The Garden at Night

One evening in the week, I decided to turn the ceilings fans on out on the patio and go sit outside for a while. It was actually quite pleasant and not muggy like it usually is.

I've always been fascinated by the night sky, although I'm by no means an expert.  This particular night the sky was clear and I could see some stars in spite of the chronic light pollution that pervades this whole area.

I quickly realized that these must be planets, rather than stars and after taking some (mostly fuzzy) photos, I used the GoSkyWatch app on my iPad to identify them as Jupiter and Venus.  I love that app - it helps you identify stars, constellations, even things you can't really see with the naked eye, such as star clusters and nebulae.

Since I had my camera out, I decided to try some photos of the garden.  The only light was that from the light by the back door.  I like the way they came out, although there's a huge shadow from one of the pillars across the back of the house.

Of course, this garden isn't really a night time garden.  For one thing, I have few white blooms that would stand out at night.  And for another, I don't have any scented blooms.  I will need to keep this in mind when planning my planting for next year!  Suggestions will be appreciated!

And finally, as I was sitting there listening to the waterfall and the crescendo of serenading frogs, I became aware of movement on the wall, over by the bird feeder.

I realized there was a possum on the wall, cleaning up the seeds that had been left over by the birds.  I tried some non-flash photos with no success, so I flipped up the flash and was able to capture him on film.

He looks rather demonic with those eyes reflecting the flash, doesn't he?  I wonder now if he stops by every night to clean up leftover bird seed.  Actually I'm surprised that the birds ever leave any!

What night time critters you do you get in your garden?

I"m not really sure whether this is acceptable for Camera Critters, hosted by Misty Dawn, since the critter is tucked in at the end of the post, but I'm going to try anyway.  

You can visit Camera Critters with this link, or by using the button in the side bar of my blog. 



Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Wildlife Wednesday

I was going to make this a Wordless Wednesday post, but decided to make it a Wildlife Wednesday post instead.

There's something in this photo other than the volunteer sunflower just coming in to bloom, the tropical milkweed, the rampant spearmint and the last few blooms of the Star Jasmine.

If you can see it, post in the comments below. (you can click on the photo to see a larger version if necessary)


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Animal Antics in the Garden

 For my blog post today, I thought I'd share with you the antics my husband and I witnessed as we sat on the patio with our morning coffee.

We've got at least four hummers, gearing up for their migration.  They expend so much energy chasing each other round the columns on the patio and around the garden, it seems like they will be worn out before they even get started across the Gulf.

Usually, I can only get photos of them either on the feeders, or perching in a tree.  I was lucky this morning to be able to capture these photos of a female in flight as she approached the feeder.

The hummers aren't the only birds in evidence today. As I was sitting on the patio, aiming my camera at the hummingbird feeder for the photos above, I kept seeing flashes of color and movement along the back wall of the garden.

This male Northern Cardinal perched and posed momentarily for a photo op, but not for long. As you can see in the photo above (I'm amazed I caught it on film), another male is swooping in to chase the intruder from "his" territory.

At the same time, on top of the wall, what I thought were two adult females, but turned out to be an adult and a juvenile when I looked at the photo on my computer, are happily pecking at bird seed.

The juvenile enjoyed hopping up and down the milkweed stalks.  Do they eat aphids?  I'm not sure, but at least there were no caterpillars in the way.

When we first moved in here and were surrounded by our own personal forest, we seemingly had our own resident squirrels.  Since all the trees died and/or were removed, and since the lots either side have been cleared and built on, we very rarely see squirrels.

I was missing them, but happened to glance out and see one on the fence last week.  This morning, it was back, helping itself to the birdseed and nuts on the fence. 

There such sweet little things, and so entertaining, I welcome them in the garden.  They've lost so much habitat around here, I'll do anything I can to help them survive. If it means the birds have to share their seed and nuts with the squirrels, so be it :-)


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

"Junior"

 As I reported here in this blog, back in August of last year, we sadly had to say goodbye to the mature pine tree that we fell in love with when we bought our house.  The arborist that had removed the tree came back in the fall to plant a replacement.

I will admit, we had a bit of a scare after "Junior" had been planted.   We started seeing lots of yellow needles and dropped needles.  For a while, we feared that we'd have to cash-in on the one-year guarantee that the arborist offered and get yet another tree.  We worried was it not getting enough water, was it getting too much?  

As my husband was watering it one day, from the faucet at the back of the house, something suddenly came to me.   We have a water treatment system installed and it was connected specifically behind the water connection for the sprinkler system and the faucet at the front of the house, so it didn't affect those water outlets.  But all the other faucets around the house were supplied via the treatment system.  Great if we wanted to drink clean water right out of the faucet, or have lots of suds when washing the car, not so good for watering plants because the natural mineral content of our water had been altered.

I mentioned this to my husband and from that point on, we started watering "Junior" either from the rain barrel, or from the faucet at the front of the house.

  
 I'm happy to report that "Junior" is doing very well.  The needles stopped turning yellow almost immediately after the change and this spring, it's vigorously putting out candles of new growth.

