Sharing the Garden

This week has been good for working outside. I spent Monday and Tuesday out in the garden, removing grass, tidying up the borders of my gardens. I discovered this fellow while removing grass near a clump of Panicum virgatum (switchgrass).

This fellow is a spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), a relatively common species (although, like most amphibians, their numbers are declining). I'm not sure what it was doing in my front yard. Spotted salamanders generally prefer forested areas, living underground or under loose bark on trees. They're a beneficial amphibian, eating snails, underground grubs and earthworms (OK, that last part is not so beneficial but I have tons of non-native earthworms in my soil so I can spare a few).

Behind my yard is some great salamander habitat - wooded, with vernal pools (they have water only part of the year) for breeding. Most people are surprised to find out that salamanders breed right after the first thaw of the year (or in January and February in the South). I wouldn't be surprised to find this guy back there. I wonder if a predator carried him up into my yard or if he's searching for new habitat.

Whatever the reason his presence reminds me that my garden is part of the larger ecosystem. I tend to focus on the species I see regularly in the yard - the insects and the birds - and forget the less obvious visitors and residents. This little salamander reminds me that even the animals we don't see share our space and are important components of the local environment. We're all connected, whether we acknowledge it or not.

• Most amazing thing I learned about spotted salamanders while researching this post - they can live up to 30 years!

Questiosn from the GWA meeting

I did not go to the Garden Writers of America meeting this year (maybe if I wrote something...) but Billy Goodnick went and asked attendees two important questions: 1) What's your favorite new plant in your garden and 2) what did you kill this year (the video is available at Fine Gardening). I enjoyed watching experienced gardeners confess to plant murder (makes me feel better about my failures).

I have a LOT of new plants in my garden (I moved into my new house in February and listened to all the advice about waiting a year so I could get to know the site and the climate and stuck my tongue out at it). So I decided that I needed to pick a plant that was new to me, not just my garden. It was a tough decision but I picked Cornus hesseyii 'Garden Glow.'


This dogwood has amazing foliage! It's a nice golden green that looks almost metallic when the light hits it just right. The shrub dogwood has nice red stems for winter interest and only gets to about five feet! Perfect for under the windows at the back of my house. I hear that it blooms white small white flowers and produces blue fruit but I missed that this year (I planted two of them in May so I'm not surprised). While it isn't the flashiest plant, it's not the most attractive to wildlife (we'll see if they like the berries), it does provide a very nice bright spot for a mostly shady space.


The second question - what did I kill? Lots and lots of grass. I don't think that's what the question is really asking for, though.

Since I just started a new garden I'm sure I've lost stuff I've already forgotten. I was able to find a label for Sedum 'Black Jack.' I planted this one near another tall Sedum ('Autumn Fire') that is doing great so I'm not sure what killed it. I tried to grow it in NC when I lived there but it failed there, too. I don't think I'll try again.


The other plant I was able to find a label for was a lavender. Yes, I killed a lavender. It as in an irrigated bed and the other lavender near-by survived just fine so again, I'm not sure how I killed it. I wish I knew so I wouldn't make that mistake again. I guess I'll file it under wrong plant, wrong place.

So, what about you? What did you kill this year?

After Dark

Now that the days are getting shorter I am getting out in the garden after dark, to collect herbs or tomatoes for dinner or because it's the only chance I get on my busy days. This week I was out after dark and saw something surprising. Moths. No I wasn't surprised to find moths in my garden - one of my plant choice considerations is the ability to attract butterflies. But it was the plant CHOICE of the moths that surprised me.

My Salvias.

I have several Salvias - Salvia greggii 'Pink Preference' which is listed hardy to zone 6, Salvia X 'Maraschino', likewise zone 6 and Salvia greggii 'White Wedding' which is listed to zone 5b. I have no idea if they will survive the winter here. I am in zone 6, not sure if it's a or b since the zone lines tighten up near the coast. Since Salvias are one of my favorite plants I thought it was worth trying.

