THERE'S A LION IN THE GARDEN

Walk in through the gate into the front courtyard and you may be greeted by a roar from my recently acquired lion. I have named him Harvey, because he came into my life on Saturday, the day that hurricane Harvey crossed the Texas coastline and to begin its devastation.

On that day we happened to be 1500 miles away, having flown up to Canada to attend a Golden Wedding celebration in Hamilton, Ontario. The day after the celebration we drove along the Lakeshore Rd as far as Oakville, where we lived in the mid 70s. The lakeshore has some beautiful houses and outside one we saw the inevitable Saturday sign 'Garage Sale'. How could we resist?

When I saw the lion I knew immediately he would look perfect among the grasses in the front garden. But then thought about the fact we were not checking baggage. David felt sure we could carry the lion on the plane, one way or another. I wondered if security might be a problem. He's quite heavy, being cast from some kind of metal and his patina needs a little touch up. But we had no problems and no-one even queried the lion as it went though the scanner.

But that wasn't the only critter I found. A sweet little ceramic gecko reminded me of the one in our Air B&B house in France. All I need is a piece of driftwood.

French gecko

I might even let him stay in the house which is where geckos like to live, if the number of ones in our house is anything to go by. I am always shooing them outside but they always come back.

To round out our shopping experience a nice ceramic owl hanging and two lovely Indian scarves. The total came to $10. Now, that's what I call real garage sale prices.

THWARTING THE CRITTERS

Have you ever had this happen to you? I might have but a stop to it if I hadn't been away for several weeks. When I came home from vacation one year I found something had been having a fine old feast on my butternut squash. Just look at those teeth marks.

This year I decided to make their job a little more difficult and it paid off. I have quite a nice crop.

Early on in the season, just as the fruit were starting to develop, I covered them with the mesh bags I have been saving all year. They came from onions, grapefruit and even the green expandable bags with which they protect wine bottles. I left on vacation feeling comfortable that they were safe. I just wish we had had a little rain in our 5 week absence. However, most of them are just perfect for 2 people. Butternut squash risotto is the favorite but roasted is also a favorite. Halved, drizzled with  olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper and dried oregano and roasted in the oven until tender. Then, as a main course, topped with sautéed red onion, yellow bell pepper, left over barbecued corn and topped with parmesan cheese.

You can eat every scrap-even the skin. With a side salad it makes a great vegetarian meal.

DID I PUT OUT THE WELCOME MAT?

Unknowingly I put out the welcome mat for rabbits to come into my garden. Silly me!

These are all residents of the sunken garden and so is the real thing. I spotted him yesterday and he was there again today. I think he has moved in for good because he happened on an all day buffet.  He's quite amenable to having his photograph taken in exchange for having done quite a bit of nibbling among the gomphrena. If I thought the flowers were high enough to be out of his way I had to think again. He managed to cut through the stem to topple the flowers and he's very untidy leaving the evidence all over the place. He is rather cute in his baby phase.

When he moved over towards the pool giving it quite an intense stare I have to admit I was egging him on to go for a swim. No such luck. He scurried deeper into the jungle at the back of the garden. There is no hope unless the snake takes a fancy to a rabbit dinner.

Suddenly wildlife surrounds the garden. This week we have had, all at the same time, a turkey, a rabbit 3 bucks and a doe on the septic field. Today a doe with two fawns.

Getting up close to these guys without spooking them is much more difficult. I took this over the wall. See the rabbit near to the turkey. I think this is a bigger one than the one in the garden. Or is there more than one?

There is plenty for them to eat this year so the deer are busy grazing the septic field. The mother with one fawn. The other was spooked and went charging off into the trees.

But there was another invader in the garden this week. I saw him crawling up the wall and knew immediately what he was. The first time I learnt about him was in Zoology class in High School and the last time I saw one of these was when we lived in Hong Kong. That's exactly where he belongs; Asia. He likes to eat earthworms and is not welcome around here. Let me introduce you to this land planarian with an arrow-shaped head,  Bipalium kewense.

If you find one in your garden and decide to dispose of him let me warn you of this one thing. He reproduces by fragmentation. Yes, leave a little part of him behind and you will immediately have another. He's a little bit like a tapeworm, another nasty parasitic flatworm.
And I have more nasties to talk about but that's for another day.

AFTER THE DRIZZLE

After the drizzle yesterday morning the sun finally came out in the late afternoon. This swallowtail butterfly, which is the largest I have ever seen, spent over half an hour flitting among the flowers. I managed to capture it with wings open. 

I thought it was a good time to capture the spring flowers in the vegetable garden before they were pounded by the storm that the weather man promised for today. It came at rush hour this evening.  In parts of the county baseball size hail fell, no doubt smashing plants to the ground. We were lucky. No hail but not much rain either. The rain gauge measured on 3/10" Oh well better than nothing.

EATS SHOOTS AND LEAVES

But keeps coming back! For several days I have been noticing a good deal of nibbling going on in the garden. For an enclosed garden this is quite distressing. First it as the larkspur, all pruned to about 6''. Then today I noticed blue eyed grass.

Then some desert succulents growing in a little pot.

I also noticed a lot of empty stalks on my violas and wine cups. I have been setting the havahart every night but nothing so far. I have a feeling it is the cotton rats as I saw one a couple of weeks ago.
To crown everything the harlequin bugs turned up today. I guess the 80 degree temperatures brought them out. They were on the napa cabbage so pretty easy to spot and dispose of. As most of them are going to seed I'm hoping that this will act as a trap crop.

I will finish on brighter note. My first California poppy bloomed today. It is growing in gravel with no decent soil beneath. Just what they like apparently.