Of course, "Junior" has a long way to grow--it's currently about 20 feet tall, nowhere near the 80 ft + of the original tree. We just have to be a little patient. According to historic aerial photos of our area on Google Earth, there weren't any trees here about 35 years ago - it was farmland.

So yes, we just have to be patient, although the local bird population is eyeing it up already :-)

 


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Wordless Wednesday - Cooper's Hawk

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Our Certified Wildlife Habitat

When we moved in here three years ago, we knew that the wooded lots either side would be cleared for homes, which they were this past summer.  My plan for the garden was to create a habitat that would be pleasant for us to enjoy working and relaxing in, which would also provide the necessities for birds, butterflies and other wildlife.


It's still a work in progress, but we've made a start and I'm proud to announce that our garden just received it's official recognition as a Certified Wildlife Habitat from the World Wildlife Federation.

In order to be certified, a property has to provide food, water, cover and places for wildlife to raise their young.


Even though, in my opinion, our garden has a long way to go, it does provide these basics already.


We have lots of nectar producing plants for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. In addition, I keep the bird feeders filled and the birdbaths filled with clean, fresh water daily.


The border we put in along the back wall provides cover, with a variety of shrubs. I love sitting on the patio watching birds scratching around in the mulch underneath the wax myrtle, or under the feeders by the holly bushes.


Two years in a row, Mockingbirds have chosen to build their nests in the small live oak trees we have in the front garden.  We've also hosted a Carolina wren on the back patio for two years in a row. 


Our garden and feeders are regularly visited by Northern Cardinals, who I think nest in the hedgerow on the other side of the street behind our house.  To encourage them to nest in our garden, I recently purchased a Cardinal bird house from Duncraft. We need to decide where to put it and get it up and ready for the cardinals to inspect before nesting season rolls around.


As I mentioned before, our wildlife habitat is still a work in progress. There's lots more to be done yet, but our neighbors don't need to worry that we'll be turning our garden into a jungle. We'll keep it neighbor-friendly too.  

The National Wildlife Federation have lots of tips for creating a beautiful wildlife garden:


Neighbor Friendly Wildlife Gardening -- how to keep your neighbors AND the wildlife happy :-) 


Cut Your Lawn in Half -- we'll be using some of the tips in this article and creating some island beds which will give me more room to plant colorful flowers etc., while at the same time getting rid of the vast sea of lawn which currently surrounds our house.


So, with this certification, and also the Monarch Waystation certification that I mentioned last week, my dream of having a wildlife habitat is coming true.  All we have to do now is continue what we have started!  

(Poor Eric is having nightmares of having to haul tons of rock home from the store to create the island bed for the butterfly garden!) 





Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

The Winds of Change

We've been spoiled, I suppose you could say, since we moved into our house in 2008. For three years, ours has been the only house on our side of the street, comfortably tucked in between a majestic Liquidambar (Sweet Gum) tree on one side, and a rough but wildlife friendly thicket on the other.  The thicket was where the stray/dumped cat, Cali, raised her kittens last summer.  It's been home to a procession of squirrels, raccoons, skunks, snakes and other critters, many of which paid us visits on various occasions.

We knew things wouldn't stay like that forever but, since we moved in and the economy tanked, we hoped it would be many years before we lost what we looked on as our personal forest.

Recently though, there has been more activity in the neighborhood.  More homes have been going in, a new builder has moved in, (after our builder moved out) and a new model home is going up.

The writing was on the wall earlier this week, when two lots on the next street were cleared.

And today I came home to see this:

And this:

...indications that any day now, our little forest will be history :-(

I just hope they do all the ripping out of trees while I'm at work.  I don't think I could stand to be here while it's happening.  

On a brighter note, we've got tropical milkweed coming up all over the place, ensuring we'll have plenty to offer the Monarch butterflies when they come through on their migration.

Last year we had lots of Zinna "Profusion" that I hoped would self seed, but I hadn't seen any signs of that so I purchased some more seed which arrived from Park Seed today.

Now look at what I saw while out in the garden today.  One of last year's zinnias (and actually I saw two or three of them) has finally self-seeded and was being checked out by a couple of skippers!  I'll still go ahead and scatter some seed in the border and I think I'll share the rest with my neighbors.

 It's been fun living in Wild America for three years.  I can only hope that we still get birds, squirrels, butterflies and other wildlife visiting our garden when we have new homes on either side where once there was wildlife habitat. 


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

We Are Not Alone

 Ever get that feeling that you are not alone?


Most weekends, Eric and I enjoy a glass of wine on our patio.  I guess, being in Texas, we shouldn't be surprised to find that we often share it with the local wildlife.

In the past, we've been serenaded by frogs, entertained by skunks, raided by raccoons.

I was only mildly surprised then when I turned to say something to Eric and noticed a very large, very green "thing" on the window frame.  With apologies to my husband, this photo was too good not to share!!

I did a little research and I think I can identify the bug as an Oblong-Winged Katydid -- Amblycorpha oblongifolia

Here's another photo of it.

Impressive, huh?


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

I Know the Feeling....

 After a long, busy week at work followed by a hot, steamy lawn mowing session, I can sympathize with this garden visitor...

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Guess Who Came For Dinner

I was beginning to wonder if I was going to see any Monarch caterpillars on the Milkweed this year. But finally, my patience was rewarded...

I've got several Milkweeds in the garden.  Some that I purchased online and some that self-seeded from last year's plants.  With all those milkweeds, I was anxious to see some caterpillars.

Finally, when we got back from Indy I noticed one caterpillar, just one.  I've been keeping an eye on him each day and yesterday I was happy to notice there were two caterpillars on the plant.

And then today, I counted FOUR!  Wierd thing is that they're all on one plant, as are a bunch  of aphids - ewwwwwww.  The others are devoid of caterpillars.

Interestingly, the plants without the caterpillars are also sans aphids at the moment, but I don't know how long that will last, there seems to be nothing that can be done about them without risk to the caterpillars.

But hey - at least the aphids are the same color as the flowers and, from a distance, you can't even tell!!

Now, I have a question for you all.  As I was examining the grapes on our grape vine, I noticed this caterpillar.  Does anyone know what it is?

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Caught in the Act!

I was putting bird seed out the fence this morning and heard "something."  As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized I wasn't alone.  He didn't seem concerned about me being there, so I decided to see if he'd wait while I got the camera.

He was too busy with breakfast to notice...

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Charlotte's Web

In the summer of 2007, before my husband and I got married and bought the house we're in now, I walked out to the patio of my previous house one day and nearly had a heart attack when I saw this right outside the bedroom window.

I'm not what you would call a spider lover (in fact, I border on arachnophobic) but this spider had me fascinated. It had spun its web between the window and the large palm I had in the corner of the patio.

A quick bit of investigation and I had it identified as a Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia). They are also known as Garden spiders and Writing spiders (named for that zig zig pattern you can see in the web.)

Because of it's size -- the body was over an inch long and it's total span was three inches or more -- I believe it was female. I called her, naturally, Charlotte.

Charlotte was in residence for a couple of weeks, during which time she took up pest control duties on the patio. 

 Even a large cricket like this was no match for her.

Even more impressive seen through the window screen!

If I hadn't have witnessed this with my own eyes and camera, I never would have believed it possible!

Sadly, I came home from work one day to see a little flag in the front yard, indicating my pest control service had been by.  My heart sunk as I went out to the patio, knowing what I would find. 

Charlotte and her web were gone.

While I appreciate that pest control is necessary if you don't want your house overrun with roaches, or eaten from the inside by termites, but I do wish they had left Charlotte and her web alone.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Share and Share Alike

Quite often, when I look outside, I'll see a squirrel on the wall or fence, sitting on his haunches, chowing down on the seeds I put out for the birds.  My husband jokes that they are just ignoring the "No Squirrels Allowed" sign.

I really don't mind, I find them quite entertaining.  I could sit and watch them for hours -- well, I do, sometimes.

I was even more amused yesterday, when I happened to see something I hadn't seen before --  a Mourning Dove standing on the squirrel feeder, helping himself.

A little while later, there was a Blue Jay out there, also pecking over the remains of the morning's squirrel breakfast.

But the squirrels had the last laugh. I couldn't believe my eyes when I was heading outdoors with my coffee and saw this young lady IN the birdfeeder!

Life is never dull around here.  I hope that doesn't change when our subdivision, as yet less than one quarter built out, gets filled in.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

I tawt I taw a puddy tat!

I TAWT I TAW A PUDDY TAT!

I DID, I  TAW A PUDDY TAT!!!

I thought everyone might enjoy this scene I caught this past weekend.  After I put out a new sock feeder, the finches found it very quickly, and before I knew it they were lined up.

Pippin, one of my seven indoor cats thought it was great.  There were about 5 finches out there, and I eventually went to the store and got a two armed hanger and two more sock feeders.

Starting Over

The title of this post has a double meaning.  First, it refers to the fact that, although I have been maintaining a blog, Green and Serene, on HoustonGrows.com, the Houston Chronicle gardening community, I'm starting it up here on Blogger.com as well. 


Secondly, it refers to the fact that I am, once again, starting a new garden from scratch.


My husband and I moved to a new home in a new subdivision last summer. I knew the one thing I was going to miss most was the lovely cottage garden I had created at my previous house.  I really got emotional about leaving it behind but tried to look on the positive side.  

Our new home offers new opportunities to create a peaceful retreat for the two of us, where we can relax and I can enjoy my gardening. We selected the lot carefully, and chose this one because of the tree in the back garden.  I've never had a mature tree in my garden before!

When we moved in during the summer of 2008, there wasn't much there but a vast expanse of lawn, but eventually, I want to plant a multi-level shrubbery across the back wall and some island beds, to create a habitat for the many birds we get here.

Even though we've barely started, one of our favorite weekend pastimes is to sit in the shade on the patio and watch the birds, squirrels and butterflies as they go about their business.

My blog will document our progress, and also show you some of our regular feathered and furry visitors.