Category Archives: Garden

It’s the 20th of July and I can finally say that summer has arrived.  We had a week of hot temperatures and then rain and drizzle for several days.  I had a real shock when I stepped out into the garden this morning and saw how much everything has grown and matured.  It’s amazing what a little bit of mother natures moisture does for the garden.  Our sour cherry tree is just loaded with fruit.  I don’t mind sharing with the birds but it ticks me off when they just take a bite out of one and then move on to another, and another.

 Last year I bought a small Meyer Lemon bush.  It had tons of blooms and even produced a dozen or so small lemons .  I brought it into the house in September and kept it in a south facing window all winter.   I was thrilled to see that the little fruit continued to grow slowly over the winter.  I moved it back outside in mid June and now the fruit are big, beautiful and starting to turn yellow.   It is producing new leaves and it looks like it may have a few flowers soon.  Hopefully it will have enough time to set some fruit again.

It seems like all the summer flowering perennials have burst into bloom and the annuals are really showing off to try and compete.

I thought we had made some progress with Tango and thunderstorms but we have taken one heck of a step backwards tonight.  I wasn’t sure if our house was going to remain standing.  The rain and hail were coming down so hard and so fast that it was moving horizontally and driving towards our windows.  At the peak I thought for sure I was going to hear glass breaking.  The wind was so strong that it picked up our deck umbrella, inflated it and sailed it across the back of the house.  The eavestrough and down spouts were so overwhelmed with the volume that it just poured out like huge waterfalls.  When I thought the worst of it was over there was a huge bolt of lighting and all of a sudden our stereo turned itself on and the volume was at the maximum….how weird is that???  Poor Tango was just crouched low to the ground looking for somewhere to hide.  When the hail stopped I grabbed my video camera and got these pictures of the damage to my garden and the huge piles of hail.

I think summer has finally arrived in our yard. It has been such a dark, dreary, cold and wet spring. I finally got my last tomato and all my flower pots planted on June 17th….that’s crazy. We had snow several times in May and we got down to zero a few times in early June. Mother nature is truly amazing. It is hard to believe that we got from this……..

to this in just 5 short weeks.

Since the day I published my blog entry about the boreal chorus frog who took up residence in our pond……we haven’t heard a ribbit from him.  l’ve been overwhelmed with a sense of guilt and regret for wishing that he would go away…even if it meant that a predator got him.  I tried to soothe my mounting guilt by thinking that maybe he didn’t become someone’s midnight snack…..maybe he found a mate so he didn’t have to advertise any more.  As the days passed I almost wished that I would hear that annoying sound again.  Well…….I am pleased to say that as of last night….and I mean all last night….he’s baaaack!!!  As I type this post in my den, I can hear him begin his afternoon serenade. Welcome back Loud Mouth Frog! I will try my best not to think bad thoughts as I lie awake listening to your “1-800-Find-a-mate” calls in the middle of the night.

I just love our yard and how so many different and amazing critters are attracted to the pond….that was until recently. We have a first time guest who has already worn out his welcome. It started in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. We always sleep with our bedroom windows open to get fresh air and to listen to the sound of the stream flowing into the pond. At around 1:00 am a new sound could be heard.  A very loud and annoying sound.  It rang out every few seconds throughout the whole night.  It sounded like a giant frog. Of course Don slept through it all and in the morning I was beginning to think that maybe it had been an annoying dream. Then late Wednesday afternoon I heard it again. Definitely coming from the pond. When you get up close it is so loud and it almost sounds electronically generated. I started trying to locate the source of the sound but it would stop once I got close to the edge of the pond. Once I turned away it would start again. Ok…..is one of our neighbours trying to ‘punk’ us with some hidden speaker. This time Don heard the racket too so he came out to investigate. We checked everywhere but we could not find any critter  or speaker so we gave up and went back inside…..and then it started again. We could hear it in our kitchen with all the doors and windows closed. Don went out with a big metal stick and began poking around all the rocks and crevices. Nothing. We gave up and went to bed.  And then it started again. It lasted all night. At around 3:20am the neighbourhood Robins joined in to the chorus.  Of course Don had no problem sleeping through all the racket. I love nature…but this guy has got to go. I’m surprised that he hasn’t attracted some prey animal to come and get him since he is doing such a great job of announcing his presence.

It has now been 3 nights of frog serenades. Although we can hear him loud and clear we have not caught even the slightest glimpse of him which would lead me to believe that he must be very small.  I just can’t believe that something that small could produce such a loud, reverberating sound. Check out the video and listen to his song……

UPDATE:

I think I have discovered the identify of our visitor…..a boreal chorus frog.  When I read the description I knew I had found my loud mouth frog:

• These secretive and largely terrestrial frogs are often heard, but seldom seen. Their tiny size makes them difficult to find, even when the males are calling. Their calls are relatively loud, but deceiving, often sounding as if they’re calling from someplace else!
• Despite their tiny size, these frogs call so loudly that if you stand at the edge of a large chorus, your ears will ring.

Every day there are more and more signs of spring in our garden. I couldn’t resist grabbing my camera and trying to capture some of the beauty around me.