Ladybug House Garden

I'm Still Alive

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:39:00 +0000

But my garden is a complete mess. The lunatic side of me took over and I lost interest in gardening.

We did, however, get our dog.

He chases away the critters when he sees them.

I haven't forgotten about this place. Hopefully, I'll be able to focus a little more on the garden and backyard wildlife next season. Happy gardening, everyone!

Suburban Raccoon Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:00:00 +0000

I decided after all to tell my friendly (though, I suspect, not as sympathetic to the critters as me) neighbour about the raccoon who tried to get into his bedroom window yesterday. Grumble grumble grumble to the camera that had no space left for a longer recording. The critter in question wasn't one I recognized. Could be Cracker's mom. I really hope it wasn't a mommy raccoon trying to get back in to her babies. Please be kind to our little fuzzy buddies, friendly neighbour!

Come to think of it, after all the noise a few weeks ago, it could actually be Cracker looking for a place to have her babies. No, Cracker Raccoon! No critter babies in human bedrooms! They'll be safe in the Maple Dragon in a few weeks.

It was so funny, I couldn't resist grabbing the camera. She crawled out from under the little overhang thingy where the house meets the garage, climbed up a bit, then sprawled her way across the roof to the window. After she discovered she couldn't get in, she painstakingly inched her way, spreadeagled, across the roof to the back of the house. Yep. Spring is here.

Wake Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:49:00 +0000

The crocuses and daffodils are up! And the creeping charlie is spreading across the lawn! Arrrrgggggh.

Anyway, I'm late getting into the gardening scene this year. But don't worry! Lots of pretty things to come! Work work work. Like a little garden gnome.

Ta ta for now!

Spring Fever...

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:20:00 +0000

... has begun. I bought a gardening magazine today. Yay Spring!

Closed for the Season

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:26:00 +0000

Hi Everyone,

I got sick. So I haven't been gardening at all (though I have still been enjoying the critters in my yard).

Taking the winter off now. We'll see what kind of damage we'll have to take care of in the Spring. Happy hibernating!

Backyard Bird Success!

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:19:00 +0000

Now that the house sparrows are gone, the feeder has been reclaimed by native birds.

American Goldfinch

And Purple Finch.

Yay!

More Baby Raccoon Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:08:00 +0000

They showed up in the tree early yesterday morning. I'm afraid there are only three now; looks like that little guy should have stayed put like his mother said.

Here's one curious little guy.

This baby wasn't too sure about me taking his picture. He folded his ears back as soon as I started.

I LOVE this pic of the three babies nursing. Cracker is splayed out (you can see her paws) and the three babies are feasting.

Butterfly

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:59:00 +0000

Pretty, eh? There ya go, Mom.

Where are all the flowers?

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:09:00 +0000

My work friend visited my blog and said, "Where are all your flower pictures?" There's not much yet; we spent most of our garden budget this year on dirt and shrubs. But here's a bit of what we've got so far...

White bleeding hearts (the pink ones have dropped their blooms), Clematis "Snow Queen",Some daisy-like flower (I forget the name), Hydrangea "Endless Summer", And some pretty pink roses, special because they were Steve's Dad's, bless his heart (lots more on roses to come!). Here's one of my favourite shots of the dry creek from the back corner. That's a rhododendron "catawbiense" that we (Steve) finally put in the ground today.

Now I want to spend more money on perennials. Maybe I'll grow a money tree.

Summer Solstice and Raccoons

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 04:30:00 +0000

A gift from the Mother tonight. Happy Summer Solstice!

I sat out back with a glass of wine tonight. Of course, I ignored the voice in my head saying, grab the camera. And guess who should show up but FOUR new baby raccoons! Practicing climbing in the tree. Looks like Cracker is a mama! She climbed down and chirrp'd at them. It sounded to me like, Stay put. Sploch & I watched as one baby painstakingly made his way down the tree to the patio, then around the tree and down the yard to follow. So cute! I've missed little baby raccoon sounds. He purred for her the whole time.

That's when I went inside for the camera. Three more babies climbed to the crook of the tree. One at a time. They chirruped for a bit, looking for their family. We heard a squeek from Cracker, and the babies climbed back up to bed.

Baby raccoon one:

Two,

And three.

Elle reminded me to leave out milk for the faeries, so I did. :)

The Maple Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:09:00 +0000

My daughter first noticed it, before the leaves on our silver maple filled out. She says it looks like a giraffe. I think it looks like a dragon. What do you think? I think it's cool either way.

Critters!

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 03:48:00 +0000

Ok. I have to tell you what happened tonight.

I went out the hammock with Sploches at about 10:30pm. Nice, warm night. So we're sitting comfortably and along comes a skunk. I don't say "Mr. Skunk", as this one didn't feel familiar to me.

The skunk strolled towards us. Then he noticed we were there and turned to face us, tail slightly raised. Sploch purred in my lap.
I was still and quiet, though my heart was beating faster. I said softly, "Oh! Welcome Skunk. It's ok. It's only us. Go on, you're welcome."

He sniffed at us, lowered his head, and resumed his sniffing around. We could hear him behind us in the corner. I prayed Smooch wouldn't show up. I asked the Skunk mentally to refrain from spraying on my property. Well, it's a chance you take. Ever neat!

Then about thirty minutes later a possum showed up!!! Not the same one as last year (we missed him); This one seems younger. He strolled up to us and I said, "Hello Possum! Welcome." He ran up the west garden.

And the 'coons are out carousing.

Backyard Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:54:00 +0000

I finally switched our cheap mixed birdseed to black oil sunflower seed. Why, you ask? Because thanks to the good folks at GardenWeb, I learned that millet is the favoured food for house sparrows. I'd noticed that the only birds we were seeing at the birdfeeders were house sparrows and grackles, even though we have tons of cardinals, song sparrows, and other birds in the area.

What's wrong with house sparrows? They're actually non-native birds, originating from Europe, who were introduced to this continent about 200 years ago. And they're deadly to native bluebirds. They'll actually enter a bluebird nest and peck to death its inhabitants. We won't go so far as to trap them, but we'll not encourage them. Sialis.org has more information on these little bullies.

Two Months' Difference

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:13:00 +0000

Here's a picture of the backyard from the porch, taken last weekend. When I have more time, I'll start posting the before pictures and detail what we've done so far...

Ah, what the heck. Here's a picture of what it looked like in March...

Lots of work to do, but MAN! what a difference, eh? Most of it is thanks to our lovely Canadian seasons (we can't take credit for Spring), but we did put a lot of sweat into removing that playhouse and building the "woodland" garden in the back. More to come!

First Post!

noreply@blogger.com (Selkie) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:04:00 +0000

Welcome to my garden blog, and first blog ever! I expect this will become as addicting as all of the other obsessions I've discovered over time. I'll try to keep entries here limited to gardening, but I can't guarantee that other life observations won't sneak in.

Comments and advice are always welcome!