Looking at 8 hours of thunderstorms here now. I stepped outside after dark the other night to listen to the bullfrogs sing. So loud. The 'hole in the ground' is so full of tadpoles I doubt there is actually room for all of them. The bullfrogs would all sing together, then I would hear one lonesome bullfrog under the boardwalk wait for the quiet, then say 'yup yup yup', and the bullfrogs would sing again. This went on for the several minutes I listened, then in the hush instead of yup yup yup, I heard in another spot 3' away, 'Heh heh heh heh heh' and then the 'yup yup yup'. I am sorry, but that is the honest truth, and I was laughing so hard when the bullfrogs sang again, I had to go inside.
I have found that I am more capable of growing varieties that are labeled as 'African' or even 'Asian' and in some cases it has helped reduce the insect problems, but none of my years here seem to be typical of each other. The rains are falling so hard they have even washed the ground concrete we use as a driveway, and washed out the yard into new creeks. Sigh. A perfect year for the raised beds.

I went to move some stuff around in the garage this morning and found an anole (!!!). I managed to get it back outside, but I'm unsure how long it has been in there. We left the garage door open for a few hours last Thursday when we had a house repair done, so it's possible it came in then, but who knows.

It must have been hiding in the same spot though because I found five lizard poops. I put some water out for it (I'm unsure if they drink like that...) and some freeze dried mealworms (unsure if it will eat them). I ended up removing the water though. Hopefully it'll be okay.

I wonder if he didn't have a way to get in and out maybe? Hopefully he'll be ok.

Over the winter apparently a chipmunk or something tiny decided to chew a small hole at the bottom of a 2 cu ft of compressed Pro-Mix and actually emptied half of the bag. The loose potting mix was all heaped up underneath an old lawn mower and around it. Two days ago I decided to tackle cleaning it up, which meant moving and rewinding old heavy hoses, yard waste bins, and the mowers. I was amazed at the amount of potting mix moved, and why? I don't get the reasoning behind it at all other than to roll around in the dirt?

But all of the compressed mix in the bag was already broken up so I didn't have to do it! That was the annoying part of using the Pro-Mix, I really liked it and plants grew well, but it took so long to break up the blocks into 4 cu ft of mix that I didn't use it again.

There isn't a way to get in or out anymore as I had to block off any openings because we had millipedes getting in the garage (and it sure gets tiring cleaning up hoards of bodies ).

How odd! But I guess there was that silver lining.

gardenglassgems said: Spring is such a great time of the year. This year my yard is doing so well and has really matured and settled in. There is still so much work that needs to be done but I marvel in what my flowers are giving me in return.

I did some weeding yesterday of a weed that I have been pulling for a long, long time; finally looked it up and the only one I found that looks like it is Pineapple Weed.
It grows in the drive-way and along the bouelvard where there is no grass as since the city -- improved -- street, all they put in the hole was crappy gravel that weeds love.
They seeded it once after the weeds were in , literally, full bloom, so, I used vegetation killer on he hole darn thing.

Weeds just keep coming back but this year, I spread Crab-grass preventer weed killer and, so far, it has kept all but the Pineapple weed in check but I will have to hit it with sedge killer again as I pulled a lot last year and then spread weed killer but that #$^#%^ SOB just takes over if one does not kill, kill, kill.
I have a lot of bare spots from the drought and not having a lawn irrigation system for most of the summer last year, but putting down Preen Weed & Feed , so far, has had good results with a healthy but spotted lawn.

I raised the lawn mower one notch higher than I normally do as the grass was very, very long before my first mowing, but while at that height it looks very nice right afer mowing, within two or three days , it looks like a lawn that should be mowed again, so I will drop it back down to heinie hair cut level.
Being an old stubborn German, I use a lawn mower blade till it is a blade in name only, but last year I put a new blade on my Lawnboy 2 stroke, and found that it not only cuts x gillion times better but that little wind spoiler on most lawn mower blades that creates wind, actually works real, real well.
The Lawnboy used to plug up every thirty or so feet in long grass but now it blows hard enough it unplug itself it you raise the front.

This spring, I, at least for a day or so, really paid attention to all the blooming fruit trees.
Sadly heavy winds reduced the color show fairly quickly.
I had thought about taking a drive around town to just take in the color like I did fifty years ago (back then on a bicycle or motor cycle) but the wind and short lived flowers on some smucked that.

