Wild boys in the wilds of Heath picking 'wild' lowbush blueberries

Just when I was preparing a handout for my Heath Fair talk on Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants, I learned about a new group blog www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com that is being written by some of my favorite bloggers, many of whom I got to meet in Buffalo.

Beautiful Wildlife Gardens will give you lots of information about the natural world around us – in different parts of the  country. Informative and engaging. Which is what you might expect from a blog written by Helen Yoest (Gardening With Confidence), Barbara Pintozzi (Mr. McGregor’s Daughter), Chris McLaughlin (Kid Safe Landscape), Kelly Senser, (the editor of (National Wildlife Magazine), Kathy Green (All Things in Nature), Ellen Sousa (Turkey Hill Brook Farm right in in Massachusetts), Lisa Gustavson (Soil Sisters) and Gail Eichelburger (Clay and Limestone) who invented Wildflower Wednesday. They have a number of desires from the general creation of sustainable landscapes to the particular, like encouraging more bugs. Douglas Tallamy,  author of one of my favorite books, Bringing Nature Home, says we need more bugs.

Here on our hill we are surrounded by wildlife. I had a most remarkable experience this summer with a newborn fawn, and last year’s visits by a porcupine.  Once I walked down to the vegetable garden and came upon a HUGE flock of turkeys. I surprised them, and they me! – and they immediately flew into the air and down the hill to the tree line. Usually turkey sitings are not so dramatic. We hear the coyotes at night, and at noon.  The next town has a noon whistle – which must wake up the coyotes because they respond with their own howl. We wait for it when the grandchildren are visiting.

We have wildflowers, and flowers that have gone wild. Never Plant  Tansy!

Needless to say, we have our own kidsafe, wildlife safe, caterpillar safe, bird safe landscape. I’m delighted to know that I have a new place to visit that will encourage us all to be more aware of the wonders around us.

While I am talking about the wild world, I should mention my ‘colleague’ at The Recorder, Bill Danielson, who writes a fabulous column Speaking of Nature with special pages for kids. He also has a website of his own. Click here to see his columns and hear about his upcoming books.

I was driving up our road yesterday noontime when I saw a doe standing  in the middle of the road. As I slowed down a tiny, very young fawn came scrambling out of the brush on the left side of the road. Mama leapt into the brush and the field on the right, but baby could not quickly get up the bank. Either instinct or good training made her instantly fold herself up as small as possible in the drainage ditch by the side of the road. She did not move a muscle, even when I quietly and slowly got out of the car to take this photo. I used the zoom and did not get too close; she remained absolutely immobile.  I drove on a little further and stopped the car again, waiting and hoping that Mama would come back to take the little one away, and I could get another photo. No such luck. I parked the car at our house and walked back, not very far, but mother and child had gone.  It is not often one gets a look at such a new fawn. It was a special moment.

A warning. I would never have touched this fawn because a friend who is an expert on such things told me that if the fawn had the smell of a human on it, the mother would abandon it and it would be vulnerable to predators. We do have a lot of coyotes in our area.

Broccoli - decimated

Yesterday I was sitting by the window with Holly the cat on my lap. Suddenly she stiffened. She sat up. She was on alert. I looked out the window to see what caused her to come to attention. And there, hopping down the drive was an Eastern hare. Our neighbor had reported sighting the hare the other day. I ran out screaming. The cat fell asleep. Henry set out the Havahart trap.

This morning I looked out the window at the new Front Garden and saw that a number of the broccoli plants had been eaten. The hare had struck again. The trap was empty. I did spray with Liquid Fence Rabbit deterrent, but it hasn’t had a chance to work. The rain keeps falling. The only other advice is fences. The Front Garden was never intended to have a fence because I never thought pests would come so near. I’m putting on my thinking cap.  All suggestions welcome.

Applejack

In the meantime I will concentrate on the positives. In spite of the cold and rain, the roses are blooming. Applejack, a Griffith Buck hardy rose, has been blooming to greet visitors at the End of the Road for about 25 years.

