopes they will bounce back. 

Pray for the Cranesbill.  Each little stick you see along the border above is where I planted a Cranesbill.....if it works, it will be a lovely plan, I think. Fingers crossed. 


Every morning and every evening I do my walkabout. And every morning and every evening I'm cursing the little critters that insist on torturing me. 

I love them but they sure are mean to my plants! 


While I was going around taking my photos this morning, admiring all the beautiful contrasting foliage, I noticed one of the culprits...


Do you see the big turkey up in the tree? There are three that visit my garden regularly.....sometimes that number grows to nearly 20, but the three are the 'core' group and pretty much constant. 

I suspect they have been the ringleaders in the campaign to destroy the Hostas. I'm not sure what they have against Hostas....but Mommy's not happy. 


Not all the torture in my garden comes from critters. 

Much of it comes from two other sources.....the Bindweed and the Tansy. 

This is my Iris patch....it's trying so hard to flourish and grow up big and strong and vibrant....but it's being fought tooth and nail by Bindweed and the dreaded Tansy

I'm not sure which I hate more. 

Guess what I'm doing this weekend? 

Yup...socks pulled up over the pants, long sleeves, heavy duty gloves....and I'm going in to tackle the perennial bed. 

Amazing, isn't it? It wasn't long ago that this garden was practically bare....now it's back to Jungle status! 

Speaking of annoying critters....they have also been eating the lily bulbs I've been planting in the perennial bed each year. I must have planted at least 30 lilies so far, if not more....and all I see from past years is one lily. 

One lily. 

Again....I want to cry. 

But not all my critters are torture....


Although she drives me nuts at times, my little Monkey Face is one of the cutest critters ever - look at that little mischievous face! 


And this is what the two of them look like after we've spent some time out in the back garden playing Chuck It....their favorite, favorite game! Molly curled up in a ball in a corner of the deck, she was so exhausted....and Monkey couldn't even keep her eyes open!!  

Such sweet little angels, I can't get enough of these little babies! 

I had another sweet critter visit me recently for the first time....excuse the pics, they were taken through the dining room windows on a rainy day. 

I spotted this amazing flash of blue and couldn't believe my eyes....


Just look at that! What a gorgeous shade of blue, even though it was a miserable, rainy, cloudy day....can you imagine how glorious this bird would look in the sunshine?


I spotted it in a tree across the garden, and I waited by the window with my camera praying it would pop over for a visit to the feeder. 

Lucky me, it did, and stayed a while! 

I turned to my trusty bird book to find out what it was....


A lovely Indigo Bunting!!  What a treat, I have never had one visit me before! 

By the way, I absolutely LOVE my bird book - it makes it so easy to find the bird I'm looking for, with full color photos, and the birds all arranged by color and then size. 

This is the book I have, and I love it so much I bought one for Sweetie also....Birds of New York Field Guide - I'm not sure if they have it for other states, but I would imagine they do.

What's been happening in your world lately? Any critters driving you nuts in the garden?

36 comments:

  1. Love Indigo Buntings. I use a spray around my plants that keeps the critters away. Let me know if you want the name....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funny, I have a blog post set for Monday with almost the exact title as this one. Haha.
    Those birds are so pretty! I love watching them. We have several Cardinals and Blue Jays here.
    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The cardinals don't visit me so much, once in a while. They are at my sweetie's house all the time though! They are ground feeders, and don't like my feeders up on the second floor. I could sell you blue jays though, ha ha!!

      Delete
  3. Bindweed!! (Said in the same voice as, "Newman!", ala Seinfeld). The bane of my existence. I had to look up tansy. I don't think that's a problem here in my garden, but twitch grass, well, grass in general is also a problem. Your little cages over your plants made me laugh, but only because I had to cage in my flowers in a flower box a few years back because the squirrels kept ripping them out, thinking they had to get their walnuts out of my flowers boxes where they had hidden them months ago. They didn't know I had already emptied the old soil, including their walnuts. Gardening is always a joy! -Jenn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's right, Jenn - BINDWEED!!!!!!!!!! I hate it so much....it's true torture, as you apparently know already!!

      Delete
  4. I could cry for you and with you. I have been right where you are with the critters. In our old house we had a huge lot with woods in the back that was ours. No one ever tried to use the rest of their extended lots it was like a jungle.

    I had black bear in my yard 3x's a week. The deer, groundhogs and chipmunks were everywhere.

    We waisted much money, effort and time trying to win the battle. We even bought tons of urine from coyotes and put that around. Not only was it expensive if it rained gone and had to start pver.

