Garden Blogger's Bloom Day: February 2013

Sweet Coltsfoot, Petasites japonicus, and The Assistant's foot

Happy Bloom Day!  I'm happy to report that my Sweet Coltsfoot, Petasites japonicus, is blooming and hasn't been trampled (yet) by The Assistant.  But, it's definitely been nibbled on by slugs.  Time for a slug hunt.

And the first hellebore bloom is just starting to open.  I accidentally received this hellebore in 2008 when I was given permission to thin a hosta bed at The Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden and to plant the hosta thinnings in my garden.  Thunder rumbled around us and lightening lit the way and I was grateful that I didn't get electrocuted through my shovel.

hellebore

 I enjoy this hellebore every year.  And I adore the seed heads it forms later in the season.

Please take a moment to visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this monthly event.  It's fun to catch a glimpse of flowers blooming around the world today. Happy Friday to you!

Romance and Valentine's Day

I’m not a big fan of Valentine's Day.  It somehow feels forced to me.  Expected. I’d much rather be surprised with a romantic gesture on any other day of the year.  Just not on Valentine's Day.

Instead of the fancy box of long stem red roses that My Pirate used to send me, now My Pirate doles out more romantic gestures all year long.  And I love it.  Sometimes he warms my towel in the drier while I take a shower, so I can dry off with a warm fluffy towel.  I wake him up with his favorite coffee and scrambled eggs.  And all these tiny gestures fill our year up with love and happiness.  Try it. 

Update:  Don't think for a sec that I baked these adorable cookies!  All the credit goes to my friend, Toni Bagnall.  While I took pictures with my iPhone, she filled the cookies with yummy pink frosting and topped them with sprinkles.  Too cute.

Indian Plum

The Indian Plum shrub, Oemleria cerasiformis, is one of my favorite native plants.  I was first introduced to it in third grade by a park ranger while on a class field trip.  The park ranger picked off a leaf, tore it in half, and asked me what it smelled like and it smelled like a freshly cut cucumber.  It was a magical moment that kick-started my love of plants.  

Indian Plum,  Oemleria cerasiformis

In high school, I was an outdoor school camp counselor that taught sixth grade campers about native plants while we hiked around Camp Eagle Fern.  The Indian Plum never failed to wow the students unlike encouraging them to lick a slug to experience the numbing sensation of slug slime.  Which I think is a pretty cool defense strategy, but I digress here. 

I’ve been growing an Indian Plum shrub in my backyard for the past six years.  I placed it so that I can see it out my back windows.  I enjoy its early white blossoms that emerge before the foliage. 

And the hummingbirds enjoy it too.  A female Anna’s Hummingbird curiously supervised The Assistant and me while singing a nonstop litany of threats as I took the pictures for this post. Unfortunately, I failed to capture a good shot of the hummingbird while she nibbled on the Indian Plum buds.  Maybe next time. 

Making Quite A Ruckus

Last night, two raccoons were fighting on my back fence like an old married couple.  I’ve never heard anything like it.  They were barking and squawking and making quite a ruckus until The Assistant started barking at them and hitting the sliding glass door.  Then they ran along the fence line with their lopping gate and climbed up the backside of our large fir tree.

I waited for thirty minutes then I let my dogs out one last time before bedtime.  The Assistant raced to the tree and started enthusiastically jumping up and down like she had treed a coon.  I slipped on my crocks and raced out back and not spotting my flat head shovel, I grabbed a black plastic empty pot on my way to the tree.  I smacked The Assistant on her bottom to get her out of the way and peered around the backside of the tree and found myself eye to eye with an irritated raccoon. 

re-enactment of event

The Assistant raced to the other side of the tree and jumped up and down.  Without thinking, I lightly smacked the raccoon’s tail and backside with the pot and said, “Go on!”  And continued to hit the tree with the pot as the raccoon scurried up the tree away from the crazy lady in her pajamas, wielding a plant pot at midnight.  Then I chased The Assistant inside and then I stepped in something squishy and my dog Maya gave me her giggly grin and I knew that I had just stepped in her fresh pile of shit.  

Rotten Fence Board

This afternoon, while I was out taking pictures of my garden, I came across this little vignette.  Can you guess what happened?

My guess is that the fence board broke under the weight of one of our resident raccoons and it fell and knocked over my big empty clay flower pot.  An easy fix. I sure hope that the raccoon has recovered from it's fall.  How embarrassing.