moss boss

May and June are the prettiest time in the garden.  It's still early, but I love seeing things come up that I planted years ago.  

Front garden, which had a few desultory daffodils when we moved in

I'm especially glad that I planted "cemetery moss" - the color is so vibrant and it spreads like crazy!

Side "rose garden" is starting to fill in, all perennials

I'm waiting for the peonies to start...they're so beautiful with the purple of the false baptisia and the yellow of the irises.  Total accident!

I've had a little trouble up here, though.  The deer, which have never bothered this garden in the past, have been mowing down my bee balm.

En route, they're stepping on and crushing the little seedlings I've planted around it.  I'm going to have to replace about a fourth of what I've planted.  

Our front red maple has filled in quickly.  I'd never noticed one before we moved here, but I love it so much.  A few more weeks until it's totally lush!  

I've been doing some work in the garden, but I have to pace myself.  I have so many other projects, and my regular job as well.  One really pleasurable project is this pair of bedroom side tables that I found at a thrift store for $14 each...on half-off day.  That's right, I got the pair for $14!  I knew they were good quality...solid wood...and checking inside, I saw that they were Ethan Allen.  When I did a price check, I discovered that they're selling for hundreds of dollars online.  Score!

They were a little beat up, though, and I didn't like the orangey stain.  I'm in the process of sanding them...

...to give them a really natural finish.  I'm about halfway done!

I'm continuing to spot spring ephemerals on our walks...

celadine poppy

trillium flexipes

dwarf larkspur

jack-in-the-pulpit

white baneberry

...and lazy kittens while working at home.

We're loving this time before the dread humidity and heat of summer sets in.  As long as it's not too bad, I'm going to try to continue to take short reading breaks on the porch swing.  It's so peaceful, especially with the garden filling in around it!

Have a great week!

Ephemeral Emeralds

Late March...some rain...a warm spell...I knew that ephemerals would be popping up!  Like the name suggests, ephemerals are woodland wildflowers that are here-and-gone.  In a brown landscape with not a lot of green growth, they are little gems scattered in the forest.  I love seeing their little faces every year!

Rue Anemone

Spring Beauties

Cutleaf Toothwort

Harbinger-of-Spring

Red Maples are budding out!

The woods are alive, finally!  This spring peeper is singing his heart out.

I've seen so many southern leopard frogs!

Turtles everywhere.  Todd, with his eagle eye, sounds a "turt alert" when he spots one from the trail.

Are these geese making a nest?

This freshwater snail is working his way through the debris on this submerged leaf.

Insects are stirring, too.  These water skippers are killing two birds with one stone, makin' babies and having a snack simultaneously.

A pair of predacious diving beetles, clasped in an embrace, dove for cover as I leaned in for a photo.

Interesting creatures.  They can't breathe underwater, so they bring air down with them, storing it within their bodies.  It has to be just the right amount.  Too much and they would be too buoyant, and not enough, they would drown.  They're called water tigers for their somewhat brutal hunting methods...floating limply in the water until prey (fish, tadpole, etc.) passes, and then, quick as lightning, biting.  They inject a digestive juice that partially liquifies their victims, making them easier to eat.  

I spotted another fascinating insect yesterday.  This is a violet oil beetle.  Not just a pretty face!

They're also known as blister beetles because they secrete a corrosive liquid from their joints if bothered, causing skin to blister.  Their life cycle is absolutely fascinating!  Any Creepshow 2 fans?

Young oil beetles have tiny grappling hooks on their legs, and after burrowing out of the ground, climb onto the nearest flower.  They wait for bees and hook onto their bodies, hitching a ride back to the hive.  There, they gorge on eggs and prepare for pupating.  They're so interesting...the Czech Republic even had a violet oil beetle stamp!

I love being out in the woods in spring, and so does Borga!  

After more than a decade of dragging us around, she's finally starting to slow down.  She's pretty tired after an hour, and she no longer leads the pack...she's content to trot behind Todd.  Sometimes she even lets me walk in front!  Hopefully this will be a very active spring for us, and she'll have lots of opportunities to stretch her legs.

Have a great week!  

spring ephemeral sprawl

We took a hike on Easter morning and I was so excited to see the spring ephemerals out!  As the name suggests, they're the woodland flowers that bloom for a few weeks and then disappear.  

Bloodroot is one of my favorites.  They wear their leaves like little green cloaks before opening up.

Lots of Spring Beauties...

Duchmen's Breeches...

Young May Apples!!

The forest floor was absolutely carpeted with Yellow Trout Lily leaves.  Millions and millions!  Only a few were blooming...I think it's going to be amazing there within a week!

I also saw wild Wood Phlox, Rue Anemone, and big swatches of Columbine leaves...and the first pollinators of the season!

So nice to walk around the lake...

...see the budding trees...

...and a little wildlife!

(opossum tracks)

I've been seeing a bit of activity at home, too.  Several large coyotes have been loping around the barnyard some mornings.

They look very well-fed!  Claudia definitely stays close after she catches their scent.

It's a beautiful time of year to walk around the property.  Red-winged Blackbirds are nesting in the front pond...

...while others are keeping an eye toward our porch rafters as a potential nesting spot.

The field grass is growing quickly, and Todd is mowing down the taller bits before the early summer bush-hogging.

As quickly as I can, I'm getting seedlings, like these iceland poppies, planted in the garden.

This backfired on me last week, when we had a string of unseasonably cold days, with one night down to 20 degrees!  This caused an extraordinary amount of work for us.  I had to go around covering flowering bulbs and tender sprouts in the front garden...

...while Todd pounded stakes down the middle of our planted row.  Over the stakes went the frost cloth, very difficult to secure against the fence side, and then whatever bedding/towels/tablecloths that I could spare from the house to doubly insulate.

This whole mess had to be peeled back during the day, so that the seedlings could get some light.  I grumbled the whole time, but it worked - although some seedlings had frost damage to the outer tips of their leaves.  Lesson learned:  even if a seedling is frost hardy, no setting them out if there's even a chance of a freeze within a 10-day period...i.e., probably wait until April.  

Fingers crossed that we're now onto a mild, comfortable spring.  

Have a great week!