Salvias in my experience are not one of the top butterfly attractors. In my current yard I have several other good plants nearby. I carefully checked my asters and buddleia for other moths but saw nothing.

It's good to know I'm not the only one appreciating the Salvias in my yard.

Now if my Salvia elegans (pineapple sage) will just manage to bloom before it dies back for the winter...

Garter Snake

[What? Another post? That's four in two days? What's up you ask? I'm trying to update my resume and start looking for a job in my new state of Massachusetts and this blog is a great procrastination tool.]

I wandered out in the garden mid afternoon today and spotted movement. A snake! I've seen garter snakes in my yard before and I rushed inside to get my camera. This one, unlike all previous ones, was still around when I came back. It's a garter snake.


Garter snakes are probably one of the most commonly encountered snakes in the US and Canada. They are very versatile in their habitat choices and prey choices. They can use sight, taste/smell and vibrations to find prey. I welcome the garter snakes in my yard because I know they will eat mice, insects and slugs. They will also eat earthworms but I have a plethora of those in my garden so I guess I can spare a few.

I followed this cute guy around the base of my only front yard tree, trying to get better pictures (I didn't have the right lens on the camera and didn't think I had time to grab it so I had to get close) and nearly stepped on what he was chasing.

HER.
That's right he was following the scent trail laid down by a second, larger garter snake. Garter snakes will mate in both Spring and Fall. Females impregnated in the fall will give birth to live young the following year. Young are born all summer and into early fall but with a four month pregnancy she'll wait till next year to bear his offspring. I have spotted a young garter snake in the yard but it didn't hold still for pictures.

Garter snakes will hibernate during the winter in communal dens, called hibernaculum, of up to thousands of individuals. They are very cold tolerant (for snakes) and are one of the last snakes to enter hibernation in the fall and one of the first out in the spring. They will even come out of their hibernaculum to bask during warm winter days.

Garter snakes are still common but in many parts of the country they are in decline due to habitat loss and artificially high concentrations of predators (ie domestic cats that go outdoors). Yards with brush piles and dense, low growing shrubs provide necessary cover for these snakes. Garter snakes are not likely to bite and will first run away and then, if you insist on picking them up, they will excrete an unpleasant odor, biting only as a last resort. Since many of their prey species are considered garden pests this is one snake you might want to welcome into your garden.

Bobcat

It finally came up. Someone mentioned my 'Avatar' on the side. Let me introduce you to Reno the Bobcat. Reno lives in a sanctuary in North Carolina called Conservators' Center. Reno was hit by a car and, in a round about way, ended up with a vet who had dealt with wild bobcats before and recognized that she was not as difficult as truly wild bobcats.

Was she an escaped 'pet'? Had someone found her as a kitten, raised her and released her? Either one would have been illegal. The state Fish and Wildlife authorities investigated and determined that she was too dangerous to release. She was comfortable around people and she hated them. That means that she might just walk up to a child eating a hot dog and take it away.

So Reno was placed at Conservators' Center where I was a volunteer. I had worked with wild bobcats in California and it was love/hate at first site. I loved her and she hated me.

The Husband (who is very generous with my whims) and I constructed a deluxe enclosure in the woods and 'adopted' Reno. She now lives there with another bobcat, Bobbie Fargo, who was a former road side zoo bobcat and is much nicer to people. I no longer get to visit often but she is still my adopted little girl and I love her.

She still hates me.

There is a season

But retailers keep pushing the boundaries. Tender annuals go on sale well before it's safe to put them in the ground. Seeds can be found in big box retail stores year round. Right now it's the bulbs. Most bulbs shouldn't be planted until the ground temperature reaches 55-60 F (and night temperatures are at least that low). Here in New England we're still having some warmer days but night temperatures are dropping rapidly. I'll be planting my bulbs in the next couple of weeks (the soil temperature today was in the high 60s).