    We threw in the towel finally after time, energy and much money and planted what didn't get eaten.

    Boxwoods, ornamental grasses and yellow coreopsis. Don't ask me why but any other color coreopsis they ate.

    Annuals we did on our raised deck and planted begonias and v ou nca vine. Sweet Potato vine didn't happen either groundhogs ha b.c e no mercy. They go right to the ground with plants.

    Problem for us too 2hich probably part of yours is the size of your property.

    What I also learned is they can smell hosta and other sweet plants for miles and they are like offering them caviar which by the way I have never eaten.

    Animals also go after plants for the buds. They are the sweetest and have moisture.

    20 years of dealing with it I got very educated.

    Now we are down in the Valley from our old neighborhood and we have just worry about rabbits. That I can work with.

    I hope I helped a bit. Any questions email me. I really do feel your pain. It's heartbreaking.

    Cindy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think my pups scare away SOME of the critters, but not all....as a matter of fact, I hadn't seen deer in my yard in some time, but one jumped out of the woods last night when we were doing our walkabout,nearly scared the bejeezus out of me!! The dog next door was freaking out at 5:30 this morning, which made me jump out of bed thinking it was a bear...No sign of one, but something got him going!

      Delete
  5. Great idea the bird book. I must look for one for me. I know what you mean by critters and their ripping out everything ya got. I had so much trouble with moles and voles. I planted most of the plants they eat in wire or rat wire. Except it's plastic. I just dig the dirt and put in the ground and leave the edges up some. they will leave it along. Those chipmunks are pests and too many will wreak havoc on plants. cats would be good to keep things away but we had so many feral ones in the neighborhood and they were all using my beds as a toilet. It's just no end it seems at all and I gave up on lilies because I could not keep them from being chewed to pieces. I did use some deer netting to throw over my plants in the evening when I go in and when I am away. It worked while it was on there when I couldn't be around to watch.I hope things get better for you and the critters. Nothing better than a wild turkey with orange sauce it's what I have heard anyway.That should take some of them out I hope. Maybe it was Duck with orange sauce, anyhow, I bet it's good on turkey too. Betsy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha, that made me laugh out loud, Betsy - wild turkey with orange sauce sounds amazing!! I couldn't do that though....they were here first, right? I wish there was something I could do about the lilies - they are one of my favorite flowers, and I hate that the critters are eating the bulbs!

      Delete
  6. Deb your yard is looking so great already. I love that you nurture your plants from seeds. That is so awesome. I hope the critters do not ruin your efforts. Love seeing the fur babies. I bet they are liking the warmer weather outside. Buddy sunned himself on the deck the other day for over an hour. He was loving it. Happy Week end.
    Hugs,
    Kris

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They love to sun themselves on the deck also, Kris! Do you have gates on your deck to keep sweet Buddy in?

      Delete
  7. We suffer with the same critter problems. We have successfully kept critters out of the garden by using Tenax fencing, and then a wire fencing around the bottom. Our hosta kept being eaten by deer, so last year we planted African Blue Basil plants around them which worked well. Deer do not like the smell of basil. This year we have not been able to find a nursery that has the African Blue Basil in stock. Don't buy seeds.... they don't work. You have to use actual plants. So, anyway, this year we are using other kinds of basil and so far so good. Wishing you luck since I know what horrendous damage critters can do to a garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a great tip about the basil, I didn't know that!! I'm not sure I've seen that variety though....I'll have to keep my eyes open! So is your whole property fenced? I have a fence around the veggie garden but the slugs can get through that and they do TONS of damage in there!

      Delete
  8. WOW! You've really got some critter issues! There are plenty here, too, but they don't do the damage you've been experiencing! Although my Iris have all but disappeared this year, and I have no idea why. Either voles?... or too much rain is what I'm thinking.

    Your gardens still look lovely, and my opinion is that a little bit of overgrown appearance is the most enchanting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meanwhile my Iris are insane this year, I will need to divide them....I can give some to my daughter for her new house!

      Delete
  9. Garden critters that destroy what we've planted is very trying at times. It's why I've given up on tomatoes or anything like that. We've grown them and they are just ready to pick when some night critter takes a bite or two out of them and leaves them on the ground.

    Your place looks lovely in spite of the mischief by visitors.

    Have a great Sunday ~ FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hate when that happens, Lorraine - they do the same here!!! Thankfully we usually get enough tomatoes we can spare a couple!

      Delete
  10. I had an indigo bunting on my feeder this spring for the first time ever too!! I feel your pain with the bulbs, I planted 155 one fall and so many were dug up and eaten! But, the last time I put chicken wire over the bulbs so the squirrels couldn't get to them and had quite a few daffodils this spring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So you just put the chicken wire over them, not all around them like a cage, Carole? I must try that!!

