Hydrangeas Blue

Okay, I Hate These Raccoons

After we moved into our new house in Florida, we noticed every night that raccoons would come out of the woods next door and explore our yard. They came right up to the back door, with the outside light on.

Oh, they were so cute. One time we looked out back to see three little raccoon faces peering out of the woods at us. . It was adorable, and if I were any kind of photographer I would have had the camera handy and captured that image.

However, I know that raccoons are not the sweet, adorable creatures they appear to be. And these days I abhor seeing their cute faces. They are thieves, that even wear masks as a warning! They have no regard for the hard work farmers and gardeners put into growing their crops.

Raccoons have sharp claws and teeth. They can be vicious if need be, and the ones that visit my yard are mostly unafraid of humans and my cats. They mostly do their damage at night, but we’ve been sitting at the outside table, in full daylight, and had one come out of the woods a mere 10 feet from us. Once he noticed we were there, he left. Rabies is common among them, but this one did not act in an unusual manner. I think he just wanted to see what we were up to.

I usually leave water outside for the cats during the day because of the heat. If I don’t empty the bucket, the raccoons always get into the water overnight and leave a muddy mess. Occasionally they dump the bucket.

One evening after we had been out on our boat, I rinsed my expensive water shoes and left them to dry on the back patio. The next morning one of my shoes was missing! Luckily I found the shoe at the edge of the woods where apparently the raccoon decided it would be of no use to him.

That same morning I discovered my tall sunflower stalk broken and dragged across the grass. It was the only sunflower seed that grew for me, and I really had hoped to see the flower bloom.

But worst of all is the stealing of my tomatoes. I just picked two ripe tomatoes and left about 4 more green ones on the vine. Today I saw that all the green tomatoes were gone! Last week they stole 2 nice red ones just before I had a chance to pick them.

They will drag pots and my fabric potting bags around. It seems they have a grand old time during the darkness of night. When the weather is nice, and my windows are open, I can hear them outside my window at night scampering around and occasionally “screaming” at each other. Yes, they make noise, and it’s creepy.

raccoon and chain link fence — Raccoon image from Pixabay

I’m thinking it’s time for a fence. However, I am not sure that will keep them away. I’ve read that they can climb fences, and we’ve watched them climb down from way up in a neighboring tree. The fence may have to be made of slick material, like metal or plastic, that they cannot climb. I’m saving my money, as we had planned to fence the yard anyway. These creatures just give me more incentive to do so.

I can only hope that with a wall between them and my yard the little robbers, or bandits as they are rightfully called, will forget about my garden and go someplace else to scavenge.

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A Little Mouse Story

I really don’t remember how I came across this little mouse. But I believe I saw my cat, Skittle, chasing something outside my back deck.

When I went outside there he was, “hiding” behind the dying nasturtium vines. Luckily for him, Skittle doesn’t seem to have the greatest eyesight. She couldn’t find him, but she knew he was in there someplace.

little gray mouse — Mouse hiding in the nasturtiums

This is skittle perched on the deck post, looking for the mouse down in the plant (lower right). The little guy stayed very still, thinking he was hidden… or maybe too scared to move.

His little nose was pushed into the vines and maybe he thought that made him safe.

Now, mice are cute. But up north, where I lived in New Hampshire, they always seemed to find a way inside the house for the cold winter months. I fought them every winter.

I hate to kill anything, but they can’t be left to take over the house. I set traps in my basement, and trusted the cats to help keep them away.

More than once I was up in the night because the cats were out in the kitchen “playing” with a mouse. They never killed one in the house, but Skittle liked to bring them into my bedroom – up on my bed – in the middle of the night, just to show me her treasure!

Ya… no.

I would get a plastic bowl and plop it over the mouse, then slide a piece of cardboard under it to catch the thing. This was surprisingly easy to do. Then, I would open the door and let it outside… where it belongs. Needless to say, I couldn’t sleep if I knew there was a mouse running around my home.

