I didn't do a whole lot yesterday. I finished "American Dirt," which I enjoyed, and I caught up on some other reading. I cleaned the kitchen cabinets. I took the dog to the cemetery, where we heard but didn't see the turaco. And the avocado lost one more leaf to the rampaging squirrel.
Oh -- I did have some insight into that situation, though. Last year, the avocado sat out all summer beneath the walnut tree, and as a result, bits of broken walnut shell dropped into its pot. I left the shells there, thinking they would gradually break down and serve as a kind of mulch. But of course things like that don't break down indoors like they do outside, so there was still plenty of walnut debris in the pot -- which perhaps caused the rampaging squirrel to deduce that there were walnuts to be had in the avocado tree.
Yesterday I skimmed off the walnut debris and added a layer of fresh compost atop the soil in the pot. Maybe now the squirrels will lose interest.
Anyway, there's lots going on in the garden right now. Our camassia lilies (top) have been very happy this year as we've had lots of rain and they love damp ground.
We have a white bluebell that I don't ever remember seeing before...
...as well as lots of "bog standard" (as the British say) blue ones.
We have spotted lungwort...
...and aquilegia...
Today it's back to work!
Oh golly, am I the first? That's a first! :-) Those Camas lilies reminded me of the time we lived in Idaho for a year and saw fields and fields of them in the Spring. So pretty! Their roots were a nutritious food staple for native tribes and they were so common that travelers would mistake them for distant lakes!
ReplyDeleteYou are getting a colourful garden! Very nice indeed.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to work out which bluebells you have. Native are narrower flowers with curled back edges, Spanish are wider straighter flowers...but without having both there it can be difficult!
Then there are hyacinths that have gone feral!!
It will be interesting to see if the squirrels now ignore the avo...
When I was in boarding school in Sussex in the mid '60s I stayed with my grandparents in Spring. There was a bluebell wood behind their thatched cottage. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen - especially with wild primroses thrown in the mix.
ReplyDeleteI like how you are thinking like a squirrel.
To answer gz, your bluebells look like the Spanish variety, not the native woodland ones. We have several large clumps of them, in white and blue. Never sure how they got there! I am not familiar with those camassia lilies, but they are very pretty.
ReplyDeleteLungwort and aquilegia? Antibiotics might help.
ReplyDeleteNext I expect to read how the squirrel dug up the compost. The variety of flowers in your garden i wonderful.
This post reminds me that I must go to our nearby woods - Ecclesall Woods - to see the swathes of bluebells there. They should be coming to their prime very soon. By the way, this particular Englishman never calls them "bog standard", he calls them beautiful, ethereal and misty.
ReplyDeleteYou do know that squirrel are pretty good eating when cooked all day in a crockpot and served with a starch like potatoes or pasta. An avocado leaf fed one might be especially tasty!
ReplyDeleteYour flower garden is lovely, especially the bluebells, whatever kind they are. Your season is far earlier than here.
ReplyDeleteI love your ongoing turf war with the squirrels and your never give up attitude!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear about how this latest round went!
All of your flowers are so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteSteve vs squirrel! It is the battle of the year! Place your bets now!
ReplyDeleteAqualegia caught my eye. We have columbine here as well, and it is one of my favorites although I have a pink and white variety. You led me off on to a explore of all the different varieties there are. I would have never known. The things that I learn from blogs!
Here's hoping your squirrel prevention works.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers look so exotic to me here in Florida! Delicate and lovely.
Beautiful flowers in your garden. I especially like the blue bells.
ReplyDeleteSpring is really blooming there in such a beautiful and colorful way. I should post a photo of the flowers I found blooming in our front yard that I hadn't ever seen before. It's a native plant Nemophilia maculata. Ah spring! I hope your plan works to keep that squirrel away.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteBTW - I'll put $5 on the squirrel (at least in the short term because I'm not sure they'll be able to sort out that they don't really want avocado leaves).
Dynamite
ReplyDeleteLove the candytuft! I've never seen that before. The blue bluebell looks lavender to me. It's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting theory as to why the squirrels were bothering the avocado tree. Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteI always think of lilies as having large, large blooms, but those are quite delicate and very pretty. I like that Olga got in the background of that shot, too :)
ReplyDeleteSquirrels are high entertaining and fun to watch but they are crafty and persistent also. I hope you've gotten at the root of the behavior and do not lose any more of your tree.
What a joy it is to see these blooms!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with Bushy the Squirrel -- you might be onto something.
ReplyDeleteAnd your garden is looking terrific!
You have fantastic number of blooms in your garden. My blue bells are blooming. Ha! Ha! Big del eh?
ReplyDeleteBrigitta: You ARE first! Woo hoo! Yes, I've heard those camassias are native to the Pacific NW. I bet they're beautiful in large numbers.
ReplyDeleteGZ: Well, I'm pretty sure they're not hyacinths! LOL! See my answer to Frances below.
Caro: Yes, a true bluebell wood is pretty amazing.
Frances: My understanding is the Spanish ones are larger and more upright, while the British ones droop at the tip. Ours do droop, with one exception, a bulb I found in the cemetery years ago and planted in a pot. I think it's a Spanish one but the others are native. (And then, as I understand it, it's also possible to have hybrids of the two!)
Mitchell: I think the squirrel probably WILL dig up the compost, but I'm not worried about that!
YP: They are only bog standard in comparison to their exotic Spanish cousins! But yes, they are still beautiful.
Ed: Ha! Avocado-stuffed squirrel! I like it.
Boud: The bluebells are at their peak right about now, at least around London.
Bob: I don't have any illusions that I will prevail, but I hope to at least hold off the worst damage!
Marcia: Thank you!
Debby: We have three different aquilegia plants, and they're all slightly different from each other. There's a wide range of flowers!
Ms Moon: Yeah, these are Yankee flowers. :)
Sharon: I like them too, especially in large numbers.
Robin: I've never heard of Nemophilia maculata, but I looked it up -- beautiful! It's a member of the borage family, and we have lots of borage here. Take some pictures and post them!
Bug: Oh, yeah, my money would be on the squirrel too!
Padre: Thanks! :)
Margaret: That may be the color on my camera trying to compensate for the overwhelming blue in the photo. (But they are somewhat purple.)
Kelly: It may be wrong but I'll let you know!
Jenny-O: Although they're called camassia lilies, I'm not sure they're true lilies. I should look it up.
Ellen D: Glad you're enjoying them!
Jeanie: Ha! "Bushy"
Red: Do you have bluebells too or are you joking? Seems like yours would be behind ours, given how cold and snowy it is where you are, later into the spring season.
so many lovely flowers, so different than what grows here.
ReplyDelete