Applejack

The roses are drooping with the weight of the rain, but they are beautiful and fragrant. This year I decided to plant more Buck hybrids.

Hawkeye Belle

I planted Hawkeye Belle,  an apricot pink, on the new Rose Bank. The bush is still so small that the blossoms are drooping to the ground, but I think this is going to be a beautiful bush.  At least the rabbit doesn’t like roses.

Someone is dining out in the garden. Not slugs. The lettuce has been pulled out of the ground and eaten. Some has been eaten down to the ground.

This row was attacked differently, but still, the lettuce is gone. I’ve never had bunny damage before, but this looks like what I imagine bunnies would do. Who has experience to share?

On that assumption I took out the sample bottle of Deer and Rabbit Deterrent that Liquid Fence sent me and sprayed it around the lettuce, and the cauliflower. All six cauliflower starts were eaten down to a tiny nubbin, but five of them seem to be sending out a new shoot.  I planted two more starts yesterday, before spraying with Liquid Fence, and all the plants seem to be undisturbed this morning.  The mystery is that the cauliflowers are right near big healthy Brussels sprouts which were not touched. The spinach hasn’t been touched. These must be very particular creatures.

The mystery is in the vegetable beds, but there is no mystery about who makes mischief in the Shed Bed. Hens! I’ve already written about the fence wire barrier to protect the cosmos that will occupy the bare space left by Mrs. Doreen Pike in the rose bed when she migrated to the back row.  The fencing will remain in place as the cosmos grow.  Every year I edge this bed with annual salvia which looks very pretty in front of the the roses in shades of pink.  However, the adventurous hens who fly the coop during the day love to dig in this bed and take dust baths, especially when it is freshly weeded – or mulched. They inevitably dig up the salvias. Last year and this,  I found that I could lay out tomato cages horizontally to keep the hens out of the salvia until they are more firmly and lushly growing. The cages will not stay in the Shed Bed.

happily, there are beauties in the garden, not only problems.

Pink Grootendorst rugosa

Last year I planted this Pink Grootendorst rugosa on our new Rose Bank. It is doing very well with lots and lots of new growth this spring. It has just started to bloom, with pretty pinked edges in a lovely shade of pink. However . . .

Pink Grootendorst

on Sunday, in between rain showers and torrents, I visited Kathy Puckett’s garden and admired her Pink Grootendorst. It is much bigger than mine.  Actually, most of Kathy’s plants are very big which she attributes to the benefits of having a hayfield up the slope from her large gardens. The farmer manures that field twice a year, and has for many years. According to Kathy their soil is beautifully fertile because of the years of runoff from that field.  Kathy’s garden is only about 7 years old, but it is magnificent. Here is the mystery, aside from her more established plant being bigger than mine, the color is much deeper. This is a reminder to me that we cannot always be sure what plants will look like in every aspect. Color and size are affected by soil, but not always predictably.

I guess there will always be mysteries in the garden.

There were a lot of young children at the Boston Flower Show, some clutching a parent’s hand, and some being wheeled about in stroller splendor. It might not always have been exciting, but the youngsters and their parents enjoyed this jungle garden with a grassy lion . . .

a giraffe made of flowers . . .  .

and a really scary crocodile right at the edge of the exhibit. No one wanted to touch – and a good thing too.

Now, since this is my Second Blogoversary, Storey and CowPots are offering a second chance to win in a drawing.  This time the book is Right Rose, Right Place: 359 Perfect Choices for Beds, Borders, Hedges and Screens, Containers, Fences, Trellises, and More by Peter Schneider who has 1200 types of roses of his own and has written extensively about roses. There will also be another 2 dozen CowPots made of composted cow manure that will make seed starting especially nutritious this spring. Just leave a comment this week and I’ll have another drawing next Saturday, December 12.  Who will be the second winner?

First Snowfall 12-6

The snow had been falling on and off all day yesterday, but it didn’t look like it was really going to stick – until late last evening. This morning we woke to 4 sparkling inches of snow, so I think this qualifies as our first snowfall. The plows were out last night as we prepared for bed, and out again this morning so the roads were clear for church goers. A beautiful way to celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas. To see who else might be having snow as winter proceeds check out Nancy Bond at Soliloquoy as she hosts The First Snowfall Project.

Henry went out to feed the chickens and saw a mess surrounding the compost bin. He peeked in.

There was our local porcupine!  He had pulled out enough compost to climb in through the bottom to sun himself on top of the pile, protected from any wind by the sides of the bin. I can’t believe this small pile was generating any real heat, but at least it isn’t cold ground. Do you think he has taken up permanent residence there?  How valuable is porcupine manure? Do you think he has been around long enough to earn a name?

I want to explain one thing. You can see paper plates tumbling out of the bin.  I got these biodegradable sugar cane plates for Thanksgiving dessert. There is a limit to how many dirty dishes my kitchen can handle at once!

The first wildness was our local porcupine sunning himself (I don’t really know if he is a he or she) in front of the henhouse this morning. I nearly stepped on him on my way to feed the chickens because I was so busy looking at a wild hardy kiwi vine on the adjacent shed and wondered how I was ever going to prune and tame it. Fortunately the movement of the porcupine, including getting all his quills in fighting order, woke me out of reverie in time.  I thought he would amble off, but no. He ambled up onto the step of the henhouse, where perhaps the stone was even warmer than the wet grass.

I ran in to get the camera and ran back to find the porcupine with his nose, and maybe his teeth, nudging the door.  I learned recently that porcupines like to eat wood and the hen house is so old that it might taste like sponge cake – or at least have that texture. I finally had to give up waiting. I did have other things to do besides talk to a silent porcupine.  The hens got their breakfast at lunch time, but they had not yet totally emptied their feeder, or waterer.

Then it was off to town, Shelburne Falls, for a little shopping. I needed candles. We always need lots of candles at Christmastime, so my first stop was at Mole Hollow candles right next to Salmon Falls. We had at least 2 inches of rain Wednesday night and the Deerfield River was in full flood. The Falls dam was partially let down and the Falls themselves were wild.  Fortunately, I never go anywhere without my camera.

This is an unusal sight at this time of the year when the river should be quiet, and icy, but this odd mild season is driving us all wild.

And time is rushing wildly. Readers have only til midnight tonight to leave a comment and have their name put in a drawing for Nan Ondra’s great new book, The Perennial Care Manual, and 2 dozen CowPots for seed starting. The drawing is tomorrow morning.

It was wild on the field in Ashburnam when our grandson, Ryan, and his team, the undefeated North Middlesex Wranglers, played for the state Pop Warner championship title.

And they won! The Wranglers are State Champs. Next weekend they go to the regional playoffs. Ryan has a pretty good grip on that amazing trophy. Great team and a great game. Ryan’s mom went wild cheering – and can barely speak today!  Yay Wranglers!  Good luck next weekend.

This porcupine has been lurking around the End of the Road for some time now. Our neighbor is careful when she walks her dog, and the UPS man stopped his truck to watch the porcupine, while the porcupine sat on a tree stump by the side of the road and watched him.

Porcupines are the second largest North American rodent. They can have 30,000 or more 3 inch quills which detach easily from their body, and easily into any attacker, or curious dog. Though they go in easily, porcupine quills are difficult and painful to remove because they are barbed. They cannot throw their quills, but Don’t Touch! Even if you should get that close to this slow moving animal.

 Fall is prime breeding season, but we have only seen this solitary porcupine. They are supposed to spend a lot of time in trees, but we have only seen porcupines on the ground, in the field, in the Sunken Garden, and this morning, underneath the Cottage Ornee. This has me nervous because porcupines like to eat green branches, twigs, and bark – and they just like to chew wood.  The Cottage is made of wood! They like canoe paddles, too.