I don't necessarily mind pushing the season in the spring, when I can take a chance we won't have a late (or even a normal last) frost, but I KNOW I'm pushing it. I feel sorry for the less experienced gardeners who buy annuals when they first appear and don't know it's really too early to plant (ditto for fall bulbs). I think it is a bit disingenuous of retailers (and the big box stores are especially bad about this) and discourages many a casual gardener. I would prefer to see casual gardeners go to local garden centers where they can get good advice and be warned that it's really early to be planting tomatoes or bulbs.

The other problem with pushing the seasons is that when it's a good time to plant those annuals, those tomatoes or those bulbs the isles are often filled with what's next or the best of the selection has been picked over. That's another reason I shop early and try to hold on to plants and bulbs until the appropriate planting time.

Oh, and the real impetus for this rant? Christmas decorations in stores! In SEPTEMBER. No wonder I don't like Christmas. By the time it's reasonable to decorate I'm already sick of all the ornaments in the stores.

Miscellaneous Monday

I've been busy recently with work being done on the house (insulation, check, just in time for cooler weather!), followed by a much needed vacation (when I wasn't going through the still need to do to the house list or the job hunting list) to Cape Cod. Today I took a stroll around the garden to see what's been going on recently. Here it is.

My pineapple sage has got buds. I'm not sure if it will bloom before it gets killed back by cold weather. This Salvia will be an annual in my climate so if I don't get a good fall bloom out of it I probably won't plant it again (although the foliage smells good).


I found this Contorted Filbert (Corylus avellana, also known at Harry Lauder's Walking Stick) on sale really cheap at a local nursery. I'm taking a chance. It was terribly pot bound and I spent over half an hour disentangling the root ball. I'm not thrilled with the result - I couldn't get it truly disentangled - so we'll see if it makes it long term. Still it's an interesting plant and was 1/3 what I'd have to pay for the same plant come spring so it's worth the risk.


Looks like the previous owner (or his landscaper) planted fall crocus. That's good. That means I don't have to buy any.


This is an odd growth on my climbing rose, Don Juan. I checked and it is coming from above the graft. I'm not sure if I should leave it or prune it off - is this a sign that's it's settled in and really starting to grow or a sport that I won't want. I'm going to have to do some research.


My potted lilies have surprised me with a repeat bloom. I'm planning to put these in the ground next month when bulb planting time arrives.


Fall is definitely starting. I came home to leaves all over the driveway and the yard. I'll be collecting the leaves up and using them as compost (I'll shred them first) or mowing them in situ - where they fell - as fertilizer for the grass. That's all the fertilizer my grass gets.


I'm still getting tomatoes (yippee!) on my cherry, grape and Roma plants. I didn't have as much luck with standard type tomatoes this year. I expect I'll be able to harvest tomatoes until the plants are killed off for the year. Yum.


I have some (hopefully) perennial violas planted at the base of my chimney where there is a very narrow patch of dirt. The violas looked good until August, when they died back in the heat, so I decided I could interplant with annual pansies. I hope the violas come back next year but if they don't this is a good spot for rotating annuals.




Fall is spider season. Spiders may be present year round but in the fall their numbers are higher, especially among the larger varieties. Combine that with the fact that people tend to be outside a lot and you get lots of people-spider encounters.

I haven't seen any orb weaver spiders in my garden but I did find these two. Hopefully by discontinuing the previous homeowners use of pesticides I'll attract some orb weavers.




My Blue something Hollies (Blue Girl? Blue Princess?) already have good berry loads but are getting one more bloom in before winter. I'm trying to figure out how to keep these shrubs but still do maintenance to the house - the leaking hose bib, a new paint job, replacing rotting wood near the leaking hose bib. Last winter the berries above the show disappeared early and every time we had a significant melt the birds would mob the bushes to get at the newly exposed berries.


My Aster oblongifolis is still in the early stages of blooming. Look at all the buds still to open. I love the exuberance of this plant, as well as how late in the year it will bloom.


OK. So this Greater Yellowlegs wasn't in my yard. I saw her on Cape Cod. Bird (including this one) are migrating through our area right now so it's a good time to be bird watching. You never know what you'll see. Look closely, she's got a fish.