      Delete
  11. No, I'm pretty lucky. Just snails and such. Occasionally a squirrel will bury a pecan in a pot. I wonder if plastic utensils would work any better than the sticks? Probably not. I've never seen the view of your garage from there before. And yes, the pet babies are so precious to us! I'll probably never in my lifetime see that bird!
    Brenda

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The sticks are just so I know where to look for the plants to come up, Brenda - they were bare root so without a marker I would forget where I put them!

      Delete
  12. Oh no. You poor thing. I think I would definitely cry. xo Laura

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I admit there have been many a choice word this spring, Laura....my neighbors probably think I'm nuts!

      Delete
  13. Debbie, As much work as you put into your garden..oh yes, I would cry if critters tore it up or ate them. You could try some repellents...Since you have dogs, I would not try moth balls. I am wishing you luck with everything. It's alwaysnice to see what you have done there. So pretty. Blessings, xoxo, Susie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I garden organically, Susie, so whatever I use has to be eco friendly....I've heard cayenne pepper may work so I may have to give that a try!

      Delete
  14. We have a ton of chipmunks here and they are driving us crazy, too! We paid a lot of money last winter to have a new porch and deck put in and we made sure the bottom of the deck was completely enclosed and went down into the ground - so that wild creatures couldn't go underneath our porch. Well, those darn chipmunks are digging holes underneath it! Brian is fit to be tied. They also dig in my potted plants. We have a lot of hostas around our property too, but so far, no creatures have touched those! Our weed nemesis here is Creeping Charlie. Like your tansy, it invades everything and is impossible to get rid of or even control. Funny you should mention the Indigo Bunting...we had one at the feeder just a couple of weeks ago! I hadn't seen one in many years. They are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh that creeping Charlie....I've got plenty of that, too!! At least it's easy to pull out and doesn't kill the other plants. The bindweed strangles whatever it climbs up...and the tansy is impossible to dig out!! That truly stinks about your deck though....for such tiny cute animals they sure can be a nuisance!

      Delete
  15. Enjoy your posts about your garden---especially when the bears visit!! I live in MS and have no bears thankfully!! Would be looking over my shoulder the whole time I am working in my yard.
    However , I do have problems with voles-- similar to moles but they tunnel underground and eat anything with bulbs or bulbous like roots!! They LOVE hostas and Asiatic lillies. Have never bothered my day lillies until this year!! I have to plant hostas in pots and bury the pots or lay hardware cloth down and plant on top of it. They can't chew thru the wire. I use the hardware cloth with 1/2 inch squares. No problem with chipmunks but squirrels dig up my potted plants, especially when they are first getting started. I sprinkle ground red pepper on the soil. It deters the squirrels but has to be reapplied after rain, etc. Hope you may find this helpful!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I must try that, thank you - I have a big container of crushed red pepper!! Oh how frustrating, I have something digging tunnels under my front garden this year....never happened before, but there's a new tunnel every day or so!

      Delete
  16. All of your plants are beautiful! You are much more determined than I am. I would have given up after the first round of critters eating my plants. Thankfully, the only thing we have to battle are squirrels and armadillos. We put out traps for the armadillos when we have a problem and fake snakes in the garden help deter the squirrels. Love and hugs sweet friend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooooh you can keep the armadillos, Benita, I think they would scare the life out of me!!

      Delete
  17. Have you tried sprinkling blood meal around your plants to keep critters away? It works for my potted plants but you do have to reapply after a few rains. Its pretty cheap and does a great job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't use blood meal or bone meal in my garden, Diane....it seems to attract other animals like coyotes! Same with fish emulsion....it brings in the bears and raccoons.

      Delete
  18. So sorry to hear about all those pesky critters going after your garden. They probably figure you are providing them with a wonderful feast! Last year we had a problem with groundhogs and did may catch and releases, but today we dug a tunnel around the vegetable garden and buried the bottom of the fence about a foot deep. Hopefully they won't bother to dig deeper than that trying to get in. It was so nice of you to share the "not perfect" parts of your garden. It makes me feel like I'm not alone!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's great, Sue - that's what my sweetie did when he was building a fenced veggie garden at his house a few years back. My veggie garden has a fence around it, but I'm not sure if the wire goes underneath or not...but of course the rest of my property has no fence, and the critters just go mad torturing me!

      Delete

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment...I truly love reading your comments and I try to respond to each and every one of your sweet comments right here on my blog page!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
09 10