Tag: frogs

Creatures of the Garden

Gardeners need to be ready to see all types of creatures. Here in Florida we have a lot of frogs, snakes, spiders and other things that can be a bit creepy, but necessary. Some of them are invasive species and don’t belong here at all.

Being a gardener means getting used to seeing all types of creatures in the garden. That is fine with me, but Florida tends to grow some big things. Spiders can be huge. Snakes can be poisonous. Frogs can be unwelcome when they are an invasive species.

Frogs

I know that frogs are necessary and very good at keeping the bug population low, but I get creeped out by frogs.

Unwrapping my cucumber plants one morning, this little frog was exposed. He was just sitting happily on a leaf. I hope he was eating the pickleworms. Is he a good frog? I don’t know.

Invasive Cuban Tree Frog – I think

That same morning I also saw this little frog (below). I can’t identify him, but here is an extensive list of frogs found in Central Florida.

frog on leaf

A Creepy Frog Story (See Photo Below)

One morning I was fertilizing some of my garden plants. Using the watering can, I filled it with fish fertilizer and water – for the second time – and then, this huge frog popped up from inside! He’d been hiding inside the watering can and somehow lasted through the first watering.

Frogs can be native to the area and good for the environment, or they can be invasive species that disrupts things by killing off the good stuff. I really have a hard time identifying frogs, so I have no idea what types these are.

frog

Bees in the Garden

Each morning, shortly after I uncovered the cucumber plants, this bumblebee would show up and visit every flower. It was as if he was someplace close by just waiting for me to show up.

bumblebee on cucumber flower

Sometimes little honey bees can be found resting inside the petals of my zinnias. The photo isn’t good, but there were about eight bees in this bright pink flower!

honey bees sleeping inside a zinnia flower
Bees inside the petals

Snakes

I am not afraid of snakes, in fact I like to see them in the yard. Long ago I learned how to identify the poisonous ones that live in Florida. We lived in a very wooded, rural place back then. We saw a lot of big snakes. Because I had kids that played outside, and if they were ever bitten, I wanted to know if they had been poisoned! Fortunately, that never happened.

These days, because of all the habitat loss, I seldom see snakes. This little snake is dead. This is how I got the close up photo of its head. My cat found it on the cardboard in the yard, but I don’t know what killed it. It’s a juvenile of some kind and is not poisonous. The poisonous snakes of Florida have triangular heads, except for the Coral snake (red touch yellow kill a fellow), which this is not. My guess would be a juvenile Ribbon snake.

  • snake head
  • Small dead snake

These are just some of the garden creatures that show up around my yard. Lady bugs are usually present on the Eggplant leaves, and I always love to see them. The lizards are also always around (some of those are also an invasive species), but they are all contributing to eating the bugs.

I can only hope that nature is still in sync around here and keeping everything in check as it should be.

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Fall Gardening is Underway

Here I have a photo of my Fall garden. It is hard to tell what is growing, and honestly not much in the way of food just yet. The seeds have all been planted except for Kale and dill. I will also grow more green beans along the way when I find space. (I’m already…

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Florida Native Frogs or Cuban Invaders?

Summer brings an over-abundance of frogs to my yard. I often find them tucked down inside curling pepper leaves or snoozing on top of a growing pepper. They don’t hurt the plants, but the invasive Cuban tree frog can hurt the environment, by killing off our native frogs.

Cuban Tree Frogs?

I think these are Cuban tree frogs. I have seen frogs like this inside my house. One day I had one sitting on a plate in my kitchen. When we first moved into our house a huge, whitish frog came out of the tub drain! I’d never let frogs creep me out before, but there was something about these that I never liked.

frogs sleeping the day away
3 Frogs on my front light – one is sitting on another

They are nocturnal and come alive in the evening when they hop all over the windows and door eating bugs.

Identify Your Florida Frogs

This link goes to the page for identifying your Central Florida Frogs. Or, go to this page and select the part of Florida where you live. Click on each frog photo to see more about that species.

They also leave their poop everywhere as you can see by my disgusting looking light. I think this photo shows the Cuban frog. This type of frog will kill and eat the cute green ones – which I never see these days. And the Cuban frog can become quite large. They can also get into the plumbing – they do that by getting onto the roof – and other places and become a big problem.

It is true that these frogs do not appear to be the cute little green frogs that were once everywhere in Florida. You literally could not avoid them and they were simply part of Florida life. Florida life has changed.

Tree frog sleeping on a green pepper
Tree frog napping on my garden pepper – he is what type???

After I had a palm tree cut down in my front yard, the frog population seemed to decline. They may have been living in the tree.

frog on pepper leaf
Frog on pepper leaf

Good Frogs

This striped frog is one I came across while cleaning out the yard. I’d had some plastic containers stacked, which had filled with water. I was getting rid of the containers and discovered this frog swimming around with a bunch of tiny creatures – possibly tadpoles..? Once I disturbed his home, he climbed out of the container and disappeared.

I think this frog may be the Florida Chorus frog, but I’m not sure. I hope he makes it. Life is tough for Florida wildlife.

Florida water frog - chorus frog
frog

Florida Tree Frogs or Cuban Pests?

Just like the little green lizards, the green Florida tree frog seems to be disappearing. Well, the Cuban tree frog could be the reason. This article at the UF site says to catch the invaders and humanely euthanize them! Put them into the fridge, then the freezer! Yikes.

I would have to know for sure I had the right type of frog. Some of the links below lead to pages with photos of Florida’s various types of frogs.

That is not a bird peeking out of my birdhouse. In fact, frogs can take over birdhouses so the birds can’t use them to nest.

Frog inside this birdhouse

One more thing to mention. We have a Ring camera set up in the backyard and witnessed an opossum climb the wall to the light and pull a frog off to eat it! I can’t say which type of frog it was, but I rarely ever see the cute green frogs. I would assume that the opossum ate a Cuban tree frog. Let’s hope so.

More Florida Frog Info Links

All links go to the University of Florida website pages.

Around the Yard at The End of July

I just bought a new iPhone XR and wanted to try out the camera so I took a quick walk around the yard this evening. The no-see-ums were brutal so it was a quick photo shoot. Not all photos were taken with the new camera.

My caladiums are doing well. The white-leafed variety is not looking so good, but the red looks nice. Did you know they come back each year after winter?

red leafed caladiums
Caladium with red leaves

My bromeliad is shooting off some new little babies. I already started two new plants from this one and it looks like I will have more.

Bromeliads
Bromeliad with “babies”

The hot house hydrangea, which I planted in the garden, is doing very well! It is in the shade most of the day and I think that helps a lot. I just cut off the dead blooms to find new flowers hidden among the greenery.

hydrangea shrub
The hydrangea shrub is doing well!

The swallowtail butterfly has been busy laying her eggs on my fennel plant and I counted 40 worms, in all stages, crawling on the stems and chowing down on the flowers. The cardinals have grabbed some, but many remain. I hope some of them survive to become butterflies.

swallowtail worm
This worm will become a Swallowtail butterfly if it survives the cardinal attacks

Along the back hedge I spotted this pretty white flower which looks quite exotic. I believe it is an invasive species (it’s Florida, what else is new?) called the Japanese Honeysuckle. On the other side of the house I have the invasive Brazilian Pepper plant growing like mad.

Florida invasive species Japanese Honeysuckle
Japanese Honeysuckle?

The frogs were napping in their usual spot on top of my front door light. They make an awful mess, pooping all over the place. At night they travel over the window, front door and walls catching bugs.

If you look closely you can see the head of the third frog in the lower left of the photo. They are literally piled on top of each other. I believe this is an invasive species of frog which has killed off the beautiful green tree-frogs that used to be plentiful in Florida. I don’t know if these are Cuban tree frogs, but our outdoor security camera captured a possum climb the wall and snatch a frog off the light in the back yard! I also find dead frogs in the yard, so something is after them. The University of Florida has a page about frogs comparing the unwanted invaders with the cute green tree frogs which I never see these days.

frogs sleeping the day away
Frogs on my front light

Of course my two cats followed me all around the yard. They love having my company outdoors and since it’s usually too hot, I don’t do much outside with them. Below is Skittle who is always interested when I am pulling weeds.

Skittle the cat
Skittle

Beautiful Fontana is my older cat but she loves to be outside as well. Both cats spend most of their day sleeping outdoors even though it is extremely hot this time of year. I am home, and always let them in to cool off and fill their bellies, but they usually go right back out.

Fontana
Fontana

So that is my yard at the end of July. When we get through the next two months I will feel better. Nights will become cooler and I look forward to having a fan in the window at night. Aside from cutting the grass, not much is getting done in the yard. My vegetable garden is producing nothing much and my citrus trees are doing very poorly. I keep the bird bath filled and enjoy watching the birds that come to eat bugs and take baths.