There is always next year; right now the lilacs are hitting full bloom and the Iris and peonies are getting set to put on a show.
I bought two Iris that had unopened flowers, one orange one yellow but with my fortune with Iris, both already open flowers looked wonderful but the one orange bloom never opened and the two yellow blooms went pfft.
One disappeared and I found one lying on the ground. Oh well, trying again next year, and next, and next and....

Busy planting vegetable gardens now and heading South after planting two roses up here today.
It has been a long time since I was this far in garden planting this time of May, but then the Peonies will probably be totally bloomed out this year when I have a traditional Water Carnival Feed in my home town in mid-June.

Have a happy Nowegian Constitution Day.

I was rushing inside so I only stopped and look over for a second (and it wasn't a good second ), but I think the mealworms are gone. I found a fat anole on the sidewalk earlier. I bent over and talked to it and it was just sitting there looking up at me. I wonder if it ate the mealworms.... I also wonder if it was the same one that was in the garage.

Wonder if he'll be back looking for his free mealworms again tomorrow, you may have made a new friend!

Question about my VFT. This morning, it caught two flies, but by noon, it had let them go. About an hour ago, it had caught another fly, but then again, when I just checked a few minutes ago, it had let it go. The traps (dunno the scientific term for them) keep closing and then opening, even when it's caught something. Any ideas as to why this is happening?

If no help here, there is a forum for carnivorous plants.

Birds never ate any berries off my burford holly all last winter. All the red berries are still there. So I did not feel guilty today shearing it back and getting rid of many green new berries. The thing is just way too big. I'm tempted to cut WAY back to reduce overall size but have to confirm if that should be ok. Is it early enough it will still leaf out well?

Johannian said: Question about my VFT. This morning, it caught two flies, but by noon, it had let them go. About an hour ago, it had caught another fly, but then again, when I just checked a few minutes ago, it had let it go. The traps (dunno the scientific term for them) keep closing and then opening, even when it's caught something. Any ideas as to why this is happening?

I think it might have something to do with humidity? I don't remember. @sedumzz ?

sallyg said: If no help here, there is a forum for carnivorous plants.

Yeah, I know, but I know a couple folks on this thread (who aren't usually on other forums, such as Jared) grow VFTs so figured I'd get quicker responses here.

sallyg said: If no help here, there is a forum for carnivorous plants.

Birds never ate any berries off my burford holly all last winter. All the red berries are still there. So I did not feel guilty today shearing it back and getting rid of many green new berries. The thing is just way too big. I'm tempted to cut WAY back to reduce overall size but have to confirm if that should be ok. Is it early enough it will still leaf out well?

I would think so, but I'm not 100% sure. It might take some time to "revitalize."

Maybe it's just a very picky eater like me and the flies just didn't taste good... or had mushrooms or olives or pickles on them. I'd spit them out too.

Johannian said: Question about my VFT. This morning, it caught two flies, but by noon, it had let them go. About an hour ago, it had caught another fly, but then again, when I just checked a few minutes ago, it had let it go. The traps (dunno the scientific term for them) keep closing and then opening, even when it's caught something. Any ideas as to why this is happening?

I think I know the answer. Venus fly traps usually stay shut when they constantly feel movement of something inside the trap. They need that movement in order to start the digestion process. It's possible the flies were moving too little, and the trap thought it missed, and reopened for the next time. I've never had this problem happen with my trap, though.

I wish you luck. I wish I could help more.

Thanks for the info, Jared! That could definitely explain it. The first fly was definitely not moving very much when it fell out of the trap. I assumed that was because it had been paralyzed by the poison of the plant, but who knows, maybe it was already a sick fly.

Something dug in the "bed" I made over the one pine tree stump. I suspect a raccoon or a possum. I think I'm going to have to put some chicken wire over it today.

I dug up one of my Mom's lantanas finally. Hopefully it will survive the transplant. She has really sandy soil compared to our hard clay so it might go "what?!" at first.

It's a wee bit wilted, but hopefully it will be okay. I watered it really well.

It's hard to kill lantana.

These survived a 12 degree winter day so that's probably accurate.