This little mouse in the Nasturtiums got away, as Skittle gave up looking for him. I’m sure he eventually made his way inside and scurried around my basement enjoying the warmth. The never-ending cycle.

Sunday Morning Garden Photography

Taking garden photos to share on a peaceful Sunday morning.

Is there anything better than a quiet, peaceful (and fairly cool) Florida morning? Sure, lots of things, but today I enjoyed the cloud cover as I checked on my gardens this morning and took some photos with my iPhone.

The hibiscus is blooming profusely and I noticed today that some of the flowers are a lighter color than others. They look pink here, for some reason, but they are really light orange. I was too lazy to use my graphics program to fix the color – look at the photo below to see a more true version. …….Still, the beauty is apparent.

In New Hampshire I always had sunflowers growing in my garden during the summer. They sprang up on their own, known as “volunteers”. I just let them grow where they were and planted my vegetables around them. In the Fall, little goldfinches and chickadees would land on the big heads and eat the seeds.

Because I don’t feed the birds in Florida, no sunflower seeds will voluntarily grow after being buried under the winter snow, so this one I had to plant. In fact I planted a lot of seeds, but this one the only one growing. Animals (squirrels) probably ate the other seeds.

My rose bush is doing fine so far. I am seeing roses bloom continuously. Their color is stunning, but the flowers don’t last long.

I’ve never been able to grow my own watermelon, but I am trying again. This one seems to be doing well enough.

desert rose pink flowers — Desert Rose is Flowering

The Desert Rose, which at first was thought to be a Plumeria, is planted in the ground and doing well. Lots of bright pink flowers have bloomed and I am seldom watering it, as required.

Persian lime flowering — Little limes growing on the Persian Lime tree

The Persian Lime tree is blooming like mad and little limes have formed. Many of them will end up falling off, I assume, but I’m hopeful that some will grow to be edible size.

Other happenings in my small yard: I saw two black snakes (black racers) yesterday within the span of about 3 minutes. They are “good” snakes and not poisonous, but still creep me out as I watch them slither through the grass. Now I’m back to watching where I walk.

Later today I will pick the one zucchini growing on my single zucchini plant. The potatoes have been dug, and the carrots pulled. Time to plant some new things that may, or may not, be able to take the Florida summer heat. At this point, it’s all an experiment.

Have a wonderful day!

Memories of April in New Hampshire

Every now and then I look back at my life in New Hampshire through the many photos I took while living there.
Since Spring is upon us (in Florida it’s hard to tell) I decided to share some April photography and memories.

In April the forsythia begins to bloom and the bright yellow flowers are a wonderful sight after a dull and colorless winter. I had planted a forsythia bush up near the road in my front yard in New Hampshire. I thought it was far enough back from the road to survive the snow-plowing in winter, but I was wrong. This big branch was broken off so I cut it and brought it inside to enjoy the flowers.

cat drinks out of forsythia water — Skittle, being Skittle

Skittle, the cat enjoys drinking water from all sorts of places. And once she discovered the vase of water holding the branch, she just had to partake!

The Lenton Rose will be full of flowers by April. It blooms before the snow is gone. I really enjoyed this little flowering bush.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 4.47.28 PM — Lenton Rose

The coreopsis is popping through the ground and so are the thick red stems of the peony. I love peonies. They remind me of my grandmother, so I had a lot of them planted in my yard in the north. I had white, red, and pink. One of the reds was more like an open flower, but I can’t recall the name of it.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 4.44.37 PM — Peony

And of course the hydrangeas were coming to life. It’s always thrilling to check out the gardens in Spring. Each day more green is showing and it was always fun to watch the progress as the perennials came back to their beautiful showy state.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 4.44.59 PM — Hydrangea in Spring

The first photo is my house taken about three months before I moved. I couldn’t afford to live in New England, but it’s where my heart is.
I miss it and always will.

Parsley Worm and The Butterfly it Becomes

This is a story about the parsley worms in my backyard. My garden is small, and a bit unique in that at the present time my vegetables are in pots and fabric bags. I use fresh parsley often, and I have it growing in two locations.

One day I found this colorful worm crawling along a parsley stem and munching away. I could see that he had chewed off many of the surrounding leaves. This striped guy is appropriately called a “parsley worm”.

I couldn’t remember what type of butterfly it would become, (had to look that up) but I knew it was getting ready to form a chrysalis.

Turns out it’s a Swallowtail butterfly that emerged from the green chrysalis a few weeks later. The wrapped worm was attached to a stem of basil, which had gone to seed, but was in the same pot as the parsley the worm was eating.

But here’s what happened first. I found the worm sitting in this position (below) and he was no longer eating. In fact he was on the basil now, and not the parsley. This is where he formed his chrysalis. I checked it every day, and after a few weeks, there was something new to see.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 1.58.07 PM — Worm beginning to form a chrysalis

Once the butterfly “hatched” he crawled to the top of the basil stem to try out his new wings. Maybe this is the perfect set up for encouraging butterfly production. I hope it happens again.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 2.34.44 PM — Arrow pointing to the empty chrysalis

A few days ago I happened to go outside and saw this beautiful black butterfly at the top of the basil stem, and I knew… the baby was born! The wind was blowing, but he held on for hours. I kept checking on it, and then suddenly he was no longer there.

I felt like a proud parent. I had helped a new baby butterfly enter the world. Course, I had done nothing but plant the parsley… haha!!! But I felt good. And I’m glad I was able to see the beautiful butterfly before it flew away. I took lots of photos, like a proud parent does, and one video.

It turns out that there are many types of Swallowtail butterflies, and the worms can be different colors too. I honestly don’t know much about all of this, but I love it! Imagine going from being earth bound and crawling among bunches of green parsley, to having big beautiful wings that take you up into the sky! I will keep an eye out for eggs on the parsley leaves, and bright green worms among the branches.

Wondering When my Persian Lime Tree Will Bear Fruit

Persian lime buds — Buds on the Lime Tree

A few months ago I purchased a lemon tree and Persian lime tree from a local nursery. Both are blooming and beginning to bear fruit. I planted the lemon tree in the ground, but decided to keep the lime tree in the pot. I’m glad I wasn’t in a hurry to put them both in the ground, because the lemon tree is not doing as well as the lime.

The Meyer lemon began budding almost as soon as it was planted. The tree itself is very small, so I expected no fruit from it. Surprisingly, some of the lemons are now getting to a good size, but many have already fallen off. I gave it a sunny spot, but failed to realize the amount of wind the tree would receive. The lime is more sheltered from the strong wind, on the south side of the house, and also gets a lot of sun. From what I’ve read, this is more to it’s liking.

budding persian lime tree — Potted Persian Lime Tree

Also, the lime tree (photo above), which was never removed from it’s original pot, began to grow like mad! It has doubled in size in the past few months, and is just now blooming. Because of the size, I have some hope of picking limes in the not too distant future. Fingers crossed! I’m holding of putting it into the ground because it’s growing very well where it is.

Because I am not familiar with growing either types of fruit, I searched online for Persian Lime Tree Care and found an article at the Gardening Know How site. In fact they have many articles with growing and care information. That being said, I always get my gardening information from more than one source – especially when reading online. In fact, this article “How Long Does it Take to Grow Limes?” at the Home Guides site, gives a lot more useful information. It tells me that fruit is harvested twice a year; May-June and November-December. This is the information I wanted to find.

Online articles can be written by experts, or by people who really have no idea what they are talking about. Some people write online simply to make money and are not all that interested in truthfulness. I prefer to find information on a blog written by someone with first hand experience. In other words, someone who cares enough to share what they know to be true.

At the present time, I am not a lime growing expert, but I hope to become one by growing them myself. As time goes on I will share MY first hand experience, but for now, I must count on others for solid information.

I’ll be sure to post about eating my first home-grown lemons and limes!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!