You can probably work out the title even if you have never done any Latin. The phrase has no meaning in Latin but I understand my uncle was heard to mutter it a few times, in English, particularly during the war and then when the company he worked for lost all his pension just as he was about to retire. He may have also used it in the garden too, as he was a keen gardener. Keep on keeping on might be the more genteel way to express this sentiment! I myself muttered it under my breath on several occasions recently. The most recent this morning.
A neighbor put their trash can outside last night and guess who came visiting. Javelina. They pulled it over and rummaged through everything leaving it strewn all over the driveway and road. Then, they headed across the road and tore off the pads on this Santa Rita prickly pear. A particularly nice specimen. It is a prickly pear they usually leave alone and there are many in the neighborhood. They didn't even eat them. It was almost as though they were annoyed than no-one else had left their cans out. We all know better than to do that! And we know better than to plant things they eat. I'm the exception who, unwittingly, has given them a few tasty meals. Sometimes in desperation they eat things that they are not normally attracted to. Witness the morning I walked out the side door, heading for a walk, and there lying in front of me a half eaten mammillaria. If they had eaten the whole thing I might not have noticed because they had plucked it from between the rocks leaving it there for me to find. This particular cactus has rows of curved fish-hooks which stick to anything so maybe it was caught up in their fur and in the act of shaking it off it landed on the pathway. But the damage was already done with a huge bite out of the bottom. They have never touched these before so I thought these cactus were safe. I looked across to see if they had done any more damage and sure enough the tender new pads on my 3 pad Santa Rita had been pulled or knocked off and left. Fortunately I can replant them.
At the front they pulled out a small native plant I had just bought depositing it on the driveway and then they headed over and destroyed all the flowers on the top of the cactus clump I had just planted. It was covered with netting. I need to get more serious with my protection. This is what they looked like the day before.
This the day after. The flowers may only last a couple of days but at least I would like all those days.
Fortunately it was only the flowers and not the cactus. I bought the plant in bud and thought they would all be the same color. I guess people like the bouquet effect. Not me. So I dug the plant up and divided them and potted them up singly. They are now in the back garden until they recover and I find a new home for them. Maybe this time the javelina did me a favor.
I proceeded with my walk in the company of a Gardeners' Question Time podcast. Was it just coincidence that the audience, like I, were calling in with all kinds of pest problems hoping that someone had the perfect solution. Of course, every gardener suffers from some kind of gardening problem so I was feeling in good company and I wasn't going to let it spoil this beautiful day.
When we first moved in the house one side of the back and side garden was open to the outside and it was evident from the many missing plants shown on the original garden plans that javelina had just wandered through there and eaten many of them. The fence was a costly venture but we immediately arranged to have the extension across from the house to the side fence. We had to match the existing fence as the HOA is very particular and we added a gate for access. So now the back garden is javelina free. But it is not critter free by any means.
The smaller animals do just as much damage, Being on the edge of the desert we are open to pack rats, mice, Harris antelope squirrels, skunks, raccoons and rabbits. Much damage can be done by skunks rooting under plants for grubs. And the earth workings of the desert mice and squirrels is particularly damaging to roots. They just munch right through the roots causing the plant to wilt.
The base of the more tender agaves is a salad snack for rats and I have yet to get any pups on the A. desmettiana and A. desmettiana Joe Hoak. The tops of juicy cactus are a feast. I have bought my share of these wire baskets from the Dollar to cover over plants.
It isn't attractive but wire fencing around some plants is the only answer. I thought the elephant food was starting to look a little bare and then one day I watched the Harris squirrel just jump up on the top and start snacking. Planting on pedestals sometimes stop the smaller rodents but even those are not foolproof.
Quail, aptly called 'chickens of the desert' scratch around and pluck the tops of newly emerging seedlings. All the newly emerged seedlings of larkspur and love-in-a-mist disappeared overnight. The only spring flower to emerge victorious was the Orlaya grandiflora, or lace flower. These were from a package of seeds received at the Wisconsin Fling! I had them last year and then again this year.