House guest

My husband sent me a text message while I was at work today asking me what he should do with the snake in our bathroom.  He has a quirky sense of humor so I figured he was joking.  Then he sent me this photo!

Our little house guest was an 8" brown snake.  There are three brown snakes native to Alabama and I couldn't begin to identify the specific species that decided to try indoor living.  I frequently find these little guys in my garden and am always pleased to see them as they consume lots of garden pests.

As much as I like to see them in the garden, this little snake is not welcome in the house.  I scooped him up with a garden trowel and returned him to the gardens where he belonged.  I think I heard him say "thank you."

This is also my backyard

Guntersville State Park

This week I had the privilege of visiting two state parks in North Alabama.  It is rather embarrassing to admit that I had never been to Guntersville State Park before this week.  I didn't get to spend too much time outdoors there since I was attending the fall Master Gardeners Conference but I enjoyed a driving tour around the park.  I will definitely be going back to explore.

After the conference, my friend, Karen took me to another spot in our Alabama backyard that I had never even heard of before--Bucks Pocket State Park.  This tiny park tucked away on Sand Mountain made me feel as if I just beamed myself up to the high Smokey Mountains.  We drove down into the "pocket," driving through the deep gorge along a rock-filled creek, then up to the top of a ridge overlooking it. 

Bucks Pocket State Park

I love the plants and trees that manage to anchor themselves in these impossibly rocky conditions, apparently thriving by driving their roots deep into the fissures of the rock. 

As a citizen of Alabama, I'm proud of our state parks and love exploring our shared backyards.

Karen at Bucks Pocket State Park

Those osage oranges

This afternoon I took my annual trek out to the osage orange trees to harvest some "oranges" for my fall decorations.  This year was fun, because instead of hiking, I rode Lily out there.  This was much faster than walking.  I just experienced one small challenge to this year's harvest; I learned that not only do deer like the flavor of osage orange fruit, Lily likes them too.  She "told" me that if I wanted to make her carry them home (they each weigh about a pound) I needed to share one with her.  In her opinion, they taste good but they are little hard to bite into and very chewy.  She decided that she preferred the molasses cookie I gave her when we got back home to the barn.  I was able to stuff 15 osage oranges into my assorted saddle bags;  five for my friend, Karen; five for a science teacher at the high school; and five for me. 

If you want to learn more about osage oranges,  read my blog post for September 8, 2013 entitled "Weird and wonderful."

Container picks and pans for 2014

Blue Daze evolvulus

Just as I experimented a little with bedding annuals,  I decided to try a few different plants for my containers this summer.  In addition to my go-to wax begonias and diamond frost,  I added new guinea impatiens, hypoestes, evolvulus, and corkscrew rush.

I give mixed reviews to the new guinea impatiens.  Some of the plants did well and others just faded into the planting.  It was an inconsistant performer, even in adjacent, matching containers. 

The cork screw rush was a total disaster.  It never established itself and by the end of the summer, it has either gone dormant or has died.  I will keep it through the winter, in hopes that it is just a very slow starter. 

In contrast to the the cork screw rush, its companion plant, a Blue Daze Evolvulus has been a stunning addition to my back deck.  I love the bright blue flowers that are still blooming vigorously. 

hypoestes with wax begonias

Another wonderful shade plant that I will be using in my containers again next year is hypoestes.   The flowers aren't much to talk about, but the foliage is absolutely amazing.  I chose Pink Splash this year; the leaves have vivid pink spots.  This plant blended well with the begonias and diamond frost and tolerated heat and dry spells without missing a beat.

Confessions of a bird feeder snob

I have two bird feeders, but not all wildlife are welcome to them. 

Squirrels were my first enemies.   It wasn't so much the seeds they took, but that they were also eating the bird feeder; scratching and chewing right through the wood and plastic.  (My personal opinion of squirrels is that they are rats with fuzzy tails!)  Keeping them out of my bird feeder quickly descended into warfare.  I tried greasing the pole--they ate the grease.  I tried mixing red pepper with the bird seed--they liked their seeds extra hot.  I hung a slinky on the pole--they thought it was their personal amusement park.  Finally, I purchased a slick, plastic squirrel guard endorsed by the Audubon Society.  It was hilarious to watch the squirrels.  They would race up the pole, only to be trapped under the clear dome; puzzled that they could see "their" feeder but couldn't get to it.  They would jump from the ground, only to be dumped off the slippery slope as it tipped beneath their weight (and they were chubby from all the bird seed they had stolen from me in the past). 

While the dome worked great for the pole feeder, it didn't work quite as well on the hanging bird feeder.   I installed the dome above the feeder per the instructions that came with the dome.  The squirrels quickly learned that they could hop onto the dome from the tree branch, which would then tip (under their chubbiness) and sling them right onto the bird feeder where they could fill up their tummies and their cheeks before hopping down to the ground.  My response was the hang the feeder higher from the ground.  Sadly, this was a mistake because the next squirrel to arrive was afraid to jump that far to the ground so it climbed up inside the dome and chewed through the cord fastening the feeder to the tree, both feeder and squirrel crashed to the ground.  The squirrel survived; the feeder did not.

Since then, I have discovered the virtues of fishing line; 25 pound test line will hold the weight of the feeder, but is too fine for a squirrel to grasp with its greedy little claws.  If the feeder is suspended longer than the distance a squirrel can stretch its rat-like body and hangs at least four feet from the ground, it is safe from rodents.  

Once I won the war with the squirrels, I realized that there are some birds that do not play nicely at the bird feeder--English sparrows.  They are cute, but they would descend on my feeder in flocks, emptying it of seed in less than 30 minutes.  Other bird species never had a chance. 

Some internet research revealed that the University of Michigan did a study on this problem.  They discovered that English sparrows do not like to fly under or between wire.  For $30, I could purchase a "halo" designed to fit on my feeder that would keep 90% of English sparrows out of it.   Being a frugal person (read:  cheap), I examined the photo of this halo and decided that I could make one.  My halo is made from clothes hangers and florist wire and works just as well as the "real" thing.

My bird feeder may look a little odd to you, but now I enjoy visits from dozens of species of birds; my backyard is often filled with the glorious sounds of birds singing, and even when the flowers aren't blooming, we can enjoy brightly colored birds flitting from the trees to the